“Mustering up enough self-esteem to say, ‘I want to be an actor,’ was a big turning point.” Julia Roberts [Parade mag. Nov 9 2008] Many creative people report feeling incompetent, inadequate and having low self esteem or self-regard at times. But there are ways to shift those feelings. A number of film actors report they [...]
Body image issues can be particularly acute for people in entertainment, which also provides most of the icons and role models of appearance. In her new memoir Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Portia de Rossi writes about a dark side of pursuing a “perfect” look. “Anorexia was my first love. I didn’t [...]
In a recent interview, Amanda Seyfried says she isn’t comfortable with her new fame and status: “I mean, why am I considered an ‘it girl?’” she asks. “Because I’m in a lot of movies right now or am on the covers of magazines? I just hope there is something solid behind that. “Because here’s the [...]
By guest author Carmen Lynne After spending the greater part of my life as an actress and performer, I became a therapist in early 2007. While I still do a little bit of acting when I have a chance, I now mainly spend my time helping other people to fulfill their creative ambitions or to [...]
Emma Watson Acting in the final two “Potter” movies, and thinking about choosing college (maybe Columbia University), Emma Watson recently talked about criticism of her work as Hermione, and modulating her perfectionism. “I will look back on this part of my life and I know it will be special, but it used to be that [...]
James Earl Jones, who is getting a lifetime achievement award Jan. 25 from the Screen Actors Guild, still radiates wonder at being part of the acting profession. “What fascinates me is that every actor is given a charge, a task — no matter what your motive was in taking the role, even if it’s just [...]
In SherryBaby (2006), Maggie Gyllenhaal portrayed Sherry Swanson, who returns home after serving a prison sentence to reestablish a relationship with her young daughter. Gyllenhaal describes for Interview magazine her experience with the character, and the big change in her attitude toward appreciating roles that are “not so wayward.” Maggie Gyllenhaal: We shot Sherrybaby in [...]
“Actors and actresses, because that’s their career, can be sort of self-obsessed.” Kristen Bell says that for her new film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” she “just looked into the depths of the most hard-to-admit or vulnerable or bad characteristics of my own personality and what an actress can become if given that kind of self indulgence [...]
Brooke Shields: My hope is that my kids won’t want to go into show business, just because of the heartache… I thrive on the experience of working. I don’t know myself any other way. [But] I’m not enamored by [fame]. I don’t covet it, the way someone who’s anonymous wants it, and then their life [...]
“It’s all been a big sham.” “Sometimes I wake up in the morning before going off to a shoot, and I think, I can’t do this; I’m a fraud. They’re going to fire me — all these things. I’m fat; I’m ugly…” Those admissions by Kate Winslet [Interview mag. Nov 2000] were made after her [...]
Being told who you are “You can’t be yourself because you’re always being judged.” That is a line from “Ellie Parker” about an actress trying to get a start in Los Angeles, played by Naomi Watts, who also produced the film. That sort of uncertainty of identity and insecurity affects many artists on the way [...]
Holly Hunter says about developing her talent as an actor, that she was “trying to get as much experience as I could. But very early on, I was always extremely particular. From the beginning, I was never desperate. “I did other things for money; you know, the normal, boring stuff – I temped, I did [...]
Especially in such an ageist arena as entertainment, it is refreshing to hear some positive views on accepting, even embracing, our inevitable aging. Felicity Huffman thoughtfully expresses her perspectives on aging as an actor. [She stars in "Desperate Housewives" and the new film "Georgia Rule" (source of the photo) with Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan.] [...]
Rex Lee plays assistant Lloyd to a “rabid boss” – agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) on HBO’s hit series “Entourage.” In an article on Lee [Memoirs of a Gaysian, by Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times April 12, 2007] the author notes “Lloyd has become something of a pop icon — thanks in large part to [...]
Melora Hardin [Jan Levinson in NBC's "The Office"] is also a musician, and in our interview several years ago, she talked about how actors and artists – especially women – are responded to and labeled. “I have never ever felt when I walked into a room as a brunette that anybody was testing my intelligence. [...]
Rainn Wilson radiates confidence Rainn Wilson discovered acting in a high school drama class, then moved to New York to study in NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, notes a new Los Angeles Times article [Revenge of the nerd, By Fred Schruers, March 22, 2007], and “filled the next decade with theater work, including Shakespeare and off-Broadway, [...]
Jackie Earle Haley on insecurity Jackie Earle Haley just achieved an Oscar nom for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Todd Field’s “Little Children.” His reaction was enthusiastic: “Jubilation. Pure unbelievable joy. This is a day of all days.” Fellow “Children” nominee Kate Winslet recalled his audition for the director: “We [...]
In a recent news story, the accomplished actor, director and producer “warned aspiring actors against getting entangled in the idea of popularity as it could be destructive. “The 60- year old, academy nominated actor has blamed Hollywood and attendant fame for the discomposure and bedlam in his personal life. “Success and fame are as addictive [...]
“Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be. I can’t stand it when they behave like solicitors from Penge. … I’m a would-be rebel. The good girl who’d like to be a bad one.” Helen Mirren [imdb.com, unknown date] But being “bad” [at least in a good way, not self- or socially-destructive] can [...]
Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood [“Running with Scissors”] recalls getting beat up in elementary school for being an actor. “I think it was because my SAG card fell out of my bag, and [the kids] asked what it was and I explained to them, and no more than ten minutes later I was getting [...]