Every job I've done so far, every character has been completely different, and that's really important to me because I don't want to fall into a stereotypical box. Of course, every actor has their box, and you have to respect and play for it, but I do love challenging myself.
It's not fun to see myself in the mirror.
I am pretty happy with myself. I am not saying I am flawless, but I am content with the way I am.
I love when stories have something a little magical in them, and there's wonder and curiosity. Somewhere there are people living these improbable stories, and our job is to go out and find them and bring them to the page. And so, the more surprising, the more uplifting, the more sort of even inspiring a story is, I find myself gripped by those.
I wanted to be an Ailey dancer. I would watch Alvin Ailey videos over and over, and I'd picture myself doing that. I was obsessed with it.
When I'm on an adult set and I'm in a scene, I am myself. I'm not acting. I am playing to the camera, definitely, but I am myself.
Yes, I would loved to have just sustained myself through my art, but less than one in a billion musicians gets that life. So rather than being like, 'I'm an exception!', like a moron, I thought I'd get a real job.
When I was a model, I started with an opinion, but was encouraged to lose it. It began as play-acting, but then I lost sight of myself a bit: so when I did the audition for 'Popworld' and they asked my opinion, I felt like crying with happiness.
I think of myself as an Olympian. I have had a dream since I was a very small child. And because I have parents without whom I couldn't have realised that dream.
As a matter of fact, I rarely ever play myself.
When Juan Antonio Samaranch said the Olympics are more important than the Catholic Church, I just couldn't believe it. I said to myself, 'Don't let your expression show that he has just made a total ass of himself. Be cool, and just keep right on talking.'
I had a desire to prove to myself that I was actually in control - that I wasn't a puppet.
I wouldn't want to even try to begin to describe our customer, as I think she likes a certain amount of anonymity. I try to offer clothes that allow that. I myself do not like being defined so readily, so I imagine that she is similar?
One of the first things that I did was, I got myself a publicist as soon as 'Maria Full of Grace' premiered in July, so that I could go and meet people that I wanted to meet: the writers and the directors and the people that are doing things.
My parents instilled something greater than myself. They instilled faith in me.
The thing I like about singing duets is that I get things out of my voice I never get singing by myself.
Very often, I recognize many, many defects, so I try to improve myself every day. I think my voice is very communicative.
I don't really try to get involved politically by giving money to politicians or by saying I'm a Democrat or Republican. Right now, I just view myself as an American.
Mostly I have to try to censor myself so as not to write things that will hurt other people, or that will go too far.
I see myself as British, and I want to be celebrated by Britain.
I was always incredibly driven and found it impossible to relax. I felt that if I slacked off for a minute to enjoy myself, then so many things would be missed.
I do not think I could myself be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.
I bought myself a DVD set of 'Lost' and only allowed myself to watch it while I was strength training. Sometimes I'd exercise longer than I intended to because I didn't want to turn it off. Talk about positive reinforcement!
I was told I wasn't black enough for certain jobs because of the way I speak and carry myself and because I was raised in Europe. It's why I left L.A.
On overnight flights, I have trained myself to get to sleep almost instantly after takeoff. I always listen to the same audiobook on my iPod so my brain knows, regardless of time zone, that that voice means it's time for bed.
Dyeing my hair has become a kind of addiction. I can't see myself as anything other than blond. Once you go blond, you stay blond forever.
It's strange: I've done so many things up until I did 'Obvious Child,' including writing children's books and making 'Marcel the Shell.' To me, the through-line is incredibly clear: it all comes from wanting to be connected to my own inner voice and not wanting to be on somebody else's agenda if that means that I can't be myself.
I myself have been a major beneficiary of the view that no animal will more repay treatment that is kind and fair.
I overthink everything. I'm just like, 'Wait, why do they want to hear me?' I start doubting myself. Other times, I'll just get so emotional during a song. Sometimes I'll cry while I'm singing. It's so weird. I'm such a baby.
I never thought of myself as like, a funny person.
When I set out to become an actor, I had set myself a standard.
I have written some poetry and two prose books about baseball, but if I had been a rich man, I probably would not have written many of the magazine essays that I have had to do. But, needing to write magazine essays to support myself, I looked to things that I cared about and wanted to write about, and certainly baseball was one of them.
It's not the moment yet for me to enjoy my time as an actor, and as the time goes by, I feel that I need to push myself harder to pay back for all the good fortune that I have received.
I disoriented myself from everything about being a human being and just played and played and played and sang and sang and sang.
I always prided myself on at least trying to be literate and use the right words, and if the audience didn't get it, then they could go home and look it up.
I have programmed myself to be at least 105 years old.
