After ‘A Perfect Storm’ came out, I heard from a young reader, who had suffered a similar background as ‘Arizona,’ that I had helped her to find peace. That was the most amazing thing in the world to me.
I had a brief theater background and loved the backstage world there’s more backstage work in television, so I saw a job advertised and applied, and got it. That was back in 1977, when getting jobs was easy.
I watch one news channel until my soul can’t take it anymore. It’s the background of my life.
My background was computer science and business school, so eventually I worked my way up where I was running product groups – development, testing, marketing, user education.
At the time, I was making good money doing background work and demos.
I definitely people-watch. I often see photos of myself with my children: I’m always in the background with my mouth wide open, looking somewhere else.
My athleticism was really the core to social acceptance, because in those days the overwhelming number of students came from more of a public school background than I did.
There are a lot of things you can do with a law degree background, but I just didn’t have a passion for it.
When you have a background in combat sports, people think you’re this martial arts expert, but really I’m just a guy who is able to do certain things without making a mess of himself.
I like to invest in companies where I can really add value from my experience, network, etc., so checking out my portfolio of other investments, and my background, will generally give some guidance there.
The cultural decoding that many American writers require has become an even harder task in the age of globalisation. The experience they describe has grown more private; its essential background, the busy larger world, has receded.
The miracle of unity is being granted to us as we pray and work for it in the Lord’s way. Our hearts will be knit together in unity. God has promised that blessing to His faithful Saints whatever their differences in background and whatever conflict rages around them.
I come from an alcoholic Irish background – I know where I was going! But I met my wife and started to practise Buddhism, which is a levelling experience for me, and there hasn’t been a day I’ve missed in 40 years. I apply it to everything – to my work and relationships. I try to be a compassionate person.
My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.
I’m from a fancy, well-raised background. We were very well-behaved and not allowed to swear. It’s the kind of place where people hide their problems under the rug and pretend it’s all perfect. Eventually, you get sick of that.
As someone with a novelistic background, I just didn’t have much interest in creating stories by committee. I don’t think you necessarily get the best story through that approach.
But poetry is a way of language, it is not its subject or its maker’s background or interests or hobbies or fixations. It is nearer to utterance than history.
Admitting that we ourselves are bar mitzvah boys is our way of letting non-Jews as well as Jews in the audience know that everything we’re doing is meant in good fun; we’re having fun with our background and don’t want to be taken in the wrong way.
My undergraduate degree is in business, so I’m trying to get a bit of a background before I go in.
I come from a secular background.
Against the dark background of this contemporary civilization of well-being, even the arts tend to mingle, to lose their identity.
No matter the nationality, no matter the religion, no matter the ethnic background, America brings out the best in people.
My own military background is wholly un-distinguished. I was a sergeant.
Even someone as lowly as an assistant U.S. attorney has to undergo a background check, and you’re asked a series of very invasive questions, and you’re expected to tell the truth and they’re under penalty of perjury. And you’re asked those questions so you can’t be blackmailed or extorted.
I came from a folk-family background. Although we weren’t really the all-singing, all-dancing-around-the-piano folkies or anything like that, there is that idea of singing and playing with your parents and your family and your cousins.
I have a multicultural background, so I tend to have an open mind about things, and I find other cultures interesting.
I like to stay within the context of the character’s background. If he’s a cop, I have to make sure the audience is convinced that this person, a cop, can do only so much without a gun.
Acting is a really simple job – it’s just hard to do. You just have to be that person with their background in that situation. That’s all it is. My kids do it all the time when they’re dressing up and playing games.
God has a team. It’s made up of African-American, Anglo, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and a variety of other people and cultures. He never wants you to make your distinction, your history, or your background so precious to you that it messes up His team.
My background is in physics, so I was the mission specialist, who is sort of like the flight engineer on an airplane.
I am a divorced child, of divided, uncertain background. Within this division I – supposed fruit of their love – no longer exist. It happened nearly forty years ago, yet to me, nothing is sadder than my parents’ divorce.
I was asked to sing with Mavis Staples on a gospel compilation called ‘Oh Happy Day.’ And, you know, other than being totally intimidated at the prospect of singing with Mavis, I was honored. I don’t really have much of a background in gospel music.
No matter what their background, the southern French are fascinated by food.
When I first started, especially because I got the Critics’ Choice before I’d released an album, there was a lot of scrutiny on what my character was, what my background was, what colour my hair was. I fought quite hard for the music to overtake the personality aspect.
I’m a filmmaker and I’m proud of the movies I’ve made. But in the background of my life I was also very involved in the creation of the sport.
People sort of imagine Chris Morris and me sitting somewhere dark, with dripping taps and chilling background music. In fact, we like to sit on his roof in the sunshine – and there’s an endless amount of just sitting there, going, ‘So, erm, er, what shall we do?’
The Band was rebelling against the rebellion. The rebellion went to a place where it became too obvious, too trendy, like you were just following the pack. So it was our choice to get off the bandwagon – no pun intended – and do things that were in our background and what was the most honest thing to do.
In a sense, fantasy is a freer play of the imagination. You can achieve exactly the situation you want with less groundwork, less of a need to fill in all of the background. For science fiction, I would use a lot of sources to set up, for instance, what a being from another planet would be like.
I have an ethics background. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect. But I tried to set an entirely different bar for politics in D.C. that’s based on ethics and first principles and political philosophy, and not this constant bickering of, ‘Are you Right or Left?’
Bin Laden comes out of a business background – he studied public administration and economics at university, and he worked for his family company, which was obviously a rather successful enterprise.
There are so many different criteria for my collecting, and I have to confess that the goalposts do shift. But obviously, with my background, I am particularly drawn to things that have been documented in contemporary magazines.
All women, regardless of her economic status or racial background, have a right to vote, and no politician or regressive law should prevent her from doing so.
I have a neuroscience background – that’s what my doctorate is in – and I was trained to study hormones of attachment, so I definitely feel my parenting is informed by that.
I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it’s about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that’s frightening because I haven’t been there before.
My father came from a very poor background, but I was very fortunate in the sense that we were never in need. My dad was determined to make sure that we didn’t want for things. He wanted to give us more opportunity than he had, a better shot at a better life.
I got into law school to supplement my business background. I’m not planning to practice law.
One of the things I liked about my character in ‘Run’ is that she can just disappear into the background if she wants, which is what I’m like.
Every life – regardless of background or gender – has equal value.
I guess everything having to do with your background has some influence on how you tell stories but it’s hard to parse how growing up in a Jewish community in Minnesota really affected it.
Music is my passion, singing, performing. I play piano and musical theater is my background.
I will represent all of the people of Ohio, regardless of their background. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian or a vegetarian, I will be blind to race, religion or any kind of orientation.
