Vicky Kaushal Quotes

After five awful movies, I admitted failure and said I was not cut out to be an actor. But how many people get a chance to live their dream?

I don't regret giving up football for acting. I love football and am very proud I played for Morton. But the truth is, I wasn't going to get much higher in football. At the same time, I sensed I could go somewhere in acting. I'm 28, which is young for acting, whereas in football I'd now be near the end of my career.

'Don't worry about it, and you'll be great,' said nobody, ever.

I came from a town of about 2,000 people with one stop light, and I was told that nothing I ever wanted to do, I would succeed in.

I got into the industry after Miss India, but I actively started modeling in 2010. I never even dreamed that a simple girl like me could act, let alone become an actress. Slowly, as I started giving acting a shot, I realised how much I enjoyed it and how happy it makes me.

When I was younger, I was almost too afraid to admit that I wanted to be an actor. I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did.

I started studying at 26. Before that, I never thought of acting as something that I would ever try.

Where I came from, the idea of going into show business was just ridiculous; in fact I didn't tell anybody because I knew people would laugh at me. So I sort of snuck around and got some pictures and got a resume together and, of course, lied and said I did all kinds of things I didn't do.

I've always had ambition, and the acting was successful and put my name on the map, but it was never the plan to stop there.

If I had any advice for my 16-year-old self, it would just be to stay strong, because acting is not an easy lifestyle, especially when you are starting out. That being said, it definitely makes it all worth it when it does happen.

Do not let your ambitions become a sanctuary for your failures.

I think I knew acting was what I wanted to do. But I was from this small town and there was no place for an adult to recognise it.

Even as far back as when I started acting at 14, I know I've never considered failure.

I had very modest expectations when I first moved to New York. I didn't even expect to get a record deal.

We're not an acting family, but my parents have always encouraged me.

From Italy, I'd get calls from cousins and aunts saying, 'I don't think you should act. It's really tough. What are the chances?' This was around the time 'Flashdance' came out, and I was like, 'What about your dreams? I'm a maniac.'

What drives me now is the fact that I feel like I still have so many tricks that I want to learn and so many things that I can still do. And so many cool things outside of sports that I have been doing.

Raise your ambition beyond where you're capable of now. There's nothing about my hometown that said I'd be working with Fortune 50 CEO's, Olympians, at the highest level.

When I first moved to L.A., I went walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and I would tell myself, 'One day, I'm going to have my own star.'

If you got talent, you just have to do you.

I've paid my dues. It wasn't overnight success. I went to tons of casting calls and auditions... But I've got to give luck some credit.

Early on, when I first started acting professionally, it was really important for me to get my parents on board, because they were so against it.

There's nobody in the arts in my family. It was kind of embarrassing to even say that I wanted to be an actor.

I've known since I was about six that I wanted to be an actor, but I grew up in a very small country town, and it was just not something that was possible.

I got the opportunity, and I grabbed it, and slowly, I started finding a lot of interest in acting.