Jonah Hill Quotes

Once I won the roles in 'Spender' and 'First Knight' it was much easier for everyone, me included, to get their heads around the idea of me being an actor.

It's not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I'm no longer the underdog in that world.

I have to make my bones with Hollywood to get in. And when I do maybe I'll metamorphose from Mr. Muscles or whatever it is I am now and become an irascible tosser.

I started in TV movies and then had success in my move to features with 'Night Shift' and 'Splash'.

Everything for me has happened so quickly. I finished shooting 'The Blind Side' not this past June, but the June before, and all of sudden up to now, it seems like it's gone from zero to 60 for me. I feel so fortunate to be able to say that.

I started in movies in 1963, and the first big one was 'Rosemary's Baby' in 1967. While you don't notice it right away, it finally dawns on you that 80% of the time, you're doing nothing.

I've done a number of projects where people go, 'This is your breakthrough role,' so I've stopped thinking that.

Soaps are a great springboard for any actor but if you want to be taken seriously, you have to be careful.

Because, let's face it, I do not get offered the parts that Brad Pitt has just turned down.

I did work a lot in Scots theatre, but I was never really successful in Scottish film or TV until I went down to London - and I had to go to the U.S. to get my big break.

Inside every TV star is a movie star screaming to get out, and Donna Frenzel, with whom I'm guessing you're not instantly familiar, made George Clooney a movie star once and for all in the first ten minutes of his fifth feature, 1998's 'Out of Sight.'

I did seven indies because the independent market used to be a lot better before all the stars were doing independents. As a beginning actor, that's where you started.

After I made my hit in 'Salome,' Universal sent me to New York so I could learn to be a proper movie star.

I try to stay consciously away from the roles of the girl who throws herself at the leading man, because I've done it a lot and I want to move on. I ticked that box.

For awhile, I got stupid about only wanting a leading-man role, but I have no illusions. I know I'm not Brad Pitt.

'One Tree Hill' will always be very, very special to me. It was my first television show. And my first gig in the business. It was surreal. I booked the role when I was 13. I had just started high school, and literally, I think, a week into high school, I found out I got the role. It was unimaginable! I learned so much from that show.

Now that I've established myself in a drama, I'm plugging away, trying to get the attention of people who do the independent movies and the features.

I had left school at 16, gone to stage school - and, until I was 22, I hadn't really played anyone but myself. Then in 1979, I made a film with Mike Leigh called 'Grownups,' which went out on the BBC, and overnight this new career opened up.

Once I started doing stand-up, everything fell into place. That was when I started acting more; I felt like I'd found my place in the business.

If you look at a lot of people's careers, the first couple of movies, usually, are the most embarrassing.

'Wolf of Wall Street' opened up a lot of doors for me. It was such a massive opportunity, which provided me with only more opportunities.

But obviously you don't want to just be the guy who comes in and sort of spices up every movie. So yeah, definitely moving into more of a leading man role would be great, but on my own terms.

For me, personally, I'm a 5'5" leading man. I'm no Brad Pitt or anything.

There's no slow build anymore where you get a little part, then you get a little better part, then a better part, until one day your agent calls you us and says, 'guess what, you're a movie star,' and you say, 'Thank you!'

The joy of 'Crash' was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. 'Crash' was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.