I think actors who take things too far are funny.
— Dean Norris
I earned a black belt when I was in high school. And I did a lot of boxing and full contact karate in college.
Well, I was a drama kid.
My dad's era believed that there was something noble in being a good guy - the kind of guy that lived straight and narrow, told the truth, and stood up for what he believed was right.
You know, I'm from the Midwest, man - that shapes my personality much more than having gone to Harvard.
Actors like to play bad guys because they're more fun. They also win more awards.
You go into any doughnut shop and look at three cops having coffee, I guarantee I look like one of them.
When I was in college I did a lot of comedy.
Investment banks started recruiting at Harvard back in the day, and they'd fly me down to New York City and I was so poor so I would take advantage of the free flight, the per diem, the hotel. And then I would go audition for stuff.
Look, we're in the time of the anti-hero.
If I have a day off I will play golf.
When my kids started preschool, the teachers had to take away all the fake bananas because all the boys would pick them up and pretend that they were guns. Boys find sticks to play swords and anything that looks like a gun to shoot. It's just inside of them. It's who they are.
I play DEA, CIA, FBI, LAPD; I got 'em all.
Actually, I went from doing a lot of movies early on in my career, then to doing TV, and I don't know whether we'll get back to some movies or not.
The way I look at it, I'm a guy who acts to live.
For an actor, playing one character and transitioning to a completely different one is a dream come true.
The best thing I ever learned from my dad was he knew he wasn't the best of singers, but he always knew he was a great entertainer, and I always thought that was a good concept to bring along, that ultimately acting is an entertainment art and you have to be aware of the fact that you want people to be excited to be watching you.
As a matter of fact, I am an uncle. I have nine nephews and nieces. I'm not sure if they think I'm all that quick with a quip. But I'm quick with a spank.
I don't have a lot of downtime.
To survive in a lot of male-dominated situations - the police, the military, what have you - you put on a bit of the crass, blowhard thing, because you just can't survive being the nice guy in those environments.
I never had trouble getting an agent. I went out and got my first couple roles, and literally within six months I never had to have another job other than acting.
If you force yourself to smile, within a couple minutes, you feel happy.
I never had a month or so go by where I haven't had a job, but you always worry that someone will turn off the tap.
When you're a stand-up, you play in front of 600 people, and it's all about timing. I could never do stand-up comedy; it would be way too hard for me.
My dad was a singer in a band and neither of my parents went to college, and I ended up getting into Harvard and was the first person in my family that went to college and it happened to be Harvard.
