Gillian jacobs quotes

I think in theater it demands that you say the same words every night and make it feel fresh and new. Improv demands that you be operating at the highest level of your creativity intelligence. So these two skills are both very important but I've seen people who are very skilled at one area struggle with the other. Either improvisers feel constrained by having to say the same thing over and over again or people who are really good at doing scripted work feel intimidated and exposed doing improvisation.

In sixth grade, we all had to write this opinion paper. Most wrote about things like why we should be able to chew gum in class - I wrote about why women should receive equal pay.

I'm a very law-abiding citizen, and I've never consciously broken any law. I get nervous just jaywalking in Los Angeles!

I think I signed some contract, early on in my career, that I will only kiss Steve Carell when I do a movie.

I've been in a lot of indie movies, where we didn't necessarily have permits or permission. I've even run from the cops in the New York City subways!

The nice part about not being a huge film is that you get to goof around a bit more.

I would love it if 'Community' could have a trajectory like '30 Rock' and choose when to go out.

Thinking back about throwing myself at certain gentlemen that had no interest in me, that'll bring a blush to my face if I think about it too often.

I had kissed a girl in the second season of 'Community,' but that was my first time kissing a girl ever, and I was so nervous, I almost knocked Brit Marling's teeth out.

After you do a showcase for agency managers and casting directors and you get this folder and some people had a folder that was thick and some people had a folder that was thin. And there's no fairness to it because it's not a fair business.

I think when you're in a relationship, either you have something or your partner generally has something that you're having to deal with.

'Fresh Air' I listen to, like, every day.

No actor wants to choose - they just want all of the options available to them all the time; we tend to be pretty greedy.

I never pursued anything but acting. But as a kid, I was really interested in the Supreme Court. I wanted to to be a Supreme Court justice, but didn't want to be a lawyer. I just wanted to go straight to being a justice.

I never thought I would be in a comedic role; my past is in drama.

I love discovering new young brands and watching these fashion lines take off, like Peter Pilotto, Christopher Kane, and Clover Canyon.

You've got to get as literal as you can get to convince people sometimes that you can do something.

I used to live in New York, and I have friends that work in the fashion world, and I feel like I had an ear to the ground there.

I used to like to make myself sad, so I would listen to Bill Callahan as Smog.

It's really amazing to be a part of something that people have an emotional response to, even though it's a network sitcom. When you get a chance to meet fans or interact with them, you realize that there are a lot of people who the show speaks to, and that they really get something out of it, beyond just laughing. That's really fulfilling.

My inners are not organs. They're actually mechanics, so I have a hole in my back, wind me up like the movie 'Hugo,' and then just say, 'Act,' you know?

You're always looking to have a unique experience as an actor, and definitely, being punched by a puppet ranks as a singular experience in my career.

I am trying to break free from my stripes addiction, but the pull is strong! I need help buying non-stripes.

If somebody is deemed more talented within the confines of the school it doesn't mean they're going to have the most successful career.

Ken Jeong might be my biggest fan.

You can convey a lot of emotion with just some eyebrows and mouth movement.

There's no right one way to go through life.

I want there to be tons and tons and tons and tons of movies starring women.

I think when you have some success as a kid, your notion of being a good actor is pleasing the director, doing exactly what they tell you to do.

I've had weird, weird acting jobs. Low-budget filmmaking where you find yourself in really bizarre places.

I first came to LA auditioning during pilot season. I didn't really know anyone. The only people I'd meet were the girls I was up against at auditions. It wasn't the friendliest bunch.

Nobody knows what the future is, except for wizards.

I think we are used to being critical and evaluating ideas.

My mom always said fighting with me as a kid was like going to court. I'm trying to realize that being right is not the most important thing.

I always try to have a bigger picture view of my career. But that didn't mean that I didn't cry about not getting jobs.

I feel like I go through cycles as an actress.

Craig Robinson is basically the mayor of wherever he goes.

I feel like the Internet has embraced the pizza dance. I feel appreciated for once in my life.

Even something as stupid as Vine videos makes you feel like you're making things on your own.

I really like the concept of, like, slowing down and savoring your food, enjoying it.

Acting by yourself is pretty darn hard, especially having to do physical comedy.

I also think the more experienced you get as an actor, you start to hear the conversations about why people get cast and not cast, sometimes it's so arbitrary. They decided the moment you walked in the door. And there's nothing you could have done to sway them, even if you'd the greatest performance of all time.

When you only hang out with performers, you start to feel like movies and TV and comedy is everything. Especially being in LA, where it feels like you walk into a coffee shop and you see 15 laptops with screenplays being written.

