Shia LaBeouf Quotes

I've been really fortunate in the fact that I've gotten a chance to do a real wide range of all different kinds of characters.

As a 6-foot, 6-inch, 300-pound black man, I've done everything I can to stay out of that box that Hollywood tries to put me in. I've been able to play a variety of roles, like the character of Vern in 'Shall We Dance?' with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez to the character of Neal in 'Things We Lost in the Fire.' I've been blessed.

The first five years of my career, I was Inmate #1, Bad Guy #1 and Mean Guy #1. I had a great career going, until somebody told me that I was typecast. I said, "Well, what's typecast?" And they said, "Well, you're always playing the mean Chicano dude with tattoos." I thought about that and I said, "Wait a minute! I am the mean Chicano dude with tattoos, so somebody is getting it right."

I don't feel typecast almost at all, and it could just be because I'm insensitive, but I doubt it. I think most of my roles I've gotten have very little to do with my ethnicity. I don't feel that's a limiting factor for my career.

If you are a successful actor, which is what I am, then you tend to get labelled very quickly and easily.

I've played a baseball player a few times, but in my career I've been blessed to have played a wide range of characters.

As an actor, you don't want to be typecast, because Hollywood is so quick to put you in things that you've succeeded in before.

I have been typecast in my career, although the type changes with the decades.

Probably a concern to either a major or minor degree with most actors if they're really motivated to kind of make a significant difference in the business is the 'pigeon-holing' thing.

Your basic physical makeup does influence the parts you're offered. If you're big, they cast you either dumb or tough, although there are exceptions. Clint Eastwood and James Arness carved out niches for themselves in Westerns. I just hope I won't be faced with doing 'Li'l Abner' in dinner theater for the rest of my career.

I think it was hard for people to cast me as an ethnic, as an Asian American woman.

After The Wizard Of Oz I was typecast as a lion, and there aren't all that many parts for lions.

People attach too much to the idea of being a model, that you can only be a certain way to have done it. You will always be dealing with it. You're an actor who used to be a model who never trained; there are not many directors queuing up.

I've spent my entire career on horseback or on a motorcycle. It boxes you in, the way people perceive you. I read a lot of scripts. Most of 'em go to other actors.

One of the things that I found very confronting in my early working life was that people thought I was some sensitive doe-eyed lovelorn boy, because they'd seen me do that a couple of times. What tends to happen is you get a run of similar roles.

'L.A. Law' has been a bit of a blessing and a curse. First of all, it was a very prestigious show that had a lot of intellect, and I was the pretty boy. I've had to battle that my whole career: 'Oh, you were the face guy. You didn't really have to act; you just had to wear the right suits.' I had to battle that.

I think there's a danger of a being typecast as the all-American mom forever.

I got pigeonholed a bit. When I wanted to be an actress, I never wanted to be the kind of actress I became.

I've been lucky enough to play roles that are not just the preppy cheerleader or sullen emo girl. I've been able to play roles that are really vast and varied and very three-dimensional. Fingers crossed that it remains the same.

When I was younger, you get pigeonholed in parts, which is understandable.

I used to get typecast when I was younger.

Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever.

This idea of the world expecting you to remain an ingenue forever - it's a very short shelf life if you're going to commit to that as your career, and I knew that early.

I consider myself a journeyman actor, and I pride myself and look forward to keeping my career choices as diverse as possible because it challenges me as an actor.

I'm aware of being pigeonholed in those period drama roles. But, I do love them at the same time.