Top 90 John C. Reilly Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “I view my strongest competition as myself. You’re always trying to top yourself, rather than worrying about what other people are doing.”

— John C. Reilly

2. “I’m a big fan of the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films.”

— John C. Reilly

3. “There’s so much joy in doing comedy work, and that’s one of the reasons I like to do it – because it’s just a hilarious day at work.”

— John C. Reilly

4. “There is something about the water – that solitary kind of peaceful feeling. You’re on earth but not quite.”

— John C. Reilly

5. “The less people know about me in reality, the more they can accept of me as a character.”

— John C. Reilly

6. “I always felt really guilty if I spent too much time playing video games. It’s a colossal waste of time. And I can’t say it’s a very satisfying feeling at the end of the day, if you’ve spent eight hours playing a video game; you just end up feeling kind of spent, and used.”

— John C. Reilly

7. “I was more like a middle child. My youngest brother was the baby, so he got all the attention that the baby gets. And my older brothers were getting into so much trouble that I was left in the middle, doing plays. I was up to no good, but my mother didn’t know it!”

— John C. Reilly

8. “Hollywood is an illusion. These intense workplaces, with very close relationships, a few months at a time – and then it ends.”

— John C. Reilly

9. “I was a founding member of the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ club at my high school. I was in chorus, I was in swing choir. I was an outcast but I was an outcast among a group of outcasts.”

— John C. Reilly

10. “I did a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his skill level was eons ahead of mine. It was really more like an abattoir – he just slaughtered my character over and over again.”

— John C. Reilly

11. “Young people can be annoying, let’s face it. But they can also be really refreshing to be around and full of enthusiasm.”

— John C. Reilly

12. “I come from a pretty working-class neighborhood in Chicago. Hard work was just expected of you. It wasn’t some noble thing you did; it was a prerequisite. It’s what a man did. You get up, you put on your boots, and you work hard. We’ve lost a lot of that, I’m afraid.”

— John C. Reilly

13. “My family are all storytellers, and I think I inherited a lot more of that gene than other people in my family. I guess I was fun to have around.”

— John C. Reilly

14. “People say, ‘Don’t you get tired of people coming up to you all the time?’ But what’s wrong with strangers saying they love you?”

— John C. Reilly

15. “I don’t know how to be like a Bill Murray or a Will Ferrell, these guys who know how to make a line funny just by, I don’t know, some extra-sense perception. I only know character and emotion and real acting; that’s all I know how to do.”

— John C. Reilly

16. “I love that people can’t place me. They don’t know my name. That’s ‘mission accomplished’ in my world.”

— John C. Reilly

17. “Acting’s all about the confidence you exude, especially on film. I mean, nervousness isn’t attractive in anyone, but a film camera will seek it out and punish you.”

— John C. Reilly

18. “I swear and it comes off a little angry, no matter how funny I’m trying to do it. If I use certain words with a certain intensity, it’s like ‘Whoa whoa whoa, buddy buddy!’”

— John C. Reilly

19. “I’m aware of how lucky I am. Being able to make pretty good money, and get to do a lot of fun work, and at the same time I’m not besieged by photographers.”

— John C. Reilly

20. “This is real human drama, we’re not creating some amusement park ride for the summer. Even though the movie is really exciting to watch, it’s got a real pathos behind it.”

— John C. Reilly

21. “If you’re really being honest with yourself when you’re acting, part of it is touching the real you. You can only separate yourself so much from the character. Those vulnerable moments do touch me.”

— John C. Reilly

22. “I don’t really get off on the anonymous love of strangers, which I think a lot of actors do. They’re lacking something in their own personal lives, so they want the adoration of autographs and all that stuff.”

— John C. Reilly

23. “Really if you look at my filmography, there’s something for everyone!”

— John C. Reilly

24. “I’m dating myself by saying this, but I was the test audience for ‘Space Invaders.’ I remember when that was the first game that wasn’t a pinball game. I spent a lot of money on ‘Space Invaders,’ in the form of quarters, of course.”

— John C. Reilly

25. “I actually envy actors who have a persona: ‘This is the way I am. This is the part I play.’ And do it over and over and over. To me, that’s a lot easier than trying to reinvent yourself every six months.”

