Chris O'Donnell Quotes

Even actresses that you really admire, like Reese Witherspoon, you think, 'Another romantic comedy?' You see her in something like 'Walk the Line' and think, 'God, you're so great!' And then you think, 'Why is she doing these stupid romantic comedies?' But of course, it's for money and status.

Eventually stardom is going to go away from me. It goes away from everybody and all you have in the end is to be able to look back and like the choices you made.

One day I'm lugging walls back and forth in Louisville, and the next day I'm at Cannes giving interviews next to Ben Kingsley. I'm nowhere near cynical or jaded enough not to be incredibly thrilled by that.

It is often pointed out to me that, in a brief time, I have gone from unknown film editor to star of 'Gomer Pyle,' guest star in two TV specials, and a night club headliner, and that this must necessarily have wrought some deep changes in me.

My whole life has changed so much, and it's still constantly changing, but 'Moonlight' brought about a bunch of opportunities that were really surreal, from the Oscars and Golden Globes to the notoriety that it brought, to even doing things like working with Calvin Klein.

It's bizarre, that feeling as an actor, at being in the mecca of the film world and seeing billboards for a TV show that you're in pretty much everywhere.

I'm not a kid. You don't get in this business for anonymity. It's not like I have posters of myself on the wall, but at the same time, I'm kind of ready for a little bit of it, but I worry for my little one, and my family - their privacy. That's what I'm more protective of.

When one deals with stars, he is dealing with intelligent people. If they weren't intelligent, they wouldn't have arrived at the star pinnacle.

Look at Jane Lynch, another Chicagoan. She has a career I'd kill for. She does amazing work; she's famous enough to have some power, but not so famous she has to deal with people buzzing around her life.

Fame can take a toll on your personal life. Half of us were in short-lived marriages or not married at all. When you are doing something you love so much that you once did for free, and then someone pays you to do it, it's like a blessing. But you have to be prepared for it.

I don't want to be Angelina Jolie. Not that Angelina Jolie is not the most talented, beautiful, successful, amazing, admirable person who does good things for the world, but I don't want to be a movie star like that.

Being a big star and being known, making movies and a lot of money - that really doesn't interest me.

I had been around Bruce Willis for two straight movies, so I saw the way the paparazzi follows him and the way the public is with him. He's a mega-star over in Europe.

I think a lot of people, if they get the opportunity to do some acting, they think, 'I might be a star.'

I've been on the cover of every magazine in the world.

'The Stand' came out in May of '94 and was seen by 60 million people a night for four nights, and then two months later, 'Forrest Gump' opened. So within a very short time, I went from being depressed about not getting any work to being in two of the most popular shows of the year.

When people are running up to me in the grocery store screaming, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' that's when I know I'm swervin'. As long as people are recognizing you and you matter to them, then you're doing something right.

Personally, fame never really played any part in our family life.

The fact is, I never wanted to be a movie star.

I never wanted to be that person who leaves 'SNL' and nothing happens.

And people are always saying: 'Well, you go to Hollywood and you get yourself a film career or a TV series, and then you can do anything you want. Because then you've got the clout.' That had always sounded like a lot of hooey to me, but now I think it's true, unfortunately.

I guess Tom Cruise - everything he does, everything he touches, is kind of a success.

There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.

I think that, in the beginning, you think, 'I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.' And then, with the more movies you make, you are like, 'I don't know if I want to be that anymore. I think what I am looking for is something different.' I like acting, but a lot of times, stardom comes with a lot of strings attached.

Give me a couple of years, and I'll make that actress an overnight success.