Peter Dinklage Quotes

1. I hate that word - "lucky." It cheapens a lot of hard work. Living in Brooklyn in an apartment without any heat and paying for dinner at the bodega with dimes - I don't think I felt myself lucky back then. Doing plays for 50 bucks and trying to be true to myself as an artist and turning down commercials where they wanted a leprechaun. Saying I was lucky negates the hard work I put in and spits on that guy who's freezing his ass off back in Brooklyn. So I won't say I'm lucky. I'm fortunate enough to find or attract very talented people. For some reason I found them, and they found me.


2. I've done roles that aren't written for somebody who's a dwarf…I think it's just bad writing if you're constantly reminding the audience I am one. There I am, I'm on screen. I'm under 5 feet tall. Why would you have to be reminding the audience left and right?

3. I never lived in an abandoned railroad station.

4. It depends on the writing. We have a handful of the greatest writers in the business. They have such incredible source material. That is everything to me. Doesn't really matter about the genre, just the great writing. Hopefully it will give that genre a little more respect.

5. That's one of the things about theater vs. film - with theater, actors have a little more control, and one of the disappointing things about films is that once you're done shooting, anything can happen, you know?

6. (on short stature) When I was younger, definitely, I let it get to me. As an adolescent, I was bitter and angry and I definitely put up these walls. But the older you get, you realize you just have to have a sense of humor. You just know that it's not your problem. It's theirs.

7. I like animals, all animals. I wouldn't hurt a cat or a dog - or a chicken or a cow. And I wouldn't ask someone else to hurt them for me. That's why I'm a vegetarian.



8. Hope leaves the theater.

9. Just like the end of the first season, you never know what's going to happen. It's a really smart narrative. I'm sad that was so surprising, writing has gotten so formulaic. You have to push the envelope and challenge people's expectations. That adds to the addiction of the show. You never know what's around the corner. We are not done killing off people and it's amazing the people they choose.

10. I spend my nights just sitting and reading a book and drinking my tea and walking my dog. That's about as exciting as my life gets.

11. (Expletive) great…Shave my head, cover me in blood, and I'm into it. Learn to fight with a sword? Why not!

12. Bad guys are complicated characters. It's always fun to play them. You get away with a lot more. You don't have a heroic code you have to live by.

13. I had to shave my head for another project, and there's a very brief moment in the film when it's a wig…If you don't know which part of the film is a wig, that means they did a very good job with the wig.



14. I think if actors are successful at one thing, they paint themselves into a corner sometimes, and what's the fun in that?

15. I'd love to have that story like Dustin Hoffman or John Malkovich…Who was it that followed some woman into an acting class and then they suddenly thought: "Oh this is cool" and that's how they became an actor. I'd love to have a story like that, but I don't. I've just been doing it since I was a kid and enjoying it.

16. Dwarves are still the butt of jokes. It's one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice.






17. I was fortunate enough to have an upbringing that made me more accepting of who I am.

18. I think a lot of great male comic actors are introspective, quiet personalities, which I really admire. But they are really able to turn it up when the camera's on.

19. My family had a habit of collecting creatures that didn't always want to be pets. The first animal I can remember was a Lab named Zoe.





20. Being on television, playing the same character for many years, for me, I think that would get a little tedious.

21. Maybe everyone is a little too reassuring that things are going to be OK to college graduates. It gives them a false sort of security.

22. "Game of Thrones" is an amazing show, and I have no problem speaking of the virtues of HBO.


23. George Martin is an incredible writer.

24. I do not fault anyone else who makes choices to play characters that they wished they hadn't...Because at the end of the day, none of us are happy with our jobs all the time.

25. I don't socialize. I'm kind of a hermit. The life of an actor can be very lonely.


26. I love working with the same actors repeatedly. That happens a lot. It's kind of inevitable, especially if you work with the same writers and directors and you start to form a company of actors. You gravitate towards each other.

27. I don't like people being cautious and tentative and choosing their words carefully around me because I'm a dwarf. There are a lot of people in a lot worse shape than me. I'm 4'5" and it's part of who I am, just not the whole part. I guess the word to call me is my name, Pete.

28. Every job leads to the next open door, hopefully…The good thing "The Station Agent" did, if anything, it allowed people to think outside the box about someone my size in what some people considered a leading-man role, which nobody had seen before. That's not why I did it. I loved the part and the people involved.

29. (on checking in with the babysitter) Texting is everything. She's a baby. Crying never killed anyone. Well, maybe that's not true.






30. I like playing the guy on the sidelines. They have more fun.

31. (after winning a Golden Globe for his performance in "Game of Thrones" - 2011) I was talking to my mother in Jersey before I came out and she said: "Have fun but have you seen "Mildred Pierce"? Guy Pearce is so good. He's gonna win." So…I haven't seen "Mildred Pierce" (2011) but I'm sure he's really good and I just love our moms because they keep us humble.

32. I was opposed to doing TV for a long time because I thought the quality of writing wasn't very strong, as opposed to film, but there's been a shift in term of the quality of scripts. HBO has attracted a tremendous amount of great writing talent.

33. (on what makes his role so important) The fellow cast and crew make it so much fun to go to work. Even the mountains of Northern Ireland would get old. The cast and crew is incredible. The character is a lot of fun.


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