Brent Spiner
Radical surgery is never fun.
I don't read Science Fiction.
I don't read fiction at all.
I'm an avid biography reader.
Having spent so much time in a fictional world, I prefer to read about the real world.
If I'm not mistaken, I think Data was the comic relief on the show.
Yes, Data is hairless but I am not. And we are both anatomically correct.
My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.
People think that being on Star Trek is career suicide, but it's really just the opposite.
And, you know, when you are a kid, everybody wants to be an actor. I think that everybody wants to be in show business, frankly.
If you look around at the people in show business today they are basically the people who didn't give up.
I think it's the business part of the word show business that causes me the most concern.
There is no question that everybody who works in show business is lucky because of the number of people who wish they where working in show business.
Acting is acting.
I think he is an extremely accessible character. In Data there is no potential for cruelty.
I think the potential for man is so enormous, if we can stay alive long enough, we're going to be seeing a lot of what Star Trek is projecting.
And I think it's likely that there will be Data's out there one day. I hope so, if there are, that they all look exactly like me!
Voice acting is about the easiest thing to do. You roll out of bed, throw your clothes on that you had on the night before, you go into the studio, and nobody cares, just as long as you can speak.Collection: Night
Initially I objected to the Data makeup. I said, "Why do I need this makeup? Why can't I just look like me?" In fact, I said to Gene Roddenberry, "Don't you think that by this time in history, they would've figured out how to make skin look like skin?" And he said, "What makes you think that what you have isn't better than skin?" And I went, "Um, okay."Collection: Makeup
Of course, when you see [ musical numbers] in the movie [Out To Sea ], it's cut into a lot with other scenes, but we shot the number straight through, so here I am doing it, and sitting right in front of me in the audience was Donald O'Connor. And I was, like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm performing a musical number in front of Donald O'Connor," who's one of the greats of the silver screen. But it was a thrilling experience, it really was.Collection: Believe
I try not to make plans. Because, even the best laid plans etc. etc.Collection: Trying
And the basic sort of thrust of Star Trek being about equality and tolerance and things I believe in deeply.Collection: Stars
I think everyone agrees First Contact was our best film, and even at that, they're kind of... I don't know, they're sort of movies. But they're kind of really Star Trek movies, if you take my meaning. It's hard for me to say. I was glad to be doing them. Whether they were good isn't really up to me to determine, and it doesn't matter what I think. I thought we had a really nice script on Nemesis, and the audience didn't seem to care for it, so what can you do?Collection: Stars
We were kind of never one of CBS favorites [with Threshold], even though we'd gotten really good reviews for the pilot. We were on at, what was it, 10 o'clock on a Friday night? That's kind of where you bury a show if you don't want it to last. But, wow, what a cast, huh? You could never get that cast together again.Collection: Friday
John Logan was kind of wrapping up - "Well, thanks for coming in..." - and I thought, "Oh, God, this is over and I'm out of here, and I really don't want to leave."So I said, "Can I ask you a question?" He said, "Sure." "What movie do you think you've seen more than any other movie?" And he said, "Wow, let me think about that. I guess probably The Searchers." And I said, "Well, oddly, that's the movie I've seen more than any other movie." And I wasn't just BS-ing. It's true. It's my favorite movie.Collection: Thinking
It wasn't exactly a cattle call. I had an agent, and they were seeing people for the parts, so my agent said, "Here's the script, see if there's anything that speaks to you." And I did, and I called my agent and said, "I think this character Data is kind of interesting," and she said, "Well, okay, I'll get you the appointment with Junie Lowry." I had to read with the casting agent first, 'cause nobody really knew me then. Then after that, I had, I think, six different auditions for the role. And finally it was me [on Star Trek].Collection: Stars
When I get to work with people I admire, it's such a bonus, so it was an easy sell when I got this phone call asking, 'Will you do this thing with David Strathairn?'" Also, they didn't ask me to audition, which is another bonus. But they said, "All your scenes will be with David," and I said, "I'm there!"Collection: Phones
