I had two ambitions: One was to be in The Actors Studio, and the other was to walk into a bar where actors hung out, and everyone would know that I was a professional actor and I would be accepted.
I felt that if I'm serious about acting, I would like people to see me as an actress. It's less of a stretch if I'm singing, unless I'm playing a character who sings.
Experience tells us that whereas that degree of recognition can happen for one or two actors, for the vast majority it doesn't, so what matters is to try and be a better actor.
I made the decision to take acting seriously after high school.
Christina Ricci is amazing, the most professional actor I think I've ever met. You can be chatting with her and when they call action, she's right there.
I wanted to act; that was my one goal. I wanted to devote all my time to acting and not waitressing or anything else.
I always made a living as an actor when I came to California. I never had to do anything else.
When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one of them... And here I am, still at it.
I would never have changed anything in the past. I have been acting for 32 years now and I feel so lucky to be able to have done exactly what I wanted to do.
I'd maybe done about 12 movies when I decided that this was what I was going to do.
I've acted professionally since I was 16.
I did a little theatre work after that and the following year I got another part in a television series. Then it was almost to the end of the year before I got more work. That was coming to terms with the reality of the vocation I had chosen.
I'm a grinding actor. That's how I've always viewed myself. You go from one job to the next.
I've been working as an actor since I was 9 years old.
I found an agent midway through my year-long run at 'Grease' and just started to audition. I fortunately booked 'South Pacific' six months after 'Grease' was over, and I feel like that was a huge turning point in legitimizing myself in the Broadway community, and getting to do that was absolutely amazing.
I'm going to be quite choosy about singing. If I connect to a tune and like what I am offered to sing, I'll do it. I am an actor by profession, not a singer.
With a recent birthday, I've been acting now for twenty years.
Personally, the first year when I started making enough money just from acting - by that, I mean not doing anything else but acting - was around 2003.
I'm trying to be a working actor. I'm not in pursuit of fame. I'm not trying to be in the kinds of films that make you famous like that.
It's 90 percent rejection, being an actor.
[Andy Griffith] is so great. He's just a dream. He's a beautiful man and so professional. I think he had more to say, script-wise, than anyone else, and when you're older it's not easy to memorize lines.
To cast Ida, it took ages, and I was a bit desperate. I couldn't find somebody I could believe in. I spent months looking for the lead among young actresses and drama students.
There are a lot of good actors who work forever and never make one good thing.
I was determined to be an actor and make a name in the industry, and hence, I did.
I'm very serious about becoming a dramatic actor. I don't want to play cameo parts walking on as Carl Lewis the athlete. I want to go on stage or screen and be taken seriously.
