Michael Sheen Quotes

I cry when I feel moved by incredible generosity or a connection to someone. We spend so much of our lives being separated. It's the relief of connection that produces the tears.

- Michael Sheen

Tears, Lives, Moved, Generosity

Getting older is a struggle. I always feel that just under the surface of acceptance and enjoyment of the ageing process is a terrible hysteria just waiting to burst out.

- Michael Sheen

Process, Always, Ageing, Hysteria

I love watching Jeff Bridges act. He's brilliant.

- Michael Sheen

Love, Brilliant, I Love, Bridges

A lot of children are interested in fairies, especially young girls, and Tinker Bell is the ueber-fairy. She's the pin-up girl of fairies. She's the ultimate fairy, but she's also got a mischievous spirit and she's very strong-willed. I think a lot of youngsters recognize themselves in Tinker Bell.

- Michael Sheen

Young, I Think, Very, Tinker

I'd love to go back to Europe in the '20s and '30s, for the beginning of the Psychoanalytic Movement, and Freud and Jung, and all that was going on with discoveries in quantum physics. The whole nature of reality was changing and being challenged.

- Michael Sheen

Love, Beginning, Going, Quantum

I have a daughter, and fairies meant a lot to her growing up.

- Michael Sheen

Growing, Meant, Lot, Fairies

My taste in watching things runs from dramas and low-budget films to high-end fantasy/science fiction.

- Michael Sheen

Fiction, Taste, Films, Dramas

I live a very Kenneth Williams-like existence.

- Michael Sheen

Live, Existence, Very, Kenneth

My dad is a Jack Nicholson lookalike and a frustrated performer, my mother's into reading and poetry. I suppose the thing I owe them most is my confidence.

- Michael Sheen

Performer, Frustrated, Dad, Jack

I think the story of 'Alice in Wonderland' in a way is a reminder that life is frightening, it can shift on you at any moment.

- Michael Sheen

Think, I Think, Reminder, Wonderland

'Hamlet' is one of the most dangerous things ever set down on paper. All the big, unknowable questions like what it is to be a human being; the difference between sanity and insanity; the meaning of life and death; what's real and not real. All these subjects can literally drive you mad.

- Michael Sheen

Death, Big, Hamlet, Meaning Of

I'm a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy - not so much horror because I get a bit scared.

- Michael Sheen

Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction

I try not to pay any attention to clothes fascism and I'd rather be thought of as someone who has his own sense of style.

- Michael Sheen

Thought, Own, Rather, Fascism

If someone has an ability to impress an audience there's a tendency to be tempted into doing just that.

- Michael Sheen

Doing, Impress, Audience, Tempted

I perceive and relate to the world through where I grew up; that's part of me. It's what I judge everything else against.

- Michael Sheen

Through, Against, Part, Everything Else

I've always loved animation and animated films.

- Michael Sheen

Loved, Always, Films, Animation

I suppose I'm something of an eccentric dresser.

- Michael Sheen

Something, Suppose, Dresser, Eccentric

I can be a lazy dresser.

- Michael Sheen

Lazy, I Can, Dresser

I'm not a Tony Blair impersonator.

- Michael Sheen

Tony, Blair, Tony Blair, Impersonator

I think when you work on a Woody Allen film the actors become a real company, probably more than on any other film.

- Michael Sheen

Think, Other, I Think, Woody

I am prone to get carried away thinking about creative projects.

- Michael Sheen

Away, Projects, Carried, Prone

Part of the fun of life is interacting with people and not knowing what the truth is inside. Letting them reveal that to you is what binds you to people.

- Michael Sheen

Reveal, Binds, Interacting, Not Knowing

When I was at drama school, I wanted to change the world, and thought I had some great wisdom to impart to people about humanity. Now that I'm older, I know enough to realise that I know nothing at all.

- Michael Sheen

Thought, Some, About, Change The World

In some ways any film that you do has an artificiality about it. Even when you're doing the most kitchen-sinky, gritty, realistic scene you've still got 50 people standing around watching you with cameras and lights and things.

