Ian Mckellen

Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to life than you know and it's all happening out there. Discover what part you can play and then go for it. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#go #go for it #happening #know #life

Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you're playing through your own experience - so we're all different. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#character #different #discovering #experience #expressing

I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#actor #battles #being #else #gay

If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#could #fun #girlfriend #got #i

Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I'm waiting to fall in love'. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#child #christmas #eventually #fall #godot

I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#acting #being #between #comedian #comic

I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#cobbled #down #i #industrial #lived

It was wrongly assumed that I wished to become some sort of leader among gay activists, whereas in reality I was happier to be a foot soldier. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#among #assumed #become #foot #gay

Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#coming #done #even #ever #hadn

So it's joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for my age and my experience, and that is a popular success. What more could you ask as an actor? ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#absolutely #actor #age #ask #could