Will Arnett Quotes

Powerful Will Arnett for Daily Growth

About Will Arnett

Will Arnett, born on May 4, 1970, in Toronto, Canada, is a renowned actor, voice actor, producer, and comedian who has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. Raised in a family of actors – his father was television director Edward Arnett – Will developed a keen interest in acting from an early age. After moving to the United States at 14, he attended the Michigan State University and later transferred to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). However, his breakthrough came when he joined Chicago's Second City comedy troupe, where he honed his comedic skills alongside notable comedians such as Steve Carell and Amy Poehler. Arnett's television career took off with his role as George Oscar Bluth II in the critically acclaimed series "Arrested Development." His portrayal of the eccentric, self-absorbed character earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2005. He also lent his voice to many beloved characters such as Batman in the animated series "The Lego Batman Movie" and Gob Bluth in the Netflix revival of "Arrested Development." In addition to acting, Arnett is a successful producer. His production company, Electric Dynamite, has produced shows like "Flaked" and "BoJack Horseman," for which he also provided voice acting. Off-screen, Will Arnett is an active philanthropist, supporting various charities including the Scleroderma Research Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. His versatility, commitment to his craft, and contributions to the world of entertainment continue to make him a beloved figure in show business.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I'm an overachiever in underachieving."

Will Arnett's quote "I'm an overachiever in underachieving" implies that he is exceptionally good at achieving mediocre or unimpressive results, or that he has the potential for great accomplishments but falls short of expectations. It suggests a self-deprecating humor about his personal or professional life where he seems to consistently meet low standards or not fully realize his full potential, yet he maintains an attitude of determination and ambition.

"Being a father has been the greatest joy in my life... and also the most confusing."

Will Arnett's quote suggests that being a father brings immense happiness, but also confusion due to its complex nature. The role of a parent is filled with joyous moments, yet it can be challenging to navigate as there are many uncertainties and learning experiences involved in raising children.

"I'm really good at not doing things I don't want to do."

This quote by Will Arnett highlights his ability to assert personal boundaries and prioritize his desires, interests, and comfort over obligations or tasks he finds unappealing. It implies a level of self-awareness and self-determination that allows him to make conscious choices about how he spends his time and energy.

"Everyone has a superhero inside them, all it takes to get it out is a tragedy."

This quote suggests that everyone possesses inherent strength, resilience, and courage - qualities often associated with superheroes. However, these traits are not always readily apparent; they lie dormant within us. In times of adversity or "tragedy," these hidden qualities may emerge as we're forced to confront challenges, pushing us to tap into our inner reserves and unleash our own unique form of heroism. In essence, the quote implies that hardship can serve as a catalyst for revealing our true potential and powers.

"The best thing about being a dad is they need you so much that it forces you to be present."

This quote by Will Arnett emphasizes the transformative power of parenthood in fostering presence and mindfulness. Being a parent often requires immediate attention, which compels individuals to focus on the present moment rather than dwelling on past regrets or future uncertainties. The need for children creates an opportunity for parents to cultivate stronger connections with their families, deepen self-awareness, and find joy in the simple, everyday moments of life.

If you have a character that doesn't have anything wrong with him, there's nothing funny about it. The idea of the straight man is very important. But I'd rather it be somebody else, because it's not as fun.

- Will Arnett

Idea, Rather, Very, Straight Man

We live in an age where people will watch epic entertainment on their phones.

- Will Arnett

Will, Watch, Entertainment, Epic

What came out of 'The LEGO Movie' was the idea of 'Batman's the Dark Knight', so why is he so moody? What's going on? Why is he so banged up? And wouldn't it be fun to get in there and explore that?

- Will Arnett

Explore, Movie, Going, Knight

When David Cross and I made 'Todd Margaret,' we spent time there. We were shocked and happy with the reaction that we got with fans over there. It was pretty awesome.

- Will Arnett

Reaction, Pretty, Over, Todd

Everything's not black and white. We choose to make bad decisions or not.

- Will Arnett

Black, White, Bad, Decisions

People have this preconceived notion of me. I'm 'Gob' to them: this thoughtless sociopath who lives this bizarre, ego-driven life. That would be insanity.

- Will Arnett

Insanity, Bizarre, Lives, Preconceived

And then we've got Blades of Glory, and we've got Brothers Solomon, and I've got a script in development with this guy Chuck Martin who used to write on Arrested, and, you know, we have a few things in various stages of development.

- Will Arnett

Guy, Brothers, Arrested, Stages

Yeah, you know, within the context of TV families, these are pretty unsavory characters.

- Will Arnett

Pretty, TV, Characters, Context

As I get older, I'm sort of fascinated with the idea of somebody who could construct an entire persona for themselves - one that was really, in a lot of ways, fundamentally at odds with who they really were as a person.

