Quotes from Eric McCormack

I always get a little uppity when I hear the phrase 'TV actor.' It's like saying you're a magazine reporter. I was in the theater for ten years before I ever had a TV audition.

I needed to start pulling at this other sort of funnier, lighter side. So I auditioned for everything. I auditioned for 'Friends,' even.

I didn't want to do a lawyer. I didn't want to do forensics. I didn't want to work in an ER.

There was a time when history was written by a few people, the winners. Now, history is written by all of us all the time... That's the thing we keep telling our 14-year-olds, you know: anything you do right now, it's not going anywhere.

That's the hard part of television: When you walk into the network tests, you're signing away seven years of your life.

I'm not sure sometimes if it was because Will was gay or it was a sitcom. But that combination does make it hard to become the new lead on the 'Sopranos.'

I never felt cool growing up. I was a bit of an outsider, but I discovered theatre very early on, which got me through.

Will isn't a screaming queen - that's Jack's part. They needed someone to play the part for America. It's just not the same as Britain. To have a gay character as a lead is risky.

We see people talking to themselves all the time. We always have. Particularly if they're homeless people or at all questionable, there's a sense of, 'That guy's crazy!' I see that now with a much more empathetic eye.

I haven't had a chance to play a quiet leading man in a while.

It's hard in this business to get the opportunities to show off range.

I think most actors go into the business thinking, 'I can play everything. Why can't I play a black woman? Just give me a chance.' Then you grow up and realize it's probably better that they cast an actual black woman.

If you're doing an hour-long show, you're working movie hours, doing a 12-15-hour day. We work three or four hours a day, and get every third or fourth week off to give the writers time to write. It's the cushiest job in Hollywood.

Back when I was in theater school, trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, 'Sweeney Todd' was a huge touchstone for me, my favorite musical for sure.

I started to realise that it wasn't for me. Perhaps I didn't have to give my Hamlet before I died, that the world might be an OK place without my Hamlet, in fact.

I think we all realize that anyone can - and has - gotten AIDS. So there's obviously still a lot to be done.

I like playing a character every day. I like having something to go back to. I always enjoyed that with 'Will & Grace.' I like the camaraderie. I like having a crew that I know and I can work with every day.

When I read the script for Will & Grace in 1998, I knew I was the only guy for the part.

We didn't, with 'Will & Grace,' set out to change the gay world. We just set out to be funny.

I knew I wanted to be an actor in first grade.

I did a film a couple years ago called 'Who Is Clark Rockefeller?' It was a role that I was really proud of that I wish more people could go back and rediscover.

Every day, there's something that makes you go, 'Is this Funny or Die?' That can't be a real headline.

I never felt cool growing up. I was a bit of an outsider, but I discovered theatre very early on, which got me through.

My most romantic job: I was a manager at Baskin-Robbins.