30+ Michael Shurtleff Quotes (Versatile, Charismatic And Memorable)

Michael Shurtleff is an American actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his Tony Award-winning performance in the musical "Barefoot in the Park" in 1964. He has also directed and produced dozens of Broadway shows, including the original production of "A Chorus Line" in 1975.

Top 10 Michael Shurtleff Quotes

1. The first step to a better audition is to give up character and use yourself.
2. Conflict is what creates drama. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance.
3. Consistency is the death of good acting.
4. To go into acting is like asking for admission to an insane asylum. Anyone may apply, but only the certifiably insane are admitted.
5. Acting in theatre or television or screen is only for the irrecoverably diseased, those so smitten with the need that there is no choice.
6. An expression of feeling isn't worth anything unless it interferes with what the other actor in the scene wants.
7. Take nothing for granted. Make an emotional discovery as often as you can find one in every scene. Ask yourself: What is new?
8. Most actors make themselves unhappy by searching for their sanity, by insisting on their normalcy; it's a grave mistake.
9. Competition [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 not first-rate actors.
10. There's only one reason why a character drinks: to seek confrontation. To fight for what they want in ways normally denied them.

Michael Shurtleff Short Quotes

• Humor is an attitude, a survivor’s way of looking at life. It’s not about telling jokes.
• That's why there's so little romance in our world now: everyone thinks romance is weak.
• If we lived for reality, we'd be dead, every last one of us. Only dreams keep us going.
• The actor needs to find out what the basic fight is in every character in every scene.
• Everyone thinks romance is weak. Yet romance is everyone's secret dream-it's why we're alive.
• Every scene is a love scene. The actor should ask the question: 'Where is the love?'
• The life of an actor is a bit easier to take if you admit you're bonkers.
• Creating relationship is the heart of acting. It is basic. It is essential.

Michael Shurtleff Famous Quotes And Sayings

Actors, who should pride themselves on their singularity, are forever trying to be someone else. It isn’t necessary for you, the actor, to like yourself— self-love isn’t easy to come by for most of us— but you must learn to trust who you are. There is no one else like you. — Michael Shurtleff

An 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...the extraordinary, the unusual, the climaxes. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance. — Michael Shurtleff

No 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 how we explain ourselves to someone else, no matter how open we are, there is always still something inexplicable, something hidden and unknown in us, too. — Michael Shurtleff

Whatever you decide is your motivation in the scene, the opposite of that is also true and should be in it. — Michael Shurtleff

Competition 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 actors. The good actor is the one who competes, willingly, who enjoys competing. An actor must compete, or die...Peacefulness and the avoidance of trouble won't help in his acting. It is just the opposite he must seek. — Michael Shurtleff

The moral: Don't settle for anything less than the biggest dream for your future Fight to make the dream come true. — Michael Shurtleff

Often actors ask me if I think they should go on trying to be an actor. I have the same answer for everyone who asks: If you have a choice and could reasonably be happy doing something else, by all means go at once and do something else. Acting or writing or directing in the theatre or television or screen is only for the irrecoverably diseased, those who are so smitten with the need that there is no choice. — Michael Shurtleff

Listening 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 it land before you react. Listening is letting your reaction make a difference. Listening is active. — Michael Shurtleff

Every scene you will ever act begins in the middle, and it is up to you, the actor, to provide what comes before. — Michael Shurtleff

We 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 are acting, don't settle for anything less than the biggest dream for your character's future. — Michael Shurtleff

An 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 their way so that what you want is stronger than what they want. — Michael Shurtleff

Humor [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. — Michael Shurtleff

Life Lessons by Michael Shurtleff

1. Michael Shurtleff taught that the most important part of acting is connecting with the material and understanding the character's motivations.
2. He also emphasized the importance of taking risks and being willing to make mistakes in order to discover the truth of the character.
3. Finally, he encouraged actors to be open to feedback and to use it to improve their performances.