What am I going to do if I stop fighting? Study? Soccer?
I never planned to become an actor.
I was in California, and I was going to UCLA, and I knew I certainly didn't have movie star looks. I remember seeing pictures and photos of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, who were kind of average looking. I said, 'Well, that's for me, then, to go back to New York and try to be in musical comedy on Broadway.'
From minute one, I thought that after I called a game, I said 'Man, I thought I would enjoy calling a game a little more than I probably did.' I thought I would enjoy that part of it. I didn't have the fulfillment that I thought I probably would.
Sometimes I wonder why I'm a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened, and I became a writer. And now I'm a successful writer.
I don't want to sacrifice and be a backup to be a Charger. That's not something I want to do or I'm going to do.
Actually, I never work in movies for money. I'm glad when I get well-paid, but it's not always the case - trust me.
I notice that young men go to the universities in order to become doctors or philosophers or anything, so long as it is a title, and that many go in for those professions who are utterly unfit for them, while others who would be very competent are prevented by business or their daily cares, which keep them away from letters.
I was quite convinced that I didn't want to be a lawyer. But I felt that law school would be a useful way to understand public policy and to understand business in this environment.
Comedy was an easy choice for me because I didn't have a career.
I didn't grow up, really, in the film business, even though my parents are both artists. I grew up in New York City. They would never put me into acting. I just kind of wanted it, and I told them that.
Only be an actor if you can't be happy doing anything else. I don't think you should be an actor if you want to be actor. I think you should be an actor if you have to be an actor.
Economics comes easily to me, and we all seek out what we do well in life. I had in mind becoming a businessman. And I was good at logic and reasoning; figures were comfortable inside my head.
City came in strongly for me, put their cards on the table, and what I have found out since is that every game in England is a privilege - the atmosphere, the fans, the interest that surrounds it. Every time I go out on the pitch, I know I've made the right decision.
I'd just sort of gravitated toward the arts, and I had always loved music and really loved theater, even though I didn't want to act. For some reason, being in Kansas, you can either be a graphic artist or a visual artist, so I decided, 'I guess I'm going to be a painter.'
Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?
I started acting as a way to support myself.
Had I not been an actor, I would have been counting cash at my father's restaurant or supervising activities in the kitchen. I did it for a year when I was in college. I put on 10 kgs and then it hit me that I couldn't do that anymore.
I don't think the people wanna see me play Clyde Johnson the architect.
I suppose I'm an obsessive reader. If I could make a living reading the books I want to read and then telling people about them, I'd pick that over acting.
When I left university with a history degree, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I was terrified of accidentally ending up in the wrong career.
Why do I continue making movies? Making movies is better than cleaning toilets.
I never even wanted to be an actress. I studied mass communication and wanted to study law in Newcastle, for which I even got a scholarship. But by then, I had started modelling. So, I took a year off to decide what to do. But once you are used to working, it's difficult to get back to studies.
If my son wants a boxing career, I won't stop him, but I definitely won't push him. It's bad for a kid to be pressured.
I think my decision to stay at Real is looking more and more like the right one. I've never regretted coming back. I came because I trusted the team and I thought we could get better.
