James Iha Quotes

I admire many actors, though I don't think there's anyone whose career I would want to mirror sort of by the beats. What I'm really looking to do is constantly defy expectations. I'm very curious to see if you can actually have a character actor and a movie star's career combined.

I would absolutely like to play more leading roles. There's no philosophy - well, the only philosophy, I suppose, is to try and do different things.

I don't want to say, 'This is where Im going to be in five years and Im going to get there no matter what.' I want to leave it open. I'm not a desperate actress dying to star in a B movie in a bikini.

As far as post-'SNL' career, whatever kind of comes my way that looks interesting, I'll do it, you know?

If I didn't want to work for a couple of years, I wouldn't have to-it's a great feeling, to know I'm doing it because I want to do it.

'Downton' has really pushed me to a new level in my career, but it's not like I have a big career plan. They are about as useful as a birth plan; they should be burned.

I spent 12 years doing different things in film trying to figure out the story I wanted to tell.

It's nice to be able to work; I'd love to be able to do another TV show I could do in Chicago so I could live and work in the same place. It's hard being a parent and being in a good marriage, and it all takes a lot of work, but if you're not there you can't do any of it.

I will always be an actress. I couldn't see myself without acting. But I'd love to direct and keep writing. I don't think one has to be in place of the other.

It would have shown people that I was prepared to do that kind of work, although I find myself in a position now where I don't really need to and I could pick and choose the kind of characters I'd like to do.

I wish I knew what was next. I got this movie without planning to. I'm really excited to be continuing in film because it's a great job but I have my portfolio and resume for any other opportunity.

Denzel Washington, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise: those guys have well-planned careers. I'm just on a journey. Wherever I run across a job, I say, 'Okay, I'll do that.'

I really don't make a concerted effort to try to find a type of role.

When I look back on my career - if that's what it is - it looks a bit like a crazy quilt, and I think it's just really because, when one job has finished, I've never really been in a position where I had three or four options.

So often actors only mix with actors, which is quite incestuous, and doesn't give them the insight into how other people work.

My career has evolved at its own peculiar pace. American careers are supposed to have a much more singular direction than I've been able to... stomach.

I really want my career to be as an actor-writer-director-producer, you know? I don't know what will be stronger than the other.

I'm kind of at a point in my career where I can get away with traditional stuff and then get away with some more rocky and pop and edgier stuff, too.

I just want a really varied career, and just to keep going, really.

The one guiding principle over my 23-year career in TV has been as long as I'm having fun, I really don't care what the job title is.

Have a goal. Know where you want to end up. Knowing where you want to end up is a lot easier than figuring out how to start and how to get there. You will figure out how to get there. Do not chart your career. Trust me; you do not want to chart your career.

I have never, for better or worse, thought about a 'career path' or anything like that.

I've been accused of being unambitious, but what I do takes up every minute. I'm executive producer, I'm a writer and the host.

The biggest message I have for young women is, Don't start cutting off branches of your career tree unnecessarily early. Sometimes women say, I know I want to have a family or play in the local symphony, and they start pulling themselves out of their career path. You don't have to take yourself out of the running before you even start.

You have different stages in your career where you have different things to prove. And early on, like most people who move to Nashville, I wanted to prove that I belonged here, that I belonged in this format, that I had a love for it.