John Malkovich Quotes

Back when I was in theater school, trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, 'Sweeney Todd' was a huge touchstone for me, my favorite musical for sure.

Definitely working on 'Deal or No Deal' was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing.

After being in one movie, it didn't seem like that would be my life. I had done several jobs, briefly. I'd been a shipping clerk, I worked in a copy shop, I didn't think the acting was going to go on and on.

I don't really know if I want to do acting as a career. I really don't know what I want to do yet.

I don't regret doing any of my films. All of them have been great learning experiences, and they have contributed to making me what I am today.

My agent and I try to be picky with roles so that I can drive my career in different directions and be different, creative characters. I want to be an actor for the rest of my life and to have fun with my career. So I told him that I wish I could do a movie that already has a fan base. And then 'Twilight' came along!

I think, ultimately, looking back now, acting wasn't satisfying me 100%.

My career is an open book, but my life is not.

One of the great things about my job is I get to do all of these things that I may not experience had I not been an actor.

I left school at 16 and skipped university to work, initially as a waiter. I think I missed out on what would have been great years.

I don't know if acting is what I want to do for the rest of my life, it's just what I've, you know, ended up doing when I was little, and I've kinda grown up with it.

I'd always enjoyed acting, but modeling was so time-consuming - and lucrative - that I didn't pursue it.

It's a great time to be an actress at this point in my life.

People assume I'm out there having this great life, but money doesn't erase the pain. When you're young you barrel through life, making choices without thinking of repercussions. A few years down the line, you wake up in a certain place and wonder how the hell you got there.

I didn't have a bad experience on 'Gossip Girl,' by any means, but it was during a time in my life where I was looking at acting in not a very serious way. Which is no insult to 'Gossip Girl,' but that was a time in my life when I really didn't know if I wanted to act when I got out of school. It was like, 'OK, I got this part. I'll go do this.'

No, I don't regret any of the films that I did.

I don't see myself acting for the rest of my life.

I am 74 now. Looking back, I have a sense of not really being in control of my career. I just went where it took me.

I don't know if I will be acting all my life, honestly.

I had no idea when I graduated from high school and then from graduate school what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea that I was ever going to be an actor.

There isn't anything that pays you as much money as acting while you are deciding what the hell you're going to do with yourself.

I never turned a part down when they offered me money.

I never set out to be an actor. Again, my mother presented this job by job to me at the time, and if it sounded fun, I would say yes and if it didn't, I would say no. I always knew, since I was 7 or 8 years old, that it was a means to an end and that I wanted to go to college.

For any actor - not just talking about myself - but if you've been fortunate enough to work for a long period of time, there's going to be different choices you're going to make.

Money was always on my mind when I was growing up. So I was always wondering how we were going to afford this and that. Acting seemed to be a shortcut out of the mess.