Home / Authors / Richard Schiff Biography

Richard Schiff

Richard Schiff Biography

Actor

Richard Schiff, born on May 27, 1955, is an accomplished American actor. He is known for his versatile performances in various television series and films, renowned for his exceptional acting skills and unique character portrayal.

Richard Schiff, born on May 27, 1955, is an accomplished American actor. He is known for his versatile performances in various television series and films, renowned for his exceptional acting skills and unique character portrayal.

Related Quotes

“I imagine an America that can actually change. That we become a nation that prospers again but without pillaging the resources of nations that make their people hate us. That we become a nation that, as the constitution says in its preamble, its very first paragraph, 'promotes the general welfare' of its people.”

People Firsts America Hate Nations Imagine Resources Constitution Welfare Paragraph General Welfare Preamble Pillaging

Author:Richard Schiff

“It was tough doing 'Underneath the Lintel' in New Jersey in the wintertime, but rewarding. Those audiences were lively and interactive. On-stage was great, but off-stage was difficult.”

Difficult Audience Stage Tough Jersey Lively New Jersey Interactive Wintertime

Author:Richard Schiff

“I am one of the lucky ones; believe me, I haven't forgotten that.”

Believe Havens Lucky Forgotten Believe In Me

Author:Richard Schiff

“I have to admit I've rarely been happier in my life. I have been absolutely thrilled to be back in New York and living a block from where I grew up. Just to be back in New York and, quite honestly, away from Hollywood has been an absolute thrill for me. I feel like I'm a real actor again.”

Feels Has Beens Real Actors New York Grew Grew Up Hollywood Absolutes Honestly Block Thrill

Author:Richard Schiff

“I fell in love with my wife twenty years ago. I am only now, it seems, getting it through my very thick skull how lucky I am.”

Years Seems Wife Lucky Years Ago Twenties My Wife Thick Skulls

Author:Richard Schiff

“Things happen to us and reaction is sometimes tough to measure.”

Sometimes Happens Tough Things Happen Reactions

Author:Richard Schiff

“My favourite British spots are any of the beautiful parks, especially on a sunny day such as this, after a long stretch of cold, cloudy and rainy days.”

Long Beautiful Cold British Spots Parks Favourite Sunny Rainy Rainy Day Cloudy Sunny Day Cloudy Day

Author:Richard Schiff

“I love David Fincher - even though it was just two scenes, I loved the way we worked and could tell by the way he was shooting it that this was going to be an affective movie to say the least.”

Way Two Scene Shooting

Author:Richard Schiff

“I've been very lucky not to have turned down too many roles that I've later regretted.”

Roles Lucky Turned Down

Author:Richard Schiff

“I love my wife but sometimes not so much. Frustration and fights can muck up a good thing. And just when a thing can move past differences and into the realm of peace and prosperity, another thing - an old idea or new interpretation or any spark that relights the paradigms that comfort us - will keep us where we are, where it is safe.”

Ideas Sometimes Past Moving Fighting Differences Wife Comfort Safe Good Things Prosperity My Wife Realms Frustration Interpretation Sparks Paradigm Old Ideas Love My Wife I Love My Wife

Author:Richard Schiff

“I remember the day Richard Nixon won in 1968. That was a time that seemed certain to bring about long awaited seismic change in America. But events of tragic proportion took us on a turn. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were suddenly dead.”

Long America Remember Certain Turns Events Kings Proportion Tragic Luther Bobby Kennedy

Author:Richard Schiff

“It seems not to matter that we are at the brink of a war that may spread beyond Afghanistan and Iraq to Iran and Georgia and then where? To Syria? To North Korea? To China? That we in America are in economic doldrums and are seeing small businesses fold and houses reclaimed by banks and a smouldering panic that is palpable everywhere.”

May War Matter Seems America House Seeing Economic Iraq China Spread Iran Afghanistan Panic Syria Small Business Korea Folds North Korea Georgia Doldrums

Author:Richard Schiff

“I mean everyone, from Al Pacino to Murphy Guyer, are phenomenal actors.”

Mean Actors Als Phenomenal Murphy

Author:Richard Schiff

“Listen - I like musicals. Even when they're bad, there's a couple of dancers I can watch.”

I Can Watches Couple Dancer

Author:Richard Schiff

“I was doing a play out in L.A. 20-some-odd years ago called 'Goose and Tomtom' by David Rabe, and somebody saw it and the next thing I know I'm doing the table read of the film version of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' with Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon - one of the great films of our generation.”

Knows Years Play Film Next Saws Generations Years Ago Tables Versions Odd Als Geese Our Generation Great Film

Author:Richard Schiff

“We are often too late with our brilliance. We are on time delay. The only instant gratification comes in the form of potato chips. The rest will find us by surprise somewhere down the road maybe as we sleep and dream of other things.”

Dream Form Sleep Late Surprise Instant Too Late Delay Chips Potatoes Gratification Brilliance Down The Road Instant Gratification Potato Chips Sleep And Dream Somewhere Down The Road

Author:Richard Schiff

“Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written - then it's completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor.”

Way Stories Actors Challenges Interesting Roles Written Come Up Up To You

Author:Richard Schiff

“One of the great things about the old days of television, 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, was that it was water cooler television. People would communally watch the same hour. People used to tell us all the time, we turn off the phones, we put the kids to bed and that one hour is uninterrupted. Then, the next day at the water cooler, they all talk about it.”

