Johnny Galecki Quotes

1. (about what he learned from Roseanne Barr while working on the sitcom "Roseanne") Don't be afraid to do it your way, to speak up, to say "no" to anyone.


2. You know, I read the papers and I watch the news a lot. I watch "Dateline" and "48 Hours". And I think we have a tendency to become terrified of one another, thinking that there is a serial killer that is on either side of you.

3. (on preparing to portray a scientist on "The Big Bang Theory") We did try. We talked to physicists at UCLA. We watched "Nova". I tried to read some books but they gave me anxiety attacks by page two. We realized that we can't pretend to think like geniuses. But we can learn to relate to them emotionally.

4. I once had a gay producer tell me I had to do something about my eyebrows.

5. (on understanding the scientific concepts of physics) We're incredibly true to the science on the ("The Big Bang Theory"). Even the whiteboards have actual formulas on them, and supposedly they are very funny sometimes. I don't know how that can be, but that's what I'm told.

6. As they say, there are two rules in improv: Never say no, and never ask why. When another actor asks "Why?" or says no to something you're suggesting, then it's very clear that they're putting the onus on you, because they're not comfortable with it themselves.

7. (about back-to-back homosexual roles in the movies "The Opposite of Sex" and "Bounce") As far as typecasting, I'd played the same character on TV for five years (David on Roseanne), so I wasn't concerned about playing two consecutive gay characters. And, they were well-written and very different gay characters. There were more interesting aspects to the characters than their sexuality.

8. I bought a little hideaway up north, so I'll ship my motorcycle up there. It's much less dangerous than West Hollywood.

9. (on gay rumors) I haven't really addressed those rumors because why defend yourself against something that isn't offensive?





10. "Entourage" is a great show, but it's fantasy. I spent my twenties in L.A. in this business, and my life didn't look anything like that. "Big Bang" reflects a side of men that is rarely shown. We see their flaws - all of them.

11. We have Nobel Prize winners asking if they can guest-star on the show. The image of the scientist in the last 10 to 15 years has changed dramatically. It used to be the pasty guy in the basement with beakers, and now it's Steve Jobs. They're almost the rock stars of our age.

12. I am still pretty shy when it comes to autographs, sometimes I am riding the subway after a show, and no one notices me. I will sit there the whole ride, making eye contact, and nothing. That is why I still ride the subway, if it were to change, I'd have to spring for a taxi, who wants that?





13. I don't know what to do with myself between films. I end up doing unhealthy things like shopping or drinking. I'm pretty schizophrenic about it.

14. (on appearing in Don Roos's edgy dark comedy "The Opposite of Sex" - 1998) I wanted to do a bigger movie with a broader audience. I realized there are people between the coasts that have no idea I've worked since "Roseanne".

15. I was a huge theater geek growing up, and that was not the easiest thing in the world, especially growing up in Chicago, where sports are really the norm. I was always off to the theater at night, from 7 years old on. Friends there in the Midwest who could talk to you about the idiosyncrasies of "Pippin" were few and far between.



16. (talking about stage vs. screen work) As a Chicago boy who can't dance or sing, I didn't have many Broadway ambitions.

17. I'm not at all competitive. I'd rather play Solitaire than ping-pong.

18. (on co-starring in NBC's "A Family Torn Apart" (1993) (TV) which co-stars Neil Patrick Harris) I wanted to do something a little diverse from that people were used to seeing me do. I'm just a big fan of true-life crime stories. I'm not a violent person.






19. (on making "I Know What You Did Last Summer" 1997) I don't remember really how that came to be. I used to know Jennifer Love Hewitt. We lived in the same apartment building when I was about…jeez, I guess it was when I was doing "Christmas Vacation", so I was about 13 or 14. She and my little sister were friends, so I knew her a little bit. I think she suggested me for that role. It was a pretty cut-and-dried gig. I remember doing a body cast for a scene where they open a trunk, and my dead body is in it, and there's a crab crawling out of my mouth. I got a call that production was shut down, because Jennifer was so upset by seeing this image of me with a crab crawling out of my mouth. They were asking if I would call her and reassure her that I was very much alive.

20. It's never been a priority for me to concentrate on the likability of the character.

21. I am still close to my friends from the cast of Roseanne. It was hard when Glenn died, I took it hard, we were close. We knew that he had demons, but thought that he was getting better. Hey, maybe he was, and had one weak moment. I think either way He is in Heaven now, looking down on us, wishing things were different.

22. In a series, you really need to stay open-minded. It's not like a play or a film, where you can create and fully commit to your character's back-story.




23. I absolutely love what I do, and it can become troublesome because I enjoy immersing myself entirely in my work, when I have an opportunity. It's at times probably annoying at best to those around me, but they understand it's what I love doing and that I'm happiest when I'm doing it. I'm pathetically early everyday.

24. Eventually, I plan to do it all. Write, act, direct, and produce my own vehicle to star in. It's something that I have been wanting to do for years now.



