Kieran Culkin Quotes

I loved doing 'Pennies from Heaven.' Because you have to understand that I'd been doing comedy for 15 to 20 years, and suddenly along came the opportunity to do this beautiful film. It was so emotional to me. I loved it. I don't think it was a good career move, but I have no regrets about doing it.

'While You Were Sleeping' was actually a special opportunity for me to grow up a lot.

Because I didn't go to drama school, I didn't start in the business with any toolbox apart from enthusiasm and instinct. I'd throw everything at a part and sometimes realise that I had hit my limits.

I'm not sure I'll find acting satisfying creatively forever. If you get the good roles, it's great - if you have the freedom to choose your projects and not just do anything and everything.

Acting is a life experience. I'm always learning things when I'm making a movie. So the fame part of it is fine when you consider what you get out of this job.

I kind of knew it wasn't going to be until my 30s that I really hit my stride as an actor.

I acted for so many years and sat on a million sets and worked with a million different directors so that is to me some of the best training you can get.

Working with amazing people, you continue to learn and develop yourself, as an actor and as a person.

I think every role you do prepares you for the next one. Of course, 'Nashville' has been, and will continue to be, a huge learning experience for me as an actor. It's something that I grew a lot doing.

My first real acting job was 'Skins' at eighteen years old, and I just kind of grew into myself in those two years; I would have done terribly if I'd have got that job at sixteen.

I think that 'Degrassi' really challenged its actors. I was on it for seven years, and it was one of my first jobs. I can't even watch the early episodes - they're so embarrassing! But I really do think I grew as an actor and learned a lot over the seven years.

I've played a prostitute now three times. I don't know how it's come about that way. It's just a matter of me growing up.

There were six kids in our family, and I grew up fast. I had to do a lot of things on my own. I was a rebellious teenager. That's why coming into the film business was good for me because it gave me some discipline. Once I became an actor, I had to grow up a little more.

'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.

You grow up a lot on set, but it doesn't change you.

I never had a great role in a great film.

The joy of 'Crash' was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. 'Crash' was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.

I like a little movie I did in the early nineties called 'Mortal Thoughts.' The part was hardly written, but I learned a lot making it. No one remembers it.

Each role that I've played has had a piece of a dream role in it.

Even if the film doesn't come out quite as you'd hoped, the process can also be very rewarding. I feel that way about a film called 'Lay the Favorite' that I made with Stephen Frears. I did that because the character was a real leap for me. The film doesn't quite all add up internally, but I feel very proud of what I did on it.

To be totally sincere, I'd surely be a better actor today if I hadn't played Columbo all these years.

I've played all kinds of TV roles, from cowboys to fathers of teenagers. It's helped me a lot. Of course, I was very lucky to have had good directors.

I just want to keep getting roles that challenge me to be the best actor and the best person I can be.

I want to do only such films which will help me grow as an actor.

I didn't have a huge amount of on-camera experience before 'Fleabag.' It has definitely changed me as an actor. I remember the actor I was before; I felt stifled by the industry and the boxes people tried to put me in.