Jack Nicholson Quotes

I'm a character actor and that's what I do. All the roles that I've had have been mainly support roles, because character actors don't usually get the lead in movies. It rarely happens.

I've always thought of myself as a character actor, even though I've played some leading-man roles.

Film is an avenue that I really want to explore more. I’ve learned that my personality is quite impulsive and spontaneous, so the idea that I could play a character for six months and then play something else immediately after is really appealing to me.

I think it would be amazing to be a character actor and still be a lead now and then in movies.

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 didn't set out to be a villain in film. I'm a character actor, and if my first movie was a comedy, I could have played a geek just as well.

I was never an ingenue, thank God; always character.

I call myself a character actor all my life. I've done a certain amount as a leading man, but character actors in my estimation - it's a lost art these days.

The characters I tend to play are a little more interesting than the standard heroes. Romantic leads can be a little more straightforward, I guess. But it just seems to be the parts I get, I don't know what that says about me. I enjoy interesting characters and interesting people, I suppose.

I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type.

I just want to play strong characters, whatever that is in.

My agent in London told me, after Never Let Me Go, because I loved doing that so much, "If you're on a lucky streak and you're doing well, you should only take a part, if you can't bear the idea of anyone else doing it." That's been the case since then, with Drive and Shame and the play (The Seagull), and the stuff that's going on, like Gatsby. I would have been devastated, if I hadn't gotten those jobs.

Yeah, I am a character actor.

I don't think I want to play title roles. I don't want to be the face on the poster. I don't want that pressure of having the success riding on my shoulders. I just want to play the most interesting parts. I actually think it's incredibly rare to get an interesting female character that is the lead in a film. Usually the character parts are so much more interesting to play.

I'm too young to play lawyers. But I've been really lucky because I never got labeled. I never did the John Hughes thing. I did adult movies. I'm not bragging or anything, but I think that I've chosen really good roles. I've played different people and showed that I have a little bit of range.

Sometimes it's the lead, but there are not always leads out there, so then it's an interesting supporting character, or there's a lot of dough, although that happens less and less. Let's have a good laugh about that one.

I'm not really that interested in going back to playing small supporting roles.

I am not an actress who only wants to do lead roles.

I have played some wonderful leading roles on stage and had the whole 'China Beach' years where I really played a leading man on that. That was a fun change for a character actor. But I'm perfectly happy going back to building my gallery of memorable character roles.

So far, I'm known for doing more commercial and glamorous roles. But I don't mind doing a short film.

I play characters that allow me to do lot more than just be a glamorous heroine.

I have never been of the opinion that I will only play the lead in a serial. For me, just the role needs to be good.

I will do all genres. I will do intense roles, along with the kind of films that I have grown up watching, like 'Biwi No. 1' and 'Judwaa.' But I won't do films where, if you take me out of the script, nothing changes.

If you see my filmography, I have mostly done non-glamorous roles.

I don't want to play the lead and look like a hero. I am open to do character roles; what is the harm in it?