Meryl Streep Quotes

I give two hoots about being typecast. It's not in my hands.

I don't want to play the fat guy or the friend for the rest of my life.

Somehow, someway, you get kind of labeled this guy who was in a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie too many. And Freddie Prinze Jr. - it's not his fault, either - it's just these are the things that happen. I'm not a George Clooney; I don't have a ton of opportunities.

Any time you're a type, your career's over.

If you're a sexy actress, it's hard to get serious roles. You get offered the same thing they've seen you in. People are like sheep, and they're like, 'Oh, that's what she does well.'

The western has always been, for me, the bread and butter. It's the easiest place for an identifiable Native American to be able to work. But I do yearn to be known as an actor rather than a 'Native American actor.'

The thing is to convince people that a part not written for a Latina woman - or maybe not even written for a woman at all - is a female part. You convince them you can do it.

In the industry, once people see you in a certain mold, you start getting offered only those kind of roles.

I was not only typecast as a Russian, but I was typecast as Yakov Smirnoff. This is understandable, and I was very happy to get the roles, but it would be nice to be in a movie where I could be someone else.

'Chasing Amy' was an amazing role, but then after that, I went and did 'Big Daddy' and you're the girlfriend or you're the best friend. I wasn't getting the Nicole Kidman roles.

If you are known to do something well, people want to see you do that. But what you choose to do is up to you. After 'Delhi Belly,' I got some 40 scripts - some on the same lines as 'Delhi Belly.' So, I guess people only get stereotyped if they want to.

Growing up, I was always adamant that I would never do 'Home and Away' or 'Neighbours,' because as an actor you want to set your path as that serious kind of actor.

Pre-'Tokyo Drift,' I was like: 'Am I gonna play Yakuza #1 and Chinese Waiter #2 for the rest of my life? Is America even ready for an Asian face that speaks English, that doesn't do Kung Fu?'

I feel blessed that I am able to play really dark guys in a business where they usually want you to play the same character over and over. Poor Michael Rapaport will being playing white homeboys till the day he dies. That's not the kind of career I want.

The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldn't get any roles other than as somebody dark.

I have about as much control over how I look as the guy who's short and looks more like a character actor - we both have the same drive to be actors and we both have the same drive to assume these different characters, it's just harder for me to get the chance because they look at me and say, 'Oh, he's this type,' and they stamp me.

I joke that my niche in Hollywood has been naked foreigners.

I go into every film not just wanting to play the hot girl in the movie. It kills me.

I took the role of Rochelle in 'Everybody Hates Chris,' and that was it. I was going to play mother roles all the time. Once you do one mother role, it's always a trickle down effect.

I don't think of myself as a character actress - that's become a phrase which means you've had it.

If I only get to play Malaysian roles, there wouldn't be very many roles for me to play.

If I were to limit myself to the opportunities that were presented playing only Chinese-American parts, I would be virtually without a career.

You can get pigeonholed in Hollywood and people think of you in a certain way.

I didn't know where my career was going to go. Somehow, people sensed that I have certain talents and cast me in these bizarre, off-beat roles, which I have no regret about. I've enjoyed playing every one of them.

I couldn't get roles as bad guys. They could see John Travolta as a gangster but not me, really. But, you know, that's just how things are.