Andy Serkis Quotes

Powerful Andy Serkis for Daily Growth

About Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis, born Andrew Clement Serkis on April 20, 1964, in Ruislip, Middlesex, England, is a renowned British actor, director, and author, best known for his groundbreaking performances in performance capture acting, a technique he popularized. Serkis's passion for acting was ignited during his teenage years, performing with the National Youth Theatre and attending the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. However, it was his love for physical theater and mime that truly set him apart, influencing his unique approach to acting. His breakthrough role came in 2001 as Gollum in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, where he employed performance capture technology to bring the iconic character to life. This pioneering work earned him a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor and solidified his status as a trailblazer in the film industry. Serkis continued to push boundaries with roles such as King Kong in "King Kong" (2005), Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and Caesar in the "Planet of the Apes" reboot series. His performances have been praised for their emotional depth and nuance, despite being digitally created. In 2018, Serkis published his memoir, "Where I Belong: A Life in Two Halves," offering a candid look into his life, career, and the transformative power of performance capture technology. The book serves as a testament to his unwavering dedication to his craft and his enduring influence on filmmaking. Today, Serkis continues to act, direct, and advocate for the recognition of performance capture acting as a legitimate form of acting. His innovative work has left an indelible mark on cinema, ensuring his place among the greats of British acting.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Motion capture technology is like a paintbrush in my hands."

This quote by Andy Serkis suggests that motion capture technology is a creative tool for him, comparable to a painter's brush. Just as a painter uses a brush to bring life to their artwork, Serkis employs motion capture technology to breathe life into the digital characters he portrays. In essence, he sees motion capture not just as a technical process, but as an artistic medium through which he can express himself and create unforgettable performances in film.


"I always try to find something human within the characters I play."

Andy Serkis' quote emphasizes his commitment to making his character portrayals relatable and authentic by finding and highlighting human traits, emotions, and complexities within them. This approach allows audiences to connect more deeply with characters that might otherwise seem inhuman or unapproachable, thereby enriching the overall storytelling experience.


"What's important is that you believe it's real and you can connect with it as if it were real."

This quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity and emotional connection in performance. In order to create a convincing portrayal, an actor or performer should genuinely believe in their character or scenario and connect with it on an emotional level, making it seem real for the audience. This deep immersion into the role often results in compelling performances that resonate with viewers.


"In motion capture, it's about finding the truth in the moment."

Andy Serkis' quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity in motion capture performances. The "truth" he refers to is the genuine, emotional resonance that an actor brings to life through their movements and expressions. This truth captures the essence of a character or moment, making it believable and compelling to audiences. In other words, motion capture is not just about physically replicating a character, but deeply understanding and embodying its emotional journey.


"I don't really know what acting is. I just do what comes naturally to me."

This quote by Andy Serkis suggests that he does not have a strict definition or understanding of what acting "is," but instead, he approaches it organically. He chooses to express himself genuinely in his roles, allowing his natural talent and instincts to guide his performance. In essence, Serkis' approach to acting can be seen as a form of authentic expression rather than adherence to technical definitions or rules.


Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.

- Andy Serkis

Love, Storytelling, Other, Age

Actors' performances in films are enhanced in a million different ways, down to the choice of camera shot by the director - whether it's in slow motion or whether it's quick cut - or... the choice of music behind the close-up or the costume that you're wearing or the makeup.

- Andy Serkis

Makeup, Behind, Quick, Director

People will come up to me and try and be secretive and say, 'Can you do the Gollum voice for me?' And I'm like, 'Are you kidding? It's 8:30 in the morning on the Victoria Line.'

- Andy Serkis

Voice, Will, Victoria, Secretive

I can get on with all different sorts of people, and I never feel homesick, particularly, or I've never felt kind of patriotic towards any one country.

- Andy Serkis

Country, Patriotic, Homesick

Gollum was so interesting to me because he's morally ambivalent, and I love the notion of a quest that is to lose something. Not to gain, but to get rid of something.

- Andy Serkis

Love, Lose, Ambivalent, Morally

When I played Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings,' if I was climbing up the side of a mountain, which I physically did, you know, I was on every single occasion swimming through streams, all of that, that wasn't captured. That was filmed on 35 millimeter, and for certain of those shots, it was rotoscoped and painted over.

- Andy Serkis

Through, Occasion, Painted, Rings

My very, very first moment on set on 'Lord of the Rings' in 2000 was me in a lycra suit, six and a half thousand feet up on a mountain in New Zealand, standing in front of 250 crew who were all wondering what I was doing - myself included.

- Andy Serkis

Feet, Doing, Very, Rings

Motion capture is exactly what it says: it's physical moves, whereas performance capture is the entire performance - including your facial performance. If you're doing, say, martial arts for a video game, that is motion capture. This is basically another way of recording an actor's performance: audio, facial and physical.

