Being a perfectionist
Emmy Rossum [left - in "The Phantom of the Opera"] says that for her, being prepared for a role is crucial: “It’s not about control but perfectionism - my biggest vice and one of my biggest assets.”
That is a perspective shared by many other talented people. Michelle Pfeiffer: “I’m a perfectionist, so I can drive myself mad - and other people, too. At the same time, I think that’s one of the reasons I’m successful. Because I really care about what I do. I really want it to be right, and I want it to be good, and I don’t quit until I have to.”
Linda Kreger Silverman, PhD, Director of the Gifted Development Center, says “Excellence is the hard-won prize of those whose zeal and dedication are fueled by the drive to attain perfection, as they envision it.”
Director Jane Campion said about working with Nicole Kidman: “She can be quite murderously challenging in her perfectionism. Take Twenty: ‘Are you sure that’s good enough?’ We’re going, [wearily] ‘Yeah.’ ”
A number of talented and accomplished actors and other creative people are energized - or burdened - by this drive. Jennifer Connelly has admitted, “I am an obsessive-compulsive and a perfectionist. I don’t say it with pride.” And Bridget Fonda has said, “I’m afraid of making a mistake. I’m pretty neurotic about it.”
It’s also a matter of how you think of it. Director James Cameron refutes being labeled as a perfectionist: “No, I’m a greatist. I only want to do it until it’s great.”
But a drive to be perfect can be an obsessive emotional force that helps fuel insecurity and dissatisfaction with your work, and undermines healthy self esteem.
Jane Fonda - in her memoir My Life So Far - admits to suffering from a destructive aspect: “Because I believed that to be loved I had to be perfect, I moved ‘out of myself’ - my body - early on and have spent much of my life searching to come home… to be embodied.”
So it’s a matter of balance, of using this need to “make it great” to refine yourself, your talents and your work, without being overwhelmed or undermined by it.
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article: Perfectionism - by Douglas Eby
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