Ken Jeong Quotes

I did this film called 'Prom.' It was a Disney movie. And at that point, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I had no idea how to act. It was purely instinctual. I just remember the first scene I did and the first take, it feeling so right.

The first movie I appeared in was Carry On Cowboy, though not as an actor. I was just riding horses.

I did a movie called Marathon Man and it was one of my best memories.

So I was hugely thrilled that my first scene ever on camera was with Hal Holbrook.

My first movie was with Mike Nichols.

My first movie role was a supporting performance in a Canadian film called 'Final Lady.' It was a great opportunity for me at the time.

When I did 'Clockers,' I didn't even think about having a career in acting, I just thought, 'Wow, this is cool. I get to do a little movie.'

'Cuckoo's Nest' came along, and I was cast, and that was great, but it was my first film, so I felt like I was kind of walking around on the set as Walk-On A.

'Quick Change' was my first real movie. It was an interesting audition process because there were no lines in the script. Bill Murray's character would say something, and Geena Davis and Randy Quaid would say something, and then it would just say, 'The cabbie speaks.' How do you audition for that?

I came into films with 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna.' My first film was actually 'Hulchul,' but it was released after 'HRHK.'

When I was in a couple of movies in the '80s, I was winging it.

The Underneath was my first film. Steven Soderbergh. I remember that I thought, "Wow, this is such a highlight. Am I ever going to get back to this?" Loved working with Steven and in Austin, Texas, one of the rockin'-est towns in America. I'll always remember it, because I was really grateful that someone finally hired me for a movie.

What led me to that was I have never - I mean, I watch movies and I don't care who is the protagonist. I feel what that guy is feeling. You know, if it's Tom Cruise leaping over a building - I want to make it, you know? And I'm going to - yes, I made it. And yeah, so I get that.

We're [with Robbie Robertson ] jazz musicians. The context may be rock 'n' roll but it's still jazz. It's jazz and that means improvization...you play a tune the way it feels and you play it differently every time. It can never be the same.

We've got a [Canadian] prime minister who seems to be intent on destroying our health system and education system. But I have gotten a thicker skin. I can get angry about these things without feeling like vomiting, if you know what I mean.

My life is really a history of observing forms and taking in imagery. I don't mean in a photographic way, I mean in a way of feeling them structurally.

I can write the stuff and play it myself and have something in my head, but the best feeling is when somebody else plays it and they're hearing something other than what I'm hearing.

The Village did a lot for me, of course, because it was my first movie.

The novel tradition is the closest thing I have to a religion, and being a part of that tradition means a lot to me. I don't really see - I never have seen - why I should have to forfeit that feeling, or hope, of belonging, just because the stories I want to tell are close to my own experience.

I improvise whenever I feel it's important, or whenever I think that something's there. It's nice to have a script that's so well-written that I don't have to improvise. I mean, I used to have to re-write whole movies; this is kind of nice.

It is just a very freaky experience when you go to the movie theater and you see it for the first time. In close-up you see those eyes. There are little touches here and there that I recognize as myself. The process is fun.

Improvisation in general is good, and improvising material into themes, turning the material into something codified and repeatable, taught me scenic structure and dramatic gambits that work and things that are appealing both as a performer and an audience member, like you know, what does "want" really mean in a scene, and how do you achieve your want, and how is that expressed, and how do you achieve closure? Those are all things that I learned performing at the cabaret after just doing the same scenes over and over and over again over the years, with my own ability to change.

A verbose, prosaic review which mentions whistling winds and the timeless feeling of jade doesn't mean anything to me; I don't need a novella telling me about how an album is like a fine meal.

To me, performing means trying to do the most you can with the partner in front of you, with the story you're telling. There are actors who have carried me, who have brought me elsewhere or with them.

We'll never be ready. So I guess that means we're as ready as we'll ever be.