Brian Dennehy Quotes

I'm trying to fight typecasting as hard as I can, while I have time.

'Night of the Comet' established me as a strong woman. And let's face it, this business is very surface and one dimensional - so it's easy to get typecast.

I think I'm a character actress in a leading lady's body, but the industry doesn't really see me that way.

It delights me that I don't fit the stereotype of an actress.

I don't think people were betting on me, but they were giving me a chance. I think I rode a wave there, by being different in appearance than the girls who preceded me.

Basically, all my life I'd been told you can't do that because you're female. So I guess I just didn't pay any attention. I just went ahead and did what I could and then, when the stars aligned, I was ready.

Sometimes I've felt that the industry has typecast me as a certain kind of character. But then I think all it really takes is one role, the right role, to shake that up and change that perception.

I've had to work very hard, and I don't really have a category or fit into any niche, so each time I come out with a new record, it's like, I'm a new guy.

Growing up, I didn't think it would be possible to be an actress - I didn't see a lot of Latina faces on TV or in movies. But that didn't stop me from trying. I realized early that anything I really wanted was worth working for.

I feel like I've been proving people wrong all my life.

People assume that I'm this trashy motel girl, and that those are the only roles I can play, but I really take it seriously, and I know that I can do more.

It is horrible to say, but I was stigmatized by being a bridal designer for a long time. I am amazed I have been able to move beyond it. I had really all but given up trying, but I did it because it was my lifelong dream.

I was very skinny, braces; so I never thought I would be a model.

Being fat worked, and I think that was what was confusing for me for a long time in my career.

I know I'm not some matinee idol, but I think we're sold this bill of goods by the media, which says that only the most beautiful and dashing people can become movie stars. So when someone like me sneaks in, they have to redo the calculations.

As actors, we deal with rejection so much more than any other business. So I don't care how much of a genius you are, if you don't have the propensity to be able to get back up every time you get knocked down, then you're not going to survive.

We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.

I didn't really even think of recording under my own name for a long time. I thought, 'I've got the rest of my life to do that.'

I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.

I make very proper clothes. But I was never that person. For a long time, I thought that was the image I needed to have for my brand. And I thought that's the person that I needed to be. Because it gave me a distinct image that no one can deny.

I'd taken the bull by the horns by liberating myself and creating a career. It took guts - it was scary and chancy - but they discounted me as empty-headed: some little piece of fluff without any brain that happened to come along.

You know, I want to be the uncommon one. I think it's pretty cool that I'm only 5'11", you know, and playing in the National Football League.

I've never been like Angelina Jolie, who at one time was spewing out this prototype Bad Girl stuff for people to consume. I've never boxed myself in that way. People can create boxes for me by all means, but it doesn't mean I'm going to step inside them.

It's always a good idea to go up for the male roles. You go up against a bunch of beefy guys, and the casting director then feels smart for taking you on, like he's the one who thought outside the box.

I am not merely a baseball player. I am a black man who has done what he wants, gotten what he wanted, and will continue to get it.