- Michael Sheen

Doing, Some, About, Lights

I think I'm becoming more relaxed in front of a camera. I suppose I'll always feel slightly more at home on stage. It's more of an actor's medium. You are your own editor, nobody else is choosing what is being seen of you.

- Michael Sheen

I Think, Becoming, Slightly, Camera

As a general thing, I've always been drawn to characters who appear to be one thing on the surface, but are actually something else underneath.

- Michael Sheen

Surface, Always, Been, Underneath

By the time you are 30 you are still trying to make your 15-year-old self happy but you are a different person. You need to be brave and let go of that.

- Michael Sheen

Need, Still, By The Time, Let Go

I find increasingly that the more extreme are the things going on in your life, the more cultural reference points fail you. More mythical reference points actually help, and you realise that's what myths are for. It's for human beings to process their experience in extremis.

- Michael Sheen

Life, Your, Increasingly, Mythical

Sometimes you see things in a script, and it doesn't necessarily mean the director sees the same things. And if you think you're going to be making a different film, then that's not gonna work.

- Michael Sheen

Think, Making, Going, Same Things

I think parenthood is a wonderful balancing act. On the one hand, you want to spend as much time with your children as possible. On the other hand, you want to set an example for them to see that you're fulfilled in your life and in your work.

- Michael Sheen

Other, I Think, Fulfilled, Balancing

Although my family - parents and sister - all work in the personnel management business, their real passion is performing, amateur operatic societies and so on.

- Michael Sheen

Work, Business, Performing, Societies

The first thing, when I read the script, is that I need to care about what happens and feel compelled by the story and engaged by the characters. It needs to resonate with me, even if what the characters are going through is not something that I have experienced in my life. I have to feel like it has some sort of meaning to me.

- Michael Sheen

My Life, Through, Engaged, Experienced

I have a terrible temper. I have absolutely no problem with getting shouty or a bit physical. It's not something I'm pleased about and it doesn't happen very often, but it's very much there.

- Michael Sheen

Happen, Very, About, Terrible

You know, we're each the hero of our own story and we perceive what's going on around us, and especially in a relationship, from the kind of viewpoint of, 'Well, this is my story, and I'm the hero of that, and I justify what I do around it.'

- Michael Sheen

Kind, Going, Viewpoint, Justify

On the one hand Twitter gives you the opportunity to engage with people, which is great, but on the other there are people who feel they can say whatever they want, put poison out there, really, without fear of any repercussions.

- Michael Sheen

Feel, Other, Repercussions, Engage

Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality.

- Michael Sheen

Character, Play, Hopefully, Anchor

I'm a big fan of vampire movies generally and that sort of tradition of characters.

- Michael Sheen

Movies, Big, Characters, Vampire

I suppose I've got a reputation for playing quite extreme characters and making them quite believable.

- Michael Sheen

Making, Characters, Quite, Believable

My tragedy is that all I want is a dog, and yet I have been cursed with cats all my life.

- Michael Sheen

My Life, Been, Cursed, All My Life

When I'm in America, I like to be near the sea, listen to music, watch films, read and write.

- Michael Sheen

Like, Films, Read, Near

There are times in my career where I can see it would be helped by having a bit more of a profile, but it's not like I refuse to do interviews, no, not at all.

- Michael Sheen

Career, Like, Having, Profile

For me, what makes life enjoyable is having a shared culture and shared references.

- Michael Sheen

References, Shared, Having, Enjoyable

Stories have always been the things that entertain me and make me feel happy and sad and move me and give me the experience of being able to live many lives in one lifetime. It's the best thing about being alive.

- Michael Sheen

Alive, Been, Entertain, Give Me

If you can define what God is, I can tell you whether I believe in it.

- Michael Sheen

Tell, Define, Whether, I Believe In

Acting itself is quite scary. Some people say that actors are show-offs, very egotistical and all that kind of stuff, but it is quite scary.

- Michael Sheen

Kind, Some, Very, Egotistical

My chief gifts are - naturally good at all sports with a raw talent for pretty much everything, which if nurtured could develop into improper talent.

- Michael Sheen

Sports, Pretty, Which, Gifts

I would like to be taller, thinner and more rakish looking.

- Michael Sheen

Like, Taller, Would, Thinner

When you look at all the miracles attributed to Jesus, they're all about change.

