Tim McGraw Uses His ‘Whole Body’ to Sing and Act

Tim McGraw doesn't have to have lived his songs or the roles he plays in movies to be able to interpret them, but he does admit that honing his skills as an actor has helped him in the recording studio and onstage.

"You have to define parts of yourself as an artist," Tim tells The Boot. "When you go in to interpret songs, you get lost in those songs. You have to be a great interpreter, but it is not necessary that you have lived the song. It's the same way with acting. You find different parts of yourself and you use them to portray the character you are playing."

Tim, who stars in the upcoming film 'The Blind Side' with Sandra Bullock, says his concert audiences also benefit from what he's learned as an actor. "After doing movies and finding the different ways of approaching being somebody else, you learn to interpret the song with your whole body, not just your voice, when you're singing it [in concert]. So you do take that other part of yourself you have discovered as an actor, and they feed off each other and help make both of them better."

'The Blind Side,' in which Tim plays the role of Sean Tuohy, is the true story of Michael Oher, a young black teen whose father was murdered and whose mother was addicted to crack, leaving him to live on the streets. The teen is taken in by the Tuohy family and eventually recruited to play college football. Bullock portrays Tim's wife, Leigh Anne, with newcomer Quinton Aaron portraying Oher.

Tim revealed to The Boot that he'll begin work on a new film in January but can't offer details of the project just yet, except to tease us with this: he'll be working alongside an Oscar-winning actress. He also adds that the film should be a lot of fun to do. Tim's also gearing up for the highly-anticipated release of the new album, 'Southern Voice' on Oct. 20.