A Quote by Judd Hirsch

I was not going to be an actor. I was an engineer in physics. That's what I did: I graduated with a physics degree, and I had become a little bit distressed that I'd have to work for somebody - anybody! And I thought, "I'm not going to make a mark on anything. If I can't express myself, then I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with this life." I think it was just one of those germs that said, "No, no, no, you've got to say things. You've got to tell people things. You've got to express your opinion in this life, because that's how you started."
We got the goals early in the game and I thought we just got a little too comfortable with things. They started changing their defense, they started going from a zone defense to a man-to-man and doing different things. We got sloppy, and I give them credit for the way they played. We got sloppy and had some turnovers there. We did have some opportunities, one-on-one with the goalie in the second there, but we need to finish things. They found some momentum in their defense and were able to crawl back in.
Where I came from, the idea of going into show business was just ridiculous; in fact I didn't tell anybody because I knew people would laugh at me. So I sort of snuck around and got some pictures and got a resume together and, of course, lied and said I did all kinds of things I didn't do.
I was about 20 when my mom got sick with cancer and it was bad. It was very scary and at the time I was doing my first screenplay and I was on deadline and was alone with my father in Massachusetts. I said, "Pop, you know, I don't how I'm going to work. I don't know how I can get this done. You know, I got to hand this script in and I can't think about anything but Mom." He said, "Well, you know, now is the time when you're going to learn what it means to compartmentalize." And those words really had an impact on me.
It wasn't anything that I thought I was going to be - a singer or an actor or anything like that. I really started acting just because I loved it, and it was more from a need to act and express myself.
I admired fashion but I wasn't an "iconic fashionista" myself. I think as I got more comfortable in my skin, then I got a little bit more into fashion, but it's always been something I've been interested in because you can express yourself through what you wear and your accessories and everything else. So getting into my early 20s was really started to come into myself.
I've got to think about what I'm going to say very carefully. There's two avenues of thought: Do you stop everyone going, ban all the artists coming in from Russia? But then you're really leaving the men and women who are gay and suffering under the antigay laws in an isolated situation. As a gay man, I can't leave those people on their own without going over there and supporting them. I don't know what's going to happen, but I've got to go.
I had interest in acting. I started as a drama major in college. I got to school and said, "What am I going to do with this?" But I didn't know anybody in the business, and it seemed like - I don't know. I had a teacher who said "Less than 1 percent of you will ever make a living being an actor." That was how we opened the semester.
A lot of people seem to get carried away that something that's made out of paper mâché is going to be better than not. And I always thought the original King Kong, that terrible little puppet with its hair going in all directions, was far more magical than Peter Jackson's incredibly beautifully rendered King Kong. So there's something to be said for a more primitive version of things. I think it's because it makes the audience work a little bit more, because you've got to invest it with life and reality, so I like doing that.
One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top.
And then as I got older, see, I think a lot of times with comics, your life kind of permeates your act. Whatever is happening in your life is what's going on on stage. So if you're angry in your life, then that's going to be on stage. If you're looking for the guy that's just going to make you laugh for an hour and forget about, that's me.
Me, I say those are all great things to live for, if they're what happens to float your boat, but at the end of the day, there's got to be somebody you're doing it for. Just one person you're thinking of everytime you make a decision, everytime you tell the truth, or tell a lie, or anything. I've got mine. Do you?
Through a lot of conversations with the Minister [Louis Farrakhan] you've got to know when to say something. But if you are forever going to be afraid to say anything, then you become irrelevant - as a force. I mean, so the God-given gift that you got, you're not a relevant player in the game - you're just a dude whose got money, got a big house and some cars.
I'm very glad I've got a make-up artist. I have trouble going to school when I've got bad spots and things like that so I still don't understand how I got up in front of a camera and did it. I almost had a moment of madness every time I did that. It's difficult and it's scary and you hope that people won't be looking at your flaws, especially when you're in 3D as well.
I didn't tell anybody [had got a role at As Good As It Gets], because I was just going, "Well, that was the strangest audition..." And I just thought, "There's no way he gave me the job on the spot when there was a room full of other girls waiting to audition for it." But then I didn't hear anything for a couple of days, so I finally called my agents, and they're, like, "Oh, yeah, congratulations! We know Jim [L.Brooks] told you in the room that you got it."
I know what God did for me. I know that He is my way out and my way in. He's my way out of all this havoc and my way into paradise. He suffered for me and for everybody listening. God loves us so much. He tried a lot of things to get our attention. He tried a lot of things to get us back to Him. So He said, "I'll tell you what. I'm going to make it real simple for you. I'm going to send my Son. He's going to take on all your iniquities and all your sins. He's gonna die in your place so you can have everlasting life. All you've got to do is accept that.
My story about becoming an actor is a completely non-romantic one. I became an actor because my parents were actors, and it seemed like a very... I knew I was going to act all my life, but I didn't know that I was going to be a professional actor. I thought I was just going to work as an actor every now and then.
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