Mark Rylance Quotes

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About Mark Rylance

Mark Rylance, born on January 18, 1960, in Ashford, Kent, England, is a versatile actor, playwright, and director who has made significant contributions to both British and American theater and film industries. Raised in an artistic family, Rylance developed an early interest in performing arts. He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and began his professional career on stage with the National Youth Theatre. His first major role was in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at the Globe Theatre in 1984. In 1992, Rylance co-founded the Renaissance Theatre Company, which focused on promoting classic plays. His most notable work with the company was directing and starring in "Jerusalem," a play he wrote himself, which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010. Rylance made his film debut in 1987 but gained international recognition in 2015 with his role as Walter Keane in "Woman in Gold." His portrayal of Thomas Cromwell in Showtime's "The Tudors" and as Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies," earned him Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Throughout his career, Rylance has shown a deep affection for Shakespearean works, often reinterpreting them in unique ways that make them relevant to contemporary audiences. His adaptations and performances have earned him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including three Tony Awards and two Olivier Awards. Rylance's artistry lies in his ability to embody characters authentically while infusing them with a touch of the surreal, creating performances that are as captivating as they are thought-provoking. His contributions to theater and film continue to inspire new generations of artists worldwide.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"We're all in our own prisons, aren't we? We need to find the key."

This quote by Mark Rylance suggests that each person is trapped within their own unique circumstances or struggles, metaphorically a prison of one's own making. The key to freedom lies in personal discovery, understanding, and overcoming these challenges. It serves as a reminder that everyone has the potential for growth, change, and ultimately finding the path to liberation from personal limitations.


"Love is a force that can be as strong as gravity."

This quote by Mark Rylance suggests that love, like gravity, is a powerful, unyielding, and enduring force. Just as gravity pulls objects towards each other, love has the capacity to bring people together strongly. It implies that love can have an influential impact on our lives, shaping and defining our relationships in much the same way that gravity shapes the cosmos. In essence, Rylance's quote highlights the profound and pervasive effect love can have on human existence.


"I think we don't want to be famous, we want to be known."

This quote suggests that the desire behind seeking recognition is not just to become famous for its own sake, but rather to be recognized as a genuine individual with unique talents and qualities. Fame may bring attention, but it doesn't necessarily foster understanding or appreciation of who we truly are. Being known implies that our true selves are acknowledged and valued by others, which can provide a more meaningful connection than the fleeting glory of mere fame.


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

Mark Rylance suggests that acting involves recognizing and highlighting the shared humanity between oneself and a character, rather than simply imitating an external appearance or behavior. By discovering the commonalities between actor and role, he can authentically portray the character while also drawing upon his own experiences and emotions to make the performance more relatable and compelling for the audience.


"The only thing that's real are our memories."

This quote by Mark Rylance suggests that the authenticity and permanence we attribute to reality may be largely found in our personal memories. In other words, the experiences and recollections of past events form a significant part of what we perceive as real, because these are the things that have directly impacted us and left an indelible impression on our minds. This perspective underscores the importance of cherishing and preserving our memories, as they provide a foundation for understanding ourselves and the world around us.


I have great mood swings, maybe because of playing lots of different characters as I do. I'm like a gymnast whose muscles get too stretched. I've got better at it, but I have a lot of emotional energy.

- Mark Rylance

Mood, Maybe, Gymnast, Different Characters

There were terrific shows on TV like 'Star Trek' and 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' and 'Wild Wild West.' All us kids would watch them. We would act them out in the basement. I think I found that I could speak a bit more clearly when I was playing with other people.

- Mark Rylance

Other, Basement, TV, Wild West

The scientific-rational mindset is as much a cosmology as the Catholic mindset was in the Middle Ages; scientists are so proud of their mindset and convinced that it's the only reality. I find that worrying.

- Mark Rylance

Proud, Mindset, Middle, Cosmology

I'm still struggling with whether I might want to get off the Internet. More and more people I know have. Daniel Day Lewis doesn't do the Internet at all, and I noticed he had many more books open around his house.

- Mark Rylance

House, Around, Had, Lewis

But I find with Francis Bacon, some of the things were in the place, and someone who was connected with these schools of thought, and someone who had a motivation that equals the scope of the comedy and the tragedy in the plays.

- Mark Rylance

Thought, Some, Plays, Francis

I think that was very important to Bacon... personally. I think he went to great efforts to get a house for the Stratford man, to make it so difficult for us to prove that it was Francis Bacon, because it is very difficult to prove.

- Mark Rylance

Think, I Think, Very, Francis

Burleigh, absolutely; and a lot about Elizabeth. I mean I found when I play Henry V a lot of connections with the hidden history of the connection between Francis Bacon and Elizabeth.

- Mark Rylance

Play, Hidden, Elizabeth, Francis

There are still people, obviously, who are stopping you and want a selfie because they need to justify their own lives by being in close proximity to a celebrity... but those are minor with me. I'm not a major celebrity.

- Mark Rylance

Celebrity, Own, Minor, Proximity

I think the idea that life ends when we physically die is as painful as the idea in Cromwell's time that there's some awful purgatory, and you have to give money to the Catholic church to get your loved ones out. I certainly have experienced a lot of evidence that there's a consciousness that isn't physical.

