Christine Lahti Quotes

I had seen Orange Is The New Black show on Netflix and the first thing that came to my mind was, "Why am I not on this show? It's just irritating me right now." So I made some phone calls and told them, "I want to be on your show." And they found a spot for me.

When I realized that you can't necessarily be cast in a really great part living in Austin, even when Hollywood comes to town, I got a demo reel together and headed out west.

I didn't have big movie offers, or any big agents wanting to work with me. I had to go grassroots, start at the bottom and go on 150 auditions before someone finally gave me a shot.

I don't mean you have to be overbearing, but you have to stay on top of things - read the trades, know what's going on in the town. I call it 'dare to be stupid.' The worst thing they can say is, 'We got nothing for you.' So I've hustled a lot.

I did every odd job you could possibly imagine: Holding a sign in the rain for 14 hours straight, sweeping up cigarette butts, pouring coffee, running around - anything I could to be on a film set. I wanted to be in the business. So I'd say, 'You need that job done? Fine,' and I became indispensable to people.

Sometimes I call directors. Sometimes I just meet with them. It just happens. It's not that I'm pushy. It comes naturally. But I go ahead. I don't stay in my armchair, waiting for the phone to ring.

I got my first job the old-fashioned way: I took an elevator to the top floor of many buildings and walked down floor by floor on the stairs going into every firm and asking the receptionist if she knew of any jobs available.

I got in touch with my agent and told him I wanted to start going out on things again.

It's funny: I've been very successful and done a lot of films, and I don't really have an agent - I don't really pursue jobs, I let people come to me.

I'm used to working really hard to get a role. I was always auditioning and talking my way into roles.

I always look at auditions as not even getting the job as much as I'm just trying to connect with this casting director so they remember me for next time.

As actors, we have to say yes to everything for a really long time. You say 'Yes' to anything you can get.

A lot of actresses start out modeling because it's a great way to sort of get your foot in the door. That's all it is, though. They open the door, and you have to walk through it.

As soon as I came to L.A., things immediately shifted for me. I was now actually here with the people who were making the decisions; I wasn't out in New York sending in tapes to L.A.

Part of the success of Girls Who Code is that I am a hustler. When people ask what my biggest strength is, it's that I'm shameless. I will ask people for help even when I don't know them.

I finished my junior year of high school and flew out to Los Angeles. I didn't know the difference between a manager and an agent. But I got here and just started hustling and meeting anyone I could.

I worked every single night, not even caring if I got paid, to get myself known. Within a year I was on the Royal Variety Show and that was it.

The best thing about going to a tech conference is that you can tell everyone you're going to a tech conference. But while you're there, it's important you make a smart impression so people will remember you, or at least wait a few days before throwing away your business card.

I wanted to have the no. 1 show on the Discovery channel. I went for it for a very long time, and I was knocking on every door in L.A. that would answer, and sleeping in front of Discovery's office, probably. It wasn't working, so I decided to regroup and take a break from knocking on doors.

You tell yourself that you're not auditioning but of course you work like crazy, and you prepare like mad. And you think, "Well, I won't get that job. But maybe they'll have another job sometime, and they'll remember that I was good."

Get out of show business. Its the best advice I ever got, because Im so stubborn that if someone would tell me that, I would stay in it to the bitter end.

I was your typical struggling actress. I went to every audition, took a million acting, dancing and singing lessons and spent years wondering where my next meal was coming from.

When I was 15, I left school to start a magazine, and it became a success because I wouldn't take no for an answer. I remember banging on James Baldwin's door to ask for an interview when he came to England. Then I got Jean-Paul Sartre's home phone number and asked him to contribute. If I'd been 30, he might have said no, but I was a 15-year-old with passion and he was charmed. Making money was always just a side product of having a good time and creating things nobody'd seen before.

Every story of change there is always someone who didn't have the resources or the network they needed and did something anyway.

Look, as my mama always said, 'One monkey don't stop no show.