Jason Butler Harner Quotes

That's really how I got started was doing Shakespeare. When I got out of school, I was lucky enough to meet George Wolfe, who ran The Public Theater.

If you drugged me with truth serum and said I can only do one thing, I would probably have to say that I would be an actor in the theater. And then I would have you arrested for drugging me.

You know I'm an actress, not just a funny lady.

I find what I do for a living really funny. I mean, acting is kind of a hilarious thing for a grown man to call a job.

I love being funny! I started in the theater when I was 9 and, believe it or not, always played the funny part!

When I made a breakthrough as an actor, people started to say, 'Who's that bloke with the funny name?' They advised me to change it, saying it would never be put up in lights outside theaters because they couldn't afford the electricity. But I would never contemplate changing it. It's who I am.

I've played villains on stage - you know, the Iagos and so on - but I think of myself as a funny person. I mostly did comedies before I did TV work.

The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Like 'Republican party' or 'airplane food.'

While I was at NYU, I did a play at The Public called 'The Forbidden City,' where I went in as an understudy and got my Equity card.

I'm as thrilled watching Mark Rylance do Shakespeare as I am watching 'The Book of Mormon.'

It still makes me giggle that I'm paid to act.

[Vincent Price] did Oscar Wilde on Broadway, and I think he probably did it because he was almost like an Oscar Wilde. He had that brilliant humor.

I think I became an actor because I couldn't sing.

Even when I was doing theater it was more comedic. Don't get me wrong, I love doing the dramatic and heavy stuff, but I just want to have fun. I want to make people laugh.

I'd done light comedy. In some quarters, About Last Night... is a romantic comedy. So it wasn't like I'd been doing Sophie's Choice my entire career. But for whatever reason, nobody had really given me the room or the ability to be out and out funny. And Lorne [Michaels] and Mike [Myers] and Chris [Farley] and Dana [Carvey], that crop really helped me do that.

I think the most fun I ever had was playing King Arthur in Spamalot on the West End.

I have always loved both drama and comedy.

For me, acting is not an all-consuming thing, except for the moment when I am actually doing it.

My oldest sister was an actress living in NYC by the time I was ten, and desperately wanted to be the one in charge of the words.

I auditioned for 'Cats' - I didn't sing but I was able to cough up a hairball.

If I wasn't acting, I have no clue what I'd be doing 'cause I have no other talent.

I've always considered myself an actor, but I wasn't making a living as an actor.

I never plan to stop acting, I take it very seriously.

My parents are proud of me being an actor.

Theater is a really exciting place to return to all the time because it's incredible training for an actor.