Ruth Negga Quotes

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Ruth Negga

Profession : Actress

Birth : January 7, 1982

I grew up in a lot of different places, so I pick up accents pretty quickly.

Ruth Negga

I didn't become an actor to make money. And I didn't become an actor to be famous - though people always gasp if you say that, as if it's unfathomable that an actor doesn't want to be a star.

Ruth Negga

I don't believe that directors need to essentially manipulate actors into doing things. You can suffer for your art, and you can make your own self suffer for your art. You don't need anyone else to do it for you. I work best when there's a safety trampoline of kindness.

Ruth Negga

I think if we don't understand history, if we don't keep referring back to it, we become complacent. And complacency, as we all know, it leads to repeating history.

Ruth Negga

I don't know why women aren't allowed to have the same sort of breadth and scope and flaws of men.

Ruth Negga

I'm not in any rush to get anywhere. There's a pressure on actors to get somewhere before it's over. But everyone wants longevity, don't they? It's a career. Why be that flash-in-the-pan, taking every job out of worry it'll soon be over?

Ruth Negga

When you work with directors who really love actors, who love their contribution, it feels amazing. But sometimes when you work with directors, you feel like you're in the way.

Ruth Negga

You don't come to see a Greek play and not want blood and gore and depth of feeling from your boots up.

Ruth Negga

If people want to invade your privacy, they want to invade your privacy. I find it chilling, and I find it awful, and it makes me really nervous. It hasn't happened to me much, but when you have a taste of it, it's bitter.

Ruth Negga

I am not hugely famous; I am not a name. For me, it's not the size of the role, it's the material and the people you are working with.

Ruth Negga

I grew up in an area of Ireland where there weren't many black or mixed-race children. But I never had any hassle; maybe I've blocked it out, but I don't think so.

Ruth Negga

I like connecting with people, and that's what good art is: a point of connection. There's nothing better, on stage or on film.

Ruth Negga

Ninety percent of my roles, I've had to fight for. It's only a really small percentage of people who get handed roles.

Ruth Negga

I auditioned for 'Loving' two years before we started shooting, so in the hopes that I would be playing Mildred, I watched it again. Also it's one of the best documentaries I've seen. I found this couple interminably fascinating; even if I didn't get the part, I just wanted to know more about them and their story.

Ruth Negga

I'm interested in the idea that we all start off as these lovely little babies with all this potential but that circumstances mean that we don't always live the life we should.

Ruth Negga

I had quite a scattered childhood. I was Irish in London, because I had my secondary school education there. I never really fitted anywhere. I didn't feel it was a negative thing, and I was never made to feel different - I just knew I was.

Ruth Negga

My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. No wonder public-school people always get into politics or acting: they're taught to shout that much more loudly.

Ruth Negga

Bette Davis is my hero. I'm obsessed with her. I base everything I do on her.

Ruth Negga

What's really important is the people, first of all. I like working with people who are kind, above all else. I don't really want to work with someone who will manipulate me. The idea that you must treat actors a certain way in order to get a performance out of them kind of disturbs me, and it's disregarding what we do. Our job is to do our job.

Ruth Negga

I know I've said it before in interviews, but the idea that all actors have their eye on some sort of prize - it being an Oscar, or fame, or whatever - not all actors I know are like that.

Ruth Negga