Barry Humphries Quotes

My parents were both in show business. My father was an actor, my mom an actress, and both singers, dancers and actors. They met in Los Angeles doing a play together and so I grew up in a show biz family.

I owe my whole acting career to the fact that I'm a singer. I went out to Los Angeles and auditioned for a TV show called 'Fame L.A.' The original role was for a comedian, but they said I wasn't very funny, so they asked me, 'What else can you do?' So I played a singer.

I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.

I'm lucky that a lot of my friends are in the entertainment industry.

I don't mean to sound - I don't want it to come out funny, but I don't like show business. I love - I love acting in films. I love it.

I don't live in Los Angeles. I work in Los Angeles, and even that - I audition in Los Angeles; I very rarely film in Los Angeles. I don't hang out with producers on my off-hours, so I don't even know what that world is like.

I watched movies, obviously, just like anybody else, but there was nothing to make me think, 'I'm going to go to L.A. and become a movie star,' or anything like that.

I was raised in Hollywood and knew, from as early as grammar school, classmates who were in the business.

It's changing a bit, but the thing in LA is everyone is either in the industry, or knows someone who is in the industry. So, they don't let on that they recognize you, that's what I've found out.

It's not like you do 'SNL' and then get handed movie roles. You work, you audition for stuff and try to get it. I think, a lot of people, it's the goal to be in movies or just to be working in general. But yeah, some of us get lucky and get some movie roles, and it's nice.

My dad's a lighting director. Growing up in Hollywood, I was around the entertainment industry all the time. I knew I'd end up in show business in some capacity, eventually.

I began my career in Los Angeles and started working fairly quickly.

I was embarrassed that I even wanted to become an actress because coming from L.A., with two older sisters in the business and a mom who had been a ballet dancer, it was such a cliche.

In L.A. everyone is in the entertainment industry, so you're forced to think about work.

When I was 23, I went to work for Jack Nicholson reading scripts. Later, I was married to a production designer named Richard Sylbert. So I lived in Los Angeles for ten years.

As I got older, I had a bunch of friends that were various teen stars. I've always known people in the spotlight and people who just grew up in L.A. and had nothing to do with the industry. It's not a glamorous thing to me. It's just a different type of business.

My first gig in the business was a guest star on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' so I'm neck deep in sci-fi. It's been a very good genre to me.

I grew up in an entertainment family, and so I saw how susceptible you are to the ups and downs of this business.

I was so enamored with the idea of being in show business so everything was bright to me. I mean, I didn't think of it as being tough and things like that.

A lot of people say I'd miss show business if I quit. I'd miss some of it. Now it's the only life I know.

The only people who do plays in LA are people who can't get jobs in TV shows.

By the time I came to L.A. I'd already cried on movies of the week with two of the women from 'Knots Landing'.

I never really thought I wanted to become a movie star.

I didn't get here for my acting... but I love show business.

The business is all about gush and hype. You never have a bad meeting in L.A.