Simon Helberg Quotes

As a piano player, if 10 is concert level, I'd put myself at a 5 or a 6, but in a completely different genre than classical or opera. In terms of classical and opera, playing accompaniment, I'd say I was a 3.

- Simon Helberg

I think in terms of a career trajectory, it's good for people to be reminded that, in spite of seeing me a million times a day on a show for ten years playing the same character, I'm an actor, and actors like to play different people.

- Simon Helberg

There's something very funny about giving a menial task to a genius and watching him find so much complexity and overanalyse it to such a degree that the waitress from Nebraska working at the Cheesecake Factory has passed them all by.

- Simon Helberg

I play piano, and I was really, really obsessive about playing piano in high school. I don't know if that's nerdy, but I definitely locked myself in the room and was playing jazz. I was 14. I guess that's kind of cool, actually.

- Simon Helberg

I love Jerry Lewis. I loved Jim Carrey when I was younger, and Mike Myers and Phil Hartman, all the 'Saturday Night Live' people in the late '80s.

- Simon Helberg

I thought it was going to be a hut in Topanga and Janis Joplin was going to come out, but it's a real doctor... I went to Beverly Hills to meet this midwife; you'd think they'd be in nature.

- Simon Helberg

My dad was one of the original members of the Groundlings, and I watched him as an actor have ups and downs, and I watched my mom as a casting director have ups and downs.

- Simon Helberg

It's not the coolest thing in the world to be walking around humming the Taylor Swift song. It's not as cool to be singing along with the number one song in the country as it is to be the jaded, indifferent hipster who wants to turn you on to something that nobody else is talking about.

- Simon Helberg

My whole life revolved around TV as a kid. I would come home and make sure I finished my homework every night by 8 o'clock, generally so that I could sit down and watch TV from 8 to 10. As a kid, it was 'Family Ties' and 'Roseanne' and 'Growing Pains' and 'Perfect Strangers' and 'Golden Girls.' I mean, I watched everything.

- Simon Helberg

I think that everybody is kind of a nerd at heart.

- Simon Helberg

Well, I think that everybody is kind of a nerd at heart.

- Simon Helberg

I really like 'Project Runway.' I know it's reality, so that might be kind of faux pas for me to say.

- Simon Helberg

It's hard to convince your agents and managers to do theater, because it's not as financially rewarding and it takes up a lot of time.

- Simon Helberg

I'm deeply insecure. I ask my wife all the time, 'Was that OK? Are people lying?' I'm not as happily oblivious as I'd like.

- Simon Helberg

I wouldn't wear turtlenecks. That I'm not envious of. But who knows? I might sneak out a few things and hope and pray that no one says, 'Hey, didn't you wear that when you were playing an enormous geek on TV?'

- Simon Helberg

When you see someone putting themselves out there, particularly when you see someone is failing and failing so passionately, it brings up this bittersweet connection to our mortality.

- Simon Helberg

I don't think Hollywood respects multi-camera television. Well, I don't think they disrespect it, but I don't think it gets respect for its artistry.

- Simon Helberg

I would say Mick Jagger plus Mr. Furley equals Howard Wolowitz.

- Simon Helberg

I think working for the audience, for me, is the most fun. It's really a chance for something to work towards. It's where everything kind of comes together, and you have to make it work. You have all these people who are sitting there, wanting to have a good time and wanting to laugh. You really have no choice but to pull it out.

- Simon Helberg

I actually struggled through teaching myself to cook because I'm completely ignorant in the kitchen. So I did really macho things like trying to make my own curry. Really hardcore stuff.

- Simon Helberg

I grew up surrounded by sketch comedy.

- Simon Helberg

When I decided I wanted to be an actor in high school, I really went into improv. I took classes at The Groundlings. I studied acting. Did sketch comedy in L.A.

- Simon Helberg

Playing piano well is one thing, but attempting to play at concert level accompanying Meryl Streep while Stephen Frears is filming you in front of hundreds of people is - well - psychotic.

- Simon Helberg

I'm interested in character and people and motivations and things like that.

- Simon Helberg

I have great instincts, like the instincts of a squirrel. You know, like when you're driving and a squirrel stops in the middle of the road.

- Simon Helberg

My mom is a casting director, which is pretty awesome.

- Simon Helberg

I actually didn't finish NYU. I would have, but I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door before I graduated.

- Simon Helberg

Actually, when I was young, I believe I met Nicolas Cage. I think I was probably eight, and I remember seeing him at somebody's house - it was an event and he happened to be there. People would ask me if I was his son, because I looked like him at that point, so I do remember feeling some connection and just wanting to say, like, 'Papa!'

