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Daily Inspiration Quote by Andrea Martin

"I could have stayed in L.A. and done sitcoms for awhile, and will probably go back and do one, I hope"

About this Quote

Andrea Martin’s line lands with the casual candor of someone who’s watched the industry turn “talent” into a scheduling problem. The phrasing is almost aggressively unglamorous: stayed in L.A., done sitcoms for awhile. Not “built a brand,” not “led a hit.” Just worked. That plainness is the point. It undercuts the myth that every career choice is a grand artistic referendum, replacing it with something truer: actors make strategic calls, sometimes to protect their sanity, sometimes to protect their craft, often to pay the bills.

The subtext is a small rebellion against L.A.’s gravitational pull. “Could have stayed” implies she didn’t, and the omission is loud. Martin’s career has always been slightly sideways to the standard pipeline - respected, eclectic, frequently scene-stealing rather than spotlight-hogging. Sitcoms, in this sentence, aren’t framed as a sellout but as a parallel track she knowingly declined, at least for a stretch. That’s a subtle flex: she’s saying she had access to the most legible form of mainstream success and chose a different rhythm.

Then comes the pivot: “and will probably go back and do one I hope.” That hopeful hedge is disarming. It suggests affection for the form - the craft of timing, the communal machinery of a weekly show - while also acknowledging how little control performers actually have. In eight words, Martin captures the actor’s permanent condition: agency, regret, pragmatism, and longing, all delivered like an aside.

Quote Details

TopicCareer
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Martin, Andrea. (2026, February 17). I could have stayed in L.A. and done sitcoms for awhile, and will probably go back and do one, I hope. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-could-have-stayed-in-la-and-done-sitcoms-for-149776/

Chicago Style
Martin, Andrea. "I could have stayed in L.A. and done sitcoms for awhile, and will probably go back and do one, I hope." FixQuotes. February 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-could-have-stayed-in-la-and-done-sitcoms-for-149776/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I could have stayed in L.A. and done sitcoms for awhile, and will probably go back and do one, I hope." FixQuotes, 17 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-could-have-stayed-in-la-and-done-sitcoms-for-149776/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.

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About the Author

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Andrea Martin (born January 15, 1947) is a Actor from Canada.

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