Rob Lowe
Some actors specialize in shooting weapons and punching people. Some have the market on playing buffoons cornered, others specialize in roles that require heavy makeup or outrageous wardrobe. Some trade exclusively in a post-ironic blase attitude.Collection: Attitude
I didn't go to Ivy League schools. I dropped out of college to go into movies.Collection: Movies
Equality for everybody is great. That would be amazing.Collection: Equality
I liked being a teenager, but I would not go back for all the tea in China.Collection: Teen
In spite of being professionally gregarious, in my nonpaid hours I'm a bit of a hermit. After being around a crew of fifty people for twelve hours a day on a film set, I really like my alone time, and as always, I abhor small talk.Collection: Alone
If you are worried about what people think of you, you should go into politics. Real actors take chances.Collection: Chance
I never get bored talking about themes dealing with ambition, leadership and what it means to be an American. I love that stuff. I just love it. I've loved it ever since I was on 'The West Wing.'Collection: Leadership
I am the guy dressing up in, you know, the caveman outfit for the kids' birthday parties.Collection: Birthday
I've had years of psychiatry, and I ask about every six months - it's sort of like getting your oil checked - I ask, 'I'm not an actual narcissist, am I?' The learned men of psychiatry assure me that I meet none of the medical criteria.Collection: Medical
I think part of maturity is knowing who you are.
When I was filming 'The Outsiders,' my idea of success was getting the next Martin Scorsese movie.
I'm no genius, but I'm real smart in one area - I picked the right mate.
I have had a lot of blessed, interesting things happen to me and have bumped up against some amazing people.
I wouldn't go back on my old days, though; everybody needs to have their wild years. It's just a question of when and I'd rather have had them early than be doing it as a mid-life crisis type thing.
The '80s were about trying to establish myself as an actor with a career. And being a teenager enjoying the fruits of being successful with lots of what I think is appropriate for that age.
I'm perfectly flawed... I've got tons of flaws.
Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself. I don't put it on a platform. I don't campaign about it. It's just something that works for me. It enabled me to really connect with another human being - my wife, Sheryl - which I was never able to do before.
For guys, I don't think you're ever ready... I don't think you wake up and go, 'You know, today's the day I'm going to get married. By God, I'm ready. My house is in order, and it is time.'
My thing is personal freedoms: freedoms for the individual to love whom they want, do with what they want. In fact, I want the government out of almost everything.
I've been lucky enough in 'The West Wing' and 'Brothers & Sisters' to talk about the issues that are important to me with none of the awful mud-slinging or public scrutiny you have in politics.
Sampling, statisticians have told us, is a much more effective way of getting a good census.
I've never met a funny person who wasn't smart. I've met a lot of dramatic people who were stupid. But I've never met a funny person who wasn't smart.
I started out being a really, really liberal Democrat.
My son Matthew's beloved dog is a Jack Russell. His name is Buster. Matthew picked him as a puppy, when he was tiny himself.
My roles in comedies from 'Austin Powers' to 'Tommy Boy' to 'Wayne's World,' were sort of comedic 'straight man' parts. My character on 'Parks & Recreation' is the comic relief in a comedy. To play a character that appears strictly for laughs is sort of new for me and really fun.
Cannes is a little bit like French wine. There are certain years that people prefer over others.
If I had been on 'Ally McBeal,' I would have been seen coming out of the shower on the first show.
I signed up for 'Brothers & Sisters' because I think it's a really great show. I like my character, and I'm really interested in what he has to do every day - and this cast is so spectacular. I really wanted to work with this particular group of people.
Sun Valley is one of my favorite spots.
Matthew Lowe is one of the great water men that I know. He's a surfer, a great water polo player. I think he's half fish.
I have a lot of great memories, but I can't imagine anything more exciting than the life I have now.
Directors are not worried about casting beautiful women, but they are not sure that they want to cast great-looking men. My looks have prevented people from seeing my work.
I have other obligations now - the show, my family, my life... though I know that without my sobriety I wouldn't have any of those things.
When I hear that I realize how quickly time passes and how everybody goes on their journeys and they're always unbelievable and they never go where you think they're going to take you and, quite frankly, it also makes me feel a little old.
What's gratifying about West Wing is that everybody told us that it couldn't be done - that the man or woman on the street didn't care about politics. But if you set things up correctly, people don't have a problem with it.
We always reminisce about how everyone tried to get Diane Lane's attention, to very little success.
Temperamentally, Sam and I are very much alike. He's a lawyer, my father's a lawyer, and I always wanted to play one. On so many levels the role just felt right. I fell in love with it as I would a woman.
Show me someone who doesn't have some sort of experience that they would be uncomfortable for people to know about and I'll show you a dullard.
I'll be sober ten years and married nine soon.
I like the tradition of ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances and how they react to events which force them to be heroic in a way that is not in their natures.
I have, on the other hand, felt ill will from various people in the industry and the press.
I have never felt at any point in my life, good or bad, any ill will ever from the man or woman on the street.
I have been looking forward to this age of my life for a long time. In my twenties, I marked the days on the calendar - I was sick of playing high-school kids.
I sadly never got to my prom. I was shooting 'The Outsiders.'
Feng shui isn't open to interpretation.
As an actor and a fledgling director, I'm used to making snap decisions that I'll have to live with.
To go from playing Jack Startz in 'Behind the Candelabra' to playing JFK in the same year, I have now operated at the far ends of my range as an actor.
The Brat Pack is timeless.
Fame is not a natural condition for human beings.
My two sons are the most important things in the world to my wife and I - they are what I build my world around.