Eric McCormack Quotes

#1. But I was ready for it and I knew I could do it. I've just turned 40, I have a son and I feel more settled and driven than ever. I think my 40s will be my most prolific time. It's a very rare life you get to lead as a sitcom guy.

Eric McCormack

#2. I had played many gay characters before, but they were finite - guest characters in TV shows or characters in plays.

Eric McCormack

#3. My wife is a real camper; it's a nice way to bond.

Eric McCormack

#4. Mental illness is the last frontier. The gay thing is part of everyday life now on a show like 'Modern Family,' but mental illness is still full of stigma. Maybe it is time for that to change.

Eric McCormack

#5. I'm torn about late parenting. I believe people should spend their twenties living and having fun and not having any regrets later. I also think people in their thirties generally make better parents but so many of my friends are having trouble - myself included - as fathers get older.

Eric McCormack

#6. I was raised on 'Get Smart' and 'All in the Family' and 'M.A.S.H.,' and certainly when 'Cheers' came along, that was a big one.

Eric McCormack

#7. Will isn't a screaming queen - that's Jack's part. They needed someone to play the part for America. It's just not the same as Britain. To have a gay character as a lead is risky.

Eric McCormack

#8. We didn't, with 'Will & Grace,' set out to change the gay world. We just set out to be funny.

Eric McCormack

#9. There wasn't an episode of 'Will & Grace' that didn't begin with my voice saying, 'Will & Grace' is taped before a live studio audience.

Eric McCormack

#10. I think we all realize that anyone can - and has - gotten AIDS. So there's obviously still a lot to be done.

Eric McCormack

#11. My most romantic job: I was a manager at Baskin-Robbins.

Eric McCormack

#12. I think there's a certain objectivity that comes from being Canadian. You're partly British and partly American; you have a good bird's-eye view of both countries. So much of the comedy that comes out of Canada is impersonation - it's less 'look at me' than it is 'look at me playing other people.'

Eric McCormack

#13. Often, particularly with voices, you're hearing horrible things, demon voices, and voices telling them that they're not worth it or that they're going to kill somebody. In those moments, they're overcoming things.

Eric McCormack

#14. I started to realise that it wasn't for me. Perhaps I didn't have to give my Hamlet before I died, that the world might be an OK place without my Hamlet, in fact.

Eric McCormack

#15. I never felt cool growing up. I was a bit of an outsider, but I discovered theatre very early on, which got me through.

Eric McCormack

#16. When I read the script for Will & Grace in 1998, I knew I was the only guy for the part.

Eric McCormack

#17. As a television actor, there's a power you're given to use your image to do something valuable. As a parent, these messages are particularly important to me.

Eric McCormack

#18. That's an amazing feeling, to walk onstage, and you're not thinking about anything, you're not thinking about your lines or what you're supposed to do - your body, your brain knows, so there's freedom. There's not fear, there's not nerves.

Eric McCormack

#19. I love playing anyone that does stuff that I don't do. The fun of playing an assassin is that I've never killed anybody. The fun of playing a brilliant musician is that I don't actually play any instruments.

Eric McCormack

#20. I always get a little uppity when I hear the phrase 'TV actor.' It's like saying you're a magazine reporter. I was in the theater for ten years before I ever had a TV audition.

Eric McCormack

#21. Growing up, my father was a financial analyst for an oil company. He was just a regular dad. And when I would say, 'Hey, come see my play,' he'd say, 'Sure.' He'd see one, 'Oh, good play' - you know, very typical dad reaction.

Eric McCormack

#22. I'm doing a very funny show in which we talk about issues. I speak at Aids charities and things. It's great to do something fun with our days and yet we're told we're doing something important.

Eric McCormack

#23. If you're doing an hour-long show, you're working movie hours, doing a 12-15-hour day. We work three or four hours a day, and get every third or fourth week off to give the writers time to write. It's the cushiest job in Hollywood.

Eric McCormack

#24. I like playing a character every day. I like having something to go back to. I always enjoyed that with 'Will & Grace.' I like the camaraderie. I like having a crew that I know and I can work with every day.

Eric McCormack

#25. Back when I was in theater school, trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, 'Sweeney Todd' was a huge touchstone for me, my favorite musical for sure.

Eric McCormack

#26. I have accomplished a lot, but it didn't happen overnight for me. I was 35 when I got the show, and had been working professionally for 15 years. It would be a lot weirder if I were in my early 20s and stumbled into it.

Eric McCormack

#27. Most people, if you live in a big city, you see some form of schizophrenia every day, and it's always in the form of someone homeless. 'Look at that guy - he's crazy. He looks dangerous.' Well, he's on the streets because of mental illness. He probably had a job and a home.

Eric McCormack