Joe Pantoliano Quotes

The hardest thing to do in movies is be a day-part player. You have to go in, make your mark, and get out. There's a lot of leading actors who are not good for a lot of a movie, and then suddenly they have good moments, and they're like stepping-stones across a particularly feisty stream. They build careers out of that.

I'm a character actor, so I don't take the hit if the movie's bad, the lead does. So, I don't want to be the lead. He takes the hit, I don't.

I was always a character actor, basically, that sometimes looks like a leading man.

Being able to do lead roles in pictures or onstage or whatever it is that you're doing in acting is obviously what you strive for because you want to better yourself as an actor and you want to better yourself as a person as well. But that does come with a lot of responsibility and a great deal of weight.

At this point in my career, it doesn't bother me much that I'm probably hopelessly typecast. I like to work, and horror films definitely keep me working.

I'm just a character actor.

The poor show of a film can be crucial in an actor's career. Maybe that is why some actors choose to act in a lot of films, so as not to be affected by a single hit or a flop.

I am continuing to do lead roles and that is where I am actually headed, but doing cameos is also a fun experience.

As great as Ed is, the wisdom out here is that he can't carry a movie. They'll pay him $3 million to be the second banana in Julia Roberts things. But they won't put up $3 million for an Ed Harris movie.

People call me a movie star. If you're in the business, a movie star is someone who can make a film bankable. My name and $6 million will make a $6 million movie. I'm a working actor. Because I started late, I had a very short run as a leading man, and my films didn't make money in America.

As an actor I'm part of a long line of character people you can take back to the silent movies.

I really love being a character actor.

My goal has been to be a great character actor.

I love making movies, and being in any that I can be in. I'd like to be in those giant movies, as the fifth or sixth lead, and have three or four killer scenes. You don't have the responsibility of the entire movie being on you. I like those roles. I'm shooting for the middle.

I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man.

I like being in movies that have a great story. I'm not so interested in being a Hollywood star. It's a job, you know. When you wake up at six in the morning every day for a week, it feels like hard work.

I was always a character actor. I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood.

Once you make a movie like 'Superbad,' when it's popular and you're the lead, you get offered all kinds of things and there's a temptation to make bad movies either for the money or to maintain your relevance in pop culture.

If your movies don't perform, they just stop calling you.

There are so many great actors, but I really have a lot of respect for Johnny Depp. I've seen a lot of movies with him in it and, even if it's a film that wasn't as successful as you thought it would be, I've never seen him put in a bad performance. My favorite actors from history have to be Steve McQueen and James Dean.

If you're in a hit movie, it's good to be in another hit movie straight away.

When I think about my great conversations with Marlon Brando on the set of 'Morituri,' I think there's a story there, just as I do with my experience working with James Cameron on 'Titanic.' And then there are all my years on 'Y&R' and all that has happened there.

I've tried to take roles with great demands.

I think I enjoy working obviously as a lead, but also you know I feel I'm also a character actor as well, so I enjoy approaching various projects in all sort of capacities. Any film I have been able to do I feel very fortunate to have been a part of.

I never had a great role in a great film.