Wallace Shawn quotes

Wallace Shawn is an American actor, playwright, and essayist known for his distinctive voice and intellectual roles. His performances in films such as "My Dinner with Andre," "The Princess Bride," and voice work in "Toy Story" have made him widely recognizable. He continues to contribute to theatre and film with both his acting and writing. Here are 58 of his quotes:

Interestingly, the actress who, in her own persona, may be gentle, shy, and socially awkward, someone whose hand trembles when pouring a cup of tea for a visiting friend, can convincingly portray an elegant, cruel aristocrat tossing off malicious epigrams in an eighteenth-century chocolate house. (Wallace Shawn)
I probably have a higher opinion of my writing than the average person, at least when I'm in a good mood, but I don't really think of my plays as only being relevant to a particular month or year. View quote
Wallace Shawn
We are not what we seem. We are more than what we seem. The actor knows that. And because the actor knows that hidden inside himself there's a wizard and a king, he also knows that when he's playing himself in his daily life, he's playing a part, he's performing, just as he's performing when he plays a part on stage. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I'm being mocked because I don't live up to a socially determined view of what other people think a person should look like. View quote
Wallace Shawn
Children, I always think, are just putting on a performance of being naive and not understanding anything. I have worked with children in films, and they're treated as adults and they just drop the pretense of being children. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I don't know about you, but I only have one life, and I don't want to spend it in a sewer of injustice. View quote
Wallace Shawn
From being a writer of plays, it was not that surprising that somebody thought of giving me a job as an actor. After I played one part, others came along. View quote
Wallace Shawn
After being in one movie, it didn't seem like that would be my life. I had done several jobs, briefly. I'd been a shipping clerk, I worked in a copy shop, I didn't think the acting was going to go on and on. View quote
Wallace Shawn
Acting is trying to be absolutely truthful; to get audiences to believe that you are a dean, when, actually, not only are you not the dean, but if you walked into the building they'd probably throw you out. That's very hard. View quote
Wallace Shawn
My personal life is lived as 'me,' but my professional life is lived as other people. In other words, when I go to the office, I lie down, dream, and become 'someone else.' That's my job. View quote
Wallace Shawn
My father was a jazz listener, and I think, at least before I was 5, I was not so into that. Although there were records that emphasized percussion that I liked, like Baby Dodds. (Wallace Shawn)
I have more free time than a lot of individuals, so, instead of talking, I sometimes write. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I was making my living from a joke about my appearance that I didn't understand, and in a way still don't, because when I look in a mirror it doesn't seem funny to me. View quote
Wallace Shawn
As writers, we can't predict who might come along who might find our offerings valuable. View quote
Wallace Shawn
The life of an actor can be very enviable. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I have an enormous appetite to see life as I know it presented in front of my eyes. View quote
Wallace Shawn
In my early 20s, I studied history and politics, and I really thought that perhaps I would devote my life to that. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I think the whole system of education would change if I were in charge and had the ability to make changes. I don't think I would keep Princeton exactly being Princeton. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I have been vain since birth. View quote
Wallace Shawn
It is hard enough to make a plan for how you are going to spend an evening with somebody else. So to make a plan for how you are going to behave in 25 years seems based on a view of life that is incomprehensible to me. View quote
Wallace Shawn
Acting is an escape from the boring person that I am in real life. (Wallace Shawn)
In terms of number of movies, I've been in an extraordinary amount. If you count only the minutes I'm onscreen, it's not so long. View quote
Wallace Shawn
My plays have been strange from the beginning, and they never got unstrange. View quote
Wallace Shawn
In an amusement park, you can go on a roller coaster that carries you up and down, or you can go on another kind of ride that whirls you around in a circle. Similarly, there are different sorts of entertaining experiences in the theater. View quote
Wallace Shawn
I know that I am one and I've made a living as an actor and I enjoy being an actor, but when I'm not actually doing it, I forget that I do it. View quote
Wallace Shawn