Win The Life

When you inhabit any of these three roles, you’re reacting to fear of victimhood, loss of control, or loss of purpose. You’re always looking outside yourself, to the people and circumstances of life, for a sense of safety, security, and sanity.- David Emerald

 

All of life’s experiences are teachers in some sense, challenging us to grow and evolve. Although the Persecutor certainly provokes a reaction, the Challenger elicits a response by encouraging the Creator to acquire new knowledge, skill, or insight. Both roles provoke change, but in different ways.- David Emerald

 

We thought we'd write a good script for women, giving them the fun roles that generally men get.-Andy Wachowski

 

We were using Brooke as an actress; she was playing different roles: a liberated woman, a teenager, a vamp.-Calvin Klein

 

We're always trailing, as far as the amount of roles that are written for us and the films that are being made that have black characters in them. I don't know if that's going to change.-Don Cheadle

 

Well ironically my last three roles have all been a mother. One was a Canadian film where the baby was taken away because she is a drug addict, in Irish Jam I play a mother to a four year old. I think in the future I'll be able to handle the role with a lot more depth.-Anna Friel

 

Well, all I can say is thank goodness I had 15 years of theater before ever I did film roles. You build technique that you can rely on.-Chris Cooper

 

Well, I have a couple of projects in the pipeline, but I'm taking things slow for now and being choosy about the roles I take up. One thing I can assure you of is that you are going to see a lot of me!-Natasha Henstridge

 

Well, my favorite roles so far are Lucas and Lost Boys.-Corey Haim

 

Well, no. I was getting into trouble messing around with it for roles. So one night I went home, cut it down with a pair of scissors and then got in the bath and shaved it all off. I've never looked back.-Richard O'Brien

 

What happens is things come to you - director, script - and if you respond to it, it's because it's tapping into some part of what's inside you, and different roles tap into different parts.-Sean Penn

 

Whatever is said about roles drying up, I intend to keep working. Certainly now the roles couldn't be more interesting - playing mothers, divorcees. I think it's going to be exciting to play a mother of teenagers. The longer your life, the deeper it gets.-Naomi Watts

 

When I came back to Britain, I realized that I was no longer a very young woman. I had to meet my new consciousness, my new age, with roles that reflected it somewhat.-Julie Christie

 

When I started off many years ago, I made a determination that there were certain roles I didn't want to play.-Joe Morton

 

When I was thinking of casting this, I thought, What roles would Sellers be playing now?-Stephen Hopkins

 

When my career first began, I didn't have children - so there's a whole lot of difference in the way I choose roles now. Not just films for my children, but how long I'm going to be away, and is Dad going to be home while I'm gone. That sort-of factor plays a part.-Amy Irving

 

When my friends and I would act out movies as kids, we'd play the guys' roles, since they had the most interesting things to do. Decades later, I can hardly believe my sons and daughter are seeing many of the same limited choices in current films.-Geena Davis

 

When you put a group of actors together who get along, and we have since day one, they don't become like their roles. What tends to happen is their age disappears and they all deal with each other as friends.-Stephen Collins

 

When you're a woman in your 40s, it's not the best time to do films, because there really aren't that many roles. Then you reach 50 and there are more roles again. Mother parts.-Shirley Knight

 

When younger, I was thin as a rail. As I've grown older, I've put on weight. I have continued to love myself in all those roles. Part of my spirituality, I always tell people, is to accept yourself for who you -are.Troy Perry

 

With our Reserve and Guard units playing increasingly important roles in the war on terror and in Iraq, it is unacceptable to make them jump through any unnecessary hurdles.-Pat Roberts

 

Women are responsible for creating their own roles.-Kathleen Turner

 

So, if you're doing good longform with talented people than you can step out and you can be the president or a construction worker and people accept that. It's really the roles you give yourself.-Amy Poehler

 

Some of the best roles are for women in these independent, smaller movies.-Kyra Sedgwick

 

