Quotes About Acting

Acting as a profession came to me by chance: in 1946, after the war, I was having lunch with my cousin, who was the Italian ambassador, and he asked, 'What are you going to do now you're out of uniform?' I said, 'I'm pretty inventive, and I can imitate people,' and he said, 'Have you thought about being an actor?'

It wasn't easy to act when dressed in the heavy ice hockey uniform - it was exhausting.

All Asian parents are into your children having a respectable, decent stable job. Acting was unimaginable to my parents.

I've always been so uninterested in playing any kind of archetype of some pure, innocent, virginal woman. I just don't believe it.

I like to act. Every other aspect of show business I find uninteresting.

When you play the king of elves and alien warlords, little me is very uninteresting. But, at the same time, actors feel this obligation to be transparent, and I truly don't understand the point.

I had to jump around in the arts for a while just to survive. I earned a little money here and there, playing the guitar at union meetings, functions. I sold some science-fiction stories. I knew there was absolutely no question of me not being connected with the arts, but I couldn't find any acting jobs.

It's never me saying, 'When is my day over?' It's more, 'When do they legally have to get me off of the lot, based on when I have to be back the next day?' The first call is a big thing in the acting world and in the union world. There needs to be a 12 hour period, and I need it.

My first paying job was a in a production of Neil LaBute's 'Bash: Latter Day Plays' at the Union Street theater in Borough. I played the 'Medea Redux' character. That was my first job out of drama school. I can't remember how much I got paid. I'm sure it was pennies.

The 'Rescue Me' gig was a unique opportunity to play a character - a misanthropic, angry guy - who was so contrary to how people think of me.

I just like playing unique characters that I love.

Danny Chung in 'Veep' is a really unique, very anti-stereotypical role for an Asian-American actor, and being able to play that has been super fun.

When I started acting, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to be a character read and not a leading man. I didn't want to do the same thing again and again. I wanted to push and challenge myself. I find and embrace new and unique challenges in all mediums.

My dad had a temper. I have a temper. Most people I know have a temper. And I think it comes out mostly with your family. I don't think it's unique to the Buscemis, but it's something I've been able to tap into when I play certain roles.

You're always looking to have a unique experience as an actor, and definitely, being punched by a puppet ranks as a singular experience in my career.

Acting in 'Mr. And Mrs. Iyer' was a unique experience. It was the first time that my mother was directing me in a lead role.

When you're hanging there twenty feet off the ground, surrounded by green screen, and all you've got is the other actor and the wonderful Gavin Hood shouting instructions at you as to what's going on; it's a really unique experience.

Harrison Ford - one of my favorite actors - has a wonderful sense of character and depth and uniqueness to him, yet he's able to just deliver the lines without putting any English on it.

I did about 10-12 national commercials and then got one line parts in things like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and the show 'The Unit.' Got a little part in the movie 'Redbelt' by David Mamet and kept slowly grinding up and then started getting bigger parts in independents and getting noticed by Liz Meriwether.

In 'Talvar', my character loses his daughter and it was quite an intense role. I had to concentrate and I would request all the unit members to stay silent before the take.

I came to the United States to see what would happen in 2000 after working for 20 years in Australia and asked my agent to look out for the nasty roles because I'd become famous for playing the nicest man in Australia. So I wanted to play bad guys.

I spent some time in juvenile detention, and as far as owning space, I may have owned too much space as a young boy, and it got me in trouble. But through that, I found some unity. I found acting, and that's become a place to exercise that.

I have played Polynesian. I have played an Arabian girl. I played an East Indian girl. And what was so confusing about that, which I mention in my book, is that I assumed I had to have an accent. Nobody said anything, so I made up what I call the universal ethnic accent, and they all sounded alike. It didn't matter who I was playing.

You're an actor, are you? Well, all that means is: you are irresponsible, irrational, romantic, and incapable of handling an adult emotion or a universal concept without first reducing it to something personal, material, sensational - and probably sexual!