When I grew up in Cincinnati in 1974, the Board of Education set up the performing school, similar to the New York performing arts school, and it was in walking distance from my school.
— Rocky Carroll
As an actor, you get into makeup, you get into hair, you come out of your trailer, and you hit your mark. As a director, you're the first one there and the last one to leave.
There are not that many people who can say they have been on a show long enough to leave it. Usually, you don't have a choice. The show gets canceled. There are very few people who live in the rare air of being able to leave a show while it is still in production.
It's so funny because, here in Hollywood, an actor who really is versatile and who has the ability to transform between comedy and drama roles is considered a rarity.
I have six siblings but grew up an only child. I was adopted by my aunt and uncle.
I was a class clown. I realized early on feeling very comfortable in front of people.
If you're famous for being famous, that's usually a four-year career.
A free and democratic society is not the norm. When you look to the history books, world history was not based on great democratic societies but on imperialism, absolute rule, kings, queens, monarchs, dictators.
'Roc' was sort of an experiment because none of the lead actors on our show had any real television experience, especially in half-hour TV.
As an actor, you can believe that you are the reason for a show's success, but these things are a brand name now. They're like Coca-Cola. It's like, with or without you, people are still gonna drink it.
When I was a kid growing up, there might be 10 shows on the air that had been on for ten seasons or eleven seasons. 'Gunsmoke' ran for over twenty years.
We kind of forget because what television tends to do with these professions like lawyers and doctors and police officers, we create them on such a heroic level that you kind of forget that these are really people.
Theater is such a collaborative art. Hollywood is a competitive sport.
After the series 'Roc' ended, every role offer I got was for the wise-cracking, ne'er-do-well brother or boyfriend, and I could have made a very good career doing those characters.
I'm surprised sometimes at the responsibilities you have as a director.
People forget that, as artists, you are constantly looking to evolve and grow.
I've worked on shows where the actors don't talk to each other, and if they want to talk to each other, they talk through the director. What kind of existence is this? If I have to spend 14 hours a day with somebody, we're in a relationship. We'd better talk it out.
I'm the only one in the family who stumbled into acting.
The guy who shows up on time, who has a good work ethic, network executives and producers know that. It's a very small industry we work in.
It was 1995, the year Ben Crenshaw won the Masters. I was watching on TV, and I remember watching him sink his final putt on the 18th hole. He broke down in tears because his coach, Harvey Penick, had just died. I sat there watching with a box of Kleenex, wiping tears from my eyes and going, 'OK, this is crazy - I'm crying over golf!'
If you can appeal to another person's sense of humor, you can introduce ideas, thoughts, things that they may disagree with or not believe in. At least they'll listen.
There's an art to being a good actor, there's an art to being a celebrity, and there's an art to longevity.
I went from a sitcom to a hospital drama, feature films. I've kind of been living the actor's dream. I'm not associated with one role or one medium. You're lucky if you're associated with one hit show.
I never wanted to become an actor to be famous. I just wanted to be a good actor. It served me pretty well.
I always love the holiday episodes, because you really get to see everybody at their best.
Actors on stage, you can go from playing a myriad of roles, from Shakespeare to a Eugene O'Neil drama, and it's the norm. I came up in a world where you're supposed to be able to do three things very well. Act, sing, dance, paint, do something. The emphasis was on versatility.
When you love somebody, and they go through a real adversity, you don't back away from that relationship. You don't say, 'When you're better, call me.' The opposite happens. Your bond strengthens, and you become even more vested.
I think 'director' is a very broad term. I like to think of myself as the head collaborator, not the director, because I think, for a lot of people, 'director' connotes giving orders and telling people what to do.
You can play yourself and make a very good career out of it. Do the same type of role, the daring, good-looking, dashing kind of guy. I mean, there's a role for that guy in television, films, whatever. But people who are able to shape-shift and go from drama to comedy to whatever, there's an art to it. Especially in Hollywood.
Any day, the tide could turn. You have one or two bad films, and now you've got to make a comeback.
My first live performance was the lead in 'Peter Pan.'
You may look at the people who sell the pages of the tabloids, and they're more famous for their personal exploits. I know all about these people, but when was the last time I saw something they've done or bought an album?
One of the first guys I ever played golf with was Samuel L. Jackson. We did a movie many years ago and would play whenever we could.
Television had a black president long before Barack Obama.
As an actor, you can think your way out of a lot of good things sometimes. I trust my instincts as an actor, and I trust the instincts of the creators, so it's a good combination.
My first venture into TV was a half-hour sitcom on Fox called 'Roc.'
There are always going to be hospital dramas because if you're sitting in an emergency room for two hours, I guarantee you you are going to see something that makes you gasp. That's where drama comes from.
When movies work or a TV series, when they really work, it's because of the collaborative effort. Competition is the death knell for anything, in my opinion. Especially in Hollywood. When actors are competing against each other, or when directors are competing against actors, it's usually the beginning of the end.
I think Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet' would be my favorite role. I've never played it, but I would love to do it.
