D. W. Wilson Quotes

To be honest, I'm not that good at staying friends. I like to move on after a relationship ends. If I break up with somebody, I don't want to see her or hear from her.

I like to think I've done a lot of different kinds of roles, but obviously I have done quite a lot of comedies.

I spent so many years with people saying, 'Hey, you're like America's boyfriend!

It's nice, though, getting older and being able to do different roles.

When you do a comedy, the goals are much clearer to me.

I just always wanted to stay busy.

I have never, for better or worse, thought about a 'career path' or anything like that.

I like to think I can keep a pretty level head.

I don't really have a type of woman.

As long as you're getting along, it's nice to work with someone you know well.

I would think that would be really liberating to play like a real cad or a villain or something like that, and that's something I haven't gotten the chance to do a lot.

You can get pigeonholed in Hollywood and people think of you in a certain way.

You're just playing a role, whether it's a drama or a comedy. I find it really fun to sort of play opposite Uma.

I've been trying to bust into the comedy business my whole life. It's hard in Hollywood to do different things. I know this. It's a struggle.

The physical stuff of a movie is difficult. It's one of those things where it's just harder than it looks.

I'd always envied actors who got to play real people or got to do research. I've always just had these scripts where, I mean not in a bad way, but it was right on the page.

As a movie-goer, I really like to watch all different kinds of movies and, as an actor, I always feel like I could do pretty much anything but a musical.

Honestly every day had huge challenges. I remember one day coming home and running a bath and going, "You don't know how to act, do you?" It was the most humbling experience ever.

The thing is, with writing, it's form or content. You need to write about something interesting or you need to write about it in an interesting way.

It is annoying when people call me Matilda instead of my name when they actually know my name, because you know, we are two different people. But what can you do?

I get a lot of "Shut up, Matilda." I probably get as many "Shut up, Matildas" as Wil Wheaton gets "Shut up, Wesleys." That was an actual line on his show, though.

Children change a lot in terms of personality. Camaraderie that you feel with somebody might not be there a year later.

I thought children were pure and innocent, and that was inherently better.

Do people think I'm cool because I was in a movie when I was a child? No. Well, maybe a little bit more than they used to. There's definitely a nostalgia factor.

I still get recognized. It's flattering, but it can be uncomfortable. Maybe because it only seems to happen when I'm looking and feeling crappy.

People like to make children into little grown-ups.

Sure, I love to read, and I love to learn, but I was always nerdy that way.

When my oldest brother started acting. From there, I wanted to act myself. That's the long story short.

I thought I started acting at 5 or 6, it was really when they were interviewing real families for a toothpaste commercial. They interviewed our family.

There were things that I knew that I was going to keep to myself.

David Sedaris wrote in one of his books that people like to make children into little grown-ups, which to him is about as funny as a dog in sunglasses.

Film can be exciting, but more often, it's tedious.

People want to bring kids to their level, and they want to make it seem like kids have this thing. It's seen as funny to them.

I guess I was a philosophical child.

I've never considered myself cool, and I don't think I ever will be. Honestly, it's better that way. It's much less pressure.

I was very aware of being younger than everybody on set.

I didn't trust adults because I thought they were all kind of corrupted. I thought children were pure and innocent, and that was inherently better. I guess I was a philosophical child.

When you're an actor, your body isn't your own. Your body is part of a tool that you use. Everybody else there is using you as a tool, so they have access to those things, too.

I was never a prodigy. I was never a child genius.

People think I'm smarter than I am.

I'm surprised by how much I remember.

My grades in high school were not very good. I was that kind of perfectionist that figured if you can't do it perfectly, why do it at all?

People view child actors the same way that girls treat their Barbie dolls.

I was such a nerd. It just wasn't something I would have wanted. And I didn't want to act like an adult.

Of course I didn't have a boyfriend then. I didn't even have a camp boyfriend then [at age of 13].

It's a little bit annoying, because it feels like everybody's taking the power away from you. Everybody's taking your adult life away from you. On one level, I used to resent it.

It's easier to see children as mini adults than it is to imagine or to remember what it is to be a child again.

I think I might like to try film again just as an experiment, but I know that I could never do the mainstream thing again.

No, you will never see me on 'Dancing With the Stars.' Sorry.

Danny DeVito later told me that he knew he wanted me for 'Matilda' the second I walked in the door. I'm not sure if this is true, or if he was just being nice, but I was thrilled when I got it.