Vin Diesel
If you're the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams, you've gotta be resourceful to make sure you can do it. I came out to California when I was 21, thinking my New York credentials would take me all the way. I came back home a year later all dejected and a failure.Collection: Home
I was raised in New York City and raised in the New York City theater world. My father was a theater director and an acting teacher, and it was not uncommon for me to have long discussions about the method and what the various different processes were to finding a character and exploring character and realizing that character.Collection: Teacher
I always have issues with trust.Collection: Trust
I grew up the son of an acting teacher, so I was kind of introduced to all of these various methods early... I've never been really good at articulating how, what that process is in the way that Stanislavsky could.Collection: Teacher
It's insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams.Collection: Dreams
With age, you get to a place where you don't want to knock people out. You just want to give people a hug.Collection: Age
The video game culture was an important thing to keep alive in the film because we're in a new era right now. The idea that kids can play video games like Grand Theft Auto or any video game is amazing. The video games are one step before a whole other virtual universe.Collection: Amazing
If it's an amazing role, I'll do anything.Collection: Amazing
You get a timeless cool card in New York.Collection: Cool
A transvestite spends her entire life trying to look as feminine as possible and I have clearly spent mine celebrating my masculinity.
I shaved my head about 15 years ago and the first time I shaved it, I started running my hand through my hair and it was very therapeutic.
I do practice martial arts, more as a recreational thing, but a lot of my friends have been heavyweight champions the in mixed martial arts world.
I'm not really afraid of the dark, except if I'm walking. The thing that scares me the most is the possibility of walking into a wall and busting my lip.
You break her heart, I'll break your neck.
It wasn't until I went to college and I got my first motorcycle that I understood the thrill of speed.
When I got on the set of 'Saving Private Ryan,' I discovered, to my amazement, that Steven Spielberg is a gamer.
It's really bizarre because no one knows this, but elephants have killed more animal trainers than any other animal.
My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you.
We all deal with being unfairly judged.
I was walking around with the babies so much that when I got to the Sidney Lumet picture, I would be on set in between takes and I'd be rocking back and forth. Just standing like this rocking back and forth, and Sidney would say, Why are you walking like that in between takes?
Obviously, for me, story is first and foremost, even in the face of the attractive idea of having all the cast there, or having a great piece of talent come to it.
I'm the most ambitious person you ever met.
The one thing I will never do is become pigeonholed.
If you had asked me back in grade school what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said my first choice was an actor, but if I couldn't be that, I'd want to be a superhero.
Women are sacred.
My mom used to say that I became a fighter and a scrapper and a tough guy to protect who I am at my core.
The whole year I was in LA I got into telemarketing and learned how to make money. Five years later that skill helped me make my first film.
You make movies for the people. If critics happen to like them too, well, that's a home run.
The thing that stood out above and beyond all the experiences was this relationship with the nine-month-old baby. On weekends, I'd be thinking about going back to set on Monday just to see the baby.
It was interesting to do a completely fictional piece. You know, Saving Private Ryan was not a fictional piece! So the challenge was: How do you incorporate real emotions? How do you incorporate aspects that people are going to be able to identify with?
I've been auditioning since I was 7 years old.
When your co-stars are 9-month-old babies, you fall in love. You start thinking, When am I going to have my own?
Deal-making goes on with any job.
If you take my performance or my understanding of the role and my appreciation for story and then dress it in CGI, that I guess becomes an action film.
Career diversification ain't a bad thing.
I grew up with all kinds of people.
I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there's usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie.
My mom insisted on multigrain bread and never allowed soda in the house.
You live these three months in this reality, in this dark reality. You don't want to do those films every year because they're taxing. I started smoking a lot of cigarettes.
When I first did 'The Fast and the Furious', I didn't want there to be a sequel on the first one. I thought, 'Why would you rush to do a sequel - just because your first film is successful?'
I look formidable.
It would be flattering to call it a modern Dirty Harry, but I think this film deals more with the loss of his wife than the traditional revenge vigilante films.
I have dangerous bones in my body.
The only way anyone knows which girl I'm with is if a one-night stand goes on 'Howard Stern.'
I haven't had that many weird encounters with fans, thank God.
I love women more than anything.
I am definitely a person of color.
You know when something feels so good but you're afraid to feel good about it? So you kinda hold back? Everyone says, Congratulations, you must be so happy. And you say something stupid like, I'm just doing what little I can with what little I have.
It's hard for me to talk about Dom right now because I am Dom right now. So it's a really strange exercise to try to reflect on something that I am at the moment. But I guarantee you that when I'm done with the movie and you ask me that question, I'll be able to give you something insightful.
I am truly multi-racial. I never knew my biological father. I've always had less information than I would have liked to have had. All I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures.