Kevin Spacey
Whether it's 'Veep' or 'Homeland' or 'The West Wing' - which is a more idealised version of democracy - people are fascinated by politics.Collection: Politics
As long as we, in the United States, continue to insist that our politicians have to spend all of their time raising millions of dollars for television ads, it will be corrupt. If we leave it up to the politicians to clean up lobbying and finance reform, nothing is going to change.Collection: Finance
I'm not out there trying to get press for myself nor am I trying to convince anybody that I'm living any kind of a life. I'm actually trying to convince people: I don't want you to know what I'm living, because it's none of your business.Collection: Business
If you haven't turned rebel by twenty you've got no heart; if you haven't turned establishment by thirty you've got no brains!Collection: Age
I find it sad that by not talking about who I sleep with, that makes me mysterious. There was a time when I would have been called a gentleman.Collection: Sad
Success is like death. The more successful you become, the higher the houses in the hills get and the higher the fences get.Collection: Success
After graduation, I was floundering in L.A., doing stand-up comedy and working in a shoe store in the Valley.Collection: Graduation
My mother always, always, always thought that I was going to be famous. Thought that I was going to win Oscars. In fact, I believe I accepted the Oscar as a ketchup bottle many a time in front of my mother in the kitchen. 'I'd like to thank the Academy,' I said with a ketchup bottle.Collection: Famous
Meeting the person you are going to be playing is very unique.
Over the years, I've spent a lot of time in Washington. It's a great theater town.
I have to remember if I'm at some charitable event where kids are... I try to remember don't swear in front of the kids!
Have we become so celebrity-obsessed that there is no longer a difference between a character and an actor? I hope not.
People sometimes have to be reminded, I'm not Frank Underwood. I'm an actor named Kevin Spacey.
I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that they're going to block every single thing that a president wants to accomplish. It's very - it's very hard to get anything done in those circumstances.
President Obama will go down as having passed some of the most historic bills in the history of this country.
Some politicians that I've seen have been brilliant with the public. They almost speak with the skill of an actor.
My mother was sarcastic and delightful and, trust me, quite remarkable.
There are ways in which you can make sure that even if people come to the theatre because they know an actor or actress, by the end, they've forgotten that, and they leave going, 'Wow - what an amazing play.'
You learn every single day when you're running a company. You learn as you go.
Edward Norton and I have known each other awhile. I just think he's the real deal, supremely talented and smart. He's got a great sense of humor.
I cotton to the idea that people are much closer to being flawed; they have problems and don't always make the right choices.
I write a lot about my experiences and the people I meet. I've got a lot of material. But a book about me? It seems sort of odd.
If you're lucky enough to do well, it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down.
Give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more likely pay for it rather than steal it. Well, some will still steal it, but I think we can take a bite out of piracy.
Sometimes it's the crazy people who turn out to be not so crazy.
We're all victims of our own hubris at times.
Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane.
I open myself up every time I walk on screen and give you everything that I am. There are parts of me that are in every movie that I've done. That to me is what my job is.
I like being able to go to a local pub and have great food and particularly love pubs that welcome my dogs.
You have to always be ready, always be alive, and always be willing to move in a new direction.
I've been on sets where things weren't relaxed because someone was creating tension for no reason.
No one's personal life is in the public interest. It's gossip, bottom line. End of story.
I think it is just a function of the fact that I moved around so much as a child that I learnt early on to make every place my home.
Why is 'Game of Thrones' the most pirated show in the history of TV? Because people can't get it fast enough, that's why.
Am I arrogant? I've been arrogant, sure; everybody's been arrogant.
At the end of the day, people have to respect people's differences. I am different than some people would like me to be.
I'm aware that, from the outside, this looks like I've got quite an ego.
The only real experiences I've had with therapists were the ones who were working with me and my family when my mother was ill.
Over the years, I've been trying to build a relationship with an audience. I've tried to maintain as much of a low profile as I could so that those characters would emerge and their relationship with audiences would be protected.
What's my favourite book? It changes all the time.
Where the gaming world is going - and certainly Activision proved it by hiring me - is being willing to push and bend and move in a new direction of actually capturing the character and storytelling.
Film is very condensed.
I am so leading the life that I want and wanted and dreamed of as a kid. I'm trying very hard not to abuse it or take advantage of it.
I'm not someone who's led my life trying to get publicity; I'd rather do my work and go home.
My life will change, because I want it to change; and also because this is something I'm committed to doing and that I believe my life has been leading towards.
The audience, the place you're in, has everything to do with how your performance goes.
Am I now supposed to go on Oprah and cry and tell you my deepest, darkest secrets because you want to know?
It's so easy for us to misperceive and see the things in others that we want to see. And, when we're wrong, and often we're dead wrong, we miss the truth.
While data can only tell you what has happened in the past, it can in some ways give you a sense of what might be of interest to an audience in the future.
I don't care about my personal acting career anymore. I'm done with it. After 10 years of making movies and doing better than I ever could have imagined, I sort of had to ask myself: 'What am I supposed to do with all of this success that I have had?'