“In the case of drama (stage, movies, television ), there appear to be people in almost every audience who never quite fully realize that a play is a set of fictional, symbolic representations. An actor is one who symbolizes other people, real or imagined. [...] Also some years ago it was reported that when Edward G. Robinson, who used to play gangster roles with extraordinary vividness, visited Chicago, local hoodlums would telephone him at his hotel to pay their professional respects.” PeopleYearsRealPlayUsedActorsRealizingPayRolesCasesAudienceStageTelevisionDramaYears AgoExtraordinaryLocalsHotelChicagoRepresentationTelephonesNever QuitSymbolicGangstersVividness Author:S. I. Hayakawa
“People say modernism killed poetry for them: it doesn't rhyme, it doesn't touch a popular musical oral tradition. Years ago, you memorized and read poetry; it was one of the things you were forced to learn. Now it has tiny role in school.” PeopleYearsSchoolRolesYears AgoTraditionMusicalTinyRhymeModernismPopular MusicOral Tradition Author:Campbell McGrath
“The gun-control crusade today is like the Prohibition crusade 100 years ago. It is a shared zealotry that binds the self-righteous know-it-alls in a warm fellowship of those who see themselves as fighting on the side of the angels against the forces of evil. It is a lofty role that they are not about to give up for anything so mundane as facts - or even the lives of other people.” PeopleKnowsGivingYearsSelfFactsTodayFightingEvilForceSidesRolesGiving UpGunAngelYears AgoWarmRighteousGun ControlFellowshipMundaneLoftyProhibitionLives Of OthersCrusadesSelf RighteousKnow It AllFighting OnZealotry Author:Thomas Sowell
“I think it can be hard for any man to sometimes be upstaged by his wife. So when I'm home, I work very hard to be Todd's wife and Jade's mother. I have no problem going back to those traditional roles. I try to be Giada, the young girl that he met 20 years ago and fell in love with.” ThinkingMenTryingYearsSometimesHardProblemHomeYoungMotherGirlRolesWifeMetsYears AgoTraditionalNo ProblemJade Author:Giada De Laurentiis
“Now, there are roles which are capturing a vibrant moment in an older woman's life. There was a time when those interesting roles stopped at 28. A few years ago we would have been finished by our age.” YearsHas BeensMomentsAgeInterestingRolesHistoryGenerationsYears AgoFinishedOlder Women Author:Maggie Gyllenhaal
“Playing Sheldon is just heaven for me. I realize how enormously lucky I am to play a role that makes me so incredibly happy. As I told Chuck Lorre in a Christmas card a few years ago, I'm living a version of the dream.” YearsPlayDreamHeavenRealizingRolesLuckyYears AgoVersionsCardsChuckChristmas Card Author:Jim Parsons
“Certainly there was the Affordable Care Act part, then unaccompanied children [there has been a surge of children entering the country illegally and without parents, particularly in Texas], and things like, we find smallpox in an NIH lab, after 50 years? Why didn't you find it, like, five weeks ago or three years ago? There was thing after thing. But the big ones were [dealing with] the Ebola [outbreak], the unaccompanied children. [It was] perhaps a bigger challenge than I had calculated on my yellow pad as I was thinking about this role.” ThinkingYearsChildrenHas BeensCountryBigsCareThreeParentChallengesRolesFiveWeekYears AgoBiggerTexasYellowThree YearsEnteringAffordableLabsPadsEbolaOutbreaksSmallpoxAffordable Care Act Author:Sylvia Mathews Burwell
“There is no normal. What my job was a few years ago was completely different than what it is today. As soon as I have it dialed in, the company changes and the team changes and my role changes as a result. What the company needs is always evolving, and I don't get to choose what I want to do as much as I thought I would be now - which is OK. It keeps me in this position of learning new things and keeping me humble. There is always something I don't know, and I'm comfortable with that.” KnowsWantNeedsYearsDifferentWould BeTodayJobsResultsCompanyRolesTeamPositionNormalComfortableYears AgoHumbleEvolveNew ThingsLearning NewLearning New Things Author:Sophia Amoruso
