Quotes About Childhood

I have a strong memory of the day I was told that my father had a weak heart and that he had to go to the hospital. He died when I was nine years old on the same day that Franklin Roosevelt died; it was his 45th birthday.

Growing up I was always stronger than all the other kids. I wasn't allowed to play with the other girls because they were too weak. And I had to be careful with boys because I'd always be hitting them and I'd get into trouble for hurting them.

I believe my mother's immune system was harmed because of all the vaccinations she needed to visit different countries, when her body was already weakened after an impoverished wartime childhood.

My grandma used to pitch to me. Hit rocks with a broomstick.

I'll never forget this memory: I was at home, and suddenly my father came home with 10 footballs for me. I lived by a football pitch, so every day, I'd take the ball and practice shooting.

I grew up in Hockley, Birmingham. It was an environment I'll never forget in terms of playing football on local pitches, kicking a ball around in the front garden and all over the house. It was a positive place to live, and somewhere, that gave me the right grounding for where I am today.

We had almost like our own little sports complex at the house. The driveway was like the pitching mound. We used to play one-on-one street hockey right there. My dad wanted to make sure we were ready to have some fun, so he was always out grabbing sports equipment.

I moved to Shaker Heights from Pittsburgh, PA, just before I turned 10.

When I grew up in Pittsburgh in my parents' restaurant, I was almost like a country bumpkin.

I grew up watching Pixar movies. And my favourite - if you don't count 'The Good Dinosaur' - is the first Pixar movie my older brother showed me. That would be 'Monsters, Inc.' I also like Disney - 'The Lion King' is probably my all-time favourite movie.

I never really knew what fine cuisine was when I was a little boy in Canada. For me, Italian food was 'Kraft Dinner' or pizza. When I moved to New York, that's when I discovered all the Italian food.

When I was five, I went on my first audition. It was for a Pizza Hut commercial.

In my childhood there was every year at my old home, Roxborough, or, as it is called in Irish, Cregroostha, a great sheep-shearing that lasted many days. On the last evening there was always a dance for the shearers and their helpers, and two pipers used to sit on chairs placed on a corn-bin to make music for the dance.

I was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States with my family when I was 4. I spent most of my childhood in Chicago. My elementary school had no program in English as a second language, so I was placed in a class for students with speech impediments.

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

My first day in grade school, I was plain scared. I left the comfort of my run-down house, which I loved, and went to school where it was cold, it smelled, the lighting was bad.

My childhood was idyllic to begin with. We lived on a farm in Oxfordshire and my mum used its produce in the kitchen. She made plain, English-style food, cooked exceptionally - it's what I've based my career on.

All my playmates on the farm were black, and later, when I started school in Plains, it was all white. But I was always eager to get back home to my friends in Archery.

I was a 'Planet of the Apes'-obsessed kid.

I grew up on 'Battle of the Planets.'

Acting was my after-school activity. I never planned on growing up and becoming an actor.

The Nehru years were rather very peaceful years. A lot happened in those years: dams were built, five-year plans were made, Chandigarh was built in front of my eyes. Those were the years I grew up in.

My parents had a gardener when I was growing up, and he and I would dig in the dirt together - my mom and dad were definitely not digging with me! When I was 5, he helped me plant some corn in our backyard, and I remember how fascinating it was to watch it grow. Little did I know that 50 years later I'd be growing corn in a different way.

Most of my friends - when I was five, six, seven years old - their dads were working in an auto plant in Detroit until 5:30, and then they were sat in rush hour. They weren't around as much. My dad finished at three o'clock, so he was just around more.