Home › Authors › Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Lynskey Quotes
born 1977 New Zealand
Melanie Jayne Lynskey (born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women and her command of American accents, she works predominantly in independent films and television.
Random Melanie Lynskey quote
17 quotes
Every time someone comes with the Kate Winslet question I think it's lazy journalism.
Honestly, doing three or four episodes a year [of Two and a Half Men] enabled me to pay my mortgage and do independent films.
I want to be like Julianne Moore and get to do things that scare me — and keep on doing them until I'm very old.
I had a very old-school agent who was like, 'TV? That's for has-beens!'
I knew I had to get out and start building up something else.
I'm someone who cares very deeply about critics and what critics think. So I'm on Rotten Tomatoes, reading every single review. Like, I care, you know, I respect these people.
I started calling myself a character actor in interviews when I was really young because I think it was reclaiming the term or something. I think I just was like, "That's what I am."
I have this sort of weird thing where people know me from one [project] and then think I've never worked again. And they'll say, "Do you ever think about acting? Do you think about acting again?"
It's very challenging to put yourself out there and be like, 'You know what, this is what I look like. I am having thyroid issues and I gained 20 lbs. and I still have to be naked on television.'
I made a movie last year [which] cost $50,000. I'm willing to do stuff like that. I basically worked for free. Whereas other people have requirements.
It's good in New Zealand to be humble; it's good to be a quieter person. And then you get to [Los Angeles] where everyone wants you to be brash and confident, and I just was like, 'I don't know how to do that!'
When I read a script for the first time, I have to have something instinctive happen where I feel like that character is there somewhere. I have to hear a person, I have to feel them inside me in a way.
I always wanted to be an actor, but I had this whole plan to go to a good drama school and do it that way. I wasn't trying to get into movies; someone came to my high school and auditioned some girls, so it was a complete accident.
I very much want to be onscreen representing an interesting person who's not paying attention to what her tummy looks like [...] If there were more people [onscreen] who look like me, then I wouldn't have to talk about it as much.
I am quite shy sometimes. I do have some social anxiety. I am soft-spoken. But I'm quite ferocious. I think to be labeled as someone who is a pushover has been the hardest thing to get out of in terms of my personal and professional life.
I said to [my] agency, I have a real problem being a size six — which is what I was at the time — and playing a chubby friend. I hate that these roles exist. I think it's damaging. It's weird for little girls to watch this movie and be like, 'Oh, she's supposed to be the fat one.'
People I hadn't heard from in years were getting in touch with me. I started to do some interviews, and then what I was saying in the interviews, people were paying attention to. It was a really hard, odd place to be for me. I was like, 'Oh, gosh, I've got to start watching myself, because I have no filter.'