Willem Dafoe Quotes

I never get the tall, blonde, glamorous roles because I'm not tall, blonde and glamorous. I'm more the wee, disturbing characters because of the way I look or sound.

It's always nice to have people say you're good-looking. But I do get told I'm not right for parts because I'm too good-looking.

No one ever let me be a bad guy once I started working more frequently after I got out of college and started pursuing acting. I just got all of the good-guy roles because if I walk in the room, not a lot of people believe me as a bad guy.

Directors are not worried about casting beautiful women, but they are not sure that they want to cast great-looking men. My looks have prevented people from seeing my work.

I never understood the idea that I was a 'backpack rapper.' I think that's a lazy way that people started thinking. They like saying that because I got dreads. I look like I belong a certain place, so it's easy to put everything in a box.

People figure because I'm blonde and was a model, I just waltzed into Los Angeles and got major roles in major films.

I used to play a lot of foreign women in my youth because I was prettier then. I would go for interviews, and directors would look at these sultry, exotic looks, hear this clipped accent and think the two don't go together. So they would give me a foreign accent.

I was kind of the black sheep with the Disney kids. I was uninterested in making friends with most of them. I didn't really fall into 'the Disney mold.' I was more or less the kid hanging out with the crew members and got along with them far better.

I get typecast as doctors, principals, middle-management-type guys - which, when you look at me, you realize is completely against my physical characteristics. I should be an action hero. So I don't understand what's going on.

But I've lost parts because of my looks. I auditioned to star with Richard Dreyfuss in 'The Buddy System.' The producers said no one would believe he would leave me for another woman. They just couldn't see me with him.

I was never part of the crowd.

I keep getting cast as this bad guy, and I don't know why.

I've always been interested in the outsider.

I think being very thin has had a lot to do with how I've been cast.

With 'Broadcast News,' it became a non-issue, and with 'The Piano,' it became a non-issue. Both parts were written for more statuesque women. It was nice to change people's minds about that, because that's neither here nor there.

I turned to punk because I didn't fit in anywhere else.

I have an interest in the outsider.

The trouble is that people are all too ready to jump to conclusions about anybody who they think looks a bit strange. They think you must be mentally subnormal.

Outside of society, if you're looking that's where you'll find me.

My background sets me apart. I've never been able to relate to many people. I've always been the outcast child.

I'm interested in people who are not exactly the middle way, or who are trying something else because they cannot prevent themselves from being different, or they wish to be different, or they are different because society pushed them away.

I was played the villain so much because I was bigger and stronger than most, and they cast me as the villain everywhere I went.

I was confident and in good shape when I first came to L.A. but nobody would cast me in any well written roles. People assumed based on my looks I was an asshole and a one trick pony. They never let me improv or do comedy. It wasn't until I built a shlubby exterior, which stood in stark contrast to my inner confidence that people gave me room to play.

I was lucky enough to be a "type." Sort of a bad-guy type at the time, because I was tall and I had dark eyes. A lot of times, you don't have to be good; you just have to be the right type.

Actors are limited by their appearance and while it has cost me some roles, it has got me some very important roles too.