Some of the supporting roles that I've done as an actor, I took them because I knew that I would get to watch some of the leading guys in the movies, and also I'd get to work with them.-Thomas Jane

 

Thank goodness I started getting movie roles and then television shows came along. So I was very fortunate to be able to do all three and I like all of them.-Victor Garber

 

That's double-edged: it's amazing that they're bringing me in and showing people new ideas, and at the same time it's a little hard because seventy percent of the time or even higher I'm not going to get those roles.-Rachel True

 

That's one of the lucky things about getting the success later on. I know how I want to dress, I know what kind of house I want to live in, I just know more about myself, and that's true about the roles I want to play and what parts of myself I want to express. You're just more in touch with yourself.-Naomi Watts

 

That's the great thing about being an actor, you get to try out lots of things for your roles.-Bruce Boxleitner

 

That's the thing with sci-fi and action roles. You have to play the danger as real. If you don't, you end up with egg on your face. You have to commit. You can't think about how stupid it might look without the special effects.-Victoria Pratt

 

The best roles have risks... and those are the parts I'm interested in.-Brendan Fehr

 

The best roles you have to fight for. You have to really want to do it and you have to go after it.-Cillian Murphy

 

The girl-next-door image is a sort of joke; for years, I couldn't get any roles other than as somebody dark.-Felicity Kendal

 

The great actresses and actors receive awards for great roles in great films.-Gloria Stuart

 

The greatest impediments to changes in our traditional roles seem to lie not in the visible world of conscious intent, but in the murky realm of the unconscious mind.-Augustus Y. Napier

 

The number of Latino roles is very limited, and it's unfortunate there isn't more color-blind casting.-Jai Rodriguez

 

The progression of roles you take strings together a portrait of an actor, but it's a completely random process.-Meryl Streep

 

The role of Rimbaud is one of the most important roles to play for a young actor.-Leonardo DiCaprio

 

The roles for South Asians may have increased by a decent number but there has been a negligible change in the quality of these roles. We still have to fight stereotypes. Fortunately, I've had the priviledge of working with people who look beyond the color of your skin.-Lavrenti Lopes

 

The roles for women in theatre are much better than they are in film.-Kim Cattrall

 

The scenes in the show were filmed with a crew of really excellent stunt jumpers, but we had the feel of the parachutes, so we could be more realistic in the roles.-Ken Curtis

 

The truth is, after Boys Don't Cry, I realized how few and far between the great roles are. I am beyond thankful for finding Million Dollar Baby.-Hilary Swank

 

It took several years of hard work in small roles before I attained stardom.-Bela Lugosi

 

It wasn't my intention in going after this part but I suppose now I do. The adult roles are a lot meatier - you're not always just the daughter or the girlfriend or whatever.-Emmy Rossum

 

It would be naive to imagine we have solved all our income security problems simply because the roles of the federal and provincial governments in the area of skills training have been clarified.-Kim Campbell

 

It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along. That's partly because I found myself getting typecast, as everyone does unless they pursue roles that are very different from what they've done before.-Christian Bale

 

It's also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I'm not the only actress out there, and good parts just don't fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I've made recently and so I'm pretty positive about the future.-Winona Ryder

 

It's fun playing two roles. The roles provide a wonderful range of emotions. Stuart is childlike and sensitive. Adam is ruthless, outrageous. He's flamboyant. He does the unexpected.-David Canary

 

It's interesting going between small parts and then bigger roles where you carry the film. If the writing is good, and if the people involved have integrity, then you'll do it, even if it's only five minutes on screen.-Brendan Gleeson

 

It's much easier to play supporting roles because that's what I do in my life: I support my son.-Frances McDormand

 

It's not fair that there aren't very many juicy or varied roles for women.-Rosanna Arquette

 

It's still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women.-Susan Sarandon

 

It's upsetting that it is such a big deal. I wish it weren't an issue all the time. It's funny that people say it's a departure, because I've been acting since I was a child. I've played three gay roles out of hundreds.-Randy Harrison

