Greg Kinnear
There's no harmony in most people in a way, and I'm attracted to it, and I think it makes for good storytelling.
My grandfather had two boys, my uncle had three boys, my dad had me and my two brothers, each of my brothers have had two boys. Then something happened with the chromosomal experiment and suddenly I've got three girls.
Setting goals can blind you to opportunities. You might be trying to get to point C. When opportunity B comes, you don't even look at it because you're going straight to C.
I've never had a clear road map. When things come along, I benefit.
I was always explaining why my term papers were never on time. I think that's where I got my acting training!
I had interest in acting. I started as a drama major in college. I got to school and said, "What am I going to do with this?" But I didn't know anybody in the business, and it seemed like - I don't know. I had a teacher who said "Less than 1 percent of you will ever make a living being an actor." That was how we opened the semester.Collection: Teacher
There's something in human nature, the trying-to-get-on-with-it quality of people, the struggle to maintain or keep the show going can be exhausting. It just seems like that element of trying to move forward while things are breaking down... Obviously, it's always been the backdrop for a lot of great literature and great cinematic characters, but aside from that, I'm just drawn to it because that feels honest to me.Collection: Moving
If a woman has one cat, it will invariably turn into 20.Collection: Cat
I went door-to-door selling cable television subscriptions when I was in college. I found it incredibly difficult, doing that kind of sales work. I would have thought I'd be good at it, but I wasn't. It's so easy in acting. Everything falls into place when they write that you're a salesman. People just say yes, and then it's great.Collection: Fall
She is such a scene-stealer. She's got these lashes and big eyes, and when she walks on to the set everybody just says "ooh."Collection: Funny
I really don't make a concerted effort to try to find a type of role. Maybe I've just done enough of them now where people are like, "Oh, it's the guy that's in a swirling vortex of despair, send it to Kinnear!" I don't really know, but it does seem to be a recurring theme.Collection: People
There's times when I'll see a show, or something cooking on TV, and think, "That can really be fun when it's working." But it's a grind. I did that at NBC, it was five days a week. I was doing Talk Soup and Later at the same time. It's a hard job, more difficult than people realize.Collection: Jobs
Cher's great, she's incredible. She is an enormous, enormous star, who goes anywhere and crowds follow her...and yet she's a disciplined actress and she's down to Earth and cool. I can't say enough good things about her.Collection: Stars
'Little Miss Sunshine' was one of those small movies that you don't hold out huge hope for. It's usually found in small pockets. But, it ended up getting a real following and worked out pretty well.Collection: Real
Jack Nicholson is fairly gifted. We were at the Sistine Chapel, and everybody went from looking straight up to looking across the room at him.Collection: Rooms
Most actors are very deeply passionate about their line of work. I suppose there are probably people who sell insurance policies that are passionate about it, but I'm thinking the ratio is a little higher for actors. But, I may be wrong.Collection: Thinking
My adolescence was all tits and champagne. I'm downplaying the magic of it all.Collection: Magic
When you have a director who has work you can identify from the past, it gives you some reference point as to what their interpretation of the story might be, and how that might jibe, right or wrong, with how you see it. But with a first-time director, you don't really know where you're at.Collection: Past
There is a gambling element to being somebody who is going to take on the job of constantly trying to represent and prop up people who might be somewhat shady. That notion is probably part of how they got the rap. But, I have to find the balance of being colorful, being at times despicable, and also being somebody who does believe in something.Collection: Jobs
Regardless of the weight of the role, I feel like the job is always kind of the same. Who is this person? What's this guy here, what's he trying to say? And what's the volley with all these other people around him? So I don't feel like that part of it changes. I have not reached the point - if there's a point you reach as an actor where it's, "Oh, I got this figured out, I know how to do this". But I am happy to say that the primary building blocks of where you start, at least, there is a little bit of sameness to that. And that's always nice.Collection: Nice
There’s times when I’ll see a show, or something cooking on TV, and think, ‘That can really be fun when it’s working.’ But it’s a grind. I did that at NBC, it was five days a week. I was doing ‘Talk Soup’ and ‘Later’ at the same time. It’s a hard job, more difficult than people realize.Collection: Fun