Chris O'Dowd Quotes

Because I've done so many hour dramas, people tend to think of you as more of a dramatic actor and don't see you as doing comedy.

Doing comic roles is a great relief considering the power-packed roles that are usually offered to me.

I think any actor hopes to have variety and range in what they do. Everybody has a certain range, so you take on roles to expand that the best you can... See things a little differently and whatnot.

I would like to feel that I have a range and that it's not just a matter of being a comic actor or a serious actor, because those are really artificial classifications, I think.

I would like to, especially in film, play against type and do some heavier stuff. I'm intrigued by projects that deal with problematic people and things.

I know I can handle dramatic roles, but I don't think I should have to play a young mother on crack to prove it.

I've been described as a smart actor because I've attended college. Or I've been called an artsy jock. And I am thinking, 'So, are actors supposed to be dumb?'

I tend to play strong characters and people just assume that I would want to play romantic comedies, which I would love to do, but there are other women that do it so great and they maybe couldn't do what I do, play the kind of characters that I play.

As it is, I have a limited range as an actor - light comedy. I have never been a fan of romantic comedies, and yet that is what I have ended up mostly doing.

Most of the time, actors respond to the thing that's so far from who they are. We all want to play the serial killer and the ex-con.

Some of the things I've been in are comedic, but I don't get considered for true comedies because I'm a 'dramatic' actor.

I love doing comedy, and I don't get a chance to much. I get to play lots of serious people and killers and people with a lot of... sheriffs.

I feel lucky, though, because even when 'Alias' was popular, I was still sent scripts against type. I've never felt like the world only sees me one way. But yes, it's been really fun to be bad.

For actors, we always feel like there shouldn't be any divide for anybody. The industry is the one that kind of creates the idea that if you're such-and-such an actor, you can't be on the big screen.

I'm fighting the label of 'Black' actress simply because it's very limiting in people's eyes, especially people who are making movies.

It's harder in the States. I'm much more inclined to get offered things that are a lot straighter and heavier and dramatic. And they go by looks, too. If you look like a leading man, then that's what they will consider you for.

As an actress, you're already disregarded for a lot of the parts by the people who are setting up those shows. You don't need your agent to be doing the same.

Perhaps I've been perceived more as a romantic comedy actor, but overall, I enjoy acting in any shape or form.

I can't say I have enough experience with Hollywood to feel that I've encountered racism there. I can tell you that I did about five fruitless years of auditioning for voiceovers where I did variations on tacos and Latin accents, and my first screen role was as a bellhop on 'The Sopranos.'

I have about as much control over how I look as the guy who's short and looks more like a character actor - we both have the same drive to be actors and we both have the same drive to assume these different characters, it's just harder for me to get the chance because they look at me and say, 'Oh, he's this type,' and they stamp me.

I don't want to be known as this goody-two-shoes who can only do comedies where puppies are licking peanut butter off my face.

I like to play different types roles, but I'd like to do a comedy next.

I was playing 40-year-old women when I was 20. I didn't get considered for ingenue roles.

Every time actors from down south do a Bollywood film, it is always looked at like, 'Oh it must be a one time thing,' or a stereotypical role.

I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.