Home / Authors / Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken Quotes

Actor

Christopher Walken, born on March 31, 1943, is a renowned American actor. Known for his distinctive acting style and versatile character portrayals, he has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards and won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in 'Patton' in 1982.

Filter quotes by topic

All Thinking Actors Knows People Ifs Play Way Made Guy Littles Kind Bits Shows Sometimes Villain Looks Kids Scripts Want Years

Famous Christopher Walken Quotes

“I'm a better actor now than I ever was, I wish I could have hurried that up, but there's no way. Anyway, I always wanted to be around for a long time. Like a European actor, I hope I live a long time and that I'm acting until I finish.”

Way Long Wanted Actors Wish Acting Long Time

Author:Christopher Walken

“I come from a show-business family, so wanting to become an actor never crossed my mind. It was just a part of my life.”

Mind Shows Actors Show Business Business Family

Author:Christopher Walken

“A good actor is like a racehorse or a Ferrari. If a cylinder is missing on a Chevy, it's doesn't matter that much. But if something's not working right on a Ferrari, it makes a big difference. It's the three percent that makes the difference between good and great. It's a fine line. If you're not there, it's very painful.”

Ifs Matter Bigs Three Actors Differences Lines Missing Fine Percent Painful Good Actors Fine Lines Ferrari Chevy Cylinders Racehorses

Author:Christopher Walken

“One of the difficult things about being an actor is to stick around.”

Actors Difficult Sticks Difficult Things

Author:Christopher Walken

“If you're an actor, a hard thing is to stick around, to stay viable. I try to do that by taking the opportunity to do something different every once in awhile.”

Ifs Trying Different Hard Actors Opportunity Sticks Hard Things

Author:Christopher Walken

“I wasn't a trained actor, I was trained in musical comedy theater, and when you do that, the audience is completely part of the thing. It's like Elizabethan theater. You play the scene, and then you turn - the audience is part of it.”

Play Turns Actors Audience Comedy Scene Theater Musical Elizabethan

Author:Christopher Walken

“Too many young actors are strutting about and doing films without having developed some of the depth you need to bring off certain kinds of roles. I think that's the problem with the system, where a lot of younger actors who haven't had a chance to develop suddenly become stars.”

Thinking Needs Kind Problem Film Young Certain Actors Stars Chance Roles Havens Depth Young Actors Strutting

Author:Christopher Walken

“I'm a character actor. I have to find work in good movies where I can make something of my role. I'm a very lucky guy to be in that kind of position. It's like a kid who dreams of becoming a baseball player and then he gets to play for the Yankees.”

Kind I Can Play Character Dream Kids Guy Actors Roles Player Position Becoming Lucky Baseball Yankees Good Movie Baseball Player Character Actors Lucky Guy

Author:Christopher Walken

“As an actor I'm rather hit and miss, I throw a lot out there, and some of it works and some of it doesn't. But this is a nice part.”

Actors Nice Missing

Author:Christopher Walken

“Older actors, and women in particular, are getting more opportunities. It pleases me, its very good news for us. They say that people are living longer, and maybe it's just that there's more of us out there.”

People Actors Opportunity Particular Please News Very Good Good News Please Me

Author:Christopher Walken

“In my personal life I'm very conservative. I've been married to the same person for nearly 50 years, I'm scrupulous about paying bills, avoiding debt. I'm very careful. But as an actor I'm pretty reckless. I've done a lot of things that, when I see myself on screen, I have to shut my eyes. And I've made a whole bunch of movies that nobody sees, including me.”

Years Persons Made Done Whole Eye Actors Married Bills Including Conservative Careful Debt Screens Bunch Avoiding Personal Life Reckless

Author:Christopher Walken

“In England, and all over Europe, and all over the world, actors act until they die. They get old, really old, and they're still working. They just keep doing it.”

World Stills Dies Actors Europe England

Author:Christopher Walken

“I became an actor kind of by accident. I was in musical theater and I got a job as an actor in a play and kept going. But I never set out to be an actor; it happened over time.”

Kind Play Jobs Actors Happened Theater Musical Accidents Musical Theater

Author:Christopher Walken

“I've never done that [fighting for arole]. You hear about actors going in and saying, "You've got to let me read for this!" I've never done that. Lots of parts I've wanted and didn't get, but I think any actor would say that.”

