I was offered some film roles, and I did not do them. It would have been interesting, but I have no regrets. I am where I am; I accept and embrace the mistakes because they're character-building and they build perspective and talent.
Peter Scolari
Like any other all-American boy, I wanted to be just thought of as popular, be well-liked, and meet a lot of cute girls.
I never drink alcohol.
Nothing's hipper than leaving the set of 'Girls' in Brooklyn and having a teamster drop you off at your Broadway show.
I understood rage from my dad, who was an exquisite blend of rage and generosity of spirit.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I really believe that.
I love Columbus Circle. I rebelled against the construction for a while because I go back to the '70s. There was no Time Warner building. Now I've started to really like it.
It's more than sentimental for me to be working in theater in New York; it's very personal. I think it's a spiritual experience for me.
I made the varsity team as a freshman at 15. Then, I tore a tendon and never fully recovered. I was a shortstop, then third baseman, then second baseman.
I probably make more money in a year on 'Newhart' than 70 percent of your working top-name stars. Some weeks I just have six lines, but it doesn't bother me.
It's funny, because I was trained as a dramatic actor at New York's Colonnades Theater Lab in the '70s, along with Jeff Goldblum, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. People I worked with there saw a comedian in me. I'm still most at home in comedy.
I always wanted to be an actor. My first professional job was at 19, working in New York theater.
My mother sent me lithograph years ago at the height of my television success. It said, 'When your cup runneth over, watcheth out.' I never got over it. There's something so cosmic to be inferred in that. Not necessarily anything bad, and not necessarily anything good.
About a year after 'Bosom Buddies,' I was suddenly a regular on 'Newhart,' and I was there almost seven years. And then, somewhere in the mid-1990s, I ended up doing a TV series version of 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.'
The reality of getting married, it really changed things into something beautiful. There was transformation.
My mom and dad? Oh, they were a fiery pair. They stayed together for the kids and also because they were hopelessly in love with each other, but they were totally incompatible.
In a drama, you don't make a fool of yourself.
My first wife tried to get back with me a year later, but there was no way. I used to think she was the be-all and end-all, but I got my stinky little pride back.
What I love about the way folks have interacted with me over the years is that they just want to make eye contact and for me to say something nice.
There was a TV special every year called 'Circus of the Stars,' and I did three consecutive ones - one as a juggler, one as a high-wire performer, and one as a high hand balance.
I used to make fun of those actors who talked about the theater as their temple and their place of worship. I'm not to that degree of zealotry or idolatry of theater as this holy place. But it's a place where I get together with people who do what I do, and we understand each other in that respect.
Emmys are gorgeous and fun, but with or without them, there is beautiful work out there.
If we decline to become set in our ways, that's good. But it doesn't always feel good. It can be very challenging.
With 'Girls,' I have been able to plug into almost everything I've felt that's personal and sensitive.
I'm as proud of my work in 'Madoff' as anything I've ever done. Richard Dreyfuss turned in a bravura performance. It went unnoticed.
We have to accept the world as it is, not as we'd have it to be.
If I took everything as personally as I possibly could, I wouldn't survive.
When people say, 'I know you. What have I seen you in?' I respond, 'Well, it depends on how old you are.'
I've done 'The Love Boat' twice. I had a great time, but my ego rails against it.
Never underestimate the value of someone who can say, 'You make me sick.'
I don't like to just grab any ol' role.
We all have an obligation as actors to be true to ourselves and our best instincts, but often there's a higher purpose, which is to serve the text and, in the grander sense, serve the series, even if that means to fall on your sword and take the hit.
Sometimes, as actors, if we work hard enough and stay at it long enough and are malleable and directable, then good things can come of that.
I understand in the context of acting, it allows me to manifest character, but I am no wiser then the next person that is living up a life, that is acting and reacting to the built-up circumstances around them.
I'm a good juggler. If you want to court a woman, you need to be able to juggle five balls, fire, and knives.
One of the major demographic shares of people who watch 'Girls' are men in their fifties. Fathers watch it, maybe trying to figure out how to keep up with their 20-something daughters.
The first thing you have to get when you play somebody iconic is you have to get lucky. More than anything else, you have to make a leap of faith and know that somewhere, the net will appear, and you'll find your way.