There's such a grand fraternity of actors who've played the Joker, not the least of whom is Mark Hamill, who voiced it for so long and was so great. I did it one time and... I've gotten some feedback on it from people who've seen it and really enjoyed it, but I don't know.Collection: Long
Any job you can go to and have a laugh everyday has got to be a good job.Collection: Jobs
I do know that when I look around in show business, I see a lot of people who were in my drama class in high school.Collection: Drama
I think we're all fans, and I understand the whole world of fandom, because I am a fan.Collection: Thinking
I like to think of myself as the Rutger Hauer of this show Star Trek: The Next Generation. But then I like to think of myself as Rutger Hauer in real life: strikingly handsome, irresistible to women, an intergalactic enigma.Collection: Stars
I'm, like, y'know, I didn't have a problem doing one scene in Dude, Where's My Car? I'm certainly not going to have a problem doing one scene in a [Martin] Scorsese movie!Collection: Car
Obviously we're doing a comedy [Fresh Hell], and our intent is to entertain, but we're also really aware and trying to stay aware of the subtext of what it's like to reach a certain age and be dismissed, basically, from the fraternity you've always wanted to be a part of, and the desperation involved in trying to claw your way back into it.Collection: Trying
The Dain Curse [Tom Fink] was a great job. I was in New York, and I was young - I think I'm 28 years old in that - and I got to work with James Coburn and Jean Simmons and Jason Miller. Plus, it was a Dashiell Hammett story, and I had a great character. It was fantastic to shoot.Collection: Jobs
When I go to the old folks' home, I'm gonna be sitting in a rocking chair, telling everybody how I worked with Jack [Lemmon] and Walter [Matthau].Collection: Home
We got to be really good friends [Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau]. It was just thrilling, every day. Every single day. I had a big couple of musical numbers in [Out to Sea], and I remember doing one of them and shooting it from beginning to end.Collection: Couple
I love the South Park guys, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They're geniuses. I throw that word around a lot, but I really do mean it.Collection: Mean
Both of the Quaid brothers, Randy and Dennis, were in my class, and Tommy Schlamme, who produced and directed The West Wing with Aaron Sorkin, among many others. Marianne Williamson, who did A Course In Miracles, she was in my high-school drama class, too. So it was kind of an amazing class.Collection: Brother
I think it was somewhere around age 3 when I fell down the stairs at my house, and I got up and did a Jerry Lewis impression and got a big laugh. And I thought, "Oooh, I like that. I think I need to do this for a living!"Collection: Thinking
Rick Berman, who produced Star Trek, was a big Night Court fan. So he knew who I was as soon as I walked in.Collection: Stars
Pierre [from Dude, Where's My Car?] could be the best thing I've ever done. When you distill it down to a minute and a half of work, that may be my finest effort.Collection: Car
I felt like I was a natural [in The Simpsons].Collection: Natural
[Billy Bob Conroy role] that was a favor. Actually, the lady who cast Night Court asked me to do it, because it was a Friday, and the person who'd been rehearsing it all week got sick and couldn't come to the taping. And she figured I could put it together pretty quickly - it was not all that big a challenge, frankly - and I said, "Of course." I owed her, after all. Gilda Stratton was her name. She was a really, really nice person. So I did it.Collection: Friday
You look at that movie [Dude, Where's My Car?] now, and you know exactly when it was made. And that's what kids were like then.Collection: Kids
That's what kids were like then. So I really like the movie [Dude, Where's My Car? ], I think it's genuinely funny, and I wish I hadn't been so arrogant about it. And, of course, I didn't know it was going to be my best work, either.Collection: Kids
I think Night Court was the first thing I did when I came out to Hollywood. It was just one of those things that... I'm from Texas, and it was a character I'd been doing when I was a kid, just for fun.Collection: Fun
[Voice acting] is such an easy job. It's like stealing money, really. Which I'm always happy to do.Collection: Jobs
Dana Carvey is hilarious. He's a really, really funny, talented guy. You know, I can't think of anything I've ever done that I regret doing, and I certainly don't regret doing Master Of Disguise, because I got to hang around Dana.Collection: Regret
So it was a really pleasant surprise when [Independence Day] turned out to be a successful film. I don't know if you've heard that they're going to be re-releasing it next Fourth of July in 3-D. I've actually only seen it once, and it was in Hawaii, in a little theater in Oahu shortly after it was released. But Roland Emmerich is a really smart guy, and he makes really fun movies to watch.Collection: Fun