Ben Mendelsohn Quotes

In Hollywood they usually cast me as villains or priests.

I get cast a lot of times in movies with nice people for some reason - because I have a nice face or something.

I think it would be amazing to be a character actor and still be a lead now and then in movies.

As an actor I'm part of a long line of character people you can take back to the silent movies.

I think if you do something effectively whether you're the lover or the comic or the action guy or the villain like I play; movies are very expensive to make. Chances are you'll get asked to play that part again.

I have no issue with being a character actor. If you've been around enough that people are able to segregate you into that category, it means you're working. So that's good!

I've played heavies for years and years and years. I was bald. I came to Hollywood. I did a play about junk. I was a pusher, so I played pushers for years and years and years. I did war movies and things like that.

I'm down to act a little bit - go on a couple auditions or make one of those three-second cameos with one line.

Films are really cool because, every couple months, or however many times you can get a job because there's a lot of luck involved in that, you're playing a different character.

I think definitely people know me from playing creeps and weirdos, and I'm definitely looking to expand my range.

As a character actor, you go out for all different kinds of things.

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.

One thing that's happened to me is I've been around a long time and I've played a lot of villains and so forth. I think it had to do with, well one thing is that I looked younger than I was for a long time. Now I think I'm suddenly starting to play people's father.

I play mostly bad guys on TV and mostly good guys in movies.

I really love being a character actor.

I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man.

I was never really a character actor - I was a leading man who was always cast as a character. I wanted to be Jack Nicholson or Jean Gabin.

First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.

I always wanted to be Gene Hackman and I always wanted to be, you know... I wanted to be one of these guys. I always wanted to be Bob Duvall.

I have friends who are leading men, and they're only ever allowed to play leading men of a certain type. But as a character actor, there's a wider variety of projects available. On the big Hollywood films, all they care about is having their lead in place, so it's actually easier for someone like me to slip in. And I'm happy to do so.

I had just had small parts in other films, and I'd worked with a lot of directors in TV.

Once you get into a part, and someone sees you, you get asked to do it again.

I don't exactly set out to only play creepy characters, it's just that a lot of those roles come my way.

I was always a character actor, basically, that sometimes looks like a leading man.

I think of myself as a character actor, compared to a straight actor. I know a character actor in England is pretty much the same as in the States; you're actually hired to put on terrible teeth and stuff like that.