Quotes

(Advice to actors) We all know actors who are waiters. Some are waiting for the "big break", others are waiting tables. There is nothing wrong with the latter. We all have to eat. Just remember to make a way to do our work. Study as much as you can afford to. Find the people who will let you act. Community theatre, church drama, four friends who want to do scenes, they are all changes to exercise these instruments. I have done all those forms plus industrial films, live industrials, legit theatre, musical theatre, reader's theatre, radio D.J., radio drama, on-camera commercials, voice-over, TV, independent film, and major studio, big budget whoppers. Everyone of them contributed to what I bring to the job today.

(On his advice to aspiring actors) Be good to your fellow players: We are all in this together. Whether you are working, or in-between jobs, you need all the help you can get. I just read an interview with a very famous director who decided to slum a bit and try the other end of the camera. He reported that this acting thing is a stroll in the park and he was mystified as to what the big deal is. I've got a hint for him: What that little experiment missed is the part where you go 0 for 22 in auditions, spend 11 months wondering where the next paycheck is coming from, your mother suddenly has health problems that tap half of your cash reserves, your summer love from Shakespeare Under The Stars lands a network series, and you mentor (and probably the best actor you have ever seen) gives it up because he can't get cast and has to feed the family. Factor that stuff in and then come tell me how easy it is. Try to remember that your contemporaries now will be the same 30 years from now. You need them. Treat them like family.