Robert Sheehan Quotes

From the time I was 16 to really up until turning 21, the roles were really, really few and far between. I had people say that I just wasn't a good singer. They didn't know what to do with me; I would never fit in any markets. I almost quit acting altogether.

I've auditioned for normal characters. But I never get cast.

I'm in a position where I'm being continually knocked back for the kind of independent films I want to be in because people don't know who I am.

In 1998, the acting roles suddenly bottomed out. I was no longer getting scripts; even my agent stopped calling. When I finally got him on the phone to ask him what was going on, he paused, then said: 'Well, Christine, you're 45.' I got rid of him.

I have actually lost a couple of roles - film roles - because a director or producer thought I looked too much like George Costanza, and I could not get out of that box.

I'm just a pack mule. I've played leads and I've played character roles. Any actress in Hollywood will tell you as your age climbs, the leads thin.

Probably a concern to either a major or minor degree with most actors if they're really motivated to kind of make a significant difference in the business is the 'pigeon-holing' thing.

It never really worked out for me in my own country. They said, 'You're not famous enough for the lead roles, and you're too present for the supporting roles - you'd overpower the lead.'

My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I'd be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they'd make it before I did. I'd still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.

A lot of actors in my age bracket look at being still standing as pretty good.

I can't get the serious roles. People don't see me that way.

There was a time when 'Batman' really kept me from getting some pretty good roles, and I was asked to do what I figured were important features. However, Batman was there, and very few people would take a chance on me walking onto the screen. And they'd be taking people away from the story.

From my experience, I would say no: actors of East Asian descent don't get the opportunities white actors do. I know that's inherently a problem in a country that produces a lot of period drama, but I have to fight so hard to get parts that don't have something to do with China.

I had doors slammed in my face; I had a lot of news directors who wouldn't give me the time of day. Some told me I wouldn't have a future in the business.

I know actors with promising careers who get blown out of the business, never to return.

Ingenue parts are plentiful. And once you get old, they'll start hiring you again for character parts. But the middle years are tough.

For the most part, the roles Asians can get aren't necessarily well-rounded, and more often than not, they're stereotypes. But that's all we have. And then we see each other all the time at auditions, because we're all going for the same role. I've made a lot of friends that way.

I didn't work for a year and a half after 'Melvin and Howard' because all I was being offered was silly parts.

There's a bunch of plays that I never got to do because I was either too young or too old for the parts, like 'Slow Dance on the Killing Ground' and 'Dutchman.' For 'American Buffalo,' I was the wrong color.

I had struggles throughout my career. I had some tough times.

I basically never believed that I was a commercial actor. Just because of the outcome of many auditions over time. No one hired me.

I try to search for roles where the character is not dependent on how she looks, but it is hard because I didn't know anyone in this industry, so I started as an extra and fought.

We started by playing girls who only married at the end of the picture. We didn't play wives. That came later. But the most dreadful thing was when a star had to play a mother. That was the beginning of her professional end.

The problem with the film industry is that once one starts out as a villain, subsequent offers are those of similar roles.

Even though I'm very fortunate and grateful to have played Aladdin, there were still four, five casting directors who never gave me a shot in Toronto. They didn't give me the time of day. I never got to audition for them.