James Purefoy Quotes

I had been playing really interesting roles before I got great roles. Little ones - 'The Crying Game' I loved working on, and then 'Bird,' 'Ghost Dog,' so many films.

I want to play real characters rather than young leads in very plotty things. I want variety.

As an actor, you most often play relatively average parts, so to get to play extreme versions of anything, those are the most exciting parts.

I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress.

I think any actor hopes to have variety and range in what they do. Everybody has a certain range, so you take on roles to expand that the best you can... See things a little differently and whatnot.

I've been really fortunate in the fact that I've gotten a chance to do a real wide range of all different kinds of characters.

I never think about the next movie. I always think about the situation I'm in now, but you do think about an arc someone can go. I love Johnny Depp, I love 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' but I never wanted to play the same character over and over again.

As an actor, you get hired to repeat yourself. It wears you out.

One of the great things about being an actor is that you have a completely different challenge every few months.

The thing about being an actor is that as we get older, there are more and more characters to explore and, in general, they get more complicated, so you get to bring all your crazy life experience to the table.

I like playing the contrasting roles. It what inspires me to act. If I look back on my career I am happy that I have gotten to play a wide variety of different roles, from Mike Dexter, to Van Ray in Fast Lane, to Dr. Cullen to Coop.

After 30 years in the theater, I'm used to having a great amount of control over what I do. But with '24', you place your character's life in the writers' hands, and you have no idea what's going to happen until you're sent the next pages.

Being a regular in a television series, for me - if I wanted to be a cop, I woulda went to cop school. If I wanted to be a doctor, I would've gone to medical school. You get trapped in your normal episodic television shows, basically doing the same thing.

You want to play another kind of character in another genre, and it's been something I've been trying to do if I can in the career so far, and it's something I hope to continue because it's interesting to me and you get to do different things as an actor.

If there's ever going to be a challenge for an actor, it's that character who's often evolving - which is not often the case in television.

I have been fortunate to experience a wide range of characters. What more can an actor ask for?

Most of the time, actors respond to the thing that's so far from who they are. We all want to play the serial killer and the ex-con.

My dream as an actor growing up was always to challenge myself to different genres, different roles, and it's actually rare that an actor's given that opportunity to do that.

For me, the performance was always playing different people. And so when I got older, was no longer the romantic leading movie star, it became more and more interesting for me, the characters I played, you know?

I'd love to do another television series. I really love the writing process, and as an actor I really like how much you get to examine in television.

After 'Prom Night' I did two movies where I was playing a prostitute. I gravitate towards characters that have some sort of inner turmoil or some sort of character arc. That's the great thing about acting, so many different things and being really diverse in your choices.

I try to do different things. My main goal is to choose roles where I won't repeat myself or where I will not be doing the same role over and over. I try to do a villain, the best friend to the lead, and then a lead. I try to vary it up because if I don't, I will get bored.

For me, as an actor, just to keep acting and to keep being able to work and to do different roles and challenging roles, that's something I'd love to do.

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

I don't want to only play the leading man for the rest of my career.