Gary Sinise Quotes

The peak of a career can only last so long. You go up and you try to maintain it. But, it can only last so long and then you're going to go down.

There were times, sure, I wanted my career to go better. But once it starts to go downhill, you can never get back, or only to some degree.

That's always the actor's worst nightmare: that what they're working on is going to be the last thing they'll ever work on. No lie. So I was very excited to land 'Girlfriends' Guide' immediately.

I think I'm just really lucky to have my Internet career last more than a few months.

I just feel incredibly lucky to be employed when there are so many actors and actresses who are not employed. That's why, you know, I sometimes feel desperate, in case I'm not going to be cast again.

Frankly, to be honest, I hadn't worked for two years before 'Murphy Brown.' It's a nice illusion now to think of all of us as terribly successful and talented people at the top of our profession, but that's hindsight. I had to pray for a job like this.

So a failed movie is not going to ruin my career.

For very long, I wasn't able to find a place for myself in movies. After my initial success, I didn't know how to capitalise on it.

Even the greatest actors have had dry spells where they've wondered if they were going to work again.

I think it's hard to know. Feeling fulfilled, because actors face periods of unemployment, there is nothing worse than being at the top of your game; you have so much to give but do not have the platform to do this.

I thought if I lost the band, I was dead. If I didn't stick with the Who, I would be a sheet metal worker for the rest of my life.

There are obviously peaks and valleys in everyone's career. This business can be a roller-coaster ride, and it's really hard to stay on top all the time. Very few people do.

There's always the ongoing actor frustration of finding the great role to do next. I don't go to work a lot. I wait as long as I can until the money runs out or a great part comes along.

Those three years on 'Loving' were instrumental in helping me move through the next few years of work, where it was hit or miss. I was on series that would get canceled, then I would be a movie that wouldn't come out or do as well as I hoped. You learn that you have to just keep plugging away and never take anything for granted.

Post-'Daily Show' has been so busy, which I've been surprised about. We're basically independent contractors in a way. So you have one gig, and you're worried about never getting another gig again, or at least I do.

If I ever stop being grateful for gigs, I just need to stop. Because this business is... you know, it's just so kind of job-to-job, and the fact that I've continued working... I'm just incredibly thankful for it. And I never, ever take it for granted.

So many things I thought I was doing have fallen apart. Until I've finished filming, I don't believe I have the job.

It's not easy to reach the summit of your career by the age of 24 - and for the years after to be a humiliating scrabble downhill.

It's a difficult thing to overcome, but I've been quite fortunate. I haven't been out of work, literally, since 'M*A*S*H' went out of production.

That's the insecurity with our job, because you never know where the next role is coming from. No matter how successful you are, there's always a fear of someone not wanting me to play something else.

I won't say I'll never go back to a soap because an actor's life is so precarious. You can have the most wonderful patch where everyone wants to work with you, and in the blink of an eye the phone won't ring for a month, even a year.

As an actor, you always feel like you're not going to work again. You're always unsure about how things are going to work out, and you start thinking you're going to just fade off into the distance.

I went through 15 years as a coach at Spurs working under seven, eight different managers. And every time a manager went, you weren't sure whether you'd still be there. Some people might worry about these things but I never have.

You do understand when you get into management that you will get the sack at some stage, but that never puts people off trying again.

Millennials are exceptionally independent and innovative. Striking out on your own and failing a few times is de rigueur, while going to work for a company on the expectation that you'll build a 30-year career there is unheard of.