There is no recipe to be a great teacher that's what is unique about them.

I first decided to become an actor at school. A teacher gave us a play to do and that had a major impact. At first I wanted to work in the theatre but there was something about the ambience of film especially American films that always attracted me.

Then I heard this genius teacher Stella Adler - I recommend you read anything you might find about her and if you have anyone interested in theatre you get them one of her books.

For one thing I teach my students what my teacher for twenty years Paul Gavert told me 'The voice follows... the voice follows everything about you... who you are.'

I wasn't a ballet baby. My first dance class was in an outdoor pavilion when I was three. It was called 'creative movement.' The teacher gave us chiffon scarves in beautiful colors. She turned on some music and said 'Now go dance.' So for me dance has always been about self-expression.

I had a teacher in art school who said something about the only works he really enjoyed seeing or found much in were works where he had a sense that a discovery was made in the course of making this object. I like to hold to that as my marching orders.

One of the most extraordinary things about being a spiritual teacher is the rare privilege of being able to look deeply into the very souls of many human beings at the same time.

Writing became an obsessive compulsive habit but I had almost no money so I thought about being an urban firefighter and having lots of free time in which to write or becoming an English teacher and thinking about books and writers on a daily basis. That swayed me.

I was on Oprah's show recently talking about the people who impacted me the most. One was a teacher and one was my soccer coach. I didn't even go into my family who had the most influence.

I had a great drama teacher in high school and that's when I started to learn about the history of theater.

I love kids so two things that I have thought about are being a pediatrician or a kindergarten teacher.

But I think that any young drummer starting out today should get himself a great teacher and learn all there is to know about the instrument that he wants to play.

NASA was going to pick a public school teacher to go into space observe and make a journal about the space flight and I am a teacher who always dreamed of going up into space.

There are ways we can go do a better job of educating young moms and dads about the vital role they have as the child's first teacher. I think there are ways in which we can partner with local school districts and states to do a better job to provide nutrition options at school.

Do I think it's OK to fight authority as long as you're only talking about the high school teacher? No.

My art teacher in junior high was a very out gay man and a mentor to me. He would tell us about Greenwich Village and show us the 'Village Voice' and describe his life but it was all sort of subversive and below the radar.

Prior to being allowed to enter the profession prospective teachers should be asked to talk with a group of friendly students for at least half an hour and be able to engage them in an interesting conversation about any subject the prospective teacher wants to talk about.

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.

Nearly everyone I met worked with or read about was my teacher one way or another.

The thing I loved the most - and still love the most about teaching - is that you can connect with an individual or a group and see that individual or group exceed their limits.

There's something very beautiful and compelling about someone who has ambition and someone who knows what they want but it can get a little frustrating at times so I understand that. I have sympathy for that.

My mother listened to all the news from the camp during the strike. She said little especially when my father or the men who worked for him were about I remember her instinctive and unhesitating sympathy for the miners.

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.

I feel sympathy for the working class lad. I've always championed about ticket prices and try to equate that to people's salaries.