Bill Nighy Quotes

I started in movies in 1963, and the first big one was 'Rosemary's Baby' in 1967. While you don't notice it right away, it finally dawns on you that 80% of the time, you're doing nothing.

I always felt blessed that I was able to make a living in a profession [acting] that not a lot of people can make a living at, and I was able to do something I liked, rather than be in a job that I hated.

I definitely wanted to be an actor. I didn't want to be on TV, I didn't want to be famous, I didn't want to be anyone in particular; I just wanted to do it. I see young people now who look at magazines, or American Idol and their goal is to have that lifestyle - to have good handbags, or go out with cute guys from shows, or whatever. But I definitely wanted to be an actor.

Acting can be a great job, but you do have to make up things to do when you're not working.

I just want to do a movie musical and then if I could do some recording stuff, that would be amazing! I would die a happy woman! I really would. It doesn't take much!

I haven't had a problem with being typecast, but if I was only getting one type of role, I wouldn't mind. What I'm worried about is not working.

My father was an actor, and my mother was his agent, so I had it on both sides: the crazy actor and his representation.

The normal state of an actor is unemployed.

I did 'I'd Do Anything,' and then a play and then 'A Little Light Music.' I played jazz in a night club where nobody listened to me for two years. I sold cereal in a market for a while. I worked in a clothes shop in Brixton. But that's the life of an actor. You never really know when your next job is coming.

I knew I wanted to be an actor, and I didn't necessarily need or want to be famous or a celebrity actor. But I wanted to be somewhere where there would be no ceiling on what I could accomplish, and I felt like if I stayed in St. Louis I might have a really great regional theater career or something, but that I wasn't going to be able to get much further than that. And it felt like New York and L.A. were the two places where you could end up being a TV star or you could end up doing regional theater, which would have been fine as well.

All I ever wanted to do was act. And pay my bills

From university, I tried to get into the profession almost immediately, and just got kind of kicked back in London, by lots of people saying, "Well, you know, we'll need to see you in something. And the easiest way for you to get seen in something is drama school. That is the best way to get an agent."

I'd been an actor my whole life, since I was a kid. And then, I quit for awhile and went to university. When I wanted to start acting again, I couldn't get a job, and that was really depressing. So, I realized, at that time, that I have to take responsibility for my own creativity.

Acting is not a science. Anybody who believes that their success exists in relation to their goals is deluding themselves; unless you think of a career in terms of financial goals. I have nothing against Tom Cruise, but he must have a large capacity to deal with the business side of movies.

If you go into acting to make money then you're an idiot. It's my hobby and the fact that I'm doing my hobby for a job is mental.

Actor is an odd profession, and sometimes people get jealous, but I haven't really experienced any of that. Everyone's been really happy for me, which is really, really great.

Did I think I'd ever be in television shows that people would see or movies? No. But I knew that I was going to be an actor.

I come from theater, originally, and I've worked in many theaters where you make no money, whatsoever. If you got 3,000 people to see your production, it was great. So, I'm always about the work and I always want to strive for making the best story possible. I don't get hung up on trying to compare myself.

I hope to make acting my career for the rest of my life, if I can. If acting doesn't work out, I'd love to produce or direct or write. I just want to stay in this business, definitely. That would be my number one thing. I always want to be an actress.

I think there was no other profession for me. I was either going into an insane asylum or to be an actor.

The idea of being a professional actor never occurred to anybody, including myself, for a long time.

If I get the opportunity to be an actor and do some cool, fun and interesting projects, I'm going to do that.

I had done lots of theater and I really wanted to do screen work. I said to my agent, "Look, I really want to do screen work and I want to concentrate on that now" and he said, "Well, it's going to be tough for you."

There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip.

I'm a comic because I don't want to do the nine-to-five, I have to modify that and say I'm a comic because I have an inability to do a nine-to-five.