Michael Emerson Quotes

I started out doing the acting, and there was always an interest in music, and then the music just took off.

Today what is more important for me is performance. At the risk of sounding immodest, I have done it all - 61 movies over 12 years. But now I am looking for quality. It's easy to be a star. Now I want to be an actress.

I wanted to be an abstract painter, but I was rotten at it.

I still do my comedy and my performance stuff and my acting so it's not all-consuming. But I do find myself drawing more and more these days.

I liked drawing and painting, because the only failure would be to listen to the doubters who wanted me to stop drawing and painting because 'you aren't going to make a living doing that.' I liked looking in art books at the work of painters.

Before that I wanted to be a magazine illustrator - I probably would have painted Gothic scenes.

I want to write, act, and direct!

Then I abandoned comics for fine art because I had some romantic vision of being like Vincent Van Gogh Jr.

I became an actress because my mom wanted me to become an actress. It took me until my mid-30s to realize I actually didn't. I actually wanted to write and direct and be more involved in politics and humanitarian issues.

If I had to start over, I'd pursue photography - probably to the exclusion of acting.

A lot of people want to make films and do photography and things, but I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing.

My mom was incredibly supportive when she found out that I wanted to be an actress, and that certainly made things easier and more fun.

I had just arrived in New York from California. I was nineteen years old and excited beyond belief. I was an art student and an acting student and behaved as most young actors did - meaning that there was no such thing as a good actor, 'cause you yourself hadn't shown up yet.

Watching my stepfather and mother working in the industry - acting and composing - and seeing firsthand how difficult it is to achieve a successful career in the theater, I thought it might be safer to go to art school with the aim of becoming a painter.

Now I'm a painter. That was another opportunity I was able to pursue, I've been painting all my life, now it's become a second career because of my success in the movies.

When I was in high school, I thought I might be an artist. I was very good at drawing and painting.

My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director.

I knew I wanted to do something creative. I didn't think I'd have the luxury of doing something like that, because I didn't know anyone who had pursued anything they really adored, but I had dreams for singing or writing.

I would like to be a great artist. I would quit pitching if I could paint like Monet or Rousseau. But I can't. What I can do is pitch, and I can do that very well.

After 'Brothers & Sisters' ended, I was back to the old game as an actor. Doing pilot season, choosing a script and figuring out what I wanted to do.

My parents were both actors; my dad sort of quite early on. My mother acted for a while, and now she's a painter.

I was directing before I started doing 'The IT Crowd.' It wasn't something that led on after acting I guess. I was sort of doing this stuff before acting.

I think when I was about 6 or 7, I would have said I wanted to be an actor and an artist.

I would have loved to have been a painter or a sculptor. I'm still fascinated by those things.

I was a musician and did moderately well at that. I made an enjoyable living as a very young man, but I think as I became more comfortable and knowledgeable about myself and what I wanted, I moved into acting. I came to it rather late - later than most. I just really wanted to try my hand, and thankfully, it worked out for the most part.