Top 183 Quotes & Sayings by Gillian Jacobs - Page 3

Acting by yourself is pretty darn hard, especially having to do physical comedy.

It really does mean so much when your cast mates, who you respect so much, tell you that you made them laugh.

Ken Jeong might be my biggest fan.

I've thought a lot about how if something horrible happened, and if it were like 'The Road' situation, I've decided I don't want to survive past the death of society as we know it.

I say the word N-U-C-L-E-R the same way that George W. Bush says it.

You've got to get as literal as you can get to convince people sometimes that you can do something.

I think if I was in over 250 films, the world would get pretty sick of me. I would probably never get put in anything ever again.

I'm not really a rapper!

As opposed to trying to make a kiss look romantic or sweet or passionate, it's kind of fun to just have the freedom to make it look weird, goofy and awkward.

Some girls say they don't feel comfortable in flats, they only feel comfortable in heels; I am not one of those girls.

It's really nice when life comes full circle and you get to work with people four years down the line.

There are these important things in some people's lives that can make you laugh even when you're going through a tough time or a stressful week.

I haven't done improv since I was in middle school.

My inners are not organs. They're actually mechanics, so I have a hole in my back, wind me up like the movie 'Hugo,' and then just say, 'Act,' you know?

I'm a very law-abiding citizen, and I've never consciously broken any law. I get nervous just jaywalking in Los Angeles!

I wasn't necessarily looking to do comedy on TV, but I don't think it's an accident that I ended up on 'Community.'

I am very up front about about my inability to pronounce things correctly. I said real-uh-tor instead of realtor until about five years ago. I just admit I have no idea how to say Theyskens! Don't be intimidated. Just be honest!

I keep reminding myself, through all the ups and downs of 'Community,' that I might never have another job that really means something to people, the way 'Community' means something to people. [...] That's more powerful than ratings.

I've had a very positive experience in LA in the comedy world and found everyone to be very nice and welcoming. It's been really fun.

The main fun of being an actor is that you get to bounce around to a lot of different worlds.

It's sometimes hard to accept that the people you love and feel the closest to may have different dreams and goals from yours, and those are valid. And I've felt that way: accepting people's differences and recognizing them as valid choices even if they're different from your own.

I try to not go over things from the past. Learn your lessons and then let it go.

The amazing thing about working on new platforms is that there is a great deal of excitement. You know, these things - they're brand new. They're trying to figure it out. And so if you're a show that they're supporting, they're going to put a tremendous amount of energy behind you. They're open to new ideas, new ways of promoting a show, and I think that feels really exciting, because network TV sort of feels like a formula. They give you a couple of weeks, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, you're most likely going to get cancelled.

I've been in a lot of indie movies, where we didn't necessarily have permits or permission. I've even run from the cops in the New York City subways!

I think that initially all I wanted to do was work as an actress, and then, as I started to work more consistently, you start to maybe want to challenge yourself in different ways, so I think it's something that developed over time - this desire to direct and also to produce. I think as you watch other actresses do it so successfully and so gracefully, you're like, I think that would be fun! It's definitely something that has become more of a priority for me.

If somebody is deemed more talented within the confines of the school it doesn't mean they're going to have the most successful career.

I've been making Vine videos for a couple of months. They're just six-second little videos, but I really have fun doing them. It's just fun to feel like you created something.

Without agreement you just have people arguing.

Bitterness doesn't serve you any good. And it really tells you more about how you feel about yourself than anything you feel about your friends.

There's no right one way to go through life.

If you just look at the number of roles for women versus the number of roles for men in any given film, there are always far more roles for men. That's always been true. When I went to college, I went to Julliard. At that time - and I don't know if this is still true - they always selected fewer women than men for the program, because there were so few roles for women in plays. That was sort of acknowledgment for me of the fact that writers write more roles for men than they do for women.

Rather than just becoming embittered by your friends' success, I think it can motivate you.

A friend of mine wrote a script, a feminist romantic comedy. She had a feminist scholar consult on it. My friend said, "Oh, my friend Gillian read it and really loved it." She goes, "Gillian Jacobs, you mean: Britta Perry, feminist icon?"

