Ray Liotta

“I know when I go to a movie I want to experience something, whether to laugh, to cry, to feel bad.”

“I love acting. It's an interesting challenge to make something that doesn't exist appear like it's happening, and to do it in a real way.”

“It would be nice to do a movie where I didn't have to choke the girl to get her.”

“Suddenly playing the charming bad guy was my thing.”

“You know, it was a small, independent movie and with Paramount becoming involved, it was obviously a good thing, but you can't put a round peg in a square hole.”

“As soon as I became proactive in producing my own stuff, I started getting other roles.”

“My dad said, 'Go to college and take whatever you want.' So, I went to the University of Miami. When I got up to the line at registration, I saw that you had to take math and history. I said, 'There's no way I'm taking math and history.' And right next to it was the line for the drama department.”

“The Rat Pack was the piece that really kicked me out of that little funk that I was in and then Ted called me up and asked me if I wanted to be the dad in Blow.”

“I didn't start acting until I was in college, which was in the 70's.”

“I think I had a kind of pause for insight in my 20s when I wasn't in a relationship and my career wasn't going the way I wanted it to go. I had time for reflection then.”

“I didn't like some of the movies that were coming into me.”

“I was looking to become more proactive with my career because I wasn't crazy with some of the scripts I was getting - this was before Blow and Hannibal - so I decided to start my own production company.”

“The independent-minded movies - it's always an uphill battle to get them made and seen. You do what you can, and go out there after and try to tell people about it, but at the end of the day, that's all you can do.”

“So, you need to balance it out with bigger and smaller movies.”

“This is the profession I chose, and you really learn to save your money because you never know how it's going to go, but you still want to get out there and work.”

“I just finished Narc, which was a really heavy duty, raw, independent.”

“I get up at six to work out. I've done it since school, it's always been part of my life. It's a good way to take the edge off. I like getting up early; I've got a daughter, I'm a single dad.”

“Mafia guys are all just insecure people who want their money. They're like little seven-year old kids when they don't get their way. I knew guys like that growing up in New Jersey.”

“I think drug movies free the director to make intense films.”

“People have all these preconceptions about me. Whereas if you look at the roles, Henry Hill was the nicest guy in 'Goodfellas!' I was a nice guy too in the comedy 'Heartbreakers.' And I was a really sweet father to Johnny Depp in 'Blow!'”