Top 30 Art Malik Quotes

When will we get a female director-general of the BBC? Where is the colour when you go further up the food chain? It disappears.

‘True Lies’ reinvented me in the eyes of a new generation and got me offers.

I grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and remember how unpleasant all kinds of food could be then.

I grew up in Balham in south London, and my best friend’s brother was Geoffrey Robinson, who of course later became paymaster general, but at that time, he was working in politics.

I’ve had a fantastic career playing great parts. In many ways, the colour of my skin has been an asset because I’ve been asked to play certain roles as a result. I don’t apologise for playing them anymore than Robert de Niro is sorry for playing American-Italians.

I’m not a practising Muslim.

My idea of a great holiday is not to go out. It’s to find somewhere where I’m not confronted by people coming up to me and saying, ‘You’re Art Malik, aren’t you?’ It’s quite nice sometimes not to be recognised.

Having portrayed English-speaking Indian characters in British and American projects, I have always wanted to use my mother tongue in an Indian film.

I have no idea whether I’m any good or not. Still waiting, like most actors, for somebody to find out one day that I can’t do it.

Most families are dysfunctional.

I love listening to music on holiday, and back in the old days, I used to travel with cassette tapes and a boombox.

Am I overjoyed when somebody says, ‘Oh, we’re going to do another Jane Austen?’ No – because there’s never anything in it for me.

Stick a camera up in an Indian village, and thousands of people come to watch.

I hope to work in Indian films again. I would love to.

My all time favourite films – one is ‘Mary Poppins,’ and the other one is ‘Pakeezah.’ ‘Pakeezah’ was an Indian film. The beauty of ‘Pakeezah’ was that it had a soundtrack which was pure poetry.

I’m lucky: I’ve got great photogenic eyes. You’re up and running if you’ve got that and one brain cell to attach it to.

I decided to go and find India on my own. So, I hired a cab for a drive round old Delhi. I was knocked off center by the sheer energy that goes into daily survival.

I do sometimes cook myself, and I do enjoy it, though it does depend what’s in the fridge, and filming can mean I don’t have much time.

The easiest bit is when you’re talking. It’s listening that is so difficult. If you get out any Spencer Tracy film, you think, ‘Wow, he’s doing nothing, yet he’s doing everything.’

To see the difference between when I came to Britain in 1955 with what it is today, to see how the sub-continent has been embraced, it is quite extraordinary.

How can you turn down Marks and Gran? Their scripts are so rich in texture.

There are certain things that I know I don’t want to do anymore. Playing out-and-out terrorists who terrorise people and don’t actually move the conversation on are not worth doing. So that’s probably another reason I don’t go back to America, because a lot of it is like that. It’s boring, dull, very lazy writing.

I jumped at the chance of doing ‘Holby.’ It’s a great show.

There was so much racism when I was a kid, but it was also ignorant.

When we were discussing ‘Holby City, ‘I told the producers that I wanted the Art Malik character to be honourable, and my other requirement was that he be a Muslim, because we need Muslims on TV.

Not until somebody turns round and says, ‘Art, how do you fancy playing Charles Dickens? How do you fancy playing Prince Charles in this biopic?’ Until those movements come, then no, we haven’t got past anything.

I was doing ‘Homeland’ and read the first two episodes, and all I wanted was episode three to know what would happen next.

I always think it’s kind of fun to get to the airport early, check in, and then go and have a meal before getting on the plane.

We all understand loss. It’s about what you do with that.

Today, loss is something everybody feels. It could be the loss of a friend moving away. It could be your best friend moves to the other side of town or his family does. It’s a loss.