— John C. Reilly

26. “I’m a big fan of not letting the audience of off the hook, as they say. I like it when things feel real, and that’s oftentimes not comfortable.”

— John C. Reilly

27. “In Chicago it’s really a case of the play’s the thing – people are just so happy to be acting, you know? We were all actors – not like in New York or Los Angeles, where everyone says they are actors but they are actually waiting tables and hustling for spots in commercials.”

— John C. Reilly

28. “One of the unique things is that whether we were out at sea or in the middle of the water tank, a lot of times you just couldn’t leave. Especially when we were out at sea.”

— John C. Reilly

29. “I’ve never been someone who’s been given work because of the way I look or because I have some box office appeal. I get work because people know I’m swinging as hard as I can, trying to connect, giving it my level best. I have a face for radio, but here I am doing what I do.”

— John C. Reilly

30. “I am one of those people who is not very patient in the makeup chair. I have been offered movies like ‘Planet of the Apes’ and stuff like ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ and I turned them down.”

— John C. Reilly

31. “It’s a mystery why certain people find certain things funny.”

— John C. Reilly

32. “I would consider directing. I think directing myself would be tough, but I’m definitely interested in directing. I might start off directing a play before I move to a film.”

— John C. Reilly

33. “Being unprepared makes me nervous. I’m old-fashioned show folk.”

— John C. Reilly

34. “I don’t deliberately go into comedy or go into indies, but I do deliberately try to keep changing tact, because I think that is the key to longevity in a career.”

— John C. Reilly

35. “I was a solid C student because I was doing so many plays. I was a drama nerd, but I was also kind of a Zelig-like character; I would shift between different groups of people. But the people I spent most of my time with were either chorus or swing choir or the drama nerds.”

— John C. Reilly

36. “It’s thought of as an eccentric thing for an actor to really try to maintain quality control through the whole career. Most people think, ‘You just work. You just keep working.’ And in some ways I wish I could be a guy who’s just a workhorse.”

— John C. Reilly

37. “When I first joined SAG, there was another John Reilly. My dad was John Reilly, too, but growing up I was John John. Nobody in life calls me John C. It’s more like, ‘Hey you, Step Brother!’”

— John C. Reilly

38. “Honestly, to tell you the truth, being trapped in any video game sounds like a living nightmare to me. In most video games, the point is it’s a fight for survival, so I think it would be a terrifying place to live.”

— John C. Reilly

39. “Life is often confusing and sad, and I’m a big fan of the slap and the tickle, as they say.”

— John C. Reilly

40. “Why people pick me for the roles that they do is a bit of a mystery.”

— John C. Reilly

41. “There is a level of fame that is really unmanageable. But most of the people who experience that level of fame are compensated in other ways. Private villas and chauffeured boats.”

— John C. Reilly

42. “Once you become tagged as anything, it becomes difficult to shake it, because the less imaginative people in the business want you to do what worked for the last guy. That’s always been something I’ve had to deal with.”

— John C. Reilly

43. “I really enjoy my time off. If I’m going to go to work, it has to be something I really believe in, or else it’s totally tedious.”

— John C. Reilly

44. “There are a lot of actors in the world, there’s a small number that actually get to work as actors, and there is a tiny group of actors that are celebrated in the way that I have been. I feel incredibly lucky.”

— John C. Reilly

45. “I try to take things that challenge me either physically or mentally, or I have to learn a new skill.”

— John C. Reilly

46. “I’m not of the manor born; I’ve never felt entitled in that way. I just came to Hollywood to be an actor. All that lifestyle stuff is something to be managed.”

— John C. Reilly

47. “I like people who are able to keep pushing themselves and challenging themselves even after great success.”

— John C. Reilly

48. “Whenever I work on something, I try and throw everything I have at it. Then if the director finds it useful they use it, and if not, they ignore it!”

— John C. Reilly

49. “If you get made fun for the way you look, then maybe wearing the same thing every day is the best way to protect yourself.”

— John C. Reilly

50. “I always say it takes as much preparation and thought to do a small part as a leading part. In some ways, leads are easier because you have the luxury of time to discover the character.”

— John C. Reilly