Gary Cole Quotes

Telly and films has been my thing, not necessarily by choice, and if the right piece of theatre came along, I would jump at it.

I auditioned for 'HQ' and got it. I decided to stay in New York and ride this 'HQ' thing out. That was a good decision.

I am constantly visible in TV shows because anybody who is thinking of a role sees me performing on TV and may say, 'Why not him?' That way I am always in the limelight. It's better than running around for good roles. I can't lobby for roles.

When I got the script for 'Mr. Robot,' I was auditioning for a bunch of stuff. I had an audition going for a movie at the time that I wanted to do.

It is what it is, it is what you make it.

I was actually away in Africa doing 'Generation Kill' while everyone was auditioning for Twilight. They all had, like, five different auditions: I was so lucky that I came back from Africa just in time and the actor who was playing Emmett fell through, lucky for me!

I'd rather do movies 'cause I am better at movies, but I do shows 'cause the opportunities have come forward.

No, most of the decisions that I make with regard to taking roles, I just look for something that's challenging, something that I think I can accomplish, you know.

For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.

I believe this: If an actor wants a role or wants to work with somebody, then you do everything within reason to try to get that role. If they want you to audition, you audition. If they want you to screen-test, you screen-test. If they want you to come and tap-dance in their hallway, you tap-dance in their hallway.

That transition from child to adult actor is so incredibly elusive. The roles that were coming to me as a young adult were not that great, but I was taking them anyway to pay the rent. And the more bad roles in bad movies I took, the less anybody wanted me for a good role in a good movie.

I mean, I would have loved to have kept on being a big television star. If that's the way things would have broke, I would have loved to have done that. I just didn't really want to continue and be someone who took whatever was offered.

There's no master plan; I'm just going with what I'm inspired to do and what I get asked to do, and luckily the things I've been the most passionate about, I've gotten to do. And a lot of times I've gone up for movies that I didn't really care that much about, and I never got that.

Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.

I don't have regrets. I've never sat here and thought, 'Gee, if only I'd done 'The Man Who Came to Dinner' on Broadway, I would have been happier.'

Early on, you don't have the luxury of a lot of choices. Sometimes you're forced to do things that will advance your career and not necessarily things that fulfill you artistically, but I've been fortunate to do a lot of both.

I did so many interviews and auditions for films, and it was just zilch. Nothing I did impressed anybody! I could just feel it. It was always, 'Okay, thank you, Mr. Lloyd.' Then, out of the blue, 'Cuckoo's Nest' came to cast. A casting director who sent me up for different things over the years sent me up for that, and it just clicked.

My biggest fear is that I might end up doing a film which I might regret at a later point of time.

It's never easy for an actor who doesn't have connections in the film industry and who has to start from scratch.

I imagine that, for most people, acting isn't something they think is a viable option, whereas for me, it was the most viable option. No adults around me knew how to do anything else.

I just said, casually, 'You know, I passed up on auditioning for Einstein.' And my friend was like, 'You idiot, you have to do it!' She made me do it. I sent the tapes off assuming that somebody would say, 'Ha ha, very funny.'

I was 16 and standing on Tottenham Court Road when this woman came over and asked me if I was an actress. She wanted me to audition for an online drama she was directing. I had time to kill, so I thought, 'Why not?'

I was actually offered a talk show on CBS at one point, and I just didn't want to do it.

When I knew I had the chance to play for Liverpool I couldn't refuse it.

I definitely devote so much more time to acting, but since it only takes a day or two to shoot and get pictures out - whereas for acting, you do an audition, or loads, and you might not get any of them - so I did the modeling stuff because, obviously, if I have the opportunity, I'm going to take it.