"I was an accidental actor. I was never formally trained"
About this Quote
"I was never formally trained" doubles down on that posture, but it also signals a specific kind of legitimacy. In acting culture, training is both a credential and a cudgel: it can confer seriousness, or it can make a performer seem overly technical, mannered, "actor-y". Soul's line plants him on the other side of that divide - closer to craft learned on the job, closer to an older, looser tradition of screen charisma where presence matters as much as method. It's a subtle argument that experience is its own education.
Context matters here: Soul's rise ran through pop music and television stardom ("Starsky & Hutch"), arenas where audiences often reward immediacy over theatrical pedigree. The subtext isn't insecurity so much as positioning. He's inoculating himself against gatekeeping - the insinuation that he doesn't belong - by owning the supposed weakness before critics can weaponize it. Accident, here, becomes a kind of authenticity: not an excuse, but a brand of earned luck.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Soul, David. (2026, January 17). I was an accidental actor. I was never formally trained. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-an-accidental-actor-i-was-never-formally-57768/
Chicago Style
Soul, David. "I was an accidental actor. I was never formally trained." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-an-accidental-actor-i-was-never-formally-57768/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I was an accidental actor. I was never formally trained." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-an-accidental-actor-i-was-never-formally-57768/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.






