Walter Matthau Quotes

I just wrapped this movie called 'The Wedding Crashers' which was a pretty big break for me.

Tony Stark in 'Iron Man' helped wider audiences finally embrace the enormous talent of Robert Downey Jr.

'Swimming Pool' was a very important moment for me because the character was written for me.

Playing Karen was so satisfying that it almost cured my acting bug completely. Not that I had conquered the world of acting. It was just that I had something to prove to myself when I started Will & Grace. Now I feel like, okay, well, I've satisfied that.

I was 28 when I played the role of a 65 year old man in my first film.

I had left school at 16, gone to stage school - and, until I was 22, I hadn't really played anyone but myself. Then in 1979, I made a film with Mike Leigh called 'Grownups,' which went out on the BBC, and overnight this new career opened up.

I consider myself absolutely a character actor, and that's what I want as a career. I don't need to be the lead star or any of that, as long as I'm doing stuff that I'm proud of, really.

I now want to be playing parts more interesting to me and more exciting to me.

I'm as happy doing 'Postman Pat' as I am doing 'Hamlet.'

I hope to continue building my acting career and work more on projects that fulfill my artistic thirst.

I don't want to play the same person twice, that's not why I wanted to act.

Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me.

The joy of 'Crash' was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. 'Crash' was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.

The reason I started writing movies was because I kept getting parts that I just kind of stepped into. I didn't have to do a lot of work and I ended up getting sort of bored.

I always knew I'd be more of a character actor than a leading man, and I always wanted to take that and run with it.

In the '80s, it was difficult and frustrating to appear in the theater and TV again, even though I had some successful shows and hit records. Now, I have to say, the '90s are the best decade of my life. I've done the best work and, in a funny way, I'm enjoying the most success... more than in the '70s.

I've spent a lot of time playing roles that didn't really challenge me. I suppose every actor feels that way.

I've always done drama, but I suppose 'Tyrannosaur' was a bit of a watershed moment for me. It was like when Kathy Burke did 'Nil By Mouth' - suddenly, people were saying, 'Oh, she can do that, too.'

After 'Othello,' it was, like, 'I can stop acting. I have played one of the great characters in the English language. I feel I have played him well and honorably. I have nothing to prove anymore.'

According to me films like 'Sonali Cable' are career changing films and only few get such chance, I am happy that I did this film.

The more layered, more complicated the role... The more I enjoy it.

I have never been of the opinion that I will only play the lead in a serial. For me, just the role needs to be good.

I got my Equity card right out of NYU grad school in 2000, doing 'The Great White Hope' at Arena Stage. I played Jack Jefferson. It was an amazing part to walk into, to carry that responsibility for that amount of time. The challenges and the breadth of that role were pretty amazing.

I have laid a very basic ground rule for myself. I should be a favourite with the audience, they should love me, my role, my acting, appreciate my talent. I don't want to repeat any of my roles, ever.

An actor can grow stale in a bad part. Actors grow stale, generally, because there's no demand on them.