I did the Ed Sullivan show four times. I did the Steve Allen show. I did the Jackie Gleason show.

If I’d married someone in show business, there’d be too much competition.

I wanna thank MTV and the VMAs for choosing me to be a part of the show because, on this show, if you not an icon or upcomin‘ icon, you’re not on the show, you know?

In Los Angeles, everyone is a star.

I’ve taken so many kids out of Pittsburgh and onto the great white way in New York City right into a Broadway show.

I came to California and got signed at a young age. And it’s not like you see in the movies, where you start rubbing shoulders with Timbaland and Pharrell, and you become a giant pop star.

There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it.

I’ve seen too many ups and downs in the movie industry.

What’s so beautiful about Miami is that we support each other. We’re just one big family, not just the entertainers, just everyone in general.

In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo.

Every time I make American film I just trust American directors and American writers.

There’s this lingering philosophy that movie stars shouldn’t do TV.

I’m proud to be an actor. See, as an actor, you live longer. Football players, the brain and all that stuff, ooh-eee, that’s not good.

I think, first of all, I don’t think people understand Ice Cube’s body of work. Ice Cube is a, and I hate to use the word ‚urban‘ but – when you think of Judd Apatow, and a person who’s launched so many careers, Ice Cube has done that for so many comedians, you know?

There’s no difference between movies and television. None at all. Except in a lot of cases, television’s much better than movies.

Actor’s life is very long.

Hollywood has a way of making everything seem like an overnight success.

I’m just changing the game because I know what the fans want and the people want ‚cause I’m a fan of hip-hop.

I’m already the face of the UFC, plus the face of boxing, WWE, and Hollywood.

I know that a large part of my fan base is gay. They’ve shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can’t be homophobic in this line of work – I’m a pop star!

The movies are the only business where you can go out front and applaud yourself.

A lot of dumb pictures have made a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be anything cinema students will revel over in the future.

When you’re doing a film and the majority of the film is cast black, for me, it’s most important to get people to view those movies as just movies, as just good movies. At the end of the day, regardless of the color of the cast, we’re all doing the same thing in this business: trying to make a good film.

At the major studios, you see people wanting to remake a TV series, wanting to make a sequel.

I don’t think the money people in Hollywood have ever thought I was normal, but I am dedicated to my work and that’s what counts.

I’m always amazed by the people who work on stage who sing night after night, day after day, week in week out.

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.

I’m not a chick-flick enthusiast.

Streaming is a really big market for me. We’ve been doing great in the streaming market, so it’s not something I want to alienate at all. Streaming counts now. They’re treating artists the way we deserve to be treated.

When I was on TV in the ’80s, I wasn’t thinking, ‚There’s a 10-year-old kid watching this and in 15 years, he’s gonna be doing stuff that was influenced by me.‘ I was trying to get my five minutes together. So now that those people are comedians and they’re influenced by me – it’s bizarre.

You’ve gotta understand that with branding and the way things are promoted, in our day and age, your older movie stars are not reachable or accessible because they’re not a part of the whole social media world.

I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense… I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash.

The future of American film lies on television.

The dominant theory coming out of Hollywood is that peoples‘ attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and they need more stimulation.

Film is a very tight little box. If you don’t fit in that box, you’re gone. Television, there’s more room to move around.

If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein.

A film is sort of binary – it either works or it doesn’t work. It has nothing to do with how good a job you do. If you bring it up to an adequate level where the audience goes with the movie, then it works, that is all.

Only the public can make a star. It’s the studios who try to make a system out of it.

In California, they don’t throw their garbage away – they make it into TV shows.

I would appear on Fox News more easily than I would NPR.

It’s no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment.

At the end of the day, I want to be part of the same conversation as Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.

It’s very intense to be in front of a live audience. It’s just an amazing experience. It’s dangerous. Everything out there is heightened. The bad stuff is extra-worse. The silences are extra-silent. The good stuff is amazing. It’s electric when you walk out there. For 90 minutes, you’re on this other planet.

I can’t stand to see myself on television.

Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.

Actors are one family over the entire world.

I know I’m more on television, and I’m more recognisable than maybe even the players because they run and train, but I just stand there, and my face does all these funny things that everyone can see all the time.

There are no record companies in Waikiki.

We were on for six years. We were in syndication for a while. It had its run. I still see the people from ‚Mr. Belvedere,‘ too. We stay in touch.

This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country.

Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the first one that was opened up for me was acting.

I never called my work an ‚art‘. It’s part of show business, the business of building entertainment.

She’s a total professional, a diva, a mega-star, not just in music but in the entertainment industry. You always learn from the greats, and J.Lo is one.

If I want to be called ‚The Rock,‘ I’ll be called ‚The Rock.‘ If I want to go back to wrestling, I’ll go back to wrestling.

I’m not in the loop; I don’t know any actors, really, just the ones I work with.

You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

What I like about Elvis is the same thing I like about James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince. These guys, back in the day, there was no smoke and mirrors. It was just raw talent. They would step out onstage and command an audience. Talk about awesome.

Hollywood is not suited for me, and I am not suited for it.

Actors know what actors are insecure about – and they’re all insecure.

I love making movies, but there’s nothing like performing live.

I laugh all the time – at things, people, stuff, whatever. But, I don’t laugh onstage because then it’s serious business.