Michael ShurtleffMost actors make themselves unhappy by searching for their sanity, by insisting on their normalcy; it's a grave mistake. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an … ▶362Humor
Michael ShurtleffWe don't live for realities, but for the fantasies, the dreams of what might be. If we lived for reality, we'd be dead, every last one of us. Only dreams keep us going...When you … ▶364DeathHopeTime
Michael ShurtleffConsistency is the death of good acting. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part, p.103, Bloomsbury Publishing USA367Death
Michael ShurtleffAn actor is looking for conflict. Conflict is what creates drama. We are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don't realize they must go looking for it. Plays are written about...t… ▶368Time
Michael ShurtleffTo go into acting is like asking for admission to an insane asylum. Anyone may apply, but only the certifiably insane are admitted. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Eve… ▶379Philosophy
Michael ShurtleffTake nothing for granted. Make an emotional discovery as often as you can find one in every scene. Ask yourself: What is new?325Hope
Michael ShurtleffHumor is an attitude, a survivor’s way of looking at life. It’s not about telling jokes.292HumorLife
Michael ShurtleffAn expression of feeling isn't worth anything unless it interferes with what the other actor in the scene wants.359Sadness
Michael ShurtleffNo matter how much we know about the other person, there is always something going on in that other heart and that other head that we don't know but can only ponder. And no matter… ▶294LoveReflection
Michael ShurtleffCompetition [in a scene] is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore no… ▶3410Life
Michael ShurtleffConflict is what creates drama. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance.306Life
Michael ShurtleffActing in theatre or television or screen is only for the irrecoverably diseased, those so smitten with the need that there is no choice. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Auditio… ▶221Thought
Michael ShurtleffHumor [in a scene] is not jokes. It is that attitude toward being alive without which you would long ago have jumped off the 59th Street Bridge.298HumorLife
Michael ShurtleffAn actor must make his needs (goals, wants, objectives) so strong that he is willing to interfere with the other actor in order to get what he needs. Interfering means getting in … ▶233Time
Michael ShurtleffEvery scene you will ever act begins in the middle, and it is up to you, the actor, to provide what comes before. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor N… ▶266Philosophy
Michael ShurtleffThe moral: Don't settle for anything less than the biggest dream for your future Fight to make the dream come true. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor… ▶223HopeTimeTruth
Michael ShurtleffWhatever you decide is your motivation in the scene, the opposite of that is also true and should be in it. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs t… ▶279Truth
Michael ShurtleffListening is not merely hearing, it is receiving the message that is being sent to you. Listening is reacting. Listening is being affected by what you hear. Listening is letting i… ▶224Reflection
Michael ShurtleffCreating relationship is the heart of acting. It is basic. It is essential. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part, p.23, Bl… ▶236Love
Michael ShurtleffThe actor needs to find out what the basic fight is in every character in every scene. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Par… ▶248Hope
Michael ShurtleffThe life of an actor is a bit easier to take if you admit you're bonkers. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part, p.4, Bloom… ▶161Life
Michael ShurtleffEveryone thinks romance is weak. Yet romance is everyone's secret dream-it's why we're alive. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get … ▶2410LifeLoveThought
Michael ShurtleffEvery scene is a love scene. The actor should ask the question: 'Where is the love?' ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part,… ▶207Love
Michael ShurtleffThe first step to a better audition is to give up character and use yourself.196Truth
Michael ShurtleffThat's why there's so little romance in our world now: everyone thinks romance is weak. ✨ Michael Shurtleff (2009). Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Pa… ▶218LoveThought
Michael ShurtleffThere's only one reason why a character drinks: to seek confrontation. To fight for what they want in ways normally denied them.133Thought
Michael ShurtleffCompetition is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore not first-rate … ▶1310DeathLife