- Andy Serkis

Game, Doing, Another, Another Way

Performance capture is a technology, not a genre; it's just another way of recording an actor's performance.

- Andy Serkis

Performance, Actor, Another, Another Way

Any sort of role requires a certain amount of research and embodiment of the character and psychological investigation.

- Andy Serkis

Character, Role, Amount, Embodiment

I love the ability to transform because that, for me, is a liberation.

- Andy Serkis

Love, Transform, I Love, Liberation

As long as you have the acting chops and the desire to get inside a character, you can play anything.

- Andy Serkis

Character, Play, Desire, Chops

I've been on stage and been an actor for many years and used different mediums.

- Andy Serkis

Actor, Stage, Been, Mediums

Mountaineering has always been a huge hobby of mine.

- Andy Serkis

Always, Been, Mine, Hobby

Yeah, I mean, climbing's always been a massive hobby of mine up until, kind of, recent times when I've had family, but no, it's been a driving passion in my life and, uh, I've always wanted to climb the Matterhorn. It was the mountain that, sort of, inspired me to climb, as a youngster. So, it was great to be able to get to do it.

- Andy Serkis

My Life, Been, Had, Hobby

Climbing's always been a massive hobby of mine up until, kind of, recent times when I've had family, but no, it's been a driving passion in my life, and, uh, I've always wanted to climb the Matterhorn. It was the mountain that, sort of, inspired me to climb, as a youngster.

- Andy Serkis

My Life, Been, Had, Hobby

My livelihood depends on the art of animators.

- Andy Serkis

Art, Depends, Animators, Livelihood

I am a bit evangelical, I know, but performance-capture is still misunderstood.

- Andy Serkis

I Am, Know, Still, Evangelical

In 'Tintin,' it's like a live-action role. You're living and breathing and making decisions for that character from page 1 to page 120, the whole emotional arc. In an animated movie, it's a committee decision. There are 50 people creating that character. You're responsible for a small part.

- Andy Serkis

Small, Movie, Role, Animated

I would love to direct an 'Apes' movie. It would be in the spirit of where I'm going with my career - avatars played by actors to say something about the human condition.

- Andy Serkis

Love, Movie, Human Condition, Ape

After 'Kong,' my knuckles have never recovered because I had to wear very heavy weights on my forearms and around my hips and ankles to get the sense of size and scale of the movement of the character... You are telling your body that you are these things and that you're feeling these thoughts and that you're experiencing these experiences.

- Andy Serkis

Wear, Very, Telling, Recovered

When I'm working on the scripts or working with the other actors or rehearsing with the director, and when the director is cutting the movie, and we've shot the scene, the director is not looking at the visual effects.

- Andy Serkis

Director, Movie, Other, Rehearsing

I'm a Mac user. I think it depends on how you were brought up, and I was introduced to Apple quite early. They're certainly the best for visual stuff and film-directing.

- Andy Serkis

Think, I Think, Certainly, Mac

People think, 'Oh, well how can 'The Hobbit,' which is one book, become three films?' But you can take one line from an appendice and it turns into a whole sequence.

- Andy Serkis

Think, Which, Films, One Book

What you can do with visual effects is enhance the look of the character, but the actual integrity of the emotional performance and the way the character's facial expressions work, that is what is going to be created on the day with other actors and the director.

- Andy Serkis

Other, Going, Actual, Expressions

I never felt totally, 100%, patriotically English... I'd seen a lot of the world by an early age - sort of spent a lot of time traveling around Lebanon and I'd seen Babylon, and Damascus, and all sorts of places in the Middle East by the time I was ten. Then we'd return to Ruslip in West London... Done a fair bit of traveling really.

- Andy Serkis

London, Fair, By The Time, Lebanon

Performance capture is a tool that young actors will need in the next 10, 20 years. It's on the increase, as you say. It's not going away.

- Andy Serkis

Young, Next, Away, Young Actors

You could go so wrong with a 'Planet of the Apes' reboot; you could make it melodramatic, you could make it campy, you could fall into so many traps with it.

- Andy Serkis

Go, Could, Planet, Traps

The wonderful thing about 48 fps is the integration of live action and CG elements; that is something I learned from 'The Hobbit.' We are so used to 24 fps and the romance of celluloid... but at 48 fps, you cannot deny the existence of these CG creations in the same time frame and space and environment as the live action.

- Andy Serkis

Romance, About, Time Frame, Celluloid

If I hear someone say something, and they're 100 per cent about it, then it's almost inevitable that I'll take the opposite view. I guess I feel at odds with things like society. Absolutism is always a trigger for me.

- Andy Serkis

About, Almost, Cent, Odds

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