Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Danielsis an American actor, musician, and playwright, whose career includes roles in films, stage productions and on television, for which he has won an Emmy Award and received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Tony Award nominations...
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth19 February 1955
CityAthens, GA
comedy cliche hard
Comedy is hard to do. All the cliches about it are true.
writing play mind
I also write plays, so I understand the writers mind, and how obsessed you can get writing.
years television lasts
Television in the last few years has been where all the great writers are going. TV now is what indie film used to be.
dance going-away trying
And that's one thing that helps me is I learn it blandly, vanilla, then I don't try to act it too soon because you start to act it, and you kind of go away from what the next sentence is, what the next paragraph is. So get it down so it kind of can - it's in there so you can then, as I call it, dance on top of it.
careers bipolar facets
I know I'm not bipolar or schizophrenic, but this career allows you to explore, to take some facets of yourself and spin it.
country art class
Regardless of the fact that in this country, certainly in the arts, we treat comedy as a second-class citizen, I've never thought of it that way. I've always thought it to be important. The last time I looked, the Greeks were holding up two masks. I've always thought of it not only as having equal value, but as the craft of it, being funny.
stars pressure actors
I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.
kids michigan my-family
I love living in Michigan, which has been great for my kids and my family
long enjoy shows
I learned a long time ago that the show you're going to see isn't the one you have in your head. As soon as you understand that, you're going to enjoy it a lot more.
night hands play
As an actor, you're always at the service of somebody else's vision. In a play, it's more of the director's vision, and he or she's got their hands on you all the way up to opening night, and if it's a film, there are even more people.
mistake block play
On indies it's hard to do, but in rehearsals, you make mistakes in rehearsal. It's really hard rehearsing a play or what rehearsal you get on any movie. That's where you get to make your mistakes, and you make big ones. So when you shoot [the movie] or you finally get the play in shape and do it, the mistakes are out of the way. If you're not afraid to make mistakes, then there is no writer's block or actor's block.
stars want kind
I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star. I have just said, 'Hire me if you want somebody good.' I tried to be as good as I could be every time out, and that's kind of bridged the decades.
jobs doors cities
I know there are people, if I go into a market or a city for the first time, there are people that are there that just want to see the famous person, or the guy from 'Dumb and Dumber' or whatever movie they liked. And that's fine, it gets them in the door, but then it's my job to give them something different.
two different actors
Meryl Streep's brilliant, just brilliant. I've been fortunate to do two movies with Meryl. And for an actor to go moment to moment like she does, there's no one better. And she dances between moments. Each take is different because she's riding instincts, she's riding impulses. And she trusts that.