Vincent D'Onofrio

“If you try to go beyond your interests just for the sake of pretensions or wealth, your art becomes less legitimate.”

“The Whole Wide World is the first movie I've ever produced.”

“When I played Robert Howard in 'The Whole Wide World', I was struggling with it. There's this dual thing where you feel real good about being able to play this juicy part, and then there's constant shame: 'Who am I to pretend to know who this guy was? Who am I to represent this guy for people who never knew him?'”

“So I moved to Europe and only came back when directors like Robert Altman would call me after they'd seen my work in Full Metal Jacket.”

“I did a film called 'Fire with Fire.'”

“What kind of recognition do I deserve? I don't deserve any recognition.”

“When you are a character actor they trust you will go in and give them a full character and leave.”

“It's like why people read scary books or go see scary movies. Because it creates a distance. They're scared, but they're not going to get hurt.”

“When you're a child, you're able to assimilate so easily into any situation. You even start talking like the people you're around. I wasn't conscious that I was so good at that until I started to truly feel like an actor.”

“So a failed movie is not going to ruin my career.”

“They were all interested in what I was going to do, because I'd never worked in televsion before.”

“Then I did Mystic Pizza, just to do something I wasn't fat in.”

“Until I got 'Full Metal Jacket,' I was doing Off-Off-Broadway plays with three people in the audience.”

“I have changed so much as an actor over the years.”

“At our best, it's a good experience but we do 22 episodes a year, so there are some clunkers.”

“I want every episode to feel like we still haven't done this right yet.”

“No, I knew when I was doing theater in New York that this was what I was supposed to be doing.”

“To me the definition of true masculinity - and femininity, too - is being able to lay in your own skin comfortably.”

“When you look at people, you should look at more than what you see on the surface; you should try to find a soul.”

“This haunting idea of becoming a celebrity doesn't settle well with me at all.”