Jim Parsons Quotes

My very first acting job ever, the first time I got paid to be an actress, was in 2001, right between my sophomore and junior year in college, when I was just 19 years old. I got paid $250 every two weeks, 10 shows a week, to be in the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I was Calpurnia in 'Julius Caesar.'

I don't know so much about making it, because I think of myself as a working actor who's always got my eye on what's going to be the next job. I've been acting for 22 years, and I think there's something to be said for simply staying in the game.

'Rent' was my first professional job, ever.

I'm a working actor, so I do pretty much whatever comes along because it's my job.

All I wanted was to be a regional-theater actor, to be in a company. I thought it would be a great life. I don't think I understood how difficult it would be.

I was very lucky: I started acting in this highly subsidized German theater world, so there was not so much job insecurity. We had great working conditions, long rehearsal times, well paid.

I've been very lucky - I've worked consistently, and I haven't had to kiss a lot of people on stage.

I didn't have an agent before 'Parks,' and once you're on a show, they're not going to make money off of you. So if you've already booked something without an agent, unless they really want to hustle during the downtime, there's seven months when they're not going to make money off of you.

I'd never thought about acting as a job. I was an engineer; I was in science and technology. I loved movies and television growing up, but I'd never thought about it as, 'Oh, that guy Denzel Washington is employed as an actor.'

Once you start getting big roles as an actor, everything pays. So what are you making decisions on? It's about the director or the script or whatever. But before you reach that point, you're taking jobs with, say, a theater company, in spite of the fact that it's not paying your bills.

I started working in New York City as an actor and did many plays. I did regional theater, smaller theaters, children's theater.

The percentage of actors employed is pretty small, and if you're lucky enough to have a good run at it, you do have a sense of responsibility.

I nearly died twice after I replaced Michael Crawford in 'EFX.'

Jayne Houdyshell and I - when I was 17 years old - did summer stock together at the Timber Lake Playhouse in Mt. Carroll, IL. She was the leading lady of the company, and I was an intern.

I'm always surprised that I get called to work. I always feel the way I felt when I was 24 or 25 trying to get a job. I'm amazed I have my SAG card and my Equity card.

I was being groomed to be the theatrical caricaturist. And I know if I got that job, I'd never quit. So I quit. I knew I wanted to go into the theater... I wanted to act.

I'm an actor of the theater.

I've been auditioning since I was 20, working as a waiter, getting theater gigs, doing the 'Law and Order's.

I want to do theater, TV, movies.

I did audition a lot. One's agent is keen to get you into film and TV because there's more money. I was always getting myself into commitments to theatre companies.

I'm an actor who works, and a lot of this is luck for me, that I get to be a part of really great shows that have these cult followings.

I like movies because I've been getting leads, and TV is more about ensemble casts.

I am a musician who started acting.

I am lucky that I get to play a singer and an actress.

It's 90 percent rejection, being an actor.