Acting and Believability in your Characters

The other night Tom Hanks was on Charlie Rose. It was a fascinating interview, however, I found one part of it particularly valuable.
(it's something I want to be sure and remember to make my animation stronger)
He talked about why some of his most successful performances were successful (almost every role Tom Hanks plays is believable and convincing).

Anyways, his trick is to find out how his character is alone in the world and think about that as much as he can.
"In the past, Hanks has described himself as, deep down, a loner. ‘Everybody has something that chews them up and, for me, that thing was always loneliness."
Loneliness is something everybody can relate to. We all realize we are alone in the world and desperately try to form relationships to appear otherwise.
This is something everyone in the audience can relate to, because everyone knows what it feels like to be alone.
Tom Hanks thinks about this and incorporates it into his character's body language throughout the film.
Anyways.. I just thought it was interesting and a good thing to think about when animating characters and making them come to life.

Here's the full episode if you're interested.
(it's mostly on the upcoming Angels&Demons)