Judd Nelson Quotes

I like being a villain. Villains are more exciting.

Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.

It's very easy to confuse Sean Connery with James Bond. Sometimes in the entertainment industry, people believe the cake is more real than the baker.

I like every single actor or actress in the world, because we never know what the conditions are like when they are working. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and root for them like a psychotic sports fan

Remember to be as smart as you are.

My Brat Pack buddies and I didn't exactly handle celebrity very well. Success at an early age is far more difficult to handle than failure.

Almost anything makes me laugh, especially jokes at my own expense. And I will never, ever admit to being ticklish anywhere.

Just because you’ve only been alive for fifteen years doesn’t mean you’re less anything except old. That’s all it means. It doesn’t mean you’re less experienced. It doesn’t mean you’re less intelligent. It doesn’t mean you’re less sensitive. It doesn’t mean you take things less seriously. It’s like, these are younger human beings, meaning don’t, because they’re only ten, start thinking that they don’t know what you’re talking about -because they do. Don’t leave people out in the cold, and don’t talk down to people -don’t. It never works out.

Catcher in the Rye had a profound impact on me-the idea that we all have lots of dreams that are slowly being chipped away as we grow up.

I'm involved with Recording Artists and Actors Against Drunk Driving. I'm also involved with most children's causes, because children can't help the environment they're in.

All of the directors I've worked with I have loved and would work with again. I have no favorites.

I find it very difficult to relax. I find it increasingly difficult to find outlets for my frustration.

Sweets, you couldn't ignore me if you tried.

I don't know if it matters what country you're from, size of the city you're from, urban or rural, there are people that are hurting each other everywhere.

The movie that's had the most effect on me is Jaws. To this day when I'm in the ocean, I'm hearing that music.

Heroes always make the right decision; I find that seldom happens in my life.

I put less stock in others' opinions than my own. No one else's opinions could derail me.

I love the rehearsal process in the theatre, and the visceral sense of contact and communication with a live audience.

Young alienation, disappointment and heartache is all a part of the first real growing up that we do.

With failure, you just try again.

It's great to work with people that you like, any job, no matter what you do.

I don't have any blindness when it comes to my money. As an actor, you can get distracted by your work. I do keep an eye on my nest egg, if you will.

As a kid, I had a crush on Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch.

A fancy watch, it's completely unnecessary. I just need a watch to tell the right time.

Alien's a great one. That's a scary movie.

Ice-T was just a pleasure to work with. He was a smart gentleman.

I went to acting school in New York City for two years. I studied with Stella Adler

I always thought that the badge a cop has was more like the shield that Captain America has. It's an obvious sign of good and something you'll protect other people with, but it will also protect you.

When I was in college, all the pretty women were in the theatre, so I auditioned for a play.

While they would have provided financial support if I had needed it, the greatest support my parents gave was emotional, psychological.

My first love is acting on stage. A sitcom is a hybrid of stage and film.

[St. Elmo's Fire] it was pretty soon after that. I know we didn't do Breakfast Club knowing we were going to do that.

It's more like the inner workings of John Bender. He feels like he's been given a short shrift, he's not been provided the opportunities that maybe these other kids have. So he feels like he begins in a hole. And instead of trying to raise himself up, he wants to bring all of them down. That's a dynamic that's pretty universal. And so that was the real foothold on that. It wasn't like, "Oh, my high school experience is like John Bender's [in St. Elmo's Fire]."

My first paid acting job was a movie called Fandango. It also starred Kevin Costner.

I am very grateful to make my living doing what I would do for free.

It is a career of make-believe, of masks. We all have masks in life.

We worked six days a week [on the The Breakfast Club], so you have one day off. So on that Saturday night, it's not like we could all go out and have a drink because Molly [Ringwald ] and Michael [Hall] weren't old enough. And Ally [Sheedy] pretty much kept to herself. So Emilio and I, every Saturday night, would go into Chicago because we were shooting outside of Chicago in Des Plaines. It's so funny, because even though we might be adversaries in the film, we certainly weren't off-camera. He's a very funny guy.

[John Hurt] just really gifted, and I had a great time working with him and [am] very lucky to have worked with him.

I went and saw him [ John Hurt ] here in L.A.He did a one-man Beckett show of Krapp's Last Tape. I went back and saw him afterwards, and what an actor he is. He is so gifted.

I just couldn't go back to Suddenly Susan after David Strickland's suicide. I didn't see how we could make the show light and funny any more.

You have to be so confident and so gifted to fill five minutes of nothing at the very beginning of a play before even a word is uttered.

I was just in a few episodes the first season [ of Empire]. They didn't kill me, but I haven't been back in season two or three. I don't know if they have plans for me or not. But I enjoyed working on it. And I think it's a really talented group of actors and, boy, very enterprising to try and shoot those every week, you know, with musical numbers and all that stuff.

I went to acting school with Mario Van Peebles. For a little while, he was at the same school. So he asked me if I wanted to do [ New Jack City]. He said, "There's not really a role. We'll figure something out. But would you like to?" And I was like, "Sure." 'Cause he said it was Chris Rock and Ice T's first movie.

I was living in New York, so I just rode my motorcycle up to the set [of New Jack City]. So first day of work for me was kind of tough. I get ready to get off my bike, and I'm surrounded by the security guards, who were Louis Farrakhan's Nation Of Islam guys. Who had the double-breasted suits and guns. And this guy goes, "Where you goin'?" And I said, "I'm here to work." And they said, "No you're not." And I said, "Yeah. I'm here to work on the movie." And they said, "No you're not. Get on your bike."

I have adopted clothes from all the projects I'm in. It's really been a while since I've bought anything myself.

Adam Sandler is a really funny guy in real life. Separate from all of the movies, that is a funny man.

I did a Moonlighting episode because I was friends with Whoopi [Goldberg, who guest-starred in the same episode], and she asked me to do it and I did it. But yeah, that was my first regular on a series, and it's because I'd met Brooke Shields a number of years earlier at a charity event.

Fandango is not really a Western. It's really just set in Texas. It's a road picture. And then I did one that hasn't come out yet called Kreep, which is set in Texas, but it's not really a Western. But it has a more rural-Texas feel to it.

There was no one really like John Bender at my high school.

[Kevin] Costner said, "You don't have to do that... this is a wide shot, so you can calm down."