Dominic Chianese Quotes

I like character-driven stuff. It doesn't matter, the size of the part.

Any great character is the combination of a brilliant actor and the right writing.

I loved playing Emma Pillsbury so much.

'End of Watch' was 98-percent written, and I work really hard to make it look like it's the first time I'm saying it.

I feel very lucky to play these well-rounded characters.

Without sounding too cliche, my part on 'Getting On' is the best role I've ever had. It is so rich, it is so well rounded, and I am happy to be right here. I feel like I lucked out and got one of the richest characters on TV because he is so complex.

All you ever really want is a great character and great writing. As an actor, that's the juiciest sandwich you could ever ask for.

If you're doing television, you get to be a character for a long time, and the cast around you becomes like family. You get attached to playing that one character, and it's hard leaving them behind.

I cannot tell you that I ever fell in love with the theater as an audience. I fell in love with the theater as an actor for a period of time, but I have struggled as an audience, and I struggle more now than then. I was always a movie guy.

I just like to go where the material is, whether that's TV, or movies, or the stage. As long as it's great writing, it's pretty much something I can't resist.

I had to audition as an actor, and I got so tired of doing the same monologues over and over, so I started writing my own, and then I started selling them to other actors.

I grew up doing theatre and spent a long time as a playwright. I still think very visually when I write.

When you guest-star, you're usually at the center of the dramatic arc, so that's fun.

I like the detail work of telling a story in small pieces, as is done in movie-making, and also the long leap of faith needed to see a theatre performance through each night. Both require focus and self-discipline.

I've had some marvelous parts, but I'm also asked to play characters who are kind of superficial people.

I don't really worry about the size of the part much any more. It's nice to have more time to work on the character, and to have big scenes to play. But if there's something playable there, and if it's interesting to do, then that's nice.

I'm just attracted to good material and great characters and that can come in any form, whether it's television or film or a theatre piece.

'Scandal' has been, for me, the most consistent time I've ever logged in front of a camera. I grew up in the theater, and I feel very confident and comfortable on the stage and in front of a live audience, but the camera is a very different medium.

I learn the lines that JK Rowling or whoever writes them, and say them.

'The Comeback' is my favorite TV show of all-time because it's just brill. It's Lisa Kudrow's show about what it's like to be an actor on a TV show. She's so amazing on it.

I started my career in Portugal, and the longest I've ever played a character was for about a year, which is how long our TV shows last.

It was a real honor to be able to work with someone like that that I've been watching since I was a kid. I mean, to play his brother left some people scratching their heads but something about it really worked.

What I truly get excited about is not the genre of a movie or the size of a part - it's character. I like to find characters.

I really enjoyed playing Freddie Cork. People are always scared to approach me because of the character I played in 'Brotherhood.' The writing was very smart.

I've never really played everyday people. I've played realist roles, but not mere daily life. There was always something incredible happening to my characters.