I also have learned as an actor, this ties in the principles of improv, sometimes someone gives a piece of instruction and my first reaction is "I don't want to do that." I've always learned that every time I just say yes and go for it something happens. Whether it's what the intent of the direction was or not or something new happens. It's just remaining open to other people's ideas.

Nobody knows what the future is, except for wizards.

An analogy is like a thought with another thought's hat on

I always try to have a bigger picture view of my career. But that didn't mean that I didn't cry about not getting jobs.

I've gotten super into restaurants in L.A., so I try to go to different restaurants all the time that's a good way to explore L.A.: you can drive to a restaurant and discover a new neighborhood.

I like the Moth podcast a lot. I listen to that.

I'm a very boring person in my real life so I got to act out misbehaving fantasies was really fun.

The nice part about not being a huge film is that you get to goof around a bit more.

I think we are used to being critical and evaluating ideas.

It feels kind of naughty when you're swearing on set and you know it's gonna make it in unbleeped on the show.

I first came to LA auditioning during pilot season. I didn't really know anyone. The only people I'd meet were the girls I was up against at auditions. It wasn't the friendliest bunch.

Your agents and your managers will always say stuff to you like, "It's really important to make a good first impression on a casting director. And even though you didn't get that job, because you did well that means they'll keep bringing you back in." But when you really just need a job to pay your rent, that stops being very consoling.

I remember someone said to me, "Beware of instant chemistry with people, because a lot of time it's the recognition of something familiar," and for people who have a habit of getting into unhealthy relationships, that's usually a bad thing.

I try to have a very well-rounded group of friends that did a lot of different things and weren't just performers. Because I feel like there's both less feeling of competitiveness, and it put my own career in perspective.

There's no way to know what's going to happen.

Accept your failure, move on, and don't torture yourself.

I think in theater it demands that you say the same words every night and make it feel fresh and new. Improv demands that you be operating at the highest level of your creativity intelligence. So these two skills are both very important but I've seen people who are very skilled at one area struggle with the other. Either improvisers feel constrained by having to say the same thing over and over again or people who are really good at doing scripted work feel intimidated and exposed doing improvisation.

I think that it is important to establish a world of place for the characters in improv and there is nothing to be gained from disagreeing about that. So you have to establish the principle that if some person establishes one thing we're all going to go along with it and that we are all building from it.

It is important to stop being critical and judging ideas as good or bad because I think if somebody doesn't have a lot of experience you worry their idea is going to be bad, it's not going to be good enough, if not going to be active enough and so you can start to think critically about people's suggestions or what they bring to it but once you get out of that and think whatever they come up with is the right thing right now and so I'm just going to build on it just makes everything so much easier and better.

It's really amazing to be a part of something that people have an emotional response to, even though it's a network sitcom. When you get a chance to meet fans or interact with them, you realize that there are a lot of people who the show speaks to, and that they really get something out of it, beyond just laughing. That's really fulfilling.

When you only hang out with performers, you start to feel like movies and TV and comedy is everything. Especially being in LA, where it feels like you walk into a coffee shop and you see 15 laptops with screenplays being written.

I also think the more experienced you get as an actor, you start to hear the conversations about why people get cast and not cast, sometimes it's so arbitrary. They decided the moment you walked in the door. And there's nothing you could have done to sway them, even if you'd the greatest performance of all time.

I'd say I've gone to grad school for comedy being on "Community."

I would say 99 percent of the time, you're probably attracted to the other person because it is repairing something that's a little broken in yourself. When you're getting into the relationship, whether that becomes an impediment or the rocket fuel, that's the choice of the person who's in it.

After you do a showcase for agency managers and casting directors and you get this folder and some people had a folder that was thick and some people had a folder that was thin. And there's no fairness to it because it's not a fair business.

As an actor, you are sort of only in charge of yourself. All you can really control is your performance. You don't know what they're going to do with it in the editing room, what they're going to cut out, which take they're going to use. You know, your control is very limited. As a director, it's ultimately your piece. You have a lot more responsibility, but you also have a lot more creative control. It's scary, but also liberating in a way.

I haven't ever seen 'Lost' I'm sorry.