Debi Mazar plays publicist Shauna on the HBO series Entourage. “The business has changed as far as the perception of celebrity,” she notes. “Before, you know, you were a working actor and it was cool, and people knew who you were. Now there’s all this tabloid bulls**t and perks that didn’t happen before. People are [...]
Kristen Bell Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”) noted recently how much of an impact acting can have on an actor: “It’s sort of a weird profession.. in that it manipulates your emotions. When you’re crying, you’re really crying. You’re not crying about anything you care about, but you still have the cry inside you, that feeling [...]
Cherry Jones Cherry Jones [left], earned a Tony nomination for her acting in a stage production of A Moon for the Misbegotten [2002] but was “nearly paralyzed by a profound case of stage fright” according to a Time Out New York article. She said it was from “Living up to the greatest performance I have [...]
Philip Seymour Hoffman In a recent interview, Philip Seymour Hoffman [Best Actor Oscar nominee for “Capote”] admitted he used drugs and alcohol earlier in his life. A lot. “It was all that stuff. It was anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all.” He got sober, he says, because “You get panicked. [...]
Sarah Polley “I think you have to keep your distance from mainstream Hollywood in order to be a normal human being,” Sarah Polley [left] once commented. [imdb.com] She continued, “I mean, I work there, and I like being there, but I love having an anonymous life. I think there’s definitely such a thing as being [...]
“The film industry is very old fashioned in California. It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality. And even more difficult for a woman if she’s lesbian. “It’s very distressing to me that that should be the case. It’s not true of [...]
Mainstream film/tv studios are considered a “boys’ club” with good reason: they usually make story and casting decisions based on adolescent male values [eg fast action, violence, t&a] – not exactly high spiritual or creative ideals. Casting often excludes and limits actors with talent. Indira Varma Indira Varma [“Bride & Prejudice” etc] notes in the [...]
Many talented people have difficulties in finding and keeping relationships that are meaningful and satisfying. Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Johansson [photo: with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in "Match Point"] recently commented about particular challenges for actors: “I don’t think human beings are monogamous by nature. It’s difficult – you have to put a lot of effort into a [...]
Heather Graham “Acting is telling a story, and you’re part of telling that story. In some ways therapy helps more than acting class. You realize why you operate in certain ways.” Heather Graham [in our interview several years ago about making "Lost in Space"] expressed one of the most valuable and positive reasons for therapy [...]
A demanding career A number of actors advise pursuing this very demanding career only if you can’t feel right doing anything else. And a number of highly talented actors change direction into writing, producing or some other vocation. You need to be aware of what is really driving you. Maria Bello on being of service [...]
Maybe all of us need to alter our feelings and state of mind at times. Mountain climbing, skydiving, yoga, using drugs and alcohol are all ways, as noted by psychologist David Duncan in his article Human’s Need To Alter Consciousness. [This is an article on a huge addiction research and treatment site that I am [...]
“Hollywood has never embraced me. Part of that is my fault because of my behavior in the past..” [imdb.com Jan 18 02] > related topic page: self-limiting ~ ~ ~ “Unrealized talent does not make a comfortable chair, unless you’ve sat on it your whole life, then it makes it a dangerously comfortable chair.” [ericrobertsactor.com] [...]