- Will Arnett

Idea, Could, Persona, Odds

One of the greatest punsters of all time, Peter Serafinowicz, is a good friend of mine, and I've been in situations more than once where people have been exhausted hanging around with him.

- Will Arnett

More, Been, Mine, Good Friend

The voice for 'Surly' is, of course, very close to my own voice, but it's informed a lot by this story, by the arc and the animation and working with the whole creative team on 'The Nut Job' in finding what really works.

- Will Arnett

Voice, Informed, Very, Arc

Look, I get it; you come home, you work hard, and you turn on your TV... You kind of want to escape a little bit and be taken away by something. Our show required you to pay attention, and if that's not what you wanted to do, then it wasn't going to be for you, and that's OK.

- Will Arnett

Away, Show, TV, OK

It doesn't look great if you cancel the reigning Best Comedy Program, you know, you're gonna take a hit from a... from sort of a public relations standpoint.

- Will Arnett

Public Relations, Cancel, Standpoint

No, Arrested Development was such an amazing experience in every way, and you know it was very unique in that it was a show that received a lot of critical acclaim, and yet we didn't ever achieve the ratings that we wanted.

- Will Arnett

Development, Very, Arrested, Ratings

This might be controversial, but sometimes I think that being happy is a decision. I don't mean that in a way to diminish clinical depression. But on a more day-to-day level.

- Will Arnett

Decision, Think, I Think, Controversial

My definition of family is just unconditional love. The people who rely on you and who love you, they are there, too.

- Will Arnett

Love, People, Unconditional

I think that when I was in my 20s, I wanted to go after dramatic roles, and I didn't have a tremendous amount of success with that. I kind of backed my way into comedic parts. When you're young, you kind of take yourself seriously, and you think, like, 'People need to see what I can do.' And it's so laughable, especially with actors.

- Will Arnett

Young, I Think, Backed, Comedic

Because 'Gob' was a terrible magician, he was always, in great comedic moments, messing up his magic act. We used to have magicians come in to work on these tricks to actually get them wrong. But they still had to work. We had to bring magicians on to make magic not work.

- Will Arnett

Magic, Bring, Messing, Comedic

I mean, I gotta say one of the greatest victories on that show was when we got picked up for the back nine of the first season, and they made it a full order.

- Will Arnett

Victories, Nine, Gotta, Season

I started acting as a teenager, but it wasn't until I moved to New York when I was 20 that I made any kind of commitment.

- Will Arnett

New, Kind, Made, Teenager

When it sort of finally sets in that you're not going to be doing that anymore... it's disappointing.

- Will Arnett

Doing, Going, Sets, Disappointing

Any time you can build jokes around a story that resonates on an emotional level, it is going to have a big impact.

- Will Arnett

Big, Level, Resonates, Jokes

Any kind of run-of-the-mill flaws that are easily solved, to me, are boring. Situational flaws, for example. I like flaws that are rooted in a deep distrust in people because of a lack of love.

- Will Arnett

Love, Deep, Like, Situational

'Gob' is a character that I enjoy playing immensely because I have so much freedom to take his dim-wittedness to all sorts of low levels. I find him interesting because when you see real people who are completely self-unaware, it boggles your mind.

- Will Arnett

Real People, Your, Immensely, Levels

But since day one, we've always been kinda up against it. So at the end, it's not surprising that we were kind of led along for so many months and didn't know what the fate of the show was gonna be. It was... in a weird way, just kind of that was the way it's always been.

- Will Arnett

Fate, Against, Been, Weird Way

When I was a kid, I was a fan of comedy. I always loved Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Dave Letterman - not an actor, obviously, but I'm still impressed by his wit. I wanted to emulate them because they made me laugh.

- Will Arnett

Kid, Chevy, Dave, Laugh

You don't want to try to recreate something you've already done.

- Will Arnett

Try, Want, Done, Recreate

With 'Mutant Ninja Turtles,' I wanted to play a character who lives more in the real world, although yes, I grant you, he immediately encounters, um, turtles, of the teenage mutant ninja variety.

- Will Arnett

Play, More, Lives, Grant

The first paying voice-over gig I ever got was for a company called Harvard Community Health Plan, which is a Boston-based New England health care provider. I inherited a deep, gravelly voice from my dad, who has always claimed that if I ever get injured, he'll just take over for me.

- Will Arnett

Deep, Voice, Gig, Harvard

The thing I always try to hold onto with 'BoJack' and with 'Flaked' is that maybe there is a sliver of hope that they are going to turn it around. They are just having a tough time getting there. And that's the thing with 'BoJack' - he is obviously depressed.

