"Acting is usually regarded as a wholly narcissistic pursuit but there really is a hunger in me to unravel the human condition"
About this Quote
The subtext is a bid for legitimacy in a culture that loves actors and distrusts them in the same breath. We treat celebrities as both product and moral suspect: paid to pretend, then mocked for taking themselves seriously. Isaacs meets that suspicion head-on, naming the stereotype so he can outgrow it. Its a canny rhetorical move, because it disarms the audience before asking for empathy.
Unravel the human condition is grand language, but coming from an actor it reads less like philosophy and more like craft. Acting requires disciplined empathy: entering a characters logic without endorsing it, finding the emotional math inside behavior that looks monstrous, foolish, or banal. In an era when public life rewards certainty and performance, Isaacs draws a line between performing to be seen and performing to see. The intent is to reclaim acting as a form of investigation - messy, intimate, and, at its best, useful.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Isaacs, Jason. (2026, January 16). Acting is usually regarded as a wholly narcissistic pursuit but there really is a hunger in me to unravel the human condition. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acting-is-usually-regarded-as-a-wholly-96521/
Chicago Style
Isaacs, Jason. "Acting is usually regarded as a wholly narcissistic pursuit but there really is a hunger in me to unravel the human condition." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acting-is-usually-regarded-as-a-wholly-96521/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Acting is usually regarded as a wholly narcissistic pursuit but there really is a hunger in me to unravel the human condition." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acting-is-usually-regarded-as-a-wholly-96521/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.









