Zitat des Tages von Robert Picardo:
We were second-generation immigrants, and it was luxury enough to go to college. The luxury of the arts was still a generation away.
What's wonderful about 'Star Trek' having been rebooted so successfully by the J. J. Abrams movie franchise is that - the corollary effect is that it creates a new generation of fans, and they're interested in all of it. They don't just sit around and wait for the next movie to come out; they'll go back and re-examine episodes.
I didn't realize it at first, but the Doctor is in the same spirit as those natural 'outsider' characters 'Star Trek' series have, like Spock and Data.
I have played some wonderful leading roles on stage and had the whole 'China Beach' years where I really played a leading man on that. That was a fun change for a character actor. But I'm perfectly happy going back to building my gallery of memorable character roles.
I'm not a futurist, and my taste in science fiction was sort of in the gothic horror vein, not space movies and futuristic stuff.
I can walk down the street, and 85 percent of the people on the block are really quite oblivious to me. They either think I'm probably an actor or else I installed their storm windows two years ago, or I work at their bank, or maybe I'm their cousin Marie's gynecologist. Then, to the other 15 percent of those people on the street, I'm a rock star.
I'm not really shy.
I could not play a straight-ahead courageous hero. It's not what I do.
It's nice to have a signature role.
For me, the ideal job as an actor would be something that is intrinsically a drama but to which I could bring in as much humor as possible.
Doing 'Star Trek,' I got to learn about it from the inside out. I got to learn what appealed to them, why sci-fi meant so much to people, why 'Star Trek' meant so much to people.
No one likes to think of themselves as a one-trick pony as an actor, but on the other hand, it's nice to be part of something that has an international popularity, that is seen literally everywhere in the world and stays in the marketplace forever.
After 'Star Trek,' I was the commander on 'Stargate Atlantis,' the final season, and once my character had become a good commander, I was sorry that the show didn't last beyond that.
Science fiction's been good to me. The fans are the most loyal fans in the world.
Even though my face has gotten more familiar with doing 'China Beach' and 'The Wonder Years,' I'm the kind of actor that people thought, 'Gee, that guy looks familiar. He must have put my storm windows in. He works at my bank or something.'
Sometimes I have little movies that I've made that I wish would be seen by a larger audience. I have a horror movie called 'Sensored' which I'm very creepy and disgusting in, and then I have a family drama called 'The Legends of Nethiah' which has a science-fiction B-story.
Yuri's Night is a world celebration for everyone who's interested in a human presence in space - without concern for politics, the Cold War, countries that do and don't have space programs.
I'll never forget my first moment of looking out on a convention audience with my mouth open like they were kidding me.
I was part of the generation that was supposed to become doctors.
I like some science in my science fiction.
I've always had a particular affinity for father-son dramas.
When an actor gets a role, especially in series television where he really is the part, the audience never thinks of another actor playing that role. If they accept you in the role, then they can't separate the actor from the character.
People admire a screen actor if they have theatre skills, but it's looked down upon by the industry as being not a 'real job,' in the way it isn't in New York or the U.K.
It was hard to make a living as an actor in New York if you did not do soap operas or commercials.
I love to play humorous moments in dramatic shows. That's always the most fun: to keep the logic of the character in a show that's basically action-adventure and then play the comedy moments.
No one can replace Amanda Tapping.
I went to the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, where I had a teacher really named Edward Shakespeare. He was a very influential figure in my childhood - I acted in high school a few times, but Mr. Shakespeare got me to lead in 'The Crucible.' I played John Proctor.
If you're looking at my other major science fiction roles - the Doctor on 'Star Trek' and certainly Woolsey on 'Stargate' - I often play characters that might be good theorists and good thinkers, but you wouldn't call either of them very macho characters.
So many articles said, ''China Beach' is uncancellable,' but when they dragged it on, I started to have doubts.
Nobody wants to play - I've talked to Brent Spiner about this. You don't want to play a character indefinitely who's not supposed to age.