Cameron Monaghan
To work with anyone you admire and respect, and have for a very long time, is a surreal thing.
I love puppies, and I love animals in general. Besides that, I do martial arts: extreme martial arts. I also play real guitar and drums, and sing. And I'm taking some college classes, hoping to major in English and creative writing.
I never really do the New Year's Resolution thing. I kind of just try to stay focused, not get too distracted, and do the best I can. And that's something I like to tell myself every year around New Year's.
One of my favorite movies of all time is 'Fargo.'
It seems like the requirements for my characters are that I have to be either mentally ill or disturbed in some way, or I have to be physically beaten. It's in my contract.
'Prom' is a movie that follows a bunch of high-schoolers' lives leading up to the prom, the climax of the movie. It focuses all their struggles and the social pressures that prom creates on their lives.
I grew up watching movies and television, and one day when I was really young I told my mom I wanted to become an actor, and she was really supportive and got me involved in local theater and commercials. From there I moved up to auditioning for movies and television.
The thing about being an actor is that you're acting. It's not that big of a deal of to play someone different from yourself.
I play drums and guitar, I snowboard, I do martial arts and acrobatics. I go to the movies every Friday.
I think the gay community, just like anybody, should be represented in all forms and all types.
You can't just look at someone and guess their sexuality. There's no point in assuming that every gay man has just one personality type.
I do play the guitar, and I can sing, but just enough to carry a tune.
I was home-schooled for my entire high school experience, so I never went to prom.
I really enjoy dancing. When there's music around, I can't help it; I start dancing, especially when I'm with friends.
With Scarlett Johansson, I always thought she was pretty, but then when I heard her sing, there was just something about her voice that made her really, really attractive to me. And I think she would be fun to hang out with.
I think I heard about 'The Giver' being made from when I was 11 or 12 years old. When I got the audition for this movie, I already knew that Meryl Streep was attached to it, and Jeff Bridges, obviously.
How I learned to read was by reading the captions on TV, and I grew up from a really young age watching tons of movies and television. Also, at the same time, I was a pretty hyperactive kid, kind of ADD.
I grew up watching movies and television, and one day, when I was really young, I told my mom I wanted to become an actor, and she was really supportive and got me involved in local theater and commercials.
I kind of grew up watching R-rated movies and more adult content because that's where all the best performances are.
I'm always happy to support the gay community.
As you live with a character longer, you claim more ownership over it. You become more defensive of it. It becomes like a person that you know.
People are attracted to confidence and a commitment to ideas, no matter what those ideas are. People can gravitate towards something being said passionately or violently or expressively.
Filming is such a nerve-wracking and stressful process for me. I love it so much, and it's so fun, but I never have a time to fully appreciate it until after I'm done and I get to step back and look back at it.
God, I don't think I could give advice when such other incredible actors have done it before me and done such amazing things. I think it would be unfair of me.
I am a huge fan of 'Batman'. As a kid watching it, there are certain things that I'm not going to latch onto as much as when I've gotten older.
One of my favorite things, coming of age, reading comics, was these ideologies and these philosophies of these characters. Seeing those on the page really represented in amazing ways some of my favorite 'Batman' comics like 'The Killing Joke' or 'The Dark Knight Returns.'
There's this character, Theo Galavan, who becomes the ringleader for the revolution of villainy in the city of Gotham. He becomes this mentor figure for Jerome that really inspires him to go off the deep end, and it's really fun.
Penguin is this interesting figure within the city of Gotham. He's this guy who has worked in the shadows and publicly. He's skirted the line between lawful and completely chaotic or villainous. He's risen and fallen multiple times in the ways that pretty much no other character can dream of.
Robin Lord Taylor is a fantastic actor.
You can't be too concerned with the philosophical meanings of the character and how it will affect everything else.
I think, a lot of times, network shows are under a lot of mandates. There's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of money. There's a lot of people who are going to be disappointed if anything goes wrong.
I can quote every single line in 'The Big Lebowski' from start to finish. That's what happens when you see a movie two dozen times.
I say I want a break, but every time I have some down time, I don't know what to do with myself. I need to be doing something.
