“Quite honestly I never had a desire to be an actor. I tell people, I did not choose acting; acting chose me. I never grew up wanting to be an actor. I wanted to play football. In about 9th grade an English teacher told me I had a talent to act. He said I should audition for a performing arts high school so I did on a whim. I got accepted.” PeopleShouldArtSaidPlayWantedSchoolDesireActorsActingTeacherTalentFootballGrewGrew UpHigh SchoolAcceptedHonestlyPerformingGradesAuditionsWhimPerforming ArtsEnglish Teacher Author:Ving Rhames
“I was going to be a High School teacher. I was studying at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, up in Canada. I was also acting in a wonderfully supportive theatre community in Edmonton. There's a lot of support for theatre there. So, I was having a great time, but I didn't consider acting as a serious career initially, because even the most successful actors that I know in Edmonton are not super successful. Acting over there is just not a success-oriented career.” KnowsSchoolActorsCommunityActingCareersSupportStudySuccessfulTeacherSeriousHigh SchoolUniversityTheatreCanadaSupportiveGreat TimesSchool TeachersAlbertaHigh School TeachersEdmonton Author:Nathan Fillion
“I grew up in Arkansas and that's the law. My dad was a high school basketball coach, so I was raised as a coach's son and I was a baseball player back in Arkansas, and I lived in Texas, too, so I was just surrounded by sports. So that's what I was going to do: Pitch for the St Louis Cardinals. I had no idea I was going to be an actor. So I got my collar bone broken in the Kansas City Royals training camp. And once I got hurt I started doing other things for a while.” IdeasSchoolLawActorsSportsHurtCitiesPlayerSonBrokenGrewDadBasketballGrew UpTrainingHigh SchoolBaseballRaisedMy DadBonesCoachesNo IdeaTexasCampsRoyalCollarsCardinalsBaseball PlayerKansasBasketball CoachArkansasKansas CityGot HurtTraining Camp Author:Billy Bob Thornton
“In high school, theater was all I ever wanted to do. I didnt see that I was going to set it aside for so many years and take a right turn into television. Of course, wanting to do theater is something you hear a lot from actors. I think Ive been embarrassed to be in that big cliche.” ThinkingYearsBigsWantedSchoolTurnsCoursesActorsTelevisionHigh SchoolTheaterEmbarrassedCliche Author:Mare Winningham
“I wouldn't be an actor if it weren't for the English teacher I had my junior year in high school. She's the one who told me I could be an actor. I had never met an actor, I had never seen a real play, only high school plays. I didn't know actors were real, that it was a real job.” IfsKnowsYearsRealPlaySchoolJobsActorsTeacherMetsHigh SchoolJuniorsReal JobsEnglish TeacherSchool PlaysJunior Year Author:Julianne Moore
“When I was in high school, I was the guy directing plays after class. I started my first theater company at 19, and my second theater company at 21. I've always been a guy who doesn't do well with the passive nature of being an actor.” FirstsWellsPlaySchoolGuyActorsCompanyClassHigh SchoolTheaterPassive Author:Matthew Lillard
“When I got out of high school, I wanted to be an actor but was getting a lot of rejections. I was getting rejected by life. My mother, God rest her soul, told me not to quit.” SoulWantedSchoolMotherActorsHigh SchoolQuittingRejectionRejected Author:Don Rickles
“I actually think the reason I am interested in certain parts is because I was such a dweeb in high school. When you are such a loser, it's a helpful way in to a lot of characters because even very powerful people are not all that powerful really. They all had a high school. That vulnerability is completely permanent and, as an actor, it's a good thing.” PeopleThinkingWayReasonCharacterSchoolCertainActorsPowerfulHigh SchoolGood ThingsPermanentVulnerabilityHelpfulLoserVery Powerful Author:Sigourney Weaver
“I went to Princeton High School, when I was very serious about being an artist. I was in a theatre family but I didn't want to become an actor.” WantSchoolArtistActorsSeriousHigh SchoolTheatreBeing An ArtistPrinceton Author:John Lithgow
“I was obsessed with romance. When I was in high school, I saw 'Doctor Zhivago' every day from the day it opened until the day it left the theater.” SchoolRomanceActorsLeftSawsHigh SchoolDoctorsTheaterObsessedMovieAggravationDoctor Zhivago Author:John Hughes
“The big reason why I became an actor in the first place was to communicate. I never acted in high school...I was desperate to communicate.” FirstsReasonBigsSchoolActorsHigh SchoolCommunicateReason WhyDesperate Author:Bruce Dern
“My father is an actor, so he brought me into his agency when I was young. It wasn't something I wanted to do until high school, when I started taking theater and really liked it. Then an agent found me and wanted me to come out to Los Angeles and give it a shot. I gave myself six months, but it only took me like a week to get a job.” GivingWantedSchoolJobsYoungActorsFoundFatherWeekMonthsSixHigh SchoolShotsTheaterAgentsAgencyLos AngelesSix Months Author:Jensen Ackles
“When you're an actor in grade school, high school, college, whatever, you start to realize what you're really good at, what you're kinda good at, what you're okay at, and you start to compartmentalize. But if you know yourself and what you're capable of, it's just a matter of opportunity.” IfsKnowsMatterSchoolActorsOpportunityRealizingCollegeCapableHigh SchoolOkayGradesKnow YourselfGrades In School Author:Bryan Cranston
“I did all the musicals in high school, and I loved it. And then I got to theater school at college, and was like, "No, I'm a serious actor. I want to do Shakespeare. I want to do classical theater." I took myself very seriously.” WantSchoolActorsCollegeSeriousHigh SchoolTheater Author:Timothy Omundson
“I studied voiceover, and I studied acting and I got my first series and my first agent a week out of high school. And it took me about five years of hit-or-miss auditioning and booking on occasion before I could support myself totally as an actor.” YearsFirstsSchoolActorsActingSupportFiveWeekMissingHigh SchoolSeriesAgentsOccasionsFive Years Author:Bob Bergen
“And that's how show business is like in Israel - it's very, very small. It kind of feels like a high school environment, you know? Everyone knows everyone and if you come to Israel for a month, you'll meet half of the actors on different occasions - not to mention in the doctors office!” IfsKnowsFeelsKindDifferentShowsSchoolActorsHalfEnvironmentMonthsOfficeHigh SchoolDoctorsIsraelOccasionsShow Business Author:Meital Dohan
“That movie [Jawbreaker] was so much fun to shoot. We were all in our mid-20s at the time, playing high school students. Which was the point. It was the point of the film to hire older actors to play high school students. But we had a blast.” PlaySchoolFilmActorsFunStudentsHigh SchoolBlastHigh School Students Author:Julie Benz
“You can think of Hollywood as high school. TV actors are freshmen, comedy actors are maybe juniors, and dramatic actors - they're the cool seniors.” ThinkingSchoolActorsComedyTvsHigh SchoolHollywoodDramaticSeniorJuniorsFreshman Author:Owen Wilson