- Mark Rylance

Die, Some, I Think, Catholic Church

I think, early on, I was very distrustful of authority yet needed a lot of approval from it. I was in that kind of bind. Which is a kind of abuse bind.

- Mark Rylance

Think, Very, Which, Bind

It's something I've enjoyed since being a kid, the fantasy of it, the imagining I'm someone other than who I am. I've always felt claustrophobic in one sense of identity. If anything, I've had to work to develop a sense of my own identity. I used to really hate it when people defined me.

- Mark Rylance

Kid, Own, Other, Defined

Our job is to make manifest the story, to be it. In a sense, the theatre is such a big star itself, bigger than any Shakespearean actor I could hire, that we should take the opportunity to fill it with voice and verse and movement, not interpretation.

- Mark Rylance

Voice, Big, Hire, Verse

And it is a very beautiful idea, and possibly true, that a common man from Stratford with a common education was able to write these plays.

- Mark Rylance

Education, Very, Plays, Possibly

I certainly never pictured myself even attending the Academy Awards, much less winning at 56. I very, very happily settled into a theater career. I did more than that, but I let all of my agents and people go. I said, 'I don't want to be promoted in film anymore. I have enough to do in the theater, so I'm just going to carry on.'

- Mark Rylance

Career, Very, Promoted, Agents

I've always looked at famous actors and hope that once they get a part that they have success in, they would reprise it every few years in the way a pop singer will reprise their hits. Like Bob Dylan singing 'Blowin' in the Wind' until he's fed up with it, finding different ways of doing it.

- Mark Rylance

Doing, Singer, Fed, Wind

Nature is very cruel. It is much riskier to love any living being than not. I'm painfully aware that even my little dog is a walking bundle of mortality. I'm painfully aware he's going to pass.

- Mark Rylance

Love, Living, Very, Painfully

Shakespeare was the main thing I did in my life from the age of 16 when I first played 'Hamlet' at school. I then did summer stock the next summer and then went to RADA and joined the RSC and ran my own company and then worked at the Globe. That was about 30 years of my life.

- Mark Rylance

My Life, Next, Main Thing, Ran

Some actors are frightened and concentrating so hard on their own performance, you don't feel that anything you do makes any difference. They're just kicking a ball against a wall, so to speak.

- Mark Rylance

Some, Against, Concentrating, Frightened

I had to turn down a part in 'Empire of the Sun.' It would have paid £15,000, which was a year's earnings for me then, but I was offered a season at the 'National Theatre.'

- Mark Rylance

Year, Part, Which, Season

So often, in my life, when you play a joke on another actor, you say, 'Hello? Steven Spielberg? It's for you.' What's it feel like? It's bizarre. He feels like he's a friend. He feels like he's some kid in the neighborhood who has a camera and makes films, now and then, and says, 'Would you come 'round and play?' It doesn't feel grand at all.

- Mark Rylance

My Life, Play, Feels, Neighborhood

My understanding is that we are generally a very philanthropic and compassionate people - that when there are disasters in the world, individual citizens send loads of money into appeals for different things. We're a bloody violent people, football fans, and we've been successful at wars, and we sell far too many weapons.

- Mark Rylance

Been, Violent, Very, Philanthropic

We have people we admire, like Einstein, saying mystery is the most beautiful thing a human being can experience. Yet, everywhere in our culture, everything that is truly mysterious is immediately dismissed.

- Mark Rylance

Admire, Immediately, Our, Beautiful Thing

You try, as an actor, to wear a mask; you're serving a story.

- Mark Rylance

Try, Actor, Wear, Mask

I learnt so much wit, really, from the Globe audiences. If you can make a circle, even in a proscenium theater, if you can get a circular energy going, so that all these people are involved with it and present, then there is something curious that happens with the imagination.

- Mark Rylance

Theater, Get, Audiences, Learnt

It's a very dangerous and lonely thing, I imagine, to be a spy: to have friendships that are deceptions, that are not honest.

- Mark Rylance

Dangerous, Very, Imagine, Spy

And people do enjoy the plays at completely different levels. And, likewise, they enjoy the authorship question... at completely different levels.

- Mark Rylance

Likewise, Different Levels, Levels

I don't think humanity is the highest form of life that will ever exist in the universe. Maybe that's a bit cynical. But most of the people I know are loving, kind, doing their best.

- Mark Rylance

Best, Doing, Maybe, Cynical

It's strange how the mind works while you're acting, because you have all sorts of quick thoughts going on as well as the motivations with the character.

- Mark Rylance

Mind, Thoughts, Quick, Motivations

I can't believe, even in 'The Guardian,' people ask the questions, 'Where did ISIS come from?' 'How did this happen?' 'Why do young Muslim women go off to join them?' Maybe because we've been degrading their people since 1917. Maybe their teenage years are a little bit more stressed than that of Christianity.

- Mark Rylance

Young, Been, Muslim, Guardian

So there's a lot of people tied into believing that the traditional response to the authorship question. In terms of actors, some people get very angry about it.

- Mark Rylance

Some, Very, Tied, Authorship

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