"I'm sure acting is a deeply neurotic thing to do"
About this Quote
The line works because it's both confession and critique. "I'm sure" lands like a shrug of certainty, a self-diagnosis delivered without melodrama. He's not begging for sympathy; he's demystifying the trade from the inside. "Deeply" adds bite: this isn't a mild quirk, it's structural. The subtext is that performance is a coping strategy, a way to rehearse emotions at a safe remove, to control what real life refuses to make tidy. In that sense, "neurotic" isn't an insult so much as a description of the engine: repetition, overthinking, self-scrutiny, the constant calibration of how you're coming across.
Coming from Fiennes, whose career is built on intensity and precision, it also reads as a sly acknowledgment of the psychological cost behind that control. The culture loves to sell acting as authenticity; Fiennes suggests it's closer to managed instability - a profession where insecurity can be professional fuel, and where the hunger to inhabit other people might be inseparable from discomfort with being yourself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fiennes, Ralph. (2026, January 16). I'm sure acting is a deeply neurotic thing to do. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-sure-acting-is-a-deeply-neurotic-thing-to-do-130592/
Chicago Style
Fiennes, Ralph. "I'm sure acting is a deeply neurotic thing to do." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-sure-acting-is-a-deeply-neurotic-thing-to-do-130592/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm sure acting is a deeply neurotic thing to do." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-sure-acting-is-a-deeply-neurotic-thing-to-do-130592/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.




