Richard Schiff Quotes

I loved my time doing 'Private Practice' in Los Angeles, and I was quite challenged and excited to learn about the art of television, but I missed being on the stage.

My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'.

I moved with my mom to Los Angeles for her to pursue her acting career, and she got a job casting atmosphere in some independent films.

When I was 23, I went to work for Jack Nicholson reading scripts. Later, I was married to a production designer named Richard Sylbert. So I lived in Los Angeles for ten years.

This industry has been really good to me. It's been a great life. I'm not through yet. I'm ready when you are, Mr. DeMille.

I've got all these great broads in me, all these character women. I was playing a torn-down stripper at twenty-five on Broadway, and now I fit the shoes.

I wish I could play the lead role in one movie, one great movie.

There was a moment in the early '80s when I wanted to work on films and wanted to live in L.A.

I always wanted to be an actor, but my top three favorite actors of all time are Al Pacino, James Dean and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

I always wanted to do films. I'd gone to New York early in 1976 and did a lot of theater, but I really wanted to chase the paths of people like Pacino and Lemmon and those guys. Alan Arkin. Film was where I wanted to go.

I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor.

When I was young, 'Scarface' was my favorite film. Al Pacino is my hero. I want to work with him.

I wanted to be a part of the first 'Twilight' movie, and unfortunately, it didn't work out so great. So when they came back and were like, 'Do you want to come in for a part for the second movie,' I was like, 'Absolutely.'

I started performing in high school. There was a pretty great drama department at my school, and that's when I started doing plays and musicals.

I began my career performing in plays and musicals in New York, but by the mid-'80s, opportunities in Hollywood beckoned and I made the move to Los Angeles. It was a good decision. Work took off, but most important, I met my family out there - my husband, Bill, and the children we would adopt: Elijah, Mae-Mae, and Aron.

Had I pursued a film career in Los Angeles, I'm not sure I would have had the fortune that I've had.

I left Canada to come to Hollywood to make movies.

I lived in Chicago in the early '80s and did a ton of theater, and then Nick lived there in the '90s and did a ton of theater. Then we both moved to L.A. and did a ton of television.

I moved to L.A. when I was 17 and started making movies six months later.

After I finished school, I headed for Los Angeles, thinking, 'Movies. Beaches.' But I wanted to do serious stage work, so I upped sticks and moved to New York to study. I did the usual day jobs to support myself - waiting on tables, washing dishes, parking cars, anything to pay the rent. I was a terrible waiter, by the way.

If you wanna be the comic relief in a big-budget movie, go to L.A. because there are five auditions in a week that you could hit up, and that increases your chances of getting those jobs.

My middle daughter is with the Royal Shakespeare Company and was on Broadway several years ago.

A couple of my favorite actors are Don Cheadle, Jeffrey Wright, and, may he rest in peace, Philip Seymour Hoffman. I've had an opportunity to see all of them onscreen and onstage.

I did a lot of TV work for more than 30 years in New York and L.A., but I would get on the stage whenever I could.

After graduation, I moved to Los Angeles to do more theater, not realizing there is very little theater in L.A. It was a lucky mistake, though, because after just 2 1/2 months of waiting tables, my TV and film career really took off.