People Kids Water Hours Great Things

Author:Richard Schiff

“Playing a TV character for seven years is almost like when you do a play. You live, breathe, and everything else with that character 24-7 for six months or four months or whatever, and that gets very deep in your blood. When you do a TV character for seven years, that's a long time. It becomes a seminal era in your life.”

Long Character Seven Breathe Very Deep

Author:Richard Schiff

“Surviving the grind of 18-hour days and getting up at four in the morning to work out for an hour so I'd have the energy to do it again the next day. I did not know I had that discipline. I did not know I had the discipline to learn a seven-page scene in three hours to shoot that day or the next day. I didn't know that I was capable of realizing that potential.”

Energy Realizing Hours Morning Discipline Scene Capable Work Out Surviving Grind

Author:Richard Schiff

“Most actors, unless they're big movie stars and can carve out huge chunks of time to focus on one movie that takes six months - the rest of us have to jump around to make ends meet.”

Focus Movie Star Big Movie

Author:Richard Schiff

“My parents grew up in the Depression. Despite the success that they both had in their lives, there's a certain mentality that tells you to finish all the food that's on your plate and not wasting anything and appreciating what's on the table.”

Parent Appreciate Mentality

Author:Richard Schiff

“I turned down a lot of things - some very lucrative - because I could afford to at that time. That didn't lead to a happy place. I was happy to spend time with my family, get to know my daughter, who was born during The West Wing.”

Daughter My Family My Daughter End Times Spend Time Happy Place

Author:Richard Schiff

“I would love to be in the position where the role is challenging enough that I need three months to prepare for it and then six months to live the life of character.”

Enough Character Challenges Live Life

Author:Richard Schiff

“I still have the mentality of someone who doesn't know where he's going to sleep and doesn't know if he has enough money for gas to get to the next job interview. I don't think that mentality ever leaves, you know?”

Thinking Enough Sleep Gas Mentality Going To Sleep Job Interview

Author:Richard Schiff

“There's a genetic memory that stays on your bones. What you experience when you're young, I think it stays with you.”

Thinking Memories Bones

Author:Richard Schiff

“I was happy to spend time with my family, get to know my daughter, who was born during The West Wing. I missed her first words. I missed her first steps. I'd leave work before she woke up and got home after she was asleep and didn't really know her. So it was important for that reason to reintroduce myself to the family after all of that hard work.”

Important Reason Home Hard Work Daughter My Family My Daughter End Times Spend Time

Author:Richard Schiff

“The political nonsense of network television and the culture of a set and all the problems that that can create, I can take. I can't take betraying the truth of what I'm doing. It cuts to the absolute core of everything that I do in the craft, in this world that I live in.”

World Problem Political Culture Cutting Nonsense Betray

Author:Richard Schiff

“I didn't expect NBC would be at all thrilled about me, because the year before the West Wing I had rejected a pilot at the last minute and got them very upset. I ended up not coming to the casting - in fact it happened four different times because I just wasn't convinced that I wanted to do television.”

Different Upset Rejected

Author:Richard Schiff

“I go in to Warner Brothers to test and in the waiting area I saw Allison Janney sitting there, who I did not know but I was a big fan of. I said to myself, "Wait a second. These guys might know what they're doing if they're hiring her."”

Guy Waiting Brother Hiring

Author:Richard Schiff

“You had actors that came from live theatre and it felt like you're doing a play. Every time we did a three or four minute walk-and-talk in the West Wing, the exhilaration of going on stage would be a part of it.”

Like You Theatre

Author:Richard Schiff

“If you go to the real West Wing in the White House it looks like a boring law office; there's really not a whole lot going on in series. The moulding is frayed, the carpet is a little dirty; it's not exciting.”

Real House Office Exciting Boring Dirty Carpet

Author:Richard Schiff

“I had been used to improvising and even in the audition I was feeling free to rearrange Aaron Sorkin words a little bit, as lovely as they were. I didn't find out until after I got the part how furious Aaron was at me for doing that. They said, "He was livid. He did everything in his power not to jump down your throat!" But I came to realise that Aaron was writing in metre and the rhythm of the language is very important.”

Writing Important Feelings Language Lovely Rhythm Realising Furious

Author:Richard Schiff

“Families are like puzzles. They fit together in a certain way, and if one piece is missing, it throws everything off.”

Ifs Way Together Certain Family Pieces Missing Fit Puzzles One Piece Missing It

Author:Richard Schiff

“I wanna be in action movies, I wanna be the tough guy I wanna scare people.”

People Action Guy Tough Scare Action Movie Tough Guy

Author:Richard Schiff

About the Author

Born: May 27, 1955
Known for: Actor
Quotes: 35

Related Topics

Actors America Long Lucky People Tough Way Als Certain Challenges

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

Max MillerBrowse related quotes
Saud Nasser Al-Saud Al-SabahBrowse related quotes
Joe HarveyBrowse related quotes
Christopher WalkenBrowse related quotes
Jeff BridgesBrowse related quotes
Eddie MarsanBrowse related quotes
Curtis ArmstrongBrowse related quotes
Francisco de QuevedoBrowse related quotes
Tom LichtenheldBrowse related quotes
Ziauddin YousafzaiBrowse related quotes