A Quote by Robin Williams

I was only a leading man for a minute; now I'm a character actor.

Robin Williams

Quote Topics

Actor Character Character Actor Leading Leading Man Man Minute Now Only

Quote Author

Robin Williams
American - Comedian
July 21, 1951 - August 11, 2014

I have a problem with the term 'leading man.' It's so limiting; it involves not upsetting anyone. Obviously, we have anti-heroes now, but if we're talking about the two tropes - character actor and leading man - I would so rather be a character actor. That's why I have a career.

Jimmi Simpson

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man.

Edward Herrmann

As a young actor, I was advised to bide my time. Back then, there weren't good roles for someone like me. There were handsome leading men and character actors for smaller supporting roles. But I was told to hang in there, and it was good advice. We're all character actors now. Even a handsome man is a character actor at my age.

Jim Broadbent

How you look is part of what acting is, but the way I look at it, every actor is a character actor. Someone once told me at a casting, 'You're a character actor in a leading man's body,' and I can live with that.

Santiago Cabrera

The ability to stretch my range into all genres and characters is something I take great pleasure in doing. I thoroughly enjoy it. I consider myself a character actor, though some think of me as a leading man. As an actor, I love shifting gears from character to character, and the more range I can expand, the better.

Brian Tee

I've never thought of myself as a classic leading man. I'm a character actor who happens to play leading roles. Come on, look at me. I'm really Desperate Dan.

James Nesbitt

I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man.

Bruce Boxleitner

I have played some wonderful leading roles on stage and had the whole 'China Beach' years where I really played a leading man on that. That was a fun change for a character actor. But I'm perfectly happy going back to building my gallery of memorable character roles.

Robert Picardo

I started off as an actor thinking that I would be this Romeo, this dashing leading man. It turns out that I'm a character actor.

Alessandro Nivola

I was never really a character actor - I was a leading man who was always cast as a character. I wanted to be Jack Nicholson or Jean Gabin.

Robert Shaw

I call myself a character actor all my life. I've done a certain amount as a leading man, but character actors in my estimation - it's a lost art these days.

Ernest Borgnine

I'm not a leading man. I'm a character actor. That's what I want to be.

Dave Bautista

For an actor to be working at all is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren't. So it's just silly for a working actor to say, 'Oh, I don't care if anybody knows I'm gay' especially if you're a leading man. Personally, I wouldn't advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.

Richard Chamberlain

Though I'm considered a leading man, I still consider myself a character actor. Because acting, to me, is creating a character, not playing the same thing all the time.