Words matter. These are the best Joshua Malina Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
My dad is a very good sounding board. He’s very, very smart. Both of my parents are very, very sharp, much smarter than I, I’m happy to acknowledge.
There are many, many, actors with whom I’d like to share a stage or a set.
It would be a disappointment for me to take a job, as often happens, having to shoot out-of-town and not where I live.
I always wanted to be an actor. It sort of prevented that whole – I never had any of that kind of angsty period old and doing musicals at camp and community theater and plays at school; it was just always what I most enjoyed and always what I intended to pursue.
I’m proud of my work, and I try my best.
A lot of people stop me to say nice things about ‘The West Wing,’ nice things about ‘Sports Night’ – so many people that I’m like, ‘Where were you when it was on?’
I knew I wanted to be an actor, and my mother said, ‘Call Aaron Sorkin.’ It seemed dubious that I’d make it as an actor by calling Jews I knew, but it worked.
I delight in embarrassing somebody else.
When I came on ‘The West Wing,’ I jumped onto something that was already a steaming locomotive of a hit. It was very exciting for me because I knew, the moment I got the ‘West Wing’ job, ‘Well, hey, so now I’m on a hit show because it already is established and very popular.’
I have a very thick skin altogether – surprisingly, many actors are rather fragile, but I get that of the 10 million people watching an episode, probably 3 million hate me, and I’m comfortable with that.
It’s very easy to divide a long shoot day into 15 or 20 rounds of ‘What do I eat next?’
I’m a provocateur.
A lot of shows, things will just simmer and simmer and maybe never explode into the open, or only risk exploding into the open when it’s clear that the series has gotten to its endgame. So I’m always impressed – but not surprised – when ‘Scandal’ just completely goes for it.
‘Backwash’ is an old-school, slapstick-y romp between three eccentric loser friends who inadvertently rob a bank, armed solely with a salami and a sweat sock, and then find themselves on the run pursued by singing cops. It’s kind of a classic piece, a sophisticated piece, if you will.
With ‘Scandal,’ I was there from the beginning. I got to experience the transformation from its initial slow start to the water-cooler hit it became. I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and am deeply grateful for it. I can’t believe how often people stop me on the street to talk about it.
I like to put shaving cream in the door handle of people’s cars and that kind of thing.
Any celebrity that goes on Twitter and spouts off, as if we should care what they say, is opening himself or herself up to ridicule by anyone else.
Jon Favreau hates me.
For better or worse, I have a lot of vaudeville circus skills that you just can’t showcase in Aaron Sorkin’s work.
I like the concept of escalating warfare, but you need someone to fight back in order for things to escalate. If there’s no confrontation or argument going on, it’s too dull for me. I think that’s the nature of the prankster: Things are too quiet. What can I do?
You can never entirely rest comfortably with Michael Black or Michael Paynes.
Coming up in the School of Aaron Sorkin Delivery of Fast-Paced Dialogue and Hyper-Articulateness prepared me well for Shondaland, where there are many of the same factors at play.
I grew up and I was weaned on the Marx Brothers. They were sort of my all-time favorite. My parents showed me their movies when I was very young. And as I got older, I became a Charlie Chaplin fan, and I love Buster Keaton.
I won’t divulge the details, but there’s a way to call somebody’s phone and have whatever number you want appear on the caller I.D. so that the call you’re making appears to be coming from someone else.
Aaron Sorkin has been incredibly good to me; I don’t know that I would have an acting career without him. Thanks to him, people think I’m smart and nice, but I’m neither.
I’m incapable of truly relaxing. I remember when I was younger and less wise or experienced, actors that I knew would always talk about jobs ending and wondering whether they were ever going to work again. Now that’s my life.
I’m in a profession where if you’re planning more than six months ahead, you’re doing it wrong!
I always wanted to be an actor.
I sure do enjoy my ice cream. And I consider a pint a good start.
I actually have, in all seriousness, in the back of my mind someday to write a book, the title of which would be ‘Quit Now and Other Practical Advice for the Aspiring Actor.’