First of all, the actor needs to get out of the character's way. You follow the character without judgment or prejudice or preconceived ideas.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Sometimes you need to put your own characteristics into the actor, and you take different things from the character that you admire - sometimes you can't see the boundaries anymore.
Any actor who judges his character is a fool - for every role you play you've got to absorb that character's motives and justifications.
A really useful quality to have as an actor is a lack of self-awareness. I try and get into the character's thinking, and some of them just aren't really that bothered about how they come across or aware of how they come across.
Sometimes, if you leave yourself open, an actor can bring nice nuances to a character.
When you are a character actor they trust you will go in and give them a full character and leave.
Sometimes, as actors, we feel like we want to hold on and control where a character goes.
I guess every character has a little bit of the actor - I guess for every character you play, the actor has to allow a little bit of their own character to show through.
Actors are exposed in a way that nobody else can understand. They are subject to the likes and dislikes of people their entire life, no matter how successful they are. At the same time, in order to be liked, you have to not be yourself. So it's a very complicated human exercise - an alchemy that I have never understood.
When an actor decides to play a character, he must exude some sort of charisma and look relatable, even if he is playing the role of a really unattractive person.
As an actor you make choices that are either right or wrong, and you find the ones that are right for you. As an understudy, the choices have been made, so you have to make those choices right. Going into the role, you can't really question it.