Top 60 Michael Sheen Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “No matter how difficult things are, and no matter how much grief and loss there is, you can turn it into something positive.”

— Michael Sheen

2. “Change the scheme! Alter the mood! Electrify the boys and girls, if you’d be so kind.”

— Michael Sheen

3. “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.”

— Michael Sheen

4. “For me, what makes life enjoyable is having a shared culture and shared references.”

— Michael Sheen

5. “With vampires, there is such a great tradition that you suddenly find yourself a part of. Each generation reinvents what that means to them.”

— Michael Sheen

6. “By the time you are 30 you are still trying to make your 15-year-old self happy but you are a different person. You need to be brave and let go of that.”

— Michael Sheen

7. “I think the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a way is a reminder that life is frightening, it can shift on you at any moment.”

— Michael Sheen

8. “My rule of thumb is that I want to do things I’d like to go and see myself.”

— Michael Sheen

9. “I think I’m becoming more relaxed in front of a camera. I suppose I’ll always feel slightly more at home on stage. It’s more of an actor’s medium. You are your own editor, nobody else is choosing what is being seen of you.”

— Michael Sheen

10. “When I was at drama school, I wanted to change the world, and thought I had some great wisdom to impart to people about humanity. Now that I’m older, I know enough to realise that I know nothing at all.”

— Michael Sheen

11. “We live in a bubble of the fantasy of death, but the reality of it is something that we obviously all face and have to deal with, at some point.”

— Michael Sheen

12. “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.”

— Michael Sheen

13. “Stories have always been the things that entertain me and make me feel happy and sad and move me and give me the experience of being able to live many lives in one lifetime. It’s the best thing about being alive.”

— Michael Sheen

14. “I live a very Kenneth Williams-like existence.”

— Michael Sheen

15. “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.”

— Michael Sheen

16. “Everyone deserves compassion.”

— Michael Sheen

17. “I perceive and relate to the world through where I grew up; that’s part of me. It’s what I judge everything else against.”

— Michael Sheen

18. “I’m a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy – not so much horror because I get a bit scared.”

— Michael Sheen

19. “My tragedy is that all I want is a dog, and yet I have been cursed with cats all my life.”

— Michael Sheen

20. “My dad is a Jack Nicholson lookalike and a frustrated performer, my mother’s into reading and poetry. I suppose the thing I owe them most is my confidence.”

— Michael Sheen

21. “When you look at all the miracles attributed to Jesus, they’re all about change.”

— Michael Sheen

22. “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.”

— Michael Sheen

23. “My own daughter is a big fan of the ‘Twilight’ stories, the books.”

— Michael Sheen

24. “I’m not a Tony Blair impersonator.”

— Michael Sheen

25. “I think when you work on a Woody Allen film the actors become a real company, probably more than on any other film.”

— Michael Sheen

26. “My chief gifts are – naturally good at all sports with a raw talent for pretty much everything, which if nurtured could develop into improper talent.”

— Michael Sheen

27. “A parent can seem very kind and gentle, but as any child knows, as soon as that parent gets stressed, they can suddenly turn and get a bit angry.”

— Michael Sheen

28. “I think the best acting is when you allow yourself to be kind of vulnerable in the moment.”

— Michael Sheen

29. “I think parenthood is a wonderful balancing act. On the one hand, you want to spend as much time with your children as possible. On the other hand, you want to set an example for them to see that you’re fulfilled in your life and in your work.”

— Michael Sheen

30. “I don’t find the life in Hollywood all that meaningful or inspiring.”

— Michael Sheen

31. “I would like to be taller, thinner and more rakish looking.”

— Michael Sheen

32. “It’s funny the more technological advanced everything gets, the more like acting in your bedroom when you’re a kid it is.”

— Michael Sheen

33. “I’m a big fan of vampire movies generally and that sort of tradition of characters.”

— Michael Sheen

34. “Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality. The more fantastical characters, or fantastical worlds that they inhabit are really fun and allow you, in some ways, to tell stories and reveal things about our lives that would be harder to take, in a more realistic setting.”

— Michael Sheen

35. “So, if they’re coming in and having to do scenes that involve nudity or sexuality, in some way, the utmost important thing is that everyone feels comfortable and safe. If there’s any gray area, that’s going to be a problem.”

— Michael Sheen

36. “I am prone to get carried away thinking about creative projects.”

— Michael Sheen

37. “I find increasingly that the more extreme are the things going on in your life, the more cultural reference points fail you. More mythical reference points actually help, and you realise that’s what myths are for. It’s for human beings to process their experience in extremis.”

— Michael Sheen

38. “I don’t want to do something that I’ve done before; I can’t see the point of it.”

— Michael Sheen

39. “What’s enjoyable for me, as an actor, is to do as many different things as possible.”

— Michael Sheen

40. “On the one hand Twitter gives you the opportunity to engage with people, which is great, but on the other there are people who feel they can say whatever they want, put poison out there, really, without fear of any repercussions.”

— Michael Sheen

41. “I have a daughter, and fairies meant a lot to her growing up.”

— Michael Sheen

42. “I’ve always loved animation and animated films.”

— Michael Sheen

43. “Shakespeare esque!”

— Michael Sheen

44. “I was obsessed with football when I was growing up.”

— Michael Sheen

45. “I can be a lazy dresser.”

— Michael Sheen

46. “I try not to pay any attention to clothes fascism and I’d rather be thought of as someone who has his own sense of style.”

— Michael Sheen

47. “It’s interesting that in searching for monsters to play you often end up playing leaders.”

— Michael Sheen

48. “Hopefully, any character I play has an anchor in reality.”

— Michael Sheen

49. “I suppose I’ve got a reputation for playing quite extreme characters and making them quite believable.”

— Michael Sheen

50. “You don’t want to get into doing the same thing, over and over again. I know I don’t.”

— Michael Sheen