Ben Stiller

My own parents were touchy-feely.

There’s always an element of fear that you need to work a lot until people get sick and tired of you or finally figure out that you’re a fraud after all!

The failure of The Cable Guy impacted my career. I had to start writing and acting again.

I enjoy the work I do in comedies. It’s a valid test of your creative abilities.

I don’t have a burning desire to be taken seriously as an actor. I don’t have a master plan in that way.

I don’t think the public is dying to see me necessarily be funny all the time.

Even when I’m not directing, that doesn’t stop Owen from having ideas for what I should be doing.

I think people will be curious to see what I can do as a dramatic actor.

It was a mixed blessing to have famous parents. It was tough to go to auditions and be bad, since I couldn’t be anonymous.

I think most politicians could take a dodgeball in the face.

I’m not an expert on the Malaysian sense of humor.

Very quickly after meeting Dustin, the whole image I had of him was shattered.

Zoolander was more of my own sensibility.

If you look at my eyes when I’m dancing, you’ll see that glazed look.

You’re freaked out that you’re going to be having a child, and once you’re looking after your daughter, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

I would like to do more dramas when I find a good role that will allow me to politely upset people’s expectations of me as a comic actor.

I love New York. I was sad, depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they’ve done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny, have a distraction.

Fashion is so over the top.

Whatever talent I had, I’m sure it helped that my parents were in the business and that I grew up around actors, comedians and directors.

There’s an old saying in Hollywood: It’s not the length of your film, it’s how you use it.

I’m always willing to endure humiliation on behalf of my characters.

My parents used to throw great New Year’s Eve parties. They invited such an eclectic mix of showbiz people. All those cool people were always hanging out at our apartment.

I have a lot of nervous energy. Work is my best way of channelling that into something productive unless I want to wind up assaulting the postman or gardener.

Jim Carrey, a comic genius, has a harder time overcoming the public’s desire for him to be funny simply because he’s so good at it.

I don’t think know if anything’s going to translate anywhere. You’re making a movie, you hope it’s going to be funny, you can’t think about how it’s going to go over.

Paul is Starsky, and I met him before shooting. He was very kind and encouraged us to go with what we wanted to do. It was very sweet to see them back with the car after 25 years.

I just watched Paul Michael Glaser. He was the reason I wanted to do the movie because as a kid I was such a big fan of his. I watched all the episodes and tried to get a feeling for what he was doing.

The cliches are that it’s the most generic Starsky and Hutch plot you can find.

I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy.

I’ve had a very good career and I’m grateful that the public has had some level of acceptance and appreciation of my work.

I don’t devalue comedy as compared to drama. Not one bit.

Maybe forced retirement isn’t necessary after all.

Sometimes I wondered whether I hadn’t let my career get confined to one direction, but lately I’ve decided to accept the fact that I have this opportunity to be successful doing comedies.