Meryl Streep Acting Quotations

Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.

All an actor has is their blind faith that they are who they say they are today, in any scene.

I need to go where people are serious about acting.

My job is usually to express emotion as freely as possible.

I think your self emerges more clearly over time.

I have four to five months, tops, per year to give to my acting work.

The best thing about acting is when you're playing a scene and you actually become your character and lose yourself in that moment. That's when you know you've been succeeded at what you've worked very hard to accomplish in your profession. Those are the truly thrilling moments.

I would never say don't do acting [to my kids], because I think it is a glorious profession and I am so thankful for everything it has let me express.

Acting is my way of investigating human nature and having fun at the same time

Acting is being susceptible to what is around you, and it's letting it all come in. Acting is a clearing away of everything except what you want and need - and it's wonderful in that way. And when it's right, you're lost in the moment.

While I am overwhelmingly proud of work that I, believe me, did not do on my own, I can assure you that awards have very little bearing on my own personal happiness, my own sense of well-being and purpose in the world.

Singing and acting are very similar. Singing makes you reach into your deepest feelings. Singing is an extension of everything that you do when you're acting.

Pretending is not just play. Pretending is imagined possibility. Pretending, or acting, is a very valuable life skill and we do it all the time.

Empathy is at the heart of the actor's art.

The work will stand, no matter what.

Everyone is interesting. Everyone has something unexpected to offer and the job of acting is to pull it out of each other.