Jenna Fischer Quotes

Um, I think every role, whether in TV or film, has a part in building a career and relationships.

Usually, it gets worse and worse as they downsize your character; mine just kept getting better.

I'm a character actor - always have been, always will be - and historically, character actors don't come into their own until later in their professional and chronological lives.

'Mariah' was the first series-regular role for me, and that really came about because of 'Secret Honor.' That really was a direct result of that. Because now I had an agent and was submitted for that part, for James Malone. And... I was the casting director's first choice for James Malone.

It's because of 'ER' that I've gotten the opportunity to get the work.

'As the World Turns' was such a great experience and such a great school for me. It was better than any class I could have ever taken.

Somebody saw me on 'Cheers' and thought that I was an actor playing a part as opposed to a guy just doing what he knew. And they gave me 'Night Court.' And by the time they realized I wasn't an actor, I had already signed a five-year contract.

I think in terms of a career trajectory, it's good for people to be reminded that, in spite of seeing me a million times a day on a show for ten years playing the same character, I'm an actor, and actors like to play different people.

The cliché about young actors is that they want to diversify the work that they do to show their range, but it's true. Or at least, for me, I want to keep doing different stuff; doing different work, you see different things.

I just want to do a good job with each role that I take and continue to better myself as an actress because that's what I love about this job... being able to act and work with so many different people on such a wide range of projects.

It started with my parents, my dad who taught me growing up, my brother who played as well. I spent a lot of time with him. Then, getting into the pro side, there have been a lot of people who have worked with me along the years.

There are a lot of people you never hear about that helped me a lot with my career and helped me become who I am that I've known for a long time and I still stay in touch with.

If I get an offer, and I think there is something I can do, then I will think about it... I am ready to consider any film and TV acting offers, provided it is great.

I tried to take advantage of what I could in Philly. But when it was time to move on, I moved on to New York. There, I booked a series regular role on 'One Life To Live.' I played a character named Deanna Forbes. She was my first big job. It was on daytime TV. And it was a great opportunity until that show got canceled.

I have friends who say, 'I don't want to do period now because I have done a period piece and I need to wait for two years' - I don't have that.

As an actress and just as a person, I've kind of been in a little bit of a bubble. So it was so great for me to see where I could go as an actress and to be around incredible people who are much more experienced than I am, like Harmony [Korine], James [Franco], and Vanessa [Hudgens].

I really do love doing stand-up, and I don't see why it should affect the acting. And I just want more interesting jobs. I just want to keep doing stuff that's different, rather than saying, "Okay, I've become known for this, and I'll just do this from now on." If I feel like I've done this one thing, I never want to do it again. I want to do something totally different.

I've been looking for ways to audition more, because it also keeps me sharp and keeps my ambition at its firm edge. That's something that I'm actively engaged in conversations about now with my reps: What's out there that I can really either put myself on tape for, or meet with the director for and read for? How do we do that? We're now at the end of the Star Trek reboot trilogies and whether we are going to do another movie remains to be seen, and so I feel like I'm at the end of this cycle that began with me coming out of school and auditioning and building my way up.

I feel that puttin' in the hours and years in the studio, honing my craft, definitely played a part, me consciously networking and presenting myself as an artist that's commercially sellable led to me meeting the right people, which in turn led to them givin' me positive referrals to other people, which in turn led to me signin' a deal.

I've only been acting since 2009 and I learn more and more with each job. I think I prepare and I'm very focused and I have a good work ethic that I learned in school.

I've done seven movies in eight years, and with each movie I feel like I'm learning a lot. I'm still young-ish, so I still feel like I'm in the zone of learning and creating. Those are the perfect places to do that. And in a weird way, you have a lot of freedom.

Filming is completely - was totally new to me ... I had a movie career which wasn't supposed to be, so I couldn't be more thrilled. For those who work, parts seem to get more interesting.

The first time I had got an offer to come to Hollywood, I turned it down. I said, "No, I'm an actor of the stage.

With my career in general, I feel like I'm finally getting to do the roles that I've always wanted to do. It's a slow build; you can't ever get the roles that you want in the beginning of your career because you don't have the buzz or the heat, or whatever the hell it is you need for the agents and the studios to be happy.

I've tried most of my career to transform myself towards characters.