A biography for Tommy Lee Joneshasn’t been written yet.
“Characters with no integrity are just as interesting as characters with lots of integrity.”
“I've worked with some very good directors and some very bad ones. I learned a great deal from both. From the bad, untalented people, you learn what not to do. And when you work with very highly talented people, you want to emulate them.”
“Football was a wonderful experience for me. It was a means of, oh, I don't know, sustaining for much of my youth. In times of trouble, I've always had football. I always knew I was a football player. And that was a comfort on many occasions.”
“I have worked on very good movies that have been buried, and I've worked on some resounding mediocrities that have been paraded through the marketplace like they were masterpieces.”
“I don't get it. If you're saying, Tommy Lee, you don't fit the image of the East Coast, social elitist wealthy people who comprise Harvard, the only thing I can say is you have no idea what comprises Harvard.”
“No director wants to be directed, but no good director... would shy away from the good ideas of others.”
“It's important for me as an actor to know the entire script before you start shooting, and especially if you're directing, you don't want to be struggling with anything.”
“I think any stereotyping is too much.”
“Al Gore has been one of my closest friends since the day we met, on the first day of college, 35 years ago.”
“If military movies were automatically successful we'd make nothing but military movies. But seriously, patriotism is one thing that all Americans have in common.”
“As a child of West Texas, I identify with Hispanic culture every bit as much as I do North American culture.”
“In the political world, the only position I have is voter. I'm not a spokesman for anything.”
“You know, I don't really think you have to play nice guys.”
“How do you play someone in a movie? How do you do that? It's impossible - unless you know how. How do you cut somebody open and take out their appendix and sew them back up and watch them get well? That's impossible - unless you know how.”
“I enjoy acting more and more than when I was 17.”
“I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid.”
“My home town is very small and very remote and we don't have a movie house.”
“It's no fun to be a struggling young actor. It's a desperate thing, no way to be happy. If you have any alternative, you should take it.”
“I don't need much of a character in my life. I've already got one; my family knows who I am, and I don't have a reason to make an impression on the world around me unless it's in a professional context. Acting is not a personal experience; it's a job.”
“It's no mean calling to bring fun into the afternoons of large numbers of people. That, too, is part of my job, and I'm happy to serve when called on.”