Maz Jobrani Quotes

My parents wanted me to be a doctor, and they weren't very happy at the idea of me choosing acting as a career. Everyone in my family went to university - my older brother is a lawyer - but when they saw me for the first time at the theatre, they thought, 'OK.' They like it very much now.

Even when I was doing well in acting, my dad would say, 'You can still go back to dental school.' But since I've been on '90210,' I haven't heard that.

I think my parents love that I want to do something a little different than what they do.

I was watching TV at age 9 or 10, and my mom said that I came from the front room and I told her that I want to act. And she said if you want to do this at 18, then you can. It was a very simple story, yet, I do not even remember the conversation that I had with my mother. Until she reminded me of the story many years later.

Everyone wants to say they hate lawyers, and yet I've never met a parent who didn't want their kid to be a lawyer.

I'm an actress and I want to act, and I'm a mom and I want to be with my kids, and it's trying to find a way to do both.

When I told my parents, 'I'm going to be an actor,' they screamed and wept and freaked out.

I've wanted to be an actor for such a long time that I haven't had anything else in my thoughts. I think my family would have quite liked me to be a lawyer.

There was a time when I wanted to be a lawyer, or even a professional triathlete... But nothing could come close to the passion I have for acting.

When I was doing engineering, one day I thought that I want to be an actor, and apart from acting, I want to produce also.

When I was about 18 or 19, I told my father that I want to be an actor, and he was shocked.

It is kind of a cliche that many Indian parents, especially in the U.S., want their kids to become doctors or engineers. But my parents encouraged me to turn to music when they found that I had the passion and talent.

My father was not really pleased when I told him of my choice to train as an actress, when he was with us in this dimension.

The day I went to see my father to say I wanted to become an architect, he was a bit surprised, because for him being a builder is much more than being just an architect. He was very angry, and I never thought I could do something else.

It was very clear to me I wanted to be an actor when I got out into civilian life.

I was told to avoid the business all together because of the rejection. People would say to me, 'Don't you want to have a normal job and a normal family?' I guess that would be good advice for some people, but I wanted to act.

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, 'I want to get out and become like him'. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

I wanted to be a comedian, and this is what I'm doing. If I can keep this going, I'm happy.

I always wanted to be a doctor and go to art school, but I thought I'd regret it if I didn't act.

I just wanted to act. I didn't want to do anything else.

Dad and mom would have preferred that I be a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, or a great humanitarian.

You grow up in a Sicilian household, becoming an actor is not a big leap.

My mom graduated from the University of Michigan, which is a great school. Then she got her Master's from NYU. She wanted to be an actress, so when she graduated, she had a dream, and she started following it. She moved to New York and took acting classes with people like Denzel Washington.

I had no ambition to become an actor at all.

Acting is something that I always wanted, but I never paid attention to the notion that it might actually work out. You have all sorts of ideas about what you want to do - at one stage, I wanted to be a jockey - but this is the one that's a big deal.