Quotes from Maura Tierney

I love Martin Amis.

I'm sure my desire to perform came, in part, from being around politics as a kid. My dad had a big personality, and a lot of the people involved in Boston politics have big personalities, so there were all kinds of wacky people around.

I grew up in Boston, and we'd have every Thanksgiving at my parents' house there.

In a man, I like funny guys. A guy who doesn't have a lot of therapy, who's mature. A man, not a boy.

I really wanted to be a dancer, but I just wasn't good enough to do that so that didn't happen.

I was a dance major at NYU, but it wasn't working out. I had friends in the drama department, so I switched.

I always acted in high school. Actually, I started in preschool. I was in a play about Jesus. I went to a Catholic school and played an angel and recited some poem about Jesus. It felt so long to me at the time.

What I look for in theater, I really like new work, and I really like the concept of age not necessarily being a defining aspect of who you are or how you act.

I sold muffler parts over the phone when I was a teenager.

It's a life-changing thing to be in a position of needing help and being so lucky as to get it.

I've been misquoted a lot, and there's this tendency for people to put on to you how they think you should be or what they think you should feel.

I say I'm not a control freak and I don't like to be in charge. But on the other hand, I really don't like anyone telling me what to do. I have some authority issues.

My dad was a theatrical guy. He wore a scuba suit one time because he said so-and-so was in the tank with the mayor. He didn't really care what people thought, so he was able to put himself out there. He didn't have a lot of shame, in a good way.

Unfortunately in life, justice is not always achieved.

I just think there is a part of your brain that is supposed to be afraid of getting old, even if you're not really.

Rejection happens, and you have to have a thick skin about it, which is hard. You can't be overly sensitive about people not picking you.

You can't just take care of everybody else all the time.

I'm dating somebody. I am enjoying it very much, and having a really nice time at the moment. I'm very happy.

I don't have much patience with sick people.

I worry about everything, which is silly because there's very little you can control anyway.

I did a lot of sitcoms, and being funny isn't about being beautiful. Usually, beautiful people aren't the funny people.

Even in comedy, I'm always the straight guy, which is okay because that's a skill. But it would be nice to get out of that box.

I felt intimidated the entire time I was in school by my teachers and classmates. But I just knew acting was something I wanted to do.

After 'NewsRadio,' I did say to my agent, 'If I get another TV show, I'd want to do a drama.' Then I got offered the part on 'ER,' and I was on that show for eight years.