Nina Conti Quotes

United Kingdom, Actress
August 25, 1973

Nina Margarita Conti is an English actress, comedian, and ventriloquist. Her primary on-stage puppets are a white-haired Scottish grandmother named Granny and a deadpan monkey named Monk.

Also known as Comedian

The way I talk to the puppets is real, and it's in the moment, and it's seeing what will happen. It's not something that is scripted.

Nina Conti
- Real
- Talk
- Puppets
I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can't say.

Nina Conti
- Human
- Say
- Puppets

I make napkins talk in restaurants, socks talk on car journeys. There is an awful lot of puppetry going on in the house.

Nina Conti
- House
- Puppetry
The most satisfaction I get is from doing a good gig, which really makes you feel in control. If you've worked a room really well, it makes you feel great. TV is a bit more difficult; there are more factors that can screw it up along the way.

Nina Conti
- Control
- Satisfaction
- Gig
Having a puppet is a way of having opposing opinions - I say a thing; he says the other.

Nina Conti
- Opinions
- Opposing
- Puppet
I think acting is overrated. I'm not sure I enjoyed it. You never get to write your own roles. It's wonderful for some people, but I found it nerve-wracking. I was too busy worrying that no one would give me their words to speak.

Nina Conti
- Acting
- Speak
- Roles
So many actors are lively-minded, creative people who just tread water in this awful way, waiting for the phone to ring and doing their hair for auditions. It feels like a bit of a dreamer's life - as opposed to a sensible ventriloquist's life.

Nina Conti
- Life
- Actors
- Dreamer
With acting, I always felt like I didn't have control of it. It was all about other people giving me a job.

Nina Conti
- Job
- Control
- Acting

I thought people would think I only wanted to be an actor because my dad was, rather than because I had an innate calling.

Nina Conti
- Dad
- Actor
- Calling