Pursuing a Passion Quotes

I’m better speaking with my own voice. That is one of the reasons I left the Senate

I was an electrician, and I started acting as a hobby because I needed a distraction - I was bored! And only when I started did I think, 'Sheesh, what have I gotten into?' I had to go after it fully; I just had to.

I had to go broke for music.

You know how you're in elementary school and the teacher goes around the room and, like, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' I said, 'NBA player.' And she's like, 'Well, OK. Maybe pick a real job.' But I really believed it. I felt like I was meant to be here.

At a young age, I wanted to be a prima ballerina and had these grand ideas that I would go study at Juilliard. It's something I laugh about now.

I left my cushy job as an engineer in New Delhi in 2008 to pursue acting in Mumbai. I figured roles will start pouring in as soon as I landed in the city, but my bubble burst quickly.

When I first started to sing, people automatically asked what Barbi Benton was doing behind a microphone, and I'm determined to show them there is talent here.

I always wanted to make motion pictures, ever since I was a wee boy, and I was 32, and time was marching on. I met a guy who said, 'Come out to Hollywood for 10 days, and I'll get you a deal.' So I figured, 'OK, 10 days.' On the 10th day, he got me a development deal with Disney, not for a lot of money, but it allowed me to make the move.

I started acting when I was young, and I didn't go to drama school. It was always something that I did alongside going to school and being a normal person.

When I moved to New York at 22, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I took an improv class, and the first scene I did, I felt like 'I want to do this for the rest of my life.' It was the first time I ever felt like that about anything. I tried to make a living off improv.

I remember being in college knowing I didn't want to go anymore. I wanted to try and become an actor. There is a something in me, with a risk of sounding cliche, that I just had to do it. I knew from an early age that acting was my path.

We are lucky to be playing football for a living. For me, this is what I have always wanted to do.

I chose to stay with tennis and they didn't understand that at the school.

I auditioned just for fun.

I wanted to become a teacher, like my mother, or a charity worker. But my mom says that when I was younger, I told her, 'People are going to know me,' so I guess I always had that idea.

That was always my hope that that is exactly what I would do. It was always part of the dream of this story - to write the novel and then direct the movie.

A lot of my close friends had tolerantly washed their hands of the whole idea of me writing a book. They had said to themselves, "I don't know what he's doing."

Given my family background, whenever, as a child, I was asked about becoming an actor, I used to answer in the negative.

I stumbled into acting because a friend persuaded me to leave my 9 to 5 job and get into acting.

I had this dream that I was going to come to New York and be a writer.

I never looked at being a musician any different than waking up one day and wanting to be an accountant or a lawyer.

Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.

I didn't want to break with my family. I wasn't about to make waves. But I had this feeling I wanted to do something that I liked to do. Acting's what I liked to do most. There must have been a moment when I felt, 'Oh, my God, I like this and what am I going to do about it?'

When I came to California, I came from such an upper scale neighborhood, I was so sheltered, but I always knew I wanted to live in California, and I wanted to play guitar.

I don't like doing things by halves, and I realised you can't do stand-up comedy part-time.