Quotes from Jim Parsons

I'm also a big 'American Idol' fan. I think it's just great fun.

I want to drive! I love to drive! I drive at home in Barbados.

I was a very shy child.

I was a very shy child. I remember being in a kindergarten open house with my mother and children saying 'Hi' to me, and I still remember feeling this way - but I don't know why - but I wouldn't even say 'Hi' back. I was that shy.

The theater I got to do informs every move I make as an actor and will for the rest of my life. I can't shake it if I wanted to, but I don't want to.

In L.A., I have more of a yard existence, and so I enjoy walking my two little dogs in New York - one's a Maltese and the other's a Shih Tzu.

I love seeing tennis up close.

When I first started out in Houston, it was theater or bust. And I loved it. I still love it. And then I went to undergraduate and graduate school for acting.

I was very fascinated with meteorology at a young age. I lived on the Gulf Coast and hurricanes blew through there. That is the class I failed in college: meteorology.

All I can do is keep working, keep auditioning, keep talking to people - and whatever it takes to show other colors.

Theatre was my first love. I can't take the theatre out of me. And I wouldn't want to. To me, it's home.

My choices in projects have all been character or role-based, and on a financial level, it's obvious: as an actor on a TV series, I get a wonderful paycheck, and a consistent paycheck, which doesn't always happen when you're doing theater or movies.

I did have a Twitter account that I tried for a couple days, but found I had nothing to say. There are some interesting facts I could share, but I don't want to share that part of myself.

I couldn't tell you a good, bad or ugly pilot just from reading it, but I can tell you a character I want to play.

You just have to speak up. You just have to say, 'I would like to do this,' and it's amazing what people who listen can do for you.

I had a very strong interest in music, specifically the piano from a very small age.

It's made it easier to communicate important issues, but I wonder if connecting with millions of people online is ever as arresting to someone's attention as one man standing and screaming in front of City Hall.

I try to master every facet of a character in order to build a safety net for myself, so I can go on to take more risks to create someone really distinct.

Well, I'm a big believer in 'never say never.'

Being in TV, we get to do it again and again until it's 'right.' There's a part of me that likes the other way, that aspect of theatre where there's no chance to go back.

I grew up with two different parakeets - one that lived for five years, and one that lived for 13 years - so I always had a bit of an attraction to birds and it's an oddly good fit to be in a movie about birdwatchers.

There's no audience to wonderfully get in your way when you're doing a single-camera anything, whether it's a sitcom or drama or film. And I do mean that in the best way.

I have never been an activist for anything.

I've done so much theater, and yet I never had an experience like 'The Normal Heart.' We could feel the reaction of the audience every night. It was visceral.