Citations

I bought a new house ... It's just a little, you know, I hate to say it, but even looking at the sort of money that they spend on films now, and looking at the problems that we have in the world, it's a little ridiculous ... I just think that the industry is out of hand and something's gonna give eventually.

"I wouldn't say I'm a fan of it, because quite honestly, I'm more interested in films that deal with the human condition. Mission:Impossible is basically entertainment, and for what it is, it's fine. I don't think most actors become actors to do that type of film."

• On his role in the Mission: Impossible Franchise.

"I'm not gay. I'm not homophobic. And I've never been raped. So it was acting. I look at it as the most powerful man in the movie being in one of the most vulnerable positions. And what that did was cause the audience to feel for him. It shows that no matter how hard-core you think you are, this could happen to you." - On his role as Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction.

I must say that some things some men are born to do. I think I was born to kick ass.

My approach to the work is the same, whether I had the lead or a supporting role. I consider myself a character actor in the true sense of the word. Unless I'm doing my autobiography, I'm playing a character.

Oftentimes they are. But I can't live my life trying to change me to appease someone else. If someone's intimidated by me, that's something they have to deal with. When I walk down the streets of New York and an old woman grabs her purse when I pass by, I'm not going to give it a whole lot of energy because I'm not in the wrong, I'm a millionaire and I'm not thinking about grabbing an old woman's purse. Also, there's a difference between presence and physical size. I think I've been blessed with screen presence, but if you look at me next to John Travolta, for example, John's bigger than I am. I do work out and I am muscular, but I am not that big a man. (On if people are intimidated by his size)

Quite honestly I never had a desire to be an actor. I tell people, I did not choose acting; acting chose me. I never grew up wanting to be an actor. I wanted to play football. In about 9th grade an English teacher told me I had a talent to act. He said I should audition for a performing arts high school so I did on a whim. I got accepted. Then I got accepted at the Julliard School and by then I was serious about it. I think God has blessed each of us with at least one gift. So I think it's a matter of do we find it within our lifetime. I think that's what God blessed me with. I think I am doing what God put me on this planet to do.

I graduated on a Friday and started working on Monday, doing Shakespeare in the Park with Kevin Kline in Richard III. (On Julliard)

Since God is the foundation of my life, anything that streams from that can only be positive.

I was never a struggling actor, for which I feel very blessed.

The only difference between working on a huge-budget film and a lesser-budget film, is the quality of lunch and dinner.

I grew up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood, but I didn't really know I was a deprived, poverty-stricken child until the media made me aware of it.

I don't believe in breakthroughs. Pulp Fiction was just part of the process to get me to where I am now. I would say Rosewood is much more important to me than Pulp Fiction, because it's historical.

I don't give Hollywood the power to limit me. Only God can limit me.