- Will Arnett

Hope, Turn, Maybe, Depressed

Well, no, I didn't because I didn't even know the nominations were coming out. I gotta say, it wasn't even on my radar. I hadn't... I hadn't even thought about it.

- Will Arnett

Thought, Gotta, About, Radar

But as a result of that, there was, once the show ended, there was this talk for sort of four, five months about what was going to happen, and if we were going to move to Showtime, and if we were going to be bought by ABC or whatever.

- Will Arnett

Happen, Move, Months, Showtime

I pretty much choose anything I do in life based on whether or not I can work in my PJs. Certainly one of the perks of doing an animated film is that you don't have to go and get ready and wear wardrobe, and you just show up in whatever you're wearing.

- Will Arnett

Doing, Show, Wear, Perks

At no point was I like, 'Man, I gotta write me a part where people are going to take me seriously'.

- Will Arnett

Like, Going, Gotta, No Point

There's a lot of lying and these are people who are incredibly flawed, and not in very sort of empathetic ways, either. Some of the things they do are pretty awful and some of the things they do to each other are pretty awful.

- Will Arnett

Some, Pretty, Very, Empathetic

You don't wake up one morning and say, 'Today is going to be a comedy day.' And the next day, 'Today's going to be a drama day.' Things happen in life that are fun and light, and things happen that are heavier. You just have to move your way through life, and I think 'BoJack' is a good reflection of that.

- Will Arnett

Through, Next, I Think, One Morning

I'm a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan, and the only other teams whose games I go to are the Rangers and the Kings.

- Will Arnett

Toronto, Other, Teams, Rangers

And I think that at a certain point, after all the time and all the conjecture and everything that had kind of gone on surrounding this show, I think that Mitch just felt like it was time to let it go. It was best for the show.

- Will Arnett

Think, I Think, Surrounding, Conjecture

I'm not necessarily interested in telling the story of people who are super likable.

- Will Arnett

Telling, Interested, Super, Likable

Because I think a lot of people felt like, ultimately - and this isn't the first time I've said this, so I'll bore you again with it - but ultimately it was... I think it felt like homework a bit for people.

- Will Arnett

Think, Like, I Think, Bore

Vernon Fenwick. He's a cameraman at Channel 6 - he's April O'Neil's cameraman - and Vernon is a character who is from the 'Turtle' mythology.

- Will Arnett

Turtle, Channel, Vernon, Cameraman

My first movie was this independent that I did on the Erie Canal in 1995, called Erie, that I don't know if you could even get, actually with Felicity Huffman. And then from that I did this film that was eventually called The Broken Giant later that fall. And then I kind of started getting into doing pilots.

- Will Arnett

Doing, Independent, Movie, Felicity

I spent a lot of time quasi-fascinated with characters who were super-dumb and super-cocky. I always liked that combination.

- Will Arnett

Always, Spent, Liked, Combination

It's very rare that people are exactly who they appear to be.

- Will Arnett

Rare, Very, Exactly, Appear

And we... right from moment one, we were always kinda up against the wall a little bit when it came to the future of the show. There were always rumors.

- Will Arnett

Always, Against, Show, Wall

Venice is a place that is high on reinvention. The kind of place that you can go and be whoever it is you want to be and do whatever it is you want to do, and nobody's really going to ask you a lot of questions about it.

- Will Arnett

Kind, Want, Going, Reinvention

I know that my kids are big 'Turtles' fans because there's been this resurgence, especially with the new series on Nickelodeon.

- Will Arnett

New, Big, Been, Nickelodeon

Arrested Development opened a lot of doors for me.

- Will Arnett

Development, Lot, Arrested, Doors

The show had run its course on the Fox network.

- Will Arnett

Show, Course, Had, Fox

Well, we were never coming back to Fox... that was clear.

- Will Arnett

Never, Clear, Were, Fox

I don't aim to make art in a vacuum - you want people to like it.

- Will Arnett

Art, Aim, Like, Vacuum

This pilot, by far, was the best I ever read - and I hope that insults every other pilot I worked on.

- Will Arnett

Pilot, Other, Read, I Hope That

I am happy because I'm grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.

- Will Arnett

Happy, Grateful, Be Happy, I Am Happy

I'm a dad first and foremost, then it goes hockey and then work, in that order.

- Will Arnett

Hockey, Goes, Dad, Foremost

I say to my kids all the time - and this is absolutely true - I always say, 'Who's the boss?' and they go, 'You are.'

- Will Arnett

Boss, Go, Always, Absolutely

You meet lots of people in your life, and sometimes you think that people are a certain way, and then they reveal themselves to be a different way.

- Will Arnett

Think, Reveal, Certain Way, Meet

Pure unadulterated success is not as funny as failure.

- Will Arnett

Success, Failure, Success Is, Pure

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