I had some years of definite frustration. Auditioning and not working as much as I would have liked to, or working and being paid a pittance, and sort of scrounging by in New York and sleeping on a chair that folded out into a bed.

While I love film and want to continue to pursue it 100 percent, my home is TV.

We're all alone in this world.

I don't think I've ever been mistaken for anyone.

I've been getting into drinking smoothies in the morning - I like those a lot.

I feel like so often I'm just, like, running around and eating in the car, which is, like, not good, or eating as I'm walking down the street.

Like, I'm hyper-conscious about going to bed on time, and doing my seven-step skin care routine at night.

As you can tell by my IMDB page, I like to work.

Apparently, I have good feet for ballet.

It really does mean so much when your cast mates, who you respect so much, tell you that you made them laugh.

If you just look at the number of roles for women versus the number of roles for men in any given film, there are always far more roles for men. That's always been true. When I went to college, I went to Julliard. At that time - and I don't know if this is still true - they always selected fewer women than men for the program, because there were so few roles for women in plays. That was sort of acknowledgment for me of the fact that writers write more roles for men than they do for women.

I think that initially all I wanted to do was work as an actress, and then, as I started to work more consistently, you start to maybe want to challenge yourself in different ways, so I think it's something that developed over time - this desire to direct and also to produce. I think as you watch other actresses do it so successfully and so gracefully, you're like, I think that would be fun! It's definitely something that has become more of a priority for me.

I'm a pretty goofy person. I'm an awkward dancer, for instance, and a terrible singer.

I keep reminding myself, through all the ups and downs of 'Community,' that I might never have another job that really means something to people, the way 'Community' means something to people. [...] That's more powerful than ratings.

My mom wouldn't let me buy clothes she didn't like, so I dressed like a middle-aged woman in high school.

Without agreement you just have people arguing.

The main fun of being an actor is that you get to bounce around to a lot of different worlds.

The amazing thing about working on new platforms is that there is a great deal of excitement. You know, these things - they're brand new. They're trying to figure it out. And so if you're a show that they're supporting, they're going to put a tremendous amount of energy behind you. They're open to new ideas, new ways of promoting a show, and I think that feels really exciting, because network TV sort of feels like a formula. They give you a couple of weeks, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, you're most likely going to get cancelled.

A lot of my friends are guys, so I'm used to bro antics.

I remember someone said to me, "Beware of instant chemistry with people, because a lot of time it's the recognition of something familiar," and for people who have a habit of getting into unhealthy relationships, that's usually a bad thing.

Boy, you know, it's amazing how your brain can turn into a sieve, and you can literally forget episodes that you have shot.

As an actor, you are sort of only in charge of yourself. All you can really control is your performance. You don't know what they're going to do with it in the editing room, what they're going to cut out, which take they're going to use. You know, your control is very limited. As a director, it's ultimately your piece. You have a lot more responsibility, but you also have a lot more creative control. It's scary, but also liberating in a way.

A friend of mine wrote a script, a feminist romantic comedy. She had a feminist scholar consult on it. My friend said, "Oh, my friend Gillian read it and really loved it." She goes, "Gillian Jacobs, you mean: Britta Perry, feminist icon?"

As opposed to trying to make a kiss look romantic or sweet or passionate, it's kind of fun to just have the freedom to make it look weird, goofy and awkward.

I had my life Monday through Friday in school, and then I had my 'real life,' which was my acting class on Saturday.

There were definitely bands and musicians I liked that drove my mother insane. I probably liked them all the more for it! Bjork drove my mom nuts. What I listened to was actually pretty mom-friendly for the most part. I wasn't very rebellious.

I haven't ever seen 'Lost' I'm sorry.

I have a lot of good stories for talk shows about the conditions in which I worked.

I think there's a sort of satisfaction in defying people's expectations.

I don't like yelling insults at someone who's never done anything to me.

I try to not go over things from the past. Learn your lessons and then let it go.

It is important to stop being critical and judging ideas as good or bad because I think if somebody doesn't have a lot of experience you worry their idea is going to be bad, it's not going to be good enough, if not going to be active enough and so you can start to think critically about people's suggestions or what they bring to it but once you get out of that and think whatever they come up with is the right thing right now and so I'm just going to build on it just makes everything so much easier and better.

Things are never simple when it comes to the human heart.

I am not a big 'Hunger Games' fan.

I always want to do something I haven't done before and get to work with other actors, writers, or directors that I want to work with.

I would say 99 percent of the time, you're probably attracted to the other person because it is repairing something that's a little broken in yourself. When you're getting into the relationship, whether that becomes an impediment or the rocket fuel, that's the choice of the person who's in it.

