Sometimes you take a job for the money, sometimes you take it for the location, sometimes you take it for the script; there are just a number of reasons, and ultimately what you see is the whole landscape of it. But I can tell you from behind the scenes - that's what it is, as an actor.
I think there's a misconception, often times, I think society portrays truckers as people who can't get a better job or maybe uneducated, and I think that's a really unfair assessment.
You want to know what four words I probably hate the most? 'That's not my job.'
An interesting insight into the ruthlessness of studio executives: I was having a conversation with Alex Gansa, a creator of 'Homeland,' and I said, 'So you guys must have seen 'Life' and liked me in it, right? That's the most recent thing I've done over here.' And he went, 'No, Damian. You actually nearly didn't get the job because of 'Life.'
I used to be a calligrapher for weddings and events - that was my side job while I was auditioning. I think handwritten notes are a lost art form. When I booked my first pilot, my dad wrote me a letter that I still have. The idea of someone taking the time to put pen to paper is really special.
I just stick to my job, which is acting. Things like posters, publicity material, and promotions are entirely the film-maker's prerogative. I don't get into all of that.
It's our job - as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles - to find books our kids are going to like.
My faith and my identity as a Muslim - I never saw it as something that made my job harder. It's just an aspect of who I am.
That aesthetic of the Star Wars universe: the do-it-yourself, hotrod ethic that George Lucas exported from his childhood, is exactly the same kind of soul behind what we do and build for the show. It may not look pretty, but it gets the job done.
Part of your job as an artist is to push yourself and make sure your creative juices are flowing.
Every job that you take, the term that you should always include is, 'How can I be involved in the strategic projects that are critical to the future of the company?' You ask that question. It's a great 'how' question.
In my first few years as an actor, I took one terrible TV job after another. But even as I laughed off my awful roles and made fun of myself to friends, my work made me cringe - I dreaded anyone's seeing it. I was crushed that I wasn't doing anything I was proud of.
Matt Ryan does a great job of throwing the ball. No quarterback within the 20 to 25 yard range is throwing the ball any better than Matt Ryan.
Most of the time, I don't even watch what I do on TV. I go in, get the job done, and just know it's nothing. It's a job. Sometimes, I try something different, and I'll watch out of curiosity. Generally, I don't watch too much of what I do. Movies are basically the same, except it's more money spent on sets.
My dream job has always been to be a ski racer.
In 2007, I went to work in Beverly Hills as an intern at The Collective, a talent management agency. I'd been scouted for the job because of a blog I'd started in college and because the blogger-turned-author I worked for, Tucker Max, was producing a project with the company.
An enormous number of mothers in the U.S. are working double time, graveyard shifts, and more than one job just to put food on the table for their kids.
We need to make sure we do more job retraining, and that's why we're working to have a 5-million-apprenticeship dream.
Before I accept a job, I always talk to folks about it. 'Why does he kill these 22 people?' If they say, 'What difference does it make?' I know we have nothing more to talk about. A character has to be three-dimensional.
There's no doubt that 'Lion' is an audience pleaser. I mean, I went to a lot of research screenings all over, in London and America and Australia, and the results were ridiculous, and the crowds were... they just loved the movie, so for me, my job is done.
The minimum wage is not something that you want to stay on as a permanent basis. For example, if you have a minimum wage job, you don't stay there 20 or 30 years. You don't put your children through college working on minimum wage.
Sometimes you feel uncomfortable taking a photograph, but that's all part of the job.
Making movies is a dangerous job. Because you are always the one who stands at the center of the universe when making movies.
When I received my first paycheck from my now known day job, I spent it on a period Craftsman chair and a Frank Lloyd Wright-wannabe lamp. With my second paycheck, I bought a stereo.
I got the wake-up call that no one is policing our oceans. I wondered, how can I do anything? What really can I do to make things better? There are some perks to being a celebrity. My job is to be funny once in a while, but it's my responsibility to make good use of it.
I like the minute when I can get off the stage and go home, and I know I've done a good job.
You eventually have to figure out how to balance the books. So that's the reason I gave up my day job to come do this was to go fight to create the space where spending matches America's capacity to tax, and that means economic growth and a smaller, humbler federal government.
I didn't want wrestling anymore; I wanted to not want it. But I couldn't get a job anywhere, which was part of the reason I was homeless. I couldn't get a job pumping gas. I couldn't get a job working at a warehouse, I couldn't get a job at Baskin Robbins, I couldn't get a job anywhere.
It's a rare thing when you read a role and have this immediate ownership over it, you have this take and this connection, and it's not even that you feel that you're gonna do a good job, it's that you feel like you've found it. It fits, it's natural; it's like putting on a good shoe or something.
It's not their job from the establishment-through-calcification to sit there and try to withhold the president, to rein him in or slow down his agenda.
I'm trying to keep my days very efficient, and I keep my set really tight. Every single corner is active, and everybody gets to thrive in the job that they do. I don't waste people's time.
When I first met my husband, he had a very good job - company car, pension plan, grudging respect from his staff - the lot. I, on the other hand, was badly paid and devoid of ambition. Then I had a couple of books published and confounded all expectations by starting to earn more than he did.
I had best friends who were in the industry, and I'm like, it's cool if you get a job, and I'm happy.
For me, I never take a job thinking it's going to grab ratings or that it's even going to be a success. I don't. I just take the job because I love the character. Or I love the script. Maybe I love the director. But whatever I do, I never think about how it will do. That is not in my hands.
'Harry Brown' is good - and I love 'The Italian Job.'
'Job Killer.' Those are the two words you are most likely to hear uttered by most American CEOs when confronted with proposals to enact family-friendly work policies.