25. Right now, I'm very healthy. I have no vices left. Except sugary breakfast cereal. And absinthe, of course.

26. (on his part in Hancock 2008) Sometimes the scripts change a lot, and this was the case for Hancock (2008). Both Thomas Lennon and I read for our minuscule roles in Hancock (2008). There were a couple of great scenes that we had initially. Then, the script was rewritten after they'd cast us and after they'd negotiated our contracts and everything. I think I'm like fourth-billed in that movie. Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and me. And yet I'm a glorified extra. I really have no lines whatsoever. Neither Thomas nor I knew that until we got to the set and saw the new draft of the script. Honestly, the impetus to that gig was to work with Peter Berg, because I've been a fan of his for a long time. There was one moment early on the first day where Thomas and I looked at the new draft and thought: "We don't have any lines anymore". "Should we go home?" Jason Bateman kept looking at us going, "What are you guys doing here?" We were extras. But I very much wanted to be on a Peter Berg set.

27. I like all kinds of music, even country. I say that, because whenever you ask someone what they like to listen to, everyone says "everything but rap and country". Come to think of it, I like rap too.




28. I do theatre as often as possible; basically when I can afford to do theatre, whenever they'll have me.

29. (on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 1989) I was still living in Chicago with my family. I was 13, and I read for that role on tape. They flew me out to read with Chevy Chase. They must have been really hard up; I'm not sure why I got that role. I was fresh off the stage in Chicago. I had never done anything comedic before. I don't consider myself a comedic actor now, but I certainly wasn't then. I think I have a good idea, a good notion, a good inkling maybe of what's funny and what isn't. I think I can serve a good joke pretty well. But I wasn't bringing much comedic to the table whatsoever at 13.

30. I'm usually the guy who, after I wrap a movie or close a play, will punch the steering wheel and say: "That's what I should have done there!"




31. It's that one thing that you're passionate about, that you end up developing tunnel vision for and everything else tends to fall by the wayside. Passion is appealing and universal.

32. So many people - and I, myself, am guilty of this - are interested in the lives of actors and other people we have no personal investment in. It's just curiosity, I suppose. But, it's something I'm not proud of.

33. People are complicated; you put two of them together and it's generally a mess, but hopefully a beautiful mess.




34. (sweetly, when asked about the possible unrest on the set of "Roseanne") Honestly, it's really nothing more than a very comfortable workplace.

35. Perhaps "Big Bang" fans feel so protective of the show because it is, despite being a hit show on a big network, something of a word-of-mouth phenomenon.

36. We've all seen great actors and actresses who are missing a certain chemistry. And it's not about getting along or not getting along.

37. (about the homosexually-themed Broadway satire "The Little Dog Laughed", in which he performed) At its core, the play is about what we all sacrifice to be successful, whatever our careers or goals.



38. There is that stereotype of a nerd with the high pants and pocket protector and that kind of thing. That can sustain comedy for maybe a movie - hence the "Revenge of the Nerds" franchise - but not for hopefully years on the air. It's a sight gag, not a story.

39. (on how he landed his role on "Roseanne" 1988) That character was interesting, because it really grew organically, just in playing it. Initially, it was only supposed to be a couple of lines. Rose and I had worked together on a TV movie. She got me an episode, to do one scene on the show. There wasn't much there to do. Kind of rile things up with Sara Gilbert. It wasn't a whole lot to study or create or crawl into. But after that one episode, she asked me to do three more episodes, and then she asked me to do three years. You've got to understand: I was a massive fan of the show. I remember watching the pilot with my family in Chicago, when I was a kid. That show's time slot really governed when my family ate dinner. So I was very intimidated, being on that set, surrounded by television heroes of mine. That scared little rabbit that I was, observing all of this from the shadowy corners of the stage, was something the writers were brilliant enough to observe and inoculate into the character. Eventually, that became something. The way they wrote it and the way I played it. And it fortunately played so well off the "Darlene" character, too. My spinelessness and her strength.

40. It was funny be considered a poster boy for teenage girl crushes, I never thought THAT could happen! It was embarrassing, but it was also a big boost to the ego.

41. Comedy is similar to hockey…in only one way. You get a lot of credit for assists. So I try to serve whatever the intention is, be it the joke or the story or the scene or the moment or the kiss, even if it's not my joke or moment.

42. (about society's fascination with celebrity life) There's an interesting dynamic of people wanting to know all the details, but also wanting to be part of this fantasy world.

43. We didn't have a TV because we didn't have a whole lot of money. My parents would have their friends over - their friends who thought: "How can you live without a TV?"

44. I am so much more than just "David" on Roseanne. I am a film star, a stage actor, a screen writer, and a aspiring director. David is so 90's, let's move on now.



45. (on making "Vanilla Sky" 2001) That was a blast, because I got to hang around New York for three or four weeks and play Boggle with supermodels. Cameron Crowe wouldn't give out scripts, and I'm a homework guy, so I called him and I said: "You've got to tell me something. Give me something I can invest myself in so I feel prepared when I show up in the morning". He said: "Listen to The Beatles", which was, you know, not much of a help at all. I think I may have hung up on him. (Laughs). But he wouldn't give out a script! So every day I would show up, and there'd be a couple of pages in my trailer. A line or two, or no lines. I never knew how big or small my role was going to be. I just showed up every day. I did invest myself in listening to The Beatles, because I had nothing else to work with, and I learned that he had based a lot of it in The Beatles. My character's name, "Peter Brown", was the name of the assistant to John and Yoko, and I think he appears in the lyrics to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko". But it was good fun. Tom Cruise was amazing - a really, really nice guy.


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