Gary Cole
Gary Cole
Gary Michael Coleis an American actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he had starring roles in the series Midnight Caller, American Gothic and Crusade. In film, Cole has had lead and supporting roles in The Brady Bunch Movie, One Hour Photo, Office Space, Dodgeball and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Cole is also known for voicing the title character of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth20 September 1956
CityPark Ridge, IL
CountryUnited States of America
If someone comes up to me, 90 percent of the time it's about Office Space.
Good decisions don't make life easy, but they do make it easier.
Then, at some point, you get identified with certain things.
But for me, you also have to be conscious of what is going to play. And that includes playing with. Sometimes it's just a vibe. It's what's going to make this scene work. And sometimes there may be something that restricts you that has to do with something that maybe is historically accurate. And then you have to weigh that decision and give up something for a scene to work.
You need someone to tell you how to do things like hitting your marks, or driving a car so it looks right or getting out of a car so it doesn't take a million years of screen time.
I am also a drummer of sorts. I've got an electronic set sitting in my bedroom.
You can go out in a good movie and look bad as well.
I look at it scene-by-scene. Whether it's a historical character or not, whatever, on the page is one thing and delving into the history or somebody is one thing, but making something work for an audience in front of a camera is another exercise and you bring whatever authenticity you can to it.
You always know when something works it's a result of everything firing on all cylinders.
When you make a movie, it's up to so many things and so many people.
Karl Malden was quite a mentor. He taught me things he had learned from being in front of a camera so long.
It was really executed well, from the art direction to the wardrobe to everyone else. And I have to say, two really exceptional directors who did three each. Roxann [Dawson] did the first three and Jeremy [Webb] did the second three. And I think they really were very meticulous in getting the right tone because it is both. It isn't dour and it isn't grim, but it's not a romp either. It's truthful and it has room for both of those things.
I was initially a leading man, but only on television.
I was a little nervous coming in mostly because my first scene was with Martin Sheen, who I'm a huge fan of.