“I always have a deep-seated fear that it can all go away, and it can. You can not get work very easily,” Rose Byrne says, recounting how she’d read an interview with Julianne Moore, who admitted to panicking about never working again at the end of each film.
“I mean, it’s Julianne Moore,” Byrne says incredulously, “one of the most celebrated actresses of the past 10 years. So I think it’s important to keep an element of fear about yourself because it makes you appreciate the jobs as well.”
[Vogue Magazine Australia, October 2003.]
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Q: “What do you want from your career?”
A: “That’s a big question! [laughs]. I just want to continue being able to get roles that scare me and make me better and I think I can only grow as an artist if I do things that are scaring me and making me uncomfortable because that’s the only place you’ll learn anything.”
[IndieLondon.co.uk interview about her movie Sunshine.]
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“I’m starting to know how the world works a bit, and I’m learning more and more that the only thing that matters is what happens between ‘action’ and ‘cut’.
“I’m allowing myself to be a bit more selfish, for want of a better word, just that it’s OK to focus and that I don’t have to be nice to everybody.”
[theage.com.au July 5 2003]
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Speaking of the value of fear for actors:
Audra McDonald [right] once said, “The most important thing for me as an actress… is to be fearless and to challenge myself. Acting in TV and film forces me outside of my comfort zone..”
Another accomplished actor, Molly Parker says she is “often attracted to projects that scare me in terms of what they’re about, because it challenges who I am and who I think I am and what I think the world is about.”
[See more quotes etc on the page: Fear.]
But fear can also be so intense it becomes anxiety, showing up as stage fright, or a deep fear of being inadequate.
That sort of fear interferes with your creative work and ability to be authentic on stage, so it is worth dealing with it, with therapy or a variety of self-help approaches.
Anxiety Relief Products / Programs
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Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the The Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to help creative people thrive.”
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