Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen, OBE is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s and made notable stage appearances in Romeo and Juliet, Don't Fool With Love, Peer Gynt, The Seagull, The Homecoming, and Henry V. His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth5 February 1969
CityNewport, Wales
I've always loved animation and animated films.
When you come to actually act, it's a game. It may be a very serious game, but it's still a game. If you lose that sense of play, the work suffers.
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.
I think the best acting is when you allow yourself to be kind of vulnerable in the moment.
My tragedy is that all I want is a dog, and yet I have been cursed with cats all my life.
In the case of two actors connecting with each other and trusting each other, our bodies have memories without us having to consciously think about it, so rather than think, "Oh, I must think about my daughter dying," you just let that go and trust that you have all the emotions you need in there, and by losing yourself in the scene, that stuff kicks in without having to spend the day thinking about horrific things happening to your own child.
'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.
A lot of the times when I've auditioned for parts in America, the answer is, 'Sorry, we need a bigger name.'
Americans are much more open than people in Britain.
No matter how difficult things are, and no matter how much grief and loss there is, you can turn it into something positive.
Everyone deserves compassion.
For me, what makes life enjoyable is having a shared culture and shared references.
I think when you work on a Woody Allen film the actors become a real company, probably more than on any other film.
You don't want to get into doing the same thing, over and over again. I know I don't.