Jeremy Piven Quotes

There is probably some great acting that goes on in movies from people who have never been on a stage, but if you are in for the long haul, you'd be missing an enormous part of what being an actor is if you're not part of theater.

I started in community theater at 7 years old. I loved being on stage and performing. At the time, I didn't correlate that the stuff I was doing on stage was the same thing that I was watching in my favorite films.

I studied movies for many years, but I am professionally an actor because I, my background is actually a stage actor and acting.

I came from a theater background and always wanted to act.

I think in any form of acting, you're always well served if you've done theater.

I have a background in theater. At the time I read 'The Loved Ones' script, I was playing Catherine the Great of Russia onstage. Straight after that, I played Stella in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Isabella in 'Measure for Measure.'

I had always wanted to be an actress. I went to summer theater camp from kindergarten on up until high school, and always had the leads in all the plays - even though they were at the YMCA - but it was something I always wanted to do.

I'm a stage actor. You know, I was - I cut my teeth on stage, you know. So I've always had a love affair with the stage, first off, what I was raised in, you know.

My first acting class was taught by a little known playwright, David Mamet, who then cast me in my first play, opposite John Malkovich.

When I lived in Ojai, I did community theater, and I was intrigued by acting.

A career in film didn't seem like something I could attain. Whereas I grew up next to New York City, and I spent my life going into New York City seeing plays, and I was a theater actor in school. Acting on the stage felt really natural to me, and I liked it, and I wasn't terrible at it.

I certainly did plays in high school and community theater, and I want to get back on the stage.

I don't think it was a surprise that I ended up as an actor, and it was anything but a disappointment.

I don't feel like I properly started acting until I did my first play, 'Tusk, Tusk.'

When I moved to New York out of college, that was my goal. To be a stage actress. And to do dramatic works. Like 'Madea', and 'Night, Mother', and 'Sam Shepard', and all that kind of stuff. That's what I really wanted to do.

My introduction to acting was through theatre, so I actually saw a couple of Broadway shows that made me want to be an actor.

I got into acting my junior year of high school. We got a new hot drama teacher and I was like 'Alright, I'll try drama.'

I first wanted to be an actress after seeing a play - not a movie.

I would absolutely recommend for actors to start in the theater because it establishes a foundation in your craft that you can build off of.

When I started acting, my whole focus and intention was to work as a stage actor in a company where you're asked to different roles - do a comedy, do a tragedy, etc. I haven't had any reservations about jumping from one type of genre to another.

I was an actor for over a year before I ever saw a play.

I wouldn't be the same actor if I couldn't do theater.

I think by eighth grade I knew I wanted to be an actor. I'd done church plays and stuff, but my first actual acting class was in eighth grade. I was obsessed with it.

Coming from theater, and having been to acting school, and done little, small Australian independent movies, a lot of the time, it's always about character.

Movies are this thing that came into my life, and it still feels pretend in some way. I kind of do this thing, and I never really accepted this idea that I'm a film actor. That's what I do. I feel like I'm a theater actor that started doing films. Most people have never seen me in a play. They're fun, though.