Quotes About Acting

My first live performance was the lead in 'Peter Pan.'

I loved Peter Sellers whenever he played an Indian.

I'd like to play a larger-than-life character done straight, like Clouseau. To move away from Dick Emery and towards Peter Sellers.

It was my first scene in any movie and my only scene in Kramer vs. Kramer. I was petrified.

I had always told my father that before working with him in the same frame as an actor, which I was petrified to do, I wanted to learn from him, so I had pleaded with him for two years before he agreed to write and direct 'Mausam.' It was our dream project and a wonderful opportunity for us to work as a family.

Oddly enough, Dame Edna is not interested in show business. Her friends in Los Angeles are mostly in the world of petroleum. She used to have some acting friends. Sadly, Joan Rivers has passed on. Larry Hagman was a close friend. A number of others.

I think that the work that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford did was truly extraordinary, and that's their legacy. Not the other petty stuff.

I would love to be in 'Downton Abbey.' That's the thing I thing many people would have a good laugh with me saying anything like that. I feel like that's the next phase of my career. To reprove to everyone that I can do things besides the crazy characters.

When I started, there was a phase where I wanted to be a cowboy star. I didn't want to do deep, serious parts.

I believe acting also has a retirement phase. Unfortunately, no one in the industry is ready to accept that.

What we do as actors is we go through phases where you superficially learn all this information.

My castings sort of go in phases. There'll be several icy professional parts - a lawyer or a cop. And then there'll be the intelligent-but-wounded group and then the period things. It goes in sequence.

I mean everyone, from Al Pacino to Murphy Guyer, are phenomenal actors.

One of my favorite credits is to say that I worked behind Marilyn Monroe, and I love saying that. She was phenomenal.

I think Bob Odenkirk is phenomenal.

'Mean Girls' was phenomenal, Rachel McAdams was on point the entire time and so fantastic.

If the day comes when I'm no longer playing Phil Coulson, I'll very gratefully bid him farewell, because it's been an incredible journey, but I've learned that it's best to just be grateful for where I am and make the most out of that opportunity that day.

When you saw Jon Lovitz or Dana Carvey or Phil Hartman doing something, they were acting. It was real acting. Like, they were acting like that person. They weren't like - it wasn't even like they were really trying to go for a laugh, especially in Phil Hartman's case.

I did 'Philadelphia' and 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?' at the same time. It's kind of wonderful to do it that way, because you get very hyper-focused.

Guys like Philip Seymour Hoffman or Sam Rockwell are the guys I look up to and have the kind of career I'd like to emulate.

Philip Seymour Hoffman - I just think he's incredible.

I used to have a lot of philosophies of acting; they all fell apart over the years.

I loved 'The Master' a lot. I'm not going to get to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, but Joaquin Phoenix is one of the best around, I think.

One person goes off and works in Houston the other person goes off to London and you're on the phone to each other and somebody is paying you to kiss somebody else. It's very bizarre being an actor.