“I don’t think you can discriminate against budgets, you know? I’m an actor, I guess, so I’m just trying to play as many characters as I can. If there’s a character I think I can play, and they’re going to let me do it, I’ll do it whether it’s $10 or $1 million or more.”
-Ryan Gosling (Actor, Musician)
MITCHELL: You’ve always had a really good ear for things like that in your music, but one of your real gifts is that you can hear those sorts of things in other people’s music, too—like The Notorious B.I.G. or the Neptunes or Kanye West. That’s part of what makes you a great collaborator.
JAY-Z: I just really love the music. Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can’t. Other things can get in the way, whether it’s the boxes that people put themselves in, or the feelings they might have towards a person. But those things don’t get in the way for me. To me, there shouldn’t be any lines. All these ways we classify things as R&B and hip-hop and rock … It’s bullshit. It’s all music. If you put yourself in that box, then you won’t be able to hear that it’s all music at its soul. When people say stuff like, “Oh, that’s soft rock. I don’t listen to that,” I find that elitist. It’s music-racist. [laughs]
- Jay-Z (Rapper, producer, and genius)
Source: Interview Magazine
Henderson: After your success in movies and on Friends, no one would have been surprised if you’d given up theater, and yet you continue to do low-profile readings in addition to full productions. Why?
Rudd: I love it! Theater is the most enriching and thrilling thing to do as an actor. It trumps movies and all that other stuff. People say, “You must love the instant feedback,” and we’re all attention whores for sure—that’s why we choose this profession. But it goes beyond that: There’s something magical about a shared experience in a theater, with actors and an audience. I don’t know if the audience members realize just how huge a part they play in a production. How they are determines how we are, and when it all works, it’s magical. I still remember plays I saw 15 years ago; it’s resonant in a way that films can’t be, even though I love movies. It’s right there, and when it’s over, it’s over. There’s something so cool about that. And there are so many great plays to do! Last but not least, it is the one way to improve as an actor. When you have to do the same thing every day and try to make it work every day, you get better. You understand subtext and character dynamics more. I read scripts differently because of the plays I’ve done.
-Paul Rudd (Actor and Comedian)
“Rachel is very much like me when I was about 10 to 12, working in theater, very driven. When I was in high school, although I wasn’t like Rachel, I understand her. I was similar in the sense that I didn’t conform to what people thought was cool. It was important to do what I believed in,”
- Lea Michele (Actress and singer)
Most people are familiar with you as Troy from Community and maybe don’t know as much about your work as a comic and as the rapper Childish Gambino. With your upcoming tour, what do you think will surprise fans most about your act?
Donald Glover: I guess that they’re all the same person. I don’t know what people are expecting when they come to see my stand-up. It’s really funny, I try to immediately tell people that I’m not Troy. I feel like a lot of people bring little kids, and then I start talking about my dick. It’s a really big change. I want people to understand that IAMDONALD is just a show about being able to do whatever you want. Lately I’ve been trying to do as much stuff as possible and before I was afraid that people would be judging me on it, but time’s a-wasting so I just can’t be afraid of that kind of stuff. I feel like with the previous tour, people were like, “Oh, there’s a music portion? This isn’t just stand up?” And I think they all walked out pretty happy. I don’t think any of this stuff is usual, any of this stand-up, music stuff. I don’t want to make anything that’s typical because then it gets boring.
-Donald Glover (Actor, Comedian, Singer, Rapper,Writer, Just A Dude full of Dopeness)
HARRELSON: What was growing up like for you?
EISENBERG: I grew up in Queens and New Jersey.I started doing children’s theater when I was seven to get out of school because I didn’t fit in. I had a really tough time in school. And then I missed seventh grade because I just went crazy. But acting always provided some kind of consistent outlet. It still feels like an outlet. If you’re acting, then there’s a prescribed way to behave; whereas in life there’s no prescribed way. So acting feels like a comfortable way to get through the day.
-Jesse Eisenberg (Actor)
“I think that you find your own way. You have your own rules. You have your own understanding of yourself, and that’s what you are going to count on. In the end, it’s what feels right to you. Not what your mother told you. Not what some actress told you. Not what anybody else told you but the still, small voice.” -Meryl Streep
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
-Maya Angelou (Poet)
“Whatever you do as a musician, no matter how good it is, somebody somewhere is going to shit on it. You put your heart on your sleeve, and what will happen will happen. But it’s like that for any artist. You do a painting, you take a photograph, it’s the same. That’s how artistry works.”
-Justin Timberlake (Musician, Actor, Restaurant Owner)
“I got into a Dustin Hoffman stage when I was twelve. Well, I like that he was always different. My favorite actors are Chameleons.”
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Actor)
“I’d love to do some movies. I’m back and forth to L.A. a lot trying to get a job when this is over. If movies aren’t an option, then I hope I opt out and go on to something else because I don’t consider myself the type of person that says, ‘I’m an actor, it’s what I’m meant to do.’ That’s not me. It’s fun and I have been able to do it so I’ve kept doing it. But if it ends up not being fun, I’m not scared to move on to something else.”
- Zach Gilford (Actor)
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”
— James Baldwin (Writer)
“Without physical activity, he has a tendency to withdraw and brood. ‘I think too much,’ he says. ‘Being in my body is much more satisfying than being in my head.’ ”
- Andrew Garfield (Actor)
“I think the key to longevity is respect in this business.”
-Jason Bateman (Actor)
