Brian F. O'Byrne Quotes

I've thought about doing other dramatic roles besides westerns, but I grew up in the West and I know the West.

A lot of people don't know I'm from the West Coast. My swag is different. Me being from Young Money, affiliated with them, some people think I'm from down South. They think maybe I'm from New Orleans like them. It's just good to show people and build outside of Young Money, build my brand outside of that.

So when you make an impression in a certain kind of role, that tends to be the type of role that you get offered.

I think it's a bigger risk following a part that plays up your looks than it is to try and carve out a career as an actor.

I don't exactly set out to only play creepy characters, it's just that a lot of those roles come my way.

When I left drama school, my fear was that I'd get pigeon holed into comic acting and I did so much to counter it that I got stuck in the opposite.

No, I don't think about the myth of the West. It's not the kind of thinking I do. That's more suited to people who live in big towns on the West Coast or East Coast, people who stay under a roof, in a room, all the time.

People have these ideas of what you're supposed to do to have a career, like play against type, or don't revisit a character. I'm just not that precious.

When I first left drama school, I was too posh for the working-class parts and not posh enough for the upper-class roles. You know what England is like: the gradations of accent and how you're judged by them are still there. I discovered that to get a break you have to lie about where you're from.

You get pigeonholed. Some people are film stars, and some are theatre stars who do one-off telly. Somehow, I get into long-running series.

We have to struggle to make California the Massachusetts of the West.

I never wanted to go to drama school. I thought that was too many eggs in one basket.

After the series 'Roc' ended, every role offer I got was for the wise-cracking, ne'er-do-well brother or boyfriend, and I could have made a very good career doing those characters.

The West Coast is so different from the common perceptions of it.

All my stories take place on the West Coast - not the beach, but smaller inland towns. I feel homesick, and I find inspiration in capturing that.

In a way, it's taken me 25 years to acknowledge that I am from the West Coast. I was always sort of pretending I was bicoastal or that I really belonged on the East Coast.

It's different, but I prefer my people on the East Coast. Some people might be offended by that, but I mean, especially knowing I'm from the West Coast. I don't know if it's because it's home for me or what, but I just feel like people are real good friends. That's all it is.

If you've been associated and successful with a particular kind of acting for so many years, then it's wise to continue in the same direction.

The South Side loves me - I've got a song with Jermaine Dupri - and I've got songs on the East Coast and songs on the West Coast. Now, if I could just find me a rapper from up North.

I am conscious about not getting typecast, but obviously I have to keep picking up great roles so that I don't get typecast.

My generation was advised to focus on one area to excel.

It took me a long time to adapt to the West Coast. I lived eight years in New York before California and might have gone back. Then I discovered surfing. It's the California equivalent of ice hockey, I guess. It gave me a real sense of place.

What kind of role do you play after someone like Stringer, you know what I mean? You play another gangster. What’s the point of that? I’ve played the gangster. I try to keep it really varied; it just makes for more of a fun and interesting career.

Let a man practice the profession which he best knows.

I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California.