I am trained, and I did do 'The Nutcracker' in its right form, but at the time, they told me I was black and I'd never be in 'Swan Lake.' I went through all those prejudices in the ballet community, and I still emerged wonderfully trained and found m...
When you're doing a film, you're on a set and you have retakes and you have time to get it right. And on 'SNL' it's just go, go, go. If you can't read the cue cards or miss your mark, you're just left to sort of screw up. So there's a lot more pressu...
I certainly wasn't able to get it when I was a kid growing up on the Lower East Side; it was very hard at that time for me to balance what I really believed was the right way to live with the violence I saw all around me - I saw too much of it among ...
Looking back on high school, I just remember specific scenarios and thinking, wow, that was such a big deal at the time, but right now it feels like it never even happened. So I guess if I can give any advice, I would just say that everything will pa...
Yes, you have to be brave enough to take steps that your heart is telling you to take. Because when I decided to go into cricket, not one person told me I was making the right move. At that time, nobody thought the IPL would become so big. I was nerv...
I always feel trepidation at the beginning of every project. I worry about so many things. Time to get it right, the skill to do it justice, the will to finish. I also worry about more mundane things, like what if my computer crashes and I've forgott...
When an audience is affected in a way that I've seen with some people, it's so inspiring to me an actor. You know that you're on the right track and you're doing work that can affect people. When that goes hand-in-hand with important issues that we'r...
One of the hardest things for me to do is watch myself. The first time I see it, I am obsessed with my left ear or my right ear or some other physical attribute, or the fact that I'm 60 or whatever shallow ego thought is running through my head. I'm ...
If I'm saying a universal truth, but maybe it's something that people don't feel comfortable saying... It's a strange take, but at the same time, what you're hitting on is kind of right. You can relate. That's the heart of comedy. You have to have a ...
I was in Italy in 1992 working on magazine articles when I got a call from the Italian travel commission. They asked, would I mind being an escort for an older woman? I told them I don't do that kind of work, but then they said it was Julia Child, an...
It never ceases to amaze me that every second of every day, more than 6,000 billion neutrinos coming from nuclear reactions inside the sun whiz through my body, almost all of which will travel right through the earth without interruption.
Songs are my diaries; they always have been. You have to put your trust in everyone because putting down those real, personal details and thoughts that make a song authentic also opens you right up. I am constantly misunderstood; a lot of people just...
I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even - no, especially - when the truth is difficult. It's always easier, and in the short term can even feel right, to pretend everything is okay, and to encourage your children to do the same. But concea...
Daisy: I promise you, I'll never lose myself to self-pity again. Benjamin Button: [while the day begins] And I think, right there and then, she realized none of us is perfect forever.
J.F. Villefort, Chief Magistrate: Mondego's the one who pulled the trigger! He'd never confess in a million years! Count of Monte Cristo: You're right, he wouldn't... but you just have.
Lorbeer: I only give the food to the women, Mr. Black. Women make the homes, men just make wars... and hooch. Adam was God's first draft - He got it right with Eve. Tell that to your readers, Mr. Black.
Randal Graves: [to Dante] You're my best friend, and I love you... In a totally heterosexual way. Jay: [to Silent Bob] Yeah, right.
Captain Richard Phillips: Listen up, we have been boarded by armed pirates. If they find you, remember, you know this ship, they don't. Stick together and we'll be all right. Good luck.
Cat: You realize you're walking right into her trap. Coraline Jones: I have to go back. They are my parents. Cat: Challenge her, then. She may not play fair, but she won't refuse. She's got a *thing* for games.
Sam: Boss, ain't you going to bed? Rick: Not right now. Sam: Ain't you planning on going to bed in the near future? Rick: No. Sam: You ever going to bed? Rick: No! Sam: Well, I ain't sleepy either.
Captain Renault: [suspecting that Rick has the letters of transit] Rick, have you got those letters of transit? Rick: Louis, are you pro-Vichy or Free French? Captain Renault: [laughs] Serves me right for asking a direct question. The subject is clos...
