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
In terms of how prudish Americans were in the '40s and '50s, I have absolutely no idea. I do know about the character that I play. And I don't think it's about being prudish. I think it's about trying to balance a sense of control in this man's life.
My own daughter is a big fan of the 'Twilight' stories, the books.
My rule of thumb is that I want to do things I'd like to go and see myself.
My taste in watching things runs from dramas and low-budget films to high-end fantasy/science fiction.
It's funny the more technological advanced everything gets, the more like acting in your bedroom when you're a kid it is.
Although my family - parents and sister - all work in the personnel management business, their real passion is performing, amateur operatic societies and so on.
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.
I remember someone said to me, "Never stand up when you can sit down, never sit down when you can lie down, never lie down when you can be asleep." Those are bits of advice that I haven't taken, really. I've done the opposite of them, but they have stayed with me.
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.
When you look at all the miracles attributed to Jesus, they're all about change.
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.
The first job I ever did in the theatre, I was supposed to be a genius piano player. I couldn't play the piano, but you just sit there at a piano like you're playing, and suddenly all this amazing music comes out and the audience believes you can do it. It's the same with computers. I love scenes where there are people yanking at monitors, "yes I'll put you through now," and you know they're just doing that. But you can look brilliant at all this technology. I love it.
And so, in terms of setting the right tone and finding a way of presenting all of these things, that creates a cohesive whole and doesn't alienate the audience, is tough. That's a challenge. And I think the tone of a lot of shows is discovered through experimentation and actually making it. Eventually, it starts to cohere.
When you're working on something where there's usually one sex scene in the film, it all gets a little bit of a gray area and people get a bit uncomfortable and awkward. You just get through it. But, it became very clear on this that that can't happen. There can't be any gray areas on this because there are actors and actresses coming in for a day or a couple of days, as well as people who are there regularly.