Michelle Ryan Quotes

I've tried very hard to be thought of as a serious actor.

My first break was in a Hong Kong movie that I shot in China - I was going out there and working as a western stunt man, if you like, but at the same time in England I was working in daytime soap stuff. Eventually I put the two together.

You know, I was a kid when I went into 'Coronation Street' and I had an amazing time. I got some fantastic opportunities from Corrie and from 'Soapstar' and I'd never say they did anything other than help me.

I'm getting to the point where they see me as a good actor, rather than just a good guy who can act.

'All My Children' taught me a great work ethic; you work so hard on a soap opera!

Someone can do three episodes of 'The Bold and the Beautiful,' then turn around and book a primetime show. That's happening all the time.

I was making almost minimum wage on 'The Young and the Restless.' But it was my first job, so I accepted my first quote. I had a great time on it, and it obviously led me to better things.

I didn't come to Hollywood to drink or get high, and I don't want to be considered a cool actor - I want to be a great actor.

The learning curve on soaps is through the roof because it's a three-camera setup. There's a master and then there's two singles. And the great thing about soaps, and soap actors will tell you, is that when you get your line wrong, they don't re-shoot it. They just cut to the person listening.

The general view is that actors start on soaps and then maybe graduate to prime-time television or film; normally you don't see a film actor going to do a soap.

When I first met the world, basically, or introduced myself to people, I was in 'Superbad,' and I feel the same way I felt promoting 'Superbad' in an underdog style that I feel promoting 'Moneyball.'

But when you get a bit older, and I hate to use the word, quite a bit more established, people take more notice and conducting becomes a great deal easier. You don't have battles like you had before.

But obviously you don't want to just be the guy who comes in and sort of spices up every movie. So yeah, definitely moving into more of a leading man role would be great, but on my own terms.

I don't want to be known as a sex symbol. There's a great stigma that goes with that tag. I want to be a Sam Elliott.

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 had done a couple of plays, but I was a clueless boob. 'Cosby' allowed me to have something on my resume that was real and then the producers of 'Guiding Light' let me play a preppy killer just the following month. Suddenly I had two gigs on my resume that made me look like a real actor, although I was far from it.

I was definitely acutely aware, the transition of being seen as a child actor to being taken seriously as an adult actor. It's not always a smooth one.

When I first finished 'Sharpe,' it was hard to get work because people only saw me as him.

Sometimes it's hard to get people to take me seriously as an actor when they just see me as this WWE muscle head.

My first time on camera was 'One Life to Live.' I mourn for actors coming up that the daytime soap opera is becoming extinct. It's theater onscreen.

It's been an interesting progression, going from soap to a sitcom with 'How I Met Your Mother' and now being a series regular on 'Homeland.'

I'd love to be an old actress and still be in a soap.

I've always had aspirations to play other characters, but over the years I've always felt so happy and so challenged at 'Emmerdale.'

I need to be careful about the films I choose to do.

I loved my time on All My Children. That show was a family to me. I am so sad that daytime is slowly fading away. I owe so much to daytime. I learned so much about my craft and I made so many wonderful friends there and I am so sad that it is all going away.