There was never a moment where I was intentionally cribbing from another actor. More so, I grew up watching other actors design the character of The Joker to me, and obviously, the part was paying tribute to The Joker, and so I wanted to, you know, perform it to the best of my abilities in a way that it seemed to be paying homage to the character.
Experiencing so many firsts, maturing as an actor, a professional, and a human. In the process, gaining friends, family, and the best coworkers a very lucky actor could ask for - and for this, I can be nothing but gracious.
I go crazy if I'm not working. I find it harder to have down time. I don't know what to do with myself. I need to be working on this job otherwise I go insane.Collection: Crazy
I make character judgements based on whether people like animals. Worship Satan, I'll still give you a chance. Hate dogs, we ain't friends.Collection: Dog
I seek a diverse spectrum of roles. If I just was in a large-budget feature for a younger audience, then I want to find a smaller, more character-driven piece that might be for a more mature audience. Or if I'm playing a goofier character, then maybe I want to go play a serious, psychopathic character. But at the same time, it's usually a case-by-case basis where I'm judging the merit of a role by the script I'm given, and it usually has less to do with the larger framework and more to do with how the part personally appeals to me in that moment.Collection: Character
William H. Macy has said, and I don't think I can quote him verbatim, but he's said many times before to not buy into the hype, the Hollywood appeal. To find yourself as a person, as a family man, to find your own happiness, and not to allow your ego to get in the way of your work.Collection: Men
I had never really heard of Meryl Streep before. Someone told me she was an actress and she'd been in a few things, but I said, you know, whatever. She showed up and she seemed somewhat inexperienced, so I gave her a few pointers, and I think she has a decent career ahead of her. It's always hard to tell these things in Hollywood, but I do think that she has some talent under there. I think she's a diamond in the rough.Collection: Thinking
With every character you play you're always trying to put facets of yourself into those characters. I think Asher, at the beginning of The Giver, when he's goofy and a little bit of a rule-breaker, a little bit of a jokester, I align with him. But then he kind of transforms throughout the movie and becomes someone I don't necessarily relate to. I relate to Adam McCormick's sensitivity. He's more quiet and introverted, and I definitely have those moments as well.Collection: Character
You put so much of yourself out there as an actor. You show the many facets of who you are when you're performing - or who you could be - you show yourself angry, upset, sad, vulnerable. The one thing I keep as my own private secret is the music.Collection: Upset
I was a pretty hyperactive kid, kind of ADD. I couldn't really stay sitting in my chair, so my kindergarten teacher would have me standing at the back of the room, because I couldn't sit for more than five minutes. My mom needed some positive way to focus my energy and I said I wanted to be an actor, so she was like, "Well, we'll roll with it and see how you respond to it," and I loved it. It was something I could instantly focus my attention to.Collection: Mom
On film, it's really nice to see that transformation from the beginning, reading the script, to know where he starts and where he ends, and be able to plan for that.Collection: Nice
I come from a creative background, and everything I enjoy is entertaining or playing music for people, which is the exact thing the Community restricts and opposes. At least still playing games with the kids and being active, not completely awful.Collection: Kids
I love to write, so I think writing would be the next natural step. And if I'm making something that I'm writing, it would also probably make sense to be a producer and have some creative input from that perspective as well. Eventually, I do want to direct, but I want to get comfortable in those two jobs first. I want to dip my foot into this pool before I dive in I guess.Collection: Writing
There were obvious budgetary and time constraint differences. With Jamie Marks is Dead, we were operating on a pretty small finance level. So it was definitely run-and-gun, 16-hour days, every day. I would come back, and I was so exhausted I would fall asleep in my clothes. Obviously, with The Giver we had a little bit more time to take the full three months. So that was different, but in both there was still a creative environment, and by that I mean that it was still collaborative, performance was still valued, and it wasn't lost in the money.Collection: Fall
It was one of those things where you admire and respect a person, and you watch them for almost your entire life - and Meryl Streep was definitely one of those people that inspired me throughout my career. Having a chance to have a scene with her was pretty unreal.Collection: People
TV is longer form, and that's sometimes a positive, and sometimes a more challenging thing. As an actor, you want to be able to have your character develop or transform in some way. When you're acting on a show over the course of multiple seasons, you get to watch a character really grow and change, and go from one place to an entirely other place.Collection: Character