“I was, throughout school, in the theater program. Through elementary school, junior high, high school, and then J.J. Abrams, my closest friend in the world, we were living together. He was writing, and I was trying writing; I wasnt getting paid for it like he was, but I always had the acting bug.” WorldWritingTryingSchoolTogetherActingHigh SchoolProgramPaidTheaterClosestBugsJuniorsElementary SchoolJunior HighLiving TogetherClosest FriendsAbram Author:Greg Grunberg
“The analogy between the mind and a computer fails for many reasons. The brain is constructed by principles that assure diversity and degeneracy. Unlike a computer, it has no replicative memory. It is historical and value driven. It forms categories by internal criteria and by constraints acting at many scales, not by means of a syntactically constructed program. The world with which the brain interacts is not unequivocally made up of classical categories.” WorldMindMeanMadeReasonFormValuesMemoriesActingBrainPrinciplesFailingDiversityComputerProgramHistoricalDrivenScalesInternalsCategoriesCriteriaConstraintsAnalogies Author:Gerald Edelman
“Pretty much at the age of 16, I realized acting wasn't going to be the vocation for me...too political not enough creative control. But I loved the craft and my father wanted me to get a college degree. Seemed natural to study what I loved and Marymount Manhattan has a wonderful theatre program, I highly recommend it! A lot of what I learned there I apply to my comicbook writing and pacing.” WritingEnoughAgeWantedPoliticalFatherNaturalActingCreativeStudyWonderfulCollegeDegreesProgramTheatreI RealizedCraftsVocationManhattanPacingCollege Degree Author:Holly Golightly
“I did community theater and kids programs at professional theaters and plays at school and voice lessons for seven years. I stopped because it was so time-consuming. But then I realized that I had access to this world where I could go on auditions. And there wasn't too much of an identity crisis when I started acting professionally because I had been acting longer than I had been writing. It didn't feel new.” WorldFeelsWritingYearsPlayKidsSchoolVoiceCommunityActingToo MuchIdentityThis WorldGoes OnLessonsProgramTheaterCrisisSevenAccessI RealizedAuditionsSeven YearsConsumingIdentity CrisisTime Consuming Author:Tavi Gevinson
“I started acting when I was 13, but it really wasn't my plan. The actual decision to become an actor was when I was 17, after I didn't act for half a year because I came to an exchange student program in the US, and I realized how much I missed it.” YearsActorsDecisionActingHalfPlansStudentsProgramI RealizedHalf A Year Author:Meital Dohan
“I barely slept during high school because I was too busy dancing and acting all the time. The plan was to go to my dream college that had one of the best performing arts programs, and then go to LA to follow my dream of being an actress.” ArtDreamSchoolActingPlansCollegeHigh SchoolProgramDancingBusyActressesPerformingToo BusyPerforming Arts Author:Rachele Brooke Smith
“I went away to this summer program after my junior year of high school. They used to have this thing called the Governor's School, and they had it for different disciplines - science, math, performing arts. I auditioned and I got accepted, and it was an eight-week program away from home. I went for acting. I was 15, and I turned 16 while I was there, so that was a seminal moment for me. It made me realize the life of it, the discipline of it, and the joy of that discipline, where it was all we did.” YearsArtMadeDifferentMomentsHomeSchoolUsedJoyRealizingActingWeekDisciplineSummerHigh SchoolProgramEightMathAcceptedPerformingGovernorsJuniorsAway From HomePerforming ArtsJunior YearJunior Year Of High School Author:Zachary Quinto
“I didn't start acting until I was 27, and that was just through Gary Shandling and Ben Stiller who I knew through stand-up. And they both in the same year offered me parts on their programs which was unbelievably lucky and fortuitous.” YearsActingLuckyProgramGaryFortuitous Author:Janeane Garofalo
“I feel that if I had not had an art program in my school, I would have failed in a big way. My teachers knew I was intelligent, but they didn't quite know how I was ever going to apply that intelligence. The one or two teachers who knew me well knew that it would be through drawing or acting or whatever means of expression I was allowed.” MeanArtSchoolActingTeacherProgramIntelligent Author:David Small
“I was a creative kid; I wasn't really into sports, and sports in the South are a pretty big deal. It's like a religion down there. It was tough to find my footing, but thankfully, my parents discovered, through a neighbor, this theater called Young Actors Theater and signed me up for the summer program. It really was a gift. Even if a kid doesn't go into acting or the arts like I did, some kids need that environment to find themselves and find what they love to do. I'm so thankful for that theater; it was a big gift to me.” ArtKidsSportsParentActingCreativeEnvironmentSummerToughProgramNeighbor Author:Tony Hale