Brooke Smith Quotes

But acting had entered my world through older brothers. It was a basic thing: all that just looks cool.

I had always wanted to be on TV; my mom told me that when I was little, I told her I wanted to be a 'modeler,' because that's what I called actors on TV.

I still credit Adrian Lester with being one of my biggest influences.

And I'd watch George C. Scott from backstage. He was one of my mentors.

I grew up seeing a lot of theatre, and it was theatre that really seduced me into acting - not film or television.

I had the great good fortune of working with Christopher Plummer, Frances Sternhagen, and Arthur Hill early in my career, and it set a standard for the kind of work I want to do.

I first started doing theatre, as my sister did it, so I wanted to do the same.

There are so many talented actors in my contemporaries and my seniors... I seek inspiration from each one of them.

I was always going to act, literally ever since I was tiny. In fact, I have Doctor Who to thank for that. I wanted to become an actor after being obsessed with Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor Who, in the 1970s. His was the definitive performance of all time in anything.

I was a youngster looking up to dudes like Vicky McClure, Joe Dempsie and Michael Socha - in fact, he was a big influence on how I was able to detach drama from the all-singing, all-dancing stigma.

When I was little, I put on plays for my family at Sunday dinner, and I would direct them and have all my cousins, my brother, and my best friends in it. I was a very imaginative and theatrical child and wasn't afraid of being in front of a camera. It was like make-believe to me.

Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people. When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.

'Power Rangers' has changed a lot of lives.

Like I said, when I was a kid, they inspired me.

I grew up in Middle America and I don't think my family was very funny, but I watched 'The Princess Bride.' I always wanted to be an actor. I didn't know anything about it. I'd never seen any plays or anything and I watched that movie over and over and over again.

When I was 16 years old, I joined a drama group called North Queensland Academy of Dramatic Art under a woman called Maggie Shephard-King. She inspired me to audition for the role of Romeo in 'Romeo and Juliet.'

Before acting, I was always attracted to words, to literature - be they the words of Williams, Arthur Miller, Shakespeare or Moliere.

When I was a little boy, I didn't know what the Hall of Fame was. I was just playing the game of baseball, and I wanted to be just like my dad.

I had done plays in high school. It was something I always wanted to do since I was little. I was a drama major at UC-Irvine.

I know I had my equivalents in Adrian Lester and Lenny James when I was at drama school. I remember David Harewood doing 'Othello' at the National, and Adrian Lester having done Cheek by Jowl's famous 'As You Like It and Company' at the Donmar. Not necessarily performances I saw, but just the fact they happened was massively encouraging.

Comedy was why I got into acting the first place. Peter Sellers was a huge influence on my wanting to act. I grew up with him and found him hysterical. The Pink Panther films were an inspiration, from my earliest childhood days, when I was watching them with my brother and my dad.

Growing up, I idolised Madhuri Dixit. She's my favourite actress, and I used to pretend I was her all the time.

I'd studied theater growing up and loved that, but didn't have many examples of artists around me.

Cate Blanchett and Eileen Atkins are definitely among my top five actresses whose work I aspire to.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. But I do love actors. I wish I could drop a bunch of names, but there are just too many.