John Barrowman Quotes

“I've always thought people would find a lot more pleasure in their routines if they burst into song at significant moments.”

— John Barrowman

“Never apologize for being nerdy, because unnerdy people never apologize for being assholes.”

— John Barrowman

Yet if I was asked to do this again - in fact, if I was ever asked to repeat any of my experiences - I'd have to say, fuck it, bring them on. I've no regrets.
This is what it means to be alive.

— John Barrowman

“Cut! Go again."
And again, and again, and again. Finally, after the fourth of fifth take I yelled down the hill to the director: "This isn't a fucking marathon! If we're going to go again, tell him on the bloody bike to slow down."
David turned to me and said, "Having a bit of trouble, Captain?"
"That's all right for you to say," I laughed breathlessly, "but I'm carrying a rucksack on my back with your fucking hand in a glass jar inside”

— John Barrowman

Honestly, the world can be a dark enough place. Light it up.

— John Barrowman

“I would wish that people would accept people for who they are, not be judgemental, allow people to live their lives and enjoy themselves and that would be my wish for people.”

— John Barrowman

“I am who I am firstly because of genetics, and, running a very close second, because of choices: ones my parents made, such as choosing to emigrate to America; ones their parents made, like my Papa Butler opting to ignore medical advice and instead warming my mum in the oven to keep her alive; and very conscious ones that I've made for myself.”

— John Barrowman

You know, every year 'Torchwood' has become something a little different than it was before. It's still sci-fi, but it doesn't just deal with spaceships and aliens all the time, because we've done that. Our science fiction is more psychological.

— John Barrowman

“I don't call myself an actor, I call myself an entertainer, because I don't just do one thing.”

— John Barrowman

“I make it look better then I can Really do”

— John Barrowman

“You have to do bad things in order to become a hero. You have to make sacrifices.”

— John Barrowman

“I have a real passion for driving. Earlier on in my life I wanted to be a race car driver. But I don't pay an extortionate amount of money for cars. I'm pretty frugal.”

— John Barrowman

“I was the one who taught my sister and my niece how to walk in high heels.”

— John Barrowman

“I don't feel sorry for myself, because I'm living my dream. Even when I was a little boy I used to stand in the playground and pretend I was on 'Opportunity Knocks.'”

— John Barrowman

“'Desperate Housewives' was a good experience, though, as I got to play the bad guy for once. My only complaint was they had me in a lot of sweaters.”

— John Barrowman

“I'm really passionate about pantomime because it is often the first introduction for a child to theatre, and if that child has a great experience at a pantomime they will continue to come year after year.”

— John Barrowman

I think my biggest appeal for fans is probably the fact that I'm honest. I'm up front about who I am. I'm a little naughty. I have a naughty side and everybody knows that. But I know when to use that and when not to.

— John Barrowman

“My humour and my work ethic definitely come from my Scottish side, and I have to say the sense of humour doesn't really translate when I'm in America.”

— John Barrowman

I'm one who will always speak my mind and say what I feel!

— John Barrowman

“If you do something and it goes wrong, you learn from it and you move on.”

— John Barrowman

“Have I ever been the shy retiring type? Never. Not since the day I was born.”

— John Barrowman

“I'm lively when I perform and I always put everything into a show, but when I get home I love lying down in front of the TV and relaxing.”

— John Barrowman

Whenever I'm in Glasgow I go and stand outside the front of the house I grew up in, which is in Mount Vernon.

— John Barrowman

“I did archery when I was in high school. In our gym class we had two weeks of archery, and I remember taking the bow and arrow and firing it up and across the street into a car parking lot.”

— John Barrowman

“I find with television, you have to play personality, whereas onstage, everyone talks about 'the character,' and what you do. It's a very different thing, because stage is much bigger, but on television, for things to come across to the public, I think you have to play a bit of your personality.”

— John Barrowman

“The one thing that makes 'Torchwood' work so brilliantly and makes it a little bit above the rest of all other sci-fi dramas out there is that we have a sense of humour.”

— John Barrowman

“When I was a kid growing up in the States in the late '70s and early '80s, as soon as 'Dallas' came on on a Friday night on CBS at 9 P.M., we stopped everything from that moment on as a family.”

— John Barrowman

“For some reason I seem to be a massive hit with middle-aged women. I seriously don't know what it is.”

— John Barrowman

“I've always said in my career and in my life I only do things I'm interested in.”

— John Barrowman

“In everything I do, I find some of myself, or a lot of myself, and put it into the role.”

— John Barrowman

“It wasn't until I got involved in 'Doctor Who' that I started doing dramas on television.”

— John Barrowman

“My first professional job was actually at a place called Opryland U.S.A., which no longer exists, but I've been performing since I was a kid.”

— John Barrowman

“When I was younger I wanted to be an airline pilot, but that lasted for about 30 seconds.”

— John Barrowman

“Wherever I am, I will embrace the life and the lifestyle. I've lived in Hollywood before, and we've moved into the old neighbourhood in West Hollywood. I love California.”

— John Barrowman

“Some people are gay. Get over it!”

— John Barrowman

“We get the scripts before the table read, but I don't look at them until we go into the table read. I don't want to know, when I'm playing a moment in the current episode, what's going to happen because it might change how I'm playing that.”

— John Barrowman

“I'm an openly gay man playing an omnisexual hero, who is loved on both sides of the Atlantic. How could I not be proud of that?”

— John Barrowman

“I do tend to eat healthily most of the time, but I don't restrict myself. I believe in eating anything and everything in moderation and doing some exercise.”

— John Barrowman

“There's a lot of me in Captain Jack and there's a lot of Captain Jack in me. And there is no pun intended.”

— John Barrowman

“I'm not one of those actors who likes to analyze things too much, so I trust what the writers are doing with the characters, in order to give them their journey. My job is to come in and try to make those words on the page come alive on camera.”

— John Barrowman

“I live my life openly and freely every day anyway, and do what I want to do, but I don't take any great risks.”

— John Barrowman

If you put a label on yourself, people will pigeonhole you.

— John Barrowman

“I trust the [series] writers when I'm filming, because it's interesting for me to go in every week and see what's going to happen, and the challenge for me as the actor is to make it work.”

— John Barrowman

“Fit men walking around and bathing, it would be just like being in Ancient Rome [on a footballers dressing room”

— John Barrowman

“It's taken me 30 years to get this way, and I don't intend to let go. I work hard, but I play hard, too, and that's the one part of me that nobody sees. But I intend to be around for a long time yet.”

— John Barrowman

“I am not one of those actors who dwells on the histrionics and the subtext and future text of the character. I deal with the scenes that I'm doing at that specific time, because if I do that, they play in more of a real way.”

— John Barrowman

“As an actor, I only play what is in the moment, rather than in the future, but sometimes the past is more important than what is coming up in the future.”

— John Barrowman

When I go to Florida for Christmas I always take my nieces and nephews out on excursions, ... I become like a big kid again. We go on all the big rides at the theme parks or I stick them in go-karts where their feet can't quite reach the pedals. I think that if you can continue to have the child at heart you may grow old physically but you will stay young mentally.

— John Barrowman

“I'm a fan of comic books. I'm a nerd. I'm a geek. I'm all that stuff.”

— John Barrowman

“You can be in the public eye all the time and still have a private life, but the important thing is to keep in touch with the people who put you there.”

— John Barrowman