Roland Emmerich Quotes

To some degree, Hollywood doesn't know what to do with me because the characters I do are so different. But hopefully, that will give me longevity.

I did grow up in Los Angeles. I actually didn't start acting until I was sixteen, so I was very removed from the Hollywood scene. I had always been in my school plays, but my mom and dad wanted to keep me out of the business until I was old enough to know who I was and not let anyone change me.

The heat around young actors burns out. Natural ability and magnetism only get you so far. The rest is hard work.

There is a whole bunch of great British actors of my age who aren't film stars or theatre actors; they're very much both.

There are certain actors you watch in a movie, and you think, 'Wow, that guy is very skilled.'

I'll never be the biggest kind of star; I'll be like Bob Duvall, respected as an actor but a lot of people can't identify the face. I don't have the personality of a big star, or the looks of a Mel Gibson or a Paul Newman, or the style of a George C. Scott.

Most child actors go through that. Unless you can transition into an adult star, your career is over.

I knew it was time to get off of reality TV when someone asked me if I sang as well as acted.

The hardest thing in acting is going from child actor to adult actor. It's taken me a long time.

I don't see myself as having to compete with younger actresses; I don't feel that.

Part of the reason why so many actors lose the plot when they go over to America is that they become part of an industry, so that's why they don't want to play weak, bad or vulnerable guys - because that's not sellable; that diminishes their profit margin.

If you build a career on being a beautiful young woman, that's going to be a short career. I have to establish I can act. I don't want to have to visit the plastic surgeon every two years.

I hate the stereotype of the pitfalls of the child actor. There are so many amazing examples - Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore - of people who have made it through.

I was an actor before becoming a comedian.

My main worry is that after a certain point you become so identified with a character and a series that you might not be able to get work when your show goes off the air.

If I were an actress today at the age of 18, I would never make it, because now our young actresses all seem to be very beautiful and very talented right away.

That transition from child to adult actor is so incredibly elusive. The roles that were coming to me as a young adult were not that great, but I was taking them anyway to pay the rent. And the more bad roles in bad movies I took, the less anybody wanted me for a good role in a good movie.

I've been fortunate. I don't pick scripts. Scripts pick me.

As an actor, and as you get to a certain level... and it's pilot season and you read the trades, you could have a nervous breakdown. 'So-and-so's signed for a pilot. Why aren't I?'

At the end of the day, I'm an actor. I'm not here to sell other stuff or use off-screen things to generate whether or not I work. If I'm any good, I'll work; if I'm not, I won't.

I don't see myself acting for the rest of my life.

Navigating the transition from child actor to an adult actor isn't easy.

I left 'L.A. Law' after five years when my contract was up because I felt I had done all I could do with the character. I didn't walk off the show with a three-picture deal to pursue this wonderful film career.

I'm certainly not going to play any of Matt Damon's roles in the future. But he will eventually grow into mine, since he'll be around for a long time.

I've been a fan of Wendell Pierce for a very long time. He was in one of my early movies and he brings such a level of heart and humanity to his roles.