Michael Shanks Quotes

I moved to L.A. to write and direct. I had no intentions of being in front of the camera.

I've always loved film, and since I knew I probably couldn't be a cowboy or a spy in real life, I thought I'd play one in a movie! I started doing theater in middle school and tested for 'Victorious' before being in an episode of 'iCarly.'

After the Oscar for 'Shampoo,' I had a sense, even as I was walking up to get it, that this was the height of where I was going to go as an actress. And I felt that now was the time, if I wanted a longer life in the arts, that I had to jump from acting to directing.

I'm living in Los Angeles, I'm in films and I'm on television, and I'm working with actors and telling stories. I'm living the fantasy. My worst day is a great day.

Actors can't retire. What would they do?

Coming back to 'New Girl' was a real reminder of how lucky I am to be on a popular network TV show.

To get asked to do stuff like 'United States Of Tara' and 'Caprica' is terrific. I can't complain.

Most people want to become movie stars and I just want to be in the business. I already was a star. If I get the part of a lifetime and it blows up, then that's wonderful. But if the acting doesn't work, fine. I'll just be a producer. And if the producing doesn't work, fine. I've got a lot of other stuff.

Honestly, I want to do films. I want to make that move from actor to producer, like Will Smith.

In 2000, I realized I had reached that certain age when the parts get scarcer. So I decided to try my hand at directing.

In all honesty I think that I've had a very normal life, even though I've been making movies since I was 9.

There will be a time very shortly that I just might not be in front of the camera at all, and I might just be behind the scenes. I love doing television, though. I don't necessarily love being in front of the camera.

After I did nine years of a television series, I didn't want to do anything really that involved going to a set and being in front of a camera for quite a while. And when I did start to want to do things, I wanted to focus more on film.

Paul Haggis, who's now a big movie guy, cast me as a lawyer in 'Family Law.' When that series ended, I thought that I would be going on more auditions and booking more jobs, but everything just came to a screeching halt.

Suddenly I was writing a lot of screenplays, and I was no long in New York, so I stopped acting in plays, and it just became too tricky to find a part to play, either in a play or a film that coincided with my schedule writing and or directing.

Actually, I went from doing a lot of movies early on in my career, then to doing TV, and I don't know whether we'll get back to some movies or not.

I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97.

When I think about my great conversations with Marlon Brando on the set of 'Morituri,' I think there's a story there, just as I do with my experience working with James Cameron on 'Titanic.' And then there are all my years on 'Y&R' and all that has happened there.

I've never felt a strong urge to rush into Hollywood, so I bided my time and waited till I had a decent body of work to show people, the icing on the cake being 'Salmon Fishing' and 'Parade's End.'

You know, I grew up watching all kinds of films. So, as an adult, I wanted to be involved in all kinds of plays and television and film.

I'd been an actor in high school, and when I got to college, it was all about film.

I think I want to pursue a movie career and maybe even pursue some theatre.

My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'.

I left 'Law and Order' because I really honestly did want to do movies and did want to be a movie star since I was a little girl.

I got to work with Dustin Hoffman on a film called 'Billy Bathgate.' I got to work with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn and Bob Zemeckis on 'Death Becomes Her.' There are still a few actors out there that I would like to work with.