John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgowis an American actor, musician, singer, and author. He has received two Tony Awards, five Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, an American Comedy Award, four Drama Desk Awards and was also nominated for two Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards. Lithgow received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth19 October 1945
CountryUnited States of America
Instead of being a theater actor who sometimes does movies I became a movie actor who sometimes does theater.
I don't hesitate to do nudity as an actor if it's done well.
If it's well written and well directed and you've got good actors to work with, acting is easy. But making sure all the ducks are in a row is the hard part. It's very rare
Growing up I didn't want to be an actor. I sort of didn't want to go into the family business; the main reason being there was something I wanted to do far more, which was be an artist.
I consider myself a very lucky actor that, approaching 60, I'm still employed and employable.
I was supposed to be a physics genius on 'Third Rock From the Sun,' and I'm supposed to be very knowledgeable about physics narrating this piece, ... In both cases, I'm a very good actor.
You are so lucky because you live on the west coast of Florida, where there are lots and lots of manatees, ... Most of the kids in the country don't know about manatees and how wonderful they are.
I really prize and love great painting. It's so out of date now. It's slightly come back in.
I learned the most about myself, and you ask what I learned? Well, I learned my strengths and my weaknesses, and it's far more important to learn about your weaknesses than your strengths.
I certainly had my years as an out of work actor but I was married with a baby. My wife was supporting us.
I look for every opportunity to mix comedy and horror and tragedy. I love catching audiences off-guard.
My father was a man of the theater. I grew up in a theater family. As a young man, as a boy, I gypsied around with my siblings and my parents to, like, eight different towns, went to eight different schools. All those things were extremely formative, and I think that's what happens.
I think there are all sorts of ways of turning into an actor, and there are a vast variety of different actors. You know, you interview plenty of actors and you know they come at it from a different direction and acting means different things to a lot of people.
I got a wonderful college education. I went to Harvard. In those four years I accumulated a lot of knowledge but I also created a kind of habit of learning that has stayed with me my whole life.