But I was a sensitive kid. A funny kid, and a perceptive one. There was a lot of time spent alone.
Jason Butler Harner
When I did 'The Green' with Cheyenne Jackson, I was the lead of a film for the first time. That was really fun; I hadn't dug in to a part like that before.
Now that I'm 40, I knew I wasn't going to pass for 25.
I'm the kind of actor who truly believes that every play is a company play.
I have to have sound in my ears for 10 minutes prior. I come to the theater early, two hours, just to calm down and warm up.
Well, I won't say I'm cynical. I'd say I'm pragmatic.
You see these juicy roles, and 9 times out of 10, they'll go to a much more established actor. It's the nature of the business.
I'm not a person who romanticizes what being an actor should be.
I have three lines in 'The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' about having to go to the bathroom, and it's the most money I ever made.
I sometimes wish I had a good 'one syllable, one syllable' name, like Brad Pitt.
I am much closer to the Butler side of the family, which is on mother's side, from where I get my middle name. My parents divorced when I was seven, and I remember as a kid always being fascinated by my full name.
I remember when I got my Equity card doing the Scottish play at the Public Theater with Angela Bassett and Alec Baldwin. Alec thought I should just be Butler Harner, but I thought it would make people laugh if they had to call me Butler.
The fact is as you get older you can't just change things or be quite as laissez-faire; you're conscious of the effort and time it takes for things to happen.
I'm a constant waffler. I've said to anyone I've ever dated, 'Asking me to choose a restaurant is going to be a conversation that's going on for a while.'
In theater acting, you leave that night and what it was is what it was.
I am blessed to have made my career as an actor for a decade now and I'm grateful for that. It could arguably have gone better in ways and it certainly could have gone worse, but you have to keep fueling the fire.
