My father was brought up in an orphanage in the Catskills. He was a factory worker. And because his family wasn't there for him family was everything. We could disagree inside the house but outside the house it was us against the world. So when I became a drag actor he looked sideways but said okay.

Actors are one family over the entire world.

You need to develop somehow a huge amount of faith and confidence in yourself because there's a lot of rejection throughout an actor's life and you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else.

I was never the ingenue so hopefully that'll make it easier to age and still work. I know a lot of actors who are really dissatisfied with where they're at even though some of them are huge stars and I feel like 'Oh my God you're at the top.' Something interesting will come. It always does. I have faith.

I was brought up the Mexican way where actors are paid very little and every part you take is an act of faith. If people respect that then great.

In my career as an actor there is a catchphrase that Scofield always says often in regards to his brother 'Have a little faith.' In my own career as an actor there were times when I was the only one who believed in myself in the face of the odds.

I just can't say enough about the actors having faith and trust in the writers and the writers having faith and trust in the actors.

All an actor has is their blind faith that they are who they say they are today in any scene.

Religious faith depends on a host of social psychological and emotional factors that have little or nothing to do with probabilities evidence and logic.

Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it nothing is possible. With it nothing is impossible.

I've learned to think in terms of having a long career. Actors can have very long careers that last until the day we die but there will be moments when you'll feel like you're a failure or when you're disappointed in yourself.

But all actors go through the process it's hit and miss you have achievement and failure.

The only reason my work seems to be eclectic up to a certain period is because I was a failure as an actor.

One must never assume that a character is sympathetic because of either the actor playing them or the fact that they're a lead. I think that's a recipe for failure actually because if they become unsympathetic you lose your audience.

Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.

I don't have a fear factor. Well not much of one. And I'm willing to risk quite a lot - as a comedian you're always risking a lot. You're risking failure especially if you're improvising and going on TV shows trying to make comedy out of thin air. That is quite a risky business.

By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability is simply attracting the best-educated most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there.

Acting is not a mystery. There's nothing that I know that other actors don't know. We all act we're all actors we all know the same thing. The only thing that separates us is experience.

And so I think that if the person has the funds the network and the equipment to do this and also the experience which is the key factor then they can be quite deadly.

Music and language are a vital element. We as actors and directors offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves.

I wouldn't say I'm a method actor. I do research when I feel I don't have enough experience for the part I'm playing.

The most experience I had in the criminology field is playing a thug as an actor. That was my first paid job. The police academy at the college was paying people to reenact the calls that potential cops would get. So I got to play thugs and people who were unruly.

I think theatre is by far the most rewarding experience for an actor. You get 4 weeks to rehearse your character and then at 7:30 pm you start acting and nobody stops you acting with your entire soul.

It is often difficult to watch yourself onscreen especially 60-feet high. As an actor it is an uncomfortable experience.