I'm sure my desire to perform came, in part, from being around politics as a kid. My dad had a big personality, and a lot of the people involved in Boston politics have big personalities, so there were all kinds of wacky people around.
Maura Tierney
After 'NewsRadio,' I did say to my agent, 'If I get another TV show, I'd want to do a drama.' Then I got offered the part on 'ER,' and I was on that show for eight years.
I tend to focus on what I'm doing at the moment, and that takes up the entire span of my focus.
Poaching is a very complicated, multi-layered problem.
I think infidelity is difficult, monogamy is difficult, and marriage is difficult.
What appealed to me was that the focus of 'North Atlantic' was more about performance rather than emoting, because I was at a point in life where it was nice not to have to emote all over the place.
I don't have much patience with sick people.
Rejection happens, and you have to have a thick skin about it, which is hard. You can't be overly sensitive about people not picking you.
My answer to a lot of things is to go to work. That's not everybody's answer.
I've been misquoted a lot, and there's this tendency for people to put on to you how they think you should be or what they think you should feel.
It's a life-changing thing to be in a position of needing help and being so lucky as to get it.
You can't just take care of everybody else all the time.
Being bald is no fun.
Unfortunately in life, justice is not always achieved.
I'm not really the nurturer type.
In a man, I like funny guys. A guy who doesn't have a lot of therapy, who's mature. A man, not a boy.
Everyone in my family has seen me cry before.
I love Martin Amis.
I wish I had a little more joy of cooking - because mostly I have anxiety of cooking. I'm so proud when things come out well.
I sold muffler parts over the phone when I was a teenager.
I worry about everything, which is silly because there's very little you can control anyway.
I just think there is a part of your brain that is supposed to be afraid of getting old, even if you're not really.
I did a lot of sitcoms, and being funny isn't about being beautiful. Usually, beautiful people aren't the funny people.
Even in comedy, I'm always the straight guy, which is okay because that's a skill. But it would be nice to get out of that box.
My dad was a theatrical guy. He wore a scuba suit one time because he said so-and-so was in the tank with the mayor. He didn't really care what people thought, so he was able to put himself out there. He didn't have a lot of shame, in a good way.
I was on network TV for about 15 years or so, which I loved.
I've been doing dramas for a long time.
I went to 'Godspell' when I was 10 - my mother took me, and that was the first play I ever saw. That was it for me.
The charity that I work for is the Johnson Cancer Research Foundation at UCLA. I also do work with Stand Up To Cancer.
I always acted in high school. Actually, I started in preschool. I was in a play about Jesus. I went to a Catholic school and played an angel and recited some poem about Jesus. It felt so long to me at the time.
I was a dance major at NYU, but it wasn't working out. I had friends in the drama department, so I switched.
I felt intimidated the entire time I was in school by my teachers and classmates. But I just knew acting was something I wanted to do.
'The Whole Truth' was a mistake.
What I look for in theater, I really like new work, and I really like the concept of age not necessarily being a defining aspect of who you are or how you act.
I say I'm not a control freak and I don't like to be in charge. But on the other hand, I really don't like anyone telling me what to do. I have some authority issues.
With acting, there's a certain amount of independence you have within the framework of the storytelling. When it's done well, it's a collaborative medium.
I grew up in Boston, and we'd have every Thanksgiving at my parents' house there.
I get really nervous, really anxious.