“I remember when I read Walter, for example, six years ago now, I said, "This is the role for me." I said that to my family. There was something there that I knew was absolutely right, and that was just based on the character. That's when gut instinct comes into play. I know there are certain things I won't do.” KnowsYearsSaidPlayCharacterRememberCertainRolesExampleSixYears AgoMy FamilyInstinctGutsRemember WhenGut Instinct Author:John Noble
“When I started in the business, years ago, people would always say, "You better get as much work as you can now because, once you get over 40, it's over." I don't see that with TV. Maybe it's because I am getting older, but the kinds of roles I'm drawn to are more mature roles.” PeopleYearsKindRolesTvsYears AgoMatureGet OverGetting OldGetting Older Author:Anna Silk
“Years ago I was going to play Chet Baker in another movie and I really felt drawn to that character and the script is good and I met with Robert and we seemed simpatico and we developed. But I had a real passion for that role and that brought me deep into that film 'cause I got the sense that Robert Budreau was going to really let me be creative inside this part.” YearsRealPlayCharacterFilmPassionFeltCausesRolesCreativeMetsYears AgoLet MeScriptsBe CreativeBakersChet BakerSimpatico Author:Ethan Hawke
“I've been doing it since I was prepubescent when I loved to scratch records and play good music. As it happens, you know I sort of fell into the mix. I really feel like I played a role in bringing dance music to America years ago.” KnowsFeelsYearsPlayHappensAmericaRolesRecordsYears AgoScratchesDance Music Author:A-Trak
“If someone had said to me ten years ago "Yo, we have this role of this pimp who wants to be a rapper, he lives in Memphis", I'd be like, "Really?" But then when you read it and you see it, you say "That's a great role."” IfsWantYearsSaidRolesTenYears AgoRapperPimpMemphis Author:Morris Chestnut
“I don't think there is a role that I did twenty years ago that I couldn't do better now.” ThinkingYearsRolesYears AgoTwentiesBetter Now Author:Stephen Lang
“Two hundred years ago, we were all busy farming and we all had a role to play. The home was a unit of production. We made food and all the things we needed, we took care of our kids and were connected to purpose in our evolution. When the Industrial Revolution came along, it took away a lot of the work the men had done.” MenYearsMadeTwoDonePlayHomeCareKidsPurposeRolesHe ManRevolutionEvolutionNeededHundredYears AgoBusyProductionsConnectedUnitsFarmingIndustrial Revolution Author:Peter Buffett
“You hope that the same people are coming back. I love playing with Angela [Bassett]. She's fierce. I met her years and years ago when she was a student at Yale, so to see her do these fierce roles and go on to [be] this powerhouse has just been awesome.” PeopleYearsRolesStudentsGoes OnMetsYears AgoFierceComing BackYaleAngela Author:Kathy Bates
“Everything changes with age. The parts change with age, your feelings about them change, roles that I would've wanted to play 10 years ago, I don't want to play now.” WantYearsPlayFeelingsAgeWantedRolesYears AgoThings Change Author:Al Pacino
“150 years ago in [Charles] Dickens's time there was at least a sense of craft. So some of the things people had inside of them, they had the possibility of expressing in the making of things - even in a daily way with their clothes or their food. People made a good deal of both themselves. Now our daily lives are almost all consumption. Craft plays a tiny role.” PeopleWayYearsMadePlayDealsRolesPossibilityClothesYears AgoTinyCraftsDaily LifeConsumptionDickens Author:Zadie Smith
“So when it came to role models, I looked at presidents' wives. Of course, you're talking about a farm girl who stood in the fields, dreaming, years ago, wishing she was that kind of person. But if I had been that kind of person, do you think I could sing with the emotions I do? You sing with those emotions because you've had pain in your heart.” IfsThinkingYearsHeartKindPersonsDreamPainGirlCoursesWishPresidentEmotionTalkingRolesWifeFieldsModelsYears AgoFarmsRole ModelsFarm Girl Author:Tina Turner
“My role 14 years ago in Richard III - that was the first time I played a bad guy and learned a lot about it - they have all the fun!” YearsFirstsGuyFunRolesFirst TimeYears AgoBad Guys Author:Denzel Washington