Ben Stiller Quotes

My dad's a lighting director. Growing up in Hollywood, I was around the entertainment industry all the time. I knew I'd end up in show business in some capacity, eventually.

I came from a real working-class show business family.

Unlike a lot of actors, my father encouraged all his kids to go into show business.

My parents were involved in everything I did. They were showbiz people themselves. My dad was an actor. They were parents; they did what parents are supposed to do.

I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses.

If you can survive 'Saturday Night Live,' then you're good as far as show business is concerned.

I grew up in a family of actors. I grew up onstage. The choice for me wasn't, 'Do I want to be an actor or not?' I always felt like that's just ingrained in you, the need to perform. The choice was, 'Do you want to do this professionally or not?'

Probably from, like, my freshman year of high school, I had this desire to perform and also be involved in the show business industry.

I was raised in Hollywood and knew, from as early as grammar school, classmates who were in the business.

I like to act. Every other aspect of show business I find uninteresting.

Well, they just don't know anything else except that one form of their business, acting, and they don't really want to learn any other part of it, or they would. Directing and producing and putting a show together is very creative, for me.

I was embarrassed that I even wanted to become an actress because coming from L.A., with two older sisters in the business and a mom who had been a ballet dancer, it was such a cliche.

When I was 9, I asked my mom if I could be on TV. She was like, 'Well, okay. You can try.'

There was never any pressure on me to go into the business, but I was always aware of it. I'd go on the set with my father and he and my mother would always be singing.

Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the first one that was opened up for me was acting.

I grew up in an entertainment family, and so I saw how susceptible you are to the ups and downs of this business.

I did a lot of serious plays, and I did the Oxford Review as well, which is supposed to be funny, but I'm not sure how funny we were when we did it. Then, when I finished my course, it was only then that I decided to go to drama school and try and do acting because I was enjoying it so much and so on.

But I grew up in a place where no one knew anyone in the entertainment business, I never knew it was an actual career. The closest I ever got to movies was going to watch them, and I thought that's the way it would be, so I never considered working in this business.

I could do John Wayne, Jack Benny, Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and entertain my friends. But I never seriously considered it as a career choice.

I think that being a producer is business and being an actor is art.

Well, there's different shades of Hollywood, sure. I mean, I'm working in this business but I'm not Hollywood.

I knew real show business from my father, who had been an actor since he left the world of boxing.

My family is not at all involved in television, or film, or theatre, or any of it, really.

I'll be honest, I like shooting 'New Girl.' I like the people. The show is still new to me. I've never done TV like this before.

I learned everything that I know about comedy and about show business and a lot about life from Carl.