Thinking Done Wanted Fighting Actors Let Me

Author:Christopher Walken

“It's true that I don't think I'd be a good director. If I were a director, I'd try to hire the best people I could and then leave them alone. I don't know much about cameras or lighting, so I'd make sure that I had a really good cameraman who understood lenses and lighting, and I say to him, "This is the scene we have to shoot and this is what I think it should be, you go do it." Same with actors. But really, very good directors who know everything do basically the same thing. They hire you and then they leave you alone.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Should Trying Actors Scene Directors Understood Cameras Very Good Be You Lenses Lighting Good Directors Cameraman

Author:Christopher Walken

“There's not a lot of talking between actors - either between actors or between actors and directors. People think that they sit in rooms and talk about psychology and motivations. I don't think that happens much.”

People Thinking Happens Motivation Actors Rooms Talking Psychology Directors

Author:Christopher Walken

“All actors do what they do differently, and it doesn't matter.”

Author:Christopher Walken

“I have boxes full of stuff. Most actors do have a trunk full of stuff, paintings or scripts. It never comes to anything.”

Actors Stuff Painting Scripts Boxes Trunks

Author:Christopher Walken

“I remember that. I was talking to him and I said how great it would be if actors had a tail because I have animals and a tail is so expressive. On a cat you can tell everything. You can tell if they're annoyed. You can tell whether they're scared.”

Ifs Said Would Be Remember Actors Animal Talking Cat Scared Tails Annoyed Expressive Talking To Him

Author:Christopher Walken

“Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.”

Wells Actors Comedy Training Yeah Musical Theatre Backgrounds

Author:Christopher Walken

“Emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.”

Actors Emotional Valuable Valuable Things Emotional Power

Author:Christopher Walken

“As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.”

Persons Made Play Actors Audience Lighting

Author:Christopher Walken

“I was never a child actor. I was a child performer.”

Children Actors Performers Child Actors

Author:Christopher Walken

“It's interesting - a lot of good actors are good mimes. But I'm terrible. If I tried to do an impression, nobody would know what I was doing.”

Ifs Knows Actors Interesting Terrible Impression Good Actors Mime

Author:Christopher Walken

“It's what actors call a big, juicy part, when you're a leading man. I don't get a lot of those. I get a lot of supporting things.”

Men Bigs Actors Juicy

Author:Christopher Walken

“Obviously an actor draws on his own experience.”

Actors Draws Experience

Author:Christopher Walken

“There probably aren't a lot of actors my age who tap dance.”

Age Actors Birthday 60th Birthday Tap Dance

Author:Christopher Walken

“There's an impression that actors make a lot of choices. I just take what's there.”

Choices Actors Impression

Author:Christopher Walken

“Well, I was sort of a jack-of-all-trades in show business for a long time. I was a singer and a dancer and then I got a job as an actor.”

Wells Long Shows Jobs Actors Long Time Trade Singers Dancer Show Business Jack Of All Trades

Author:Christopher Walken

“I became an actor by accident. I suppose I figured since I was in musical comedy from the time I was a teenager, I suppose I figured that I'd always been in that world to some extent.”

World Actors Comedy Musical Accidents Teenager

Author:Christopher Walken

“I certainly have never been an actor who can play the Everyman guy - or, I don't tend to get those parts. I've tended to play eccentrics. I've played a lot of villains, of course.”

Play Guy Courses Actors Villain Everyman

Author:Christopher Walken

“I've always been a character actor, although I'm not quite sure what that means. All my scripts are absolutely covered in notes, so any time I say anything - even 'pass the salt' - I have six subtexts, comments on what I really mean when I'm saying that. Maybe that's what gives the impression that I'm saying one thing and thinking something else.”

Thinking Giving Mean Character Actors One Thing Six Notes Scripts Impression Covered Comment Salt Say Anything Really Mean Character Actors Subtext

Author:Christopher Walken

“My background is in musical comedy. I didn't know I was going to be an actor. But all my points of reference have to do with musical comedy and in being kind of a showoff.”

Knows Kind Actors Comedy Musical Backgrounds Be Kind Showoffs

Author:Christopher Walken

“An actor really is a kind of intermediary between an audience and the piece, whether it's a play or movie.”

Kind Play Actors Audience Pieces Movie

Author:Christopher Walken

“I became an actor by accident.”

Actors Accidents

Author:Christopher Walken

About the Author

Born: March 31, 1943
Known for: Actor
Quotes: 202

Related Topics

Thinking Actors Knows People Ifs Play Way Made Guy Littles Kind Bits Shows Sometimes Villain Looks Kids Scripts Want Years

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Similar Authors

Kristen StewartBrowse related quotes
Clint EastwoodBrowse related quotes
Billy Bob ThorntonBrowse related quotes
Jack NicholsonBrowse related quotes
Robert PattinsonBrowse related quotes
Morgan FreemanBrowse related quotes
Jake GyllenhaalBrowse related quotes
Jeff BridgesBrowse related quotes
Meryl StreepBrowse related quotes
John C. ReillyBrowse related quotes