- Simon Helberg

Personally, I'm not into 'Star Trek' or physics or comic books, but I know I might be in the minority.

- Simon Helberg

I am fairly physically aware and agile, and I imbue that into the characters I play.

- Simon Helberg

I walked into the wrong examination room. I'm bad enough at facial recognition... I saw more that day than I cared to. Fortunately, I didn't recognize her from that angle, whoever it was, and I didn't ask. I'm off to a rocky start on the road to fatherhood, but I got a free view.

- Simon Helberg

Surprise is a huge element in acting.

- Simon Helberg

Until I was about 16 years old, my dream was to be a musician. I played in rock bands and jazz bands. Then I decided to be an actor and kept the stable career of 'jazz pianist' as my safety net.

- Simon Helberg

Working is a bonus; working on something you love is a bonus, and getting to do it for a long time is the ultimate.

- Simon Helberg

There's a lot of closeted nerds out there.

- Simon Helberg

I certainly think, obviously, rhythm is a huge part of being an actor. It just is unconscious, to a degree, but particularly in comedy, rhythm is pretty essential, and there's probably something more physiological going on.

- Simon Helberg

I do have sometimes a difficult time watching myself.

- Simon Helberg

Everyone feels at times like they're missing a page or two out of the handbook that tells you how to live your life.

- Simon Helberg

Things are loud in a Jewish household. Conversations are up here; they're pitched pretty high. That's just the way we talk.

- Simon Helberg

I watched a lot of 'I Love Lucy.' Then I went to college, and I didn't watch TV, really. I don't know: something happened after 'Friends' went off the air. I think something dipped in the whole sitcom world.

- Simon Helberg

I grew up around the business quite a bit; I saw a little bit of the underbelly of it.

- Simon Helberg

As actors, we tend to usually have some issues with self-esteem and some need for validation, and it takes awhile for that fear of not having a job to go away.

- Simon Helberg

In America, the first thing people say is, 'What do you do?'

- Simon Helberg

Karate probably gave me an incredibly deep awareness of all the parts of me, my flexibility, and the nimble qualities I'm doing, even if they're unconscious.

- Simon Helberg

We're going to do a natural birth. At first she was like, 'We should do it at home,' and I said, 'Look, either way, when you go into labor, I will be checking into a hospital... so if you want to come along, come along.

- Simon Helberg

I think there's a freedom in freeing yourself of the baggage of ability.

- Simon Helberg

I own a fart CD. It has, I believe, over 100 fart sounds. A lovely variety, from the up-close and personal to the more experimental and dissonant. Some people prefer to listen to Bach when they go to sleep... not me.

- Simon Helberg

I try to act with my whole body and, for better or worse, this is the face that's attached to it.

- Simon Helberg

I'd say I'm really, really good for a 16-year-old, which is where I peaked. I'm impressive, but not classically trained, not a concert pianist.

- Simon Helberg

As an actor, you always want to root for your characters.

- Simon Helberg

My parents tried to convince me that school won't always be there, but auditions will. I said, 'Really? Are they tearing down NYU?'

- Simon Helberg

I've learned over time that human beings tend to want to do more than they have the courage to do or that the social contract will allow them to do.

- Simon Helberg

I guess I get really obsessive or passionate about things.

- Simon Helberg

I generally don't feel the need to do more research than is necessary to play the part for me, to inform me.

- Simon Helberg

Being an accompanist is very selfless in many ways because you're really just trying to elevate the singer and help them shine, ultimately.

- Simon Helberg

I enjoy spending my spare time with my wife, our cat, and our bird.

- Simon Helberg

Every time we do anything artistic, the way it's perceived is always going to be different from the way that we had intended it to be because it's subjective.

- Simon Helberg

When I was young, I believe I met Nicolas Cage. I think I was probably eight, and I remember seeing him at somebody's house - it was an event, and he happened to be there.

- Simon Helberg

There are those moments where you realize that your parents or your heroes are human and are fallible.

- Simon Helberg

I don't believe I'll be in the new 'Arrested Development' unless they ask me, in which case, okay! That's how easy I am to get.

- Simon Helberg

Stephen Frears is brilliant and has made movies that inspired me for my whole life.

- Simon Helberg

Getting to know where we come from is a really profound way of getting to look at who we are.

- Simon Helberg

Failing passionately is a success in its own right.

- Simon Helberg

I might love dancing more than I should admit. But not in public.

- Simon Helberg