David Walton Quotes

I went in the Marines when I was 16. I spent four and a half years in the Marines and then came right to New York to be an actor. And then seven years later, I got my first job.

I'm reading scripts, desperately wanting to work. I've set a couple of things up for next year.

I need work. I still audition for work. I don't get offered things out of nowhere. I have to work hard, still, and I get a lot of rejections. It just goes on and on.

I would drive down in my Volkswagen Jetta to Los Angeles and just audition, audition, audition, audition, and hopefully get something. I did that for two years, and the third year I came down, I auditioned for 'How I Met Your Mother.'

I came to New York in 1974, when I graduated from college. And you had to use 'Backstage' because all of the auditions were listed there. Most people didn't come with agents, so you got to see a lot of what was auditioning and when and where. 'Backstage' made sure you knew the major places.

I had two jobs coming out of school: I did a play, 'The Great White Hope.' I played the boxer Jack Johnson. And I was the lead in this indie film. Then I moved to Los Angeles because New York was cold and it was really too quiet for me at that time. I was out of school; I was hungry. The auditions were trickling in, and I was antsy and ready to go.

In Chicago, I'd audition 3-4 times a week, but when I got out to L.A., there were, like, 4-5 a day, and my skin got really thick.

I moved to New York and couldn't get a job as an actor. And waited tables for so long.

I'm trying to work in studio movies, but they won't hire me.

It's not like they just open the gate to Hollywood and off you go - you earn your stripes. I worked ferociously hard even just to get an agent.

'One Tree Hill' was a great learning opportunity for me, and I'm excited to go and apply that elsewhere and see where I end up.

The great thing as an actor is that I don't know what my agent is going to call me with next.

I was preparing myself for the theater, and... I got a little job here and a job there, but it wasn't going well, and I considered some time before the mid-60s that maybe I should consider something else.

There are times in show business when you work so much you think you will pop your cork, and then suddenly you can't find any work.

I couldn't get an acting job to save my life when I moved to L.A.

I began modeling in N.Y. and doing commercials. That led to regional theatre and then Broadway and then movies.

I've been just like any other working actor, out there looking for stuff.

That's my suggestion for kids who want to act, by the way: Make sure it's really your choice, get out of it when it stops being fun, and get an education.

When I started acting, I didn't think of it as a career. I always thought Hollywood was this magical world where a fairy came down and said, 'Come live with the Munchkins; you are now one of us.' I didn't understand the concept of it as a career. I thought I would save up enough money to go to college.

I had a Taco Bell audition where I had to wear a huge sombrero and walk around like an idiot. I got call-backs for the movie 'Twister,' did small independent stuff that I won't name. But it led to all my breakthrough moments on 'Entourage.'

I've been doing this journey in acting and singing since I was six years old, and I definitely think this will take me to the next level - in movies.

When I was seven, I had been very vocal about wanting to be an actor. And my mom decided that we would try it out for a couple weeks and come to L.A. from Sacramento.

Whenever I didn't have a job, I studied acting, I sent out tapes, went on auditions.

I've always said that actor years is like dog years: it feels like forever when you're not working.

After a two-year stint at Cheek by Jowl theatre company in London, I put all my energies into breaking into New York's theatre scene. It took me eight years to build enough to play lead roles.