Richard Schiff Quotes

I don't get offered leading parts. I suppose I've become a kind of character actor or sideman. I think it had to do with probably in the '90s, I refused so many leading roles that they gave up on me, or I just became unpopular, or I became old. All those reasons.

I would love to do more movies, but the reality is women have many more opportunities on television to play a greater variety of characters.

I would love to do films. It's just the way things happened for me - I ended up doing a lot of TV.

People now tell me it's a good thing I stayed away from teen films. Well, it wasn't my choice. I wasn't hired.

I would definitely do TV, at the drop of a hat, if I was offered a good role.

I didn't do the 'Home And Away' thing.

You see these juicy roles, and 9 times out of 10, they'll go to a much more established actor. It's the nature of the business.

A lot of people ask me, when I mention I'm from Australia, that I must have been on 'Home And Away,' and I tell them was one of the few who didn't take that route. That's because I auditioned for 'Home And Away,' and I didn't get booked, so you'd call that a knock back.

Once I wanted to get into films, I took my time about it because when I first got to Bombay, I gave my photos and CDs to all the production houses. But the roles that came my way were the 'typical white girl dancing in the background' kind of roles, which I was not too interested in, or it was advertisements.

There's a lot of great stuff on television and that's very appealing to actors who want to work, who do good quality and high quality work. But you're always concerned that the time demands on television will interrupt or interfere with your film work.

I did a pilot for HBO, called One Percent, that they didn't end up picking up, but it was a pretty intense and dramatic piece.

It's funny because when I first met with Carmen, she said, "Have you ever thought about doing TV?" And I was like, "No, not really, but I'd audition for TV." And she said, "That's where the roles are for women now. That's where you can go and get a really great part."

I've been offered quite a few network shows, over the past couple of years, and always turned them down because I never wanted the commitment. The way that it works in America, you do a pilot and then you wait, and I just thought that wasn't really what I was interested in doing, in that moment.

I think it'd be cool to be in film and television, but I never thought that would happen.

A guy playing pool in a pub once said to me that they should put me on the telly. It went in one ear and out the other. But then I started thinking about it. I wondered how it all worked, did you have to be best mates with someone at the BBC who you went to uni with in Oxford?

Getting into network television was tougher than I thought it was gonna be.

After 'Champion,' I got like 20,000 psychopath roles! And they wanted me to strip and show my body in every film. But I have tried to balance my roles.

In my career, many a times I was not able to be part of many films, and there were many reasons for them. But I don't know why people still talk only about why I didn't do 'Bahubali 1' and '2.'

This is the great thing about TV is that when you discover certain strengths in an actor, you can then begin to exploit them in really fun ways.

As far as television is concerned, I'm just not interested in working on a series. Why should I settle for being someone's second banana? And that weekly grind is unrewarding and too demanding.

A lot of the time with jobs that I've booked, immediately I'll read the breakdown, or I'll read the script, and I'm like, 'Oh I'd love to do this, but I'm completely wrong for it,' and they tend to be the jobs that I book.

I've been in various roles in TV - writer, producer, associate director.

A newcomer needs to be careful as to what kind of role they choose. If you choose something different, you will end up getting typecast. That's why I chose to play a character my age, to keep my options open for the future.

I would do more film roles if I am invited.

I prayed fervently for a series regular job on a show that had the perceived caliber of talent that '30 Rock' had.