Simon Helberg
I grew up surrounded by sketch comedy.
When I decided I wanted to be an actor in high school, I really went into improv. I took classes at The Groundlings. I studied acting. Did sketch comedy in L.A.
It's hard to convince your agents and managers to do theater, because it's not as financially rewarding and it takes up a lot of time.
My parents tried to convince me that school won't always be there, but auditions will. I said, 'Really? Are they tearing down NYU?'
There's a lot of closeted nerds out there.
Personally, I'm not into 'Star Trek' or physics or comic books, but I know I might be in the minority.
I would say Mick Jagger plus Mr. Furley equals Howard Wolowitz.
Everyone feels at times like they're missing a page or two out of the handbook that tells you how to live your life.
Things are loud in a Jewish household. Conversations are up here; they're pitched pretty high. That's just the way we talk.
Playing piano well is one thing, but attempting to play at concert level accompanying Meryl Streep while Stephen Frears is filming you in front of hundreds of people is - well - psychotic.
Every time we do anything artistic, the way it's perceived is always going to be different from the way that we had intended it to be because it's subjective.
There's something very funny about giving a menial task to a genius and watching him find so much complexity and overanalyse it to such a degree that the waitress from Nebraska working at the Cheesecake Factory has passed them all by.
Failing passionately is a success in its own right.
I don't believe I'll be in the new 'Arrested Development' unless they ask me, in which case, okay! That's how easy I am to get.
I have great instincts, like the instincts of a squirrel. You know, like when you're driving and a squirrel stops in the middle of the road.
When you see someone putting themselves out there, particularly when you see someone is failing and failing so passionately, it brings up this bittersweet connection to our mortality.
Well, I think that everybody is kind of a nerd at heart.
We're going to do a natural birth. At first she was like, 'We should do it at home,' and I said, 'Look, either way, when you go into labor, I will be checking into a hospital... so if you want to come along, come along.
I thought it was going to be a hut in Topanga and Janis Joplin was going to come out, but it's a real doctor... I went to Beverly Hills to meet this midwife; you'd think they'd be in nature.
I walked into the wrong examination room. I'm bad enough at facial recognition... I saw more that day than I cared to. Fortunately, I didn't recognize her from that angle, whoever it was, and I didn't ask. I'm off to a rocky start on the road to fatherhood, but I got a free view.
I'm married, so I tend not to hit on every girl.
I actually struggled through teaching myself to cook because I'm completely ignorant in the kitchen. So I did really macho things like trying to make my own curry. Really hardcore stuff.
I wouldn't wear turtlenecks. That I'm not envious of. But who knows? I might sneak out a few things and hope and pray that no one says, 'Hey, didn't you wear that when you were playing an enormous geek on TV?'
Actually, when I was young, I believe I met Nicolas Cage. I think I was probably eight, and I remember seeing him at somebody's house - it was an event and he happened to be there. People would ask me if I was his son, because I looked like him at that point, so I do remember feeling some connection and just wanting to say, like, 'Papa!'
There are those moments where you realize that your parents or your heroes are human and are fallible.
We all have those dreams of going back in time and seeing what it was like when our parents were younger.
Getting to know where we come from is a really profound way of getting to look at who we are.
As actors, we tend to usually have some issues with self-esteem and some need for validation, and it takes awhile for that fear of not having a job to go away.
My whole life revolved around TV as a kid. I would come home and make sure I finished my homework every night by 8 o'clock, generally so that I could sit down and watch TV from 8 to 10. As a kid, it was 'Family Ties' and 'Roseanne' and 'Growing Pains' and 'Perfect Strangers' and 'Golden Girls.' I mean, I watched everything.
I think that everybody is kind of a nerd at heart.
I own a fart CD. It has, I believe, over 100 fart sounds. A lovely variety, from the up-close and personal to the more experimental and dissonant. Some people prefer to listen to Bach when they go to sleep... not me.
Working is a bonus; working on something you love is a bonus, and getting to do it for a long time is the ultimate.
I think working for the audience, for me, is the most fun. It's really a chance for something to work towards. It's where everything kind of comes together, and you have to make it work. You have all these people who are sitting there, wanting to have a good time and wanting to laugh. You really have no choice but to pull it out.
I enjoy spending my spare time with my wife, our cat, and our bird.
Until I was about 16 years old, my dream was to be a musician. I played in rock bands and jazz bands. Then I decided to be an actor and kept the stable career of 'jazz pianist' as my safety net.
I try to act with my whole body and, for better or worse, this is the face that's attached to it.
I might love dancing more than I should admit. But not in public.
I'm deeply insecure. I ask my wife all the time, 'Was that OK? Are people lying?' I'm not as happily oblivious as I'd like.
In America, the first thing people say is, 'What do you do?'
Stephen Frears is brilliant and has made movies that inspired me for my whole life.
Surprise is a huge element in acting.
I'm happy to try on as many characters as I can.
I watched a lot of 'I Love Lucy.' Then I went to college, and I didn't watch TV, really. I don't know: something happened after 'Friends' went off the air. I think something dipped in the whole sitcom world.
I'd say I'm really, really good for a 16-year-old, which is where I peaked. I'm impressive, but not classically trained, not a concert pianist.
I think in terms of a career trajectory, it's good for people to be reminded that, in spite of seeing me a million times a day on a show for ten years playing the same character, I'm an actor, and actors like to play different people.
I don't think Hollywood respects multi-camera television. Well, I don't think they disrespect it, but I don't think it gets respect for its artistry.
I certainly think, obviously, rhythm is a huge part of being an actor. It just is unconscious, to a degree, but particularly in comedy, rhythm is pretty essential, and there's probably something more physiological going on.
Being an accompanist is very selfless in many ways because you're really just trying to elevate the singer and help them shine, ultimately.
It's not the coolest thing in the world to be walking around humming the Taylor Swift song. It's not as cool to be singing along with the number one song in the country as it is to be the jaded, indifferent hipster who wants to turn you on to something that nobody else is talking about.
Working with the Coens was a dream come true.