When you’re an actor you don’t really know what you have to do until you see what you look like.

Meaning of the quote

As an actor, you don't always know how to play your character until you see yourself in the role. The way you look on stage or screen can help you understand the character better and figure out how to act. It's like putting on a costume or makeup - it can change how you feel and move, and that can change how you perform.

About Tom Wilkinson

Tom Wilkinson was an acclaimed English actor who received numerous awards, including a BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Primetime Emmy. He was known for his versatile roles in films like The Full Monty, In the Bedroom, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and for his acclaimed portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in the HBO miniseries John Adams.

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More quotes from Tom Wilkinson

I won’t say I wouldn’t be grateful and happy and delighted and thrilled to bits to receive a nomination. But I wouldn’t be suicidal if it didn’t happen.

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You can’t do things for money. You just can’t act them. There’s gotta be something about the script that you really want to do. I wouldn’t do a job if I didn’t think I could do the best work I possibly could.

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I would recommend it to everybody, every now and again you just put a dress on, see what it feels like, because it’s, its interesting. A whole complex series of thoughts and feelings assail you as you look at yourself.

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English actor (1948-2023)

I once did a role which I couldn’t rehearse in my street clothes, I had to have the character’s costume on before I could rehearse it. I just couldn’t think as the character unless I looked like him, or I knew that I looked like him.

Tom Wilkinson

English actor (1948-2023)