- Michael Sheen

Change, Jesus, Attributed, Miracles

For a culture that has such a problem with death, we seem to deal with it in a quite bizarre way. We see people shot, killed and blown up, and we find it funny and sexy and all those things. But, the reality of it is that every day people die, and people are really sad and they grieve and they go through a really difficult process with it.

- Michael Sheen

Die, Through, Deal, Grieve

A lot of the times when I've auditioned for parts in America, the answer is, 'Sorry, we need a bigger name.'

- Michael Sheen

Answer, Lot, Times, Parts

My own daughter is a big fan of the 'Twilight' stories, the books.

- Michael Sheen

Big, Fan, Stories, Daughter

I always say if I'm not good at something it's just because I've not had time to focus on it... it's just uncrafted, like a slab of rock that contains the statue of David within it.

- Michael Sheen

Always, Like, Within, Contains

I think the best acting is when you allow yourself to be kind of vulnerable in the moment.

- Michael Sheen

Think, I Think, Allow, Vulnerable

I think it's quite tough for people like Tom Cruise where you can never really get away from being Tom Cruise in something. You're so familiar to people and people know so much about your life.

- Michael Sheen

Away, I Think, About, Familiar

I think being a parent is the most challenging thing you do. That's why we're here. It's at the heart of what it is to be a human being. It's the ultimate experience because it questions everything about who you are. But it's difficult.

- Michael Sheen

Parent, Here, I Think, Challenging

A parent can seem very kind and gentle, but as any child knows, as soon as that parent gets stressed, they can suddenly turn and get a bit angry.

- Michael Sheen

Parent, Kind, Very, Suddenly

I would never use prosthetics. I don't like sticking things on. I don't really like wearing wigs, either.

- Michael Sheen

Like, Wearing, Use, Wigs

It's weird that I've ended up playing so many real live people, because I was never any good at impersonations at school.

- Michael Sheen

People, Real, Many, Ended

I enjoy doing things that involve research because it's part of what I enjoy about acting.

- Michael Sheen

Doing, Part, Things, Involve

I don't find the life in Hollywood all that meaningful or inspiring.

- Michael Sheen

Find, Hollywood, Inspiring, Meaningful

I think a good story's a good story and a good character's a good character.

- Michael Sheen

Character, Think, I Think, Story

I am very impatient.

- Michael Sheen

I Am, Very, Am, Impatient

Normal people - i.e., people who aren't actors - are the most bizarre people you can ever come across. I'll talk to someone and come away thinking, 'They are clinically insane.'

- Michael Sheen

Normal, Away, Bizarre, Insane

I've always found it hard to say sorry.

- Michael Sheen

Say, Always, Found, Sorry

While I enjoy spending time in L.A., Britain is my home.

- Michael Sheen

Enjoy, Spending, Britain, Spending Time

Americans are much more open than people in Britain.

- Michael Sheen

People, More, Than, Britain

I was obsessed with football when I was growing up.

- Michael Sheen

Growing Up, Growing, Obsessed

I don't do the whole L.A. nightlife thing.

- Michael Sheen

Whole, Thing, Nightlife

I'm always aware that there are, broadly speaking, two different ways to act: there is acting, and then there's being, and I'm always more interested in that.

- Michael Sheen

More, Always, Then, Different Ways

I'd love to go back to Greek times and see the birth of theater and performing, in that time. It would be so extraordinary to see the need that theater came out of, in the first place. I think we could probably all learn a bit from that.

- Michael Sheen

Love, Back, I Think, Birth

Everyone deserves compassion.

- Michael Sheen

Compassion, Everyone, Deserves

I'm not a Christian.

- Michael Sheen

Christian

The secret to acting is don't act. Be you, with add-ons.

- Michael Sheen

Acting, You, Act, Secret

My rule of thumb is that I want to do things I'd like to go and see myself.

- Michael Sheen

Want, See, Like, Thumb

I've always had an eye for what looks good on a man. But I've not always found it easy to find clothes that look good on me.

- Michael Sheen

Good, Always, Had, Eye

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.

Powerful Michael Sheen for Daily Growth