"Especially when you play a character for so many years, the character ends up reflecting a lot of who you are and I think I've changed a lot since then, but that represented a lot of who I was as a teenager"
About this Quote
The subtext is a negotiation with nostalgia culture. Fans want the character preserved in amber; Gilbert is insisting on time. "I've changed a lot since then" lands like a gentle refusal to be pinned to a teenage version of herself that millions feel entitled to keep revisiting. She's not disowning the character; she's contextualizing her. That final clause "that represented a lot of who I was as a teenager" is both protective and honest, acknowledging that early roles can be truer than we admit because youth offers fewer masks. Yet it also sets a boundary: that self was real, and also past.
In the era of reboots, TikTok clips, and perpetual rewatch, the line reads as a reminder that actors age in real time even when characters loop forever. The performance becomes a fossil record, and the person has to keep evolving outside the frame.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nostalgia |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gilbert, Sara. (2026, January 16). Especially when you play a character for so many years, the character ends up reflecting a lot of who you are and I think I've changed a lot since then, but that represented a lot of who I was as a teenager. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/especially-when-you-play-a-character-for-so-many-98705/
Chicago Style
Gilbert, Sara. "Especially when you play a character for so many years, the character ends up reflecting a lot of who you are and I think I've changed a lot since then, but that represented a lot of who I was as a teenager." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/especially-when-you-play-a-character-for-so-many-98705/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Especially when you play a character for so many years, the character ends up reflecting a lot of who you are and I think I've changed a lot since then, but that represented a lot of who I was as a teenager." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/especially-when-you-play-a-character-for-so-many-98705/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.