Rather than just becoming embittered by your friends' success, I think it can motivate you.

I've had a very positive experience in LA in the comedy world and found everyone to be very nice and welcoming. It's been really fun.

I say the word N-U-C-L-E-R the same way that George W. Bush says it.

It feels kind of naughty when you're swearing on set and you know it's gonna make it in unbleeped on the show.

I always had an easier time with adults. Somehow, I was always old! I still feel old.

I'd never really done comedy before Community, so getting to work day in and day out with all these great people, directors, writers, and actors, I feel like I've learned a lot.

I wasn't necessarily looking to do comedy on TV, but I don't think it's an accident that I ended up on 'Community.'

I did live in New York. Yeah, I moved to L.A. for 'Community.' And I gave up my apartment in New York.

I think maybe my mom thought that Katharine Hepburn would be a good role model of, like, a strong, smart, independent woman. Maybe she steered me in that direction. You know, because she was really so ahead of her time.

I know other actors who are relieved when their shows get cancelled, and I've never felt that way about 'Community.'

In Los Angeles, sometimes it's hard to find a magazine stand, let alone one that has the magazine that you want. So I find that the longer I live in L.A., the more digitally I consume.

I also have learned as an actor, this ties in the principles of improv, sometimes someone gives a piece of instruction and my first reaction is "I don't want to do that." I've always learned that every time I just say yes and go for it something happens. Whether it's what the intent of the direction was or not or something new happens. It's just remaining open to other people's ideas.

I haven't done improv since I was in middle school.

There is a great degree of comfort with your family when you're on a TV show.

I am very up front about about my inability to pronounce things correctly.

A lot of people watch 'Community,' but DVR viewings only count if you watch within a certain time.

I'm not conservative, but I am kind of clean living in my own life.

You know it's a good show when you involve fire and dolls and unitards.

Your agents and your managers will always say stuff to you like, "It's really important to make a good first impression on a casting director. And even though you didn't get that job, because you did well that means they'll keep bringing you back in." But when you really just need a job to pay your rent, that stops being very consoling.

I'd say I've gone to grad school for comedy being on "Community."

College is expensive; I always knew that, and I wanted to make money, partially to spend a little of it here and there, but primarily for a college savings fund.

My poor, problematic feet don't let me wear anything much over a three- or four-inch heel.

I have a hard time watching people getting punched on screen; I have to close my eyes a lot.

I think if I was in over 250 films, the world would get pretty sick of me. I would probably never get put in anything ever again.

I like the Moth podcast a lot. I listen to that.

I am very up front about about my inability to pronounce things correctly. I said real-uh-tor instead of realtor until about five years ago. I just admit I have no idea how to say Theyskens! Don't be intimidated. Just be honest!

Some girls say they don't feel comfortable in flats, they only feel comfortable in heels; I am not one of those girls.

I'm a very boring person in my real life so I got to act out misbehaving fantasies was really fun.

Accept your failure, move on, and don't torture yourself.

My grandfather can barely even hear, and Chevy Chase makes a face, and he laughs.

We're all slight hypocrites who fall short of our ideals.

I love Opening Ceremony, Kenzo - anything Humberto Leon and Carol Lim touch. I drool over Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, Delpozo, and Wes Gordon.

We all wish there were more 'Bridesmaids' out there.

There's no way to know what's going to happen.

I try to have a very well-rounded group of friends that did a lot of different things and weren't just performers. Because I feel like there's both less feeling of competitiveness, and it put my own career in perspective.

There are these important things in some people's lives that can make you laugh even when you're going through a tough time or a stressful week.

I very rarely listen to music in my car - a lot of people make fun of me for it. But sometimes I listen to music on YouTube. I'm like a teenager.

I've definitely run from the cops in the New York City subways.

When you're shooting at 9 A.M. at a club, you have to use all of your acting skills.

It's sometimes hard to accept that the people you love and feel the closest to may have different dreams and goals from yours, and those are valid. And I've felt that way: accepting people's differences and recognizing them as valid choices even if they're different from your own.

I've been making Vine videos for a couple of months. They're just six-second little videos, but I really have fun doing them. It's just fun to feel like you created something.

I think that it is important to establish a world of place for the characters in improv and there is nothing to be gained from disagreeing about that. So you have to establish the principle that if some person establishes one thing we're all going to go along with it and that we are all building from it.

Bitterness doesn't serve you any good. And it really tells you more about how you feel about yourself than anything you feel about your friends.

Inspiration strikes at very funny times.

An analogy is like a thought with another thought's hat on

Dan Harmon has this idea that characters on TV are allowed to talk about their favorite movies and TV shows and songs.