 

Knowing that Gene and Morgan were playing those roles made it much easier to put the script together-we knew who we were writing it for. It took some mystery away.-Stephen Hopkins

 

Men and women have roles - their roles are different, but their rights are equal.-Harri Holkeri

 

Mike gets to play four roles this time, if we ever did it again, he will play my role as well. He is a comic genius, everyone wants to be in this movie, let's hope that everyone will wish to see it as well.-Michael York

 

Most good roles are written for young men. We are fixated on youth. So however much people say there is nothing wrong with being bald, the reality is once the hair is gone, you might not get the parts.-Ian Hart

 

Movies are nice, but there are very few roles for women and most of them are sluts or something.-Victoria Jackson

 

My favorite roles usually have to do with the story, if it's a good story I usually enjoy doing the character.-Beau Bridges

 

My first four roles were all nice guys, Raggedy Man being one of them.-Eric Roberts

 

My goal is to just keep playing roles that are different from the roles I've played before.-Alicia Witt

 

My main aim has always been to do good quality films with roles that have some substance. With Power and Beauty there were loads of things that I liked about the movie, which made me opt for it.-Natasha Henstridge

 

I'll ask you if you can play some speaking roles.-Donald Wolfit

 

I'm always glad to be offered roles, but wouldn't take any role as this could do you more harm than good, but I've been at what they call 'on the top' as far as being known for twenty years.-Peter Cushing

 

I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.-Rose Byrne

 

I'm attracted to roles where I don't have to wear makeup.-Robin Tunney

 

I'm basically a movie actor now, and my big roles are mostly horror movies - unless I'm doing a guest star or something - and occasionally I try to get back into television.-Robert Englund

 

I'm getting a lot of roles as women who are very powerful. I think that's a reflection of me as a person.-Melinda Clarke

 

I'm just a pack mule. I've played leads and I've played character roles. Any actress in Hollywood will tell you as your age climbs, the leads thin.-Marcia Gay Harden

 

I'm less interested in slasher, and go more for roles that can affect you on a personal level. I'm interested in human empathy in the movies I see, and in the ones I am a part of.-Joshua Leonard

 

I'm not going to change the world overnight. It's one person at a time, and hopefully they're people in positions of power who can help people get in those roles and really, truly embrace colorblind casting.-Gabrielle Union

 

I'm not in the business of becoming famous. And that's the advice I give to younger aspiring actors. Work onstage and do the little roles. In the end it's not important to be seen. It's important to do. There's a lot of disappointment in this business, but my family keeps me grounded.-Kristen Bell

 

I'm not intimidated by lead roles. I'm better in them. I don't feel pressure. I feel released at times like that. That's what I'm born to do.-Morgan Freeman

 

I'm not sure that you can say definitively that some roles are better filled by consultants, but I would say that some projects are better handled by consultants.-Jesse James Garrett

 

I'm playing one of the principal roles, which gives you more clout and more confidence.-Charles Dance

 

I'm proud of my background, so I hope there will be more roles where Hispanics are being portrayed.-Mario Lopez

 

I'm so sick of hearing how there's no strong roles for women. I don't care about strong roles. I just want to see women who are characters! A nun, a serial killer, a housewife, as long as there's some depth there.-Martha Plimpton

 

I'm trying to mix the cool, independent stuff with the big stuff, but it's been difficult finding the right roles. It's been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned.-Orlando Bloom

 

I'm vain enough to want do a movie again, but right now more roles are the last thing on my list.-Gwen Stefani

 

I'm very much looking forward to my 30-40 years of acting, and, as I get older, I'm really looking forward to some of the roles that are out there to play.-Corbin Bernsen

 

I've always been into films. I've been offered lots of films but they've always been these very stereotypical roles. They wanted me to play some gangster or street guy, or pimp, drug addict.-Lenny Kravitz

 

I've always chosen incredibly different roles and things that are quite offbeat. That way you're not limited.-Anna Friel