James Wolk Quotes

One of the things I really love about TV is this symbiotic relationship you can get between the writers and the actors, and the characters start to come to life because you start to collaborate.

I'm really proud of this show I did called 'I Just Want My Pants Back.' I was very proud of my work on the show and such a huge fan of everybody involved.

I'd love to do another television series. I really love the writing process, and as an actor I really like how much you get to examine in television.

It's really interesting working in television as opposed to the theater, where you know the arc of the character and you are able to create this whole backstory.

I think what makes a good actor's director is the same thing that makes a good director. Acting is just one of the trades necessary to make a movie.

In a way, 'Lost,' or maybe TV in general, is a kind of a contract between the writers and the viewers. And the actors - of course we have a great deal to do with it - but where the drama's made, sort of where the meeting of minds is, is between those two parties: writers and audience.

To me, the people on 'Copper' were rock stars. Before I joined that show, I loved that show.

Killing Eve' was kind of the road for me as an art person, where you have this opportunity to work with so many different writers, so many different directors, and so many actors at the same time.

I don't see myself as an actor. I see myself as a storyteller.

It's communication - that's what theatre is all about.

The neatest thing about television is that they write for you... They find out what you can do, what you do best, how it works, and how they can use you.

If you do television, and it's great, it's the best job there is. Every week it's another opportunity to really make that work and figure out how to make it work better. I love that it's like theater too, and the audience, and it's so short, like twenty minutes... It's like a Haiku or something.

Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas. Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.

With the theatre, for God's sake, everything makes sense. You create a clear sequential reality for a specific audience at one particular time.

I signed up for 'Brothers & Sisters' because I think it's a really great show. I like my character, and I'm really interested in what he has to do every day - and this cast is so spectacular. I really wanted to work with this particular group of people.

Hill Street Blues gave me an opportunity to work with an ensemble cast of people whose work I admired.

It's all about story and character with me, and I don't care if the job is on daytime or prime time or the web. Hey, give me a good character and someone to listen, and I'll do my acting on a street corner.

I never thought I'd be one of those old hams who favours theatre over everything, but I'm getting that way. Telly and film seemed more fun when I was younger; turning left on planes and washing up in nice places. But there are things that you only learn in theatre.

Being an actor in movies is a lot about the power of your imagination and making the circumstance real to you so the audience will feel that it's real.

The luxury of television is that you get more than one shot at who you think the guy is that you're playing.

I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter...'

Movie-making is serious business. The director and the crew are already under a lot of pressure to give their best to the audience. Therefore, the best part for me as an actor is to act well in the movies and make a jolly atmosphere with the co-stars on the sets.

Why are we casting all these stand-up comedians to do 'Breaking Bad,' one of the most dramatic TV shows ever?

Good directing is about getting the performance to be just what's right for the movie.

In film or TV work, you can have this amazingly dramatic pause, and they'll just edit it out.