Nina Arianda Quotes

I got last-minute rush seats to Baz Luhrmann's 'Boheme,' and my favorite singer, Ekaterina Solovyeva, was playing Mimi that day. My face got burned off when she sang the aria 'Donde Lieta Usci.' The woman was technically sobbing and singing opera at the same time. I don't know how you do that.

If I'm having a bad day in rehearsal, I'll sleep with my script.

If you love job, then you have to know how to let it go. If you have a bad audition, I think you're allowed 30 minutes of pain, maybe a day if it's really that bad. But to allow a whole week? No. That would be contradictory to the process, I think.

I think that's what so exquisite and unique about New York, it's a city that allows you to hone your craft as much as possible. There is no good or bad, somehow, strangely, there is no beginning or end. You certainly qualify it with the opening or closing of a run, but what's extraordinary is that you are actually allowed to be an artist here. It's very "belle époque," but somehow continually. That's why I love New York so much, honestly.

I get really into shows, but then I have my brain shut off time.

I've had a very supportive mother my entire life, so I've had strong women around me.

I would feel ill without theater. It's kind of a cliche, but every time you make a mistake, you really do have to learn from it to move on. When you're doing something live, there's no time to dwell. Hopefully you'll laugh it off, but if not, you can always take a day to hate yourself.

Going to the theater or having the honor of performing in theater reminds you of your humanity in a very different way. It's a real release and an incredible challenge. But the stage is a dangerous place. You gotta be trained. Plus, crowds like when things go wrong. I think that's part of the thrill. Anything can happen.

I watch so much television, it's embarrassing.

I let steam off by watching 'Downton Abbey.

I had a year at 3 when I wanted to be a conductor in the opera.

You leave part of yourself on every stage you're on. How could you not live in the air somehow?

Every audition is different, but I get incredibly nervous and insecure and worked up for however long I have to prep - that's when I get to spin. But you're not allowed to spin once you enter the room. Doubt really can't enter the room when you're auditioning - unless it's part of the character.

Michael Pitt is amazing. His physical comedy is extraordinary; he's so committed and so willing to play within the scenes. It makes you feel very free to also explore.

I was into opera as a kid - I'd play 'Carmen' and sing and dance. My mom signed me up for a theater group before preschool, and I never looked back.

It present to allow me to ask myself questions about what I'm doing. I think that's what visual art does - it either reminds you of something or allows you to question something. I don't know why Robert Motherwell; I love so many different artists.

I'm mildly obsessed with skin care. I do a lot of masks at home, like Elisha Coy's Korean Collagen masks. I also use an embarrassingly wide variety of facial creams.

I get emotionally involved with things I should not be.

I think if you want to get to know me, you should come and see a show. A person might get to see more sides of me.

Now that I'm on Broadway, it's like NASA engineering with the costumes. I was very grateful for the slightly more high-tech ones in my show, 'Venus in Fur'; our costume designer Anita Yavich is kind of a genius.

When I was 13, I moved from New Jersey to Germany with my family. The high school was so supportive of my dream to continue with my theater training; instead of taking PE, I would get credit for dance lessons.

I see something new in 'Gosford Park' every time I watch it.

I was a hostess, I sold shoes, but I don't function well in jobs that don't have to do with what I love. I have cleaned bathrooms in theaters, I have sold wine in theaters, I have sold tickets, because I will do anything, anything, to stay in this world.

I think having pointers and having guidance from mentors is very important, but it never actually embodies what you go through. And if something doesn't feel good, why do you repeat it? If you feel good bemoaning an audition for a week, go for it. But if you feel better bemoaning an audition that didn't go very well for 30 minutes because you believe in the craft and the process, then I suggest you do that. And that's what I suggest to myself. The alternative is way too painful and destructive.

Before I left for Germany, I had gotten accepted to the performing arts high school in New York, which was a big dream of mine. And having to leave that was very sad for me.

I never approach a character from a negative place.

I try not to put my purse on the floor - demons will get into it.

I think the way that I delivered my request for acting was undeniable, and I think that I was blessed enough to have parents who saw it as something that there was no argument about. For that, I will always be grateful.

My earliest memory is having my grandfather, who was born in 1899, read the newspaper to me in a foreign language. I was utterly captivated by the fact that he took the time to read it to me. I didn't know what he saying, it was in a completely different language. I think it was in French. But I was just so honored that he was with me and talking to me. It's extraordinary that you know someone from that time, and also someone that's willing to give you the time of day, who's lived through so much.

I had never been in a New York courtroom. I think I went on a field trip when I was nine in New Jersey, but I never actually set foot as an adult and it was terrifying. It's very sterile, somehow. It seems so grand in the movies and it's so sterile when you're actually there.

My favorite place to vacation is anyplace by the ocean.

What makes an actor, I think, is a combination of a deep curiosity about life and a case of the crazies.

I can't have white roses. They symbolize death.

I love all things Queen - their songs are epic storytelling.