David Morse

My first summer at a repertory theater, I was making $20 a week. I was making a living, as far as I was concerned, and I was doing theater. And next season, I made $40 a week. But I don't think anyone in my family would have considered that making a living. ”

One year, I went to Cannes with the film 'The Indian Runner' that Sean Penn directed. Everyone else in the film was all the same height, and on the red carpet, when they were taking photos, none of them would stand next to me, and I totally got it. ”

You get to the middle of a take that's going really well and the camera will run out of film. They have to stop you, apologize and then you've got to get things going all over again. ”

To this day, that's what I love the most: finding and playing characters who are out of my experience. ”

I'm acting for the pleasure of it. ”

I've always tried to not let movie, television or theatre be all that my life is about. I've always tried to get involved in the community or my family now I have kids. ”

In independent film you tend to have stories that involve more of a community, and the smaller characters are important to the story. ”

I gave up planning when our children were born, when I had three children to feed and a roof to keep over our head and all of that. Early in my career, I said I would never do television at all; then I wound up doing nothing but television for 10 years when I did 'St. Elsewhere' and all those TV movies. ”

As actors, we often look for the scene, big moments that say, 'This is why you have to do this role.' ”

I want to talk about my very first play, when I was in eighth grade. One day, my English teacher, Mrs. Baker, announced that we were going to read 'On Borrowed Time' out loud in class. I was a mediocre student; I was terrified that she was going to call on me, so I hid my head. ”