Bryce Dallas Howard Quotes

There's this common perception that having a famous last name is all you need. A surname may get you a meeting, but if there's no talent you won't get the part.

I have many dear friends in the film industry, but finally, the roles come to me on merit, not because of personal equations.

At one point, you start wondering if being talented in Bollywood is enough, or you need connections.

In nominating young women and men to our service academies, it must only be about who you are, not who you know.

Too often, people get jobs based on who they know - not what they know.

When it comes to opportunities, your father or mother can only set up a meeting for you. However, your opportunities will only materialise if the star kid is talented or suits the role.

I'm not going to deny that knowing someone in high places can sometimes get the job done. That's the name of the game. A son or daughter of someone famous will get a break. But once they're in there, they're on their own.

Those who belong to the film families may have a certain advantage, but nobody can keep you in this business if you don't deserve it.

I feel fortunate that I'm able to play diverse roles. I don't think everybody in Hollywood gets the opportunity to do that.

Luck is a component that a lot of people in the arts sometimes fail to recognise: that you can have talent, perseverance, patience, but without luck you will not have a successful career.

You might get one job for having a famous parent, but you won't get your second unless you're good.

If you're a casting director, you're going to be curious to see what Timothy Spall's son is like. But when you get in the door, you have to have something to offer.

I worked a long time to get good at what I'm doing, and nobody handed me a recording contract because of who my father is.

One of the best things about being an actor is that it's a meritocracy.

I am criticized for getting jobs because of my name, but I only use it when I have to.

I'm aware people will think I've had an easy way into a dream career. My view is, if anyone has opportunities, they'll take them. My surname opens doors, but those doors will slam firmly if I'm no good.

My name does help me get in the door, but it doesn't do the work for me.

You want to feel like people are hiring you because they want to work with you, not because of who your parents are.

People return my phone calls now, which is really interesting. I'll tell you what I've learned that's kind of bittersweet. So many doors have opened up. I've met everybody in the business. I'm fortunate people want to work with me.

I've done a lot of pilots. A lot of shows. You're young and you do a job just because you know someone gave you a job.

Everyone has opportunities and different doors that are opened to them in different ways. In the end, if you're talented you'll get work, if you're not, you won't, so it doesn't really matter who you know.

Most of us pay some sort of price for screwing up. Quayle never has. His high school guidance counselor told him his grades were too low for admission to DePauw University, where his grandfather was a trustee and major donor, but he got in anyway. In college he flunked the departmental exam that was supposed to be a prerequisite to graduation, but he graduated anyway. Although it was 1969, the height of the Vietnam War, a year when more than a quarter million young men were drafted and other Indianans were being told it would take years to get into the National Guard, Quayle landed a spot in a week flat, after a retired Guard general who worked for his family made a call on his behalf. Quayle was rejected by Indiana University Law School, but he got in anyway- under an affirmative action program, after he visited the dean of admissions, a Republican judge in a city (Indianapolis) where Quayle’s grandfather owned the newspaper. (Soon thereafter, the grandfather made a large contribution to the law school.) Quayle was indifferent law student, but he got a job in the state attorney general’s office anyway. (His father made a few calls.) He was a twenty-nine year old employee of his father’s paper, but he got elected to Congress anyway, with the help of the paper and his own good looks. He was a poor congressman, but he got elected to Senate anyway, in the 1980 Reagan landslide. Two years later the DePauw faculty voted against giving him an honorary degree, but he got it anyway. He was a mediocre senator, but Bush put him on the national ticket anyway. He blew the debate, but he’ll probably be elected vice president anyway. At this rate he’ll be president by cherry blossom time.

To enjoy a prince's favor does not rule out the possibility of merit, but neither does it argue for its existence.

We had less qualified trumping more qualified people just because of their political connections.

All patronage is perilous to men of real ability and merit. It aids only those who lack other claims to support.