"I'd like to just work - steadily work - and do parts that I enjoy doing"
About this Quote
The subtext is fatigue with the performance that surrounds performance. Hollywood pressures actors to talk in terms of ambition, transformation, and destiny; Suplee talks like someone who’s tired of being a brand and wants to be a craftsperson. “Parts that I enjoy doing” isn’t a surrender to comfort so much as a claim to agency. Enjoyment becomes a metric that cuts against the usual incentives: visibility, status, franchise gravity. He’s implicitly rejecting the idea that the only meaningful career is an upward climb.
Context does a lot of work here, too. Suplee’s career has spanned broad comedy, character roles, and a long public narrative around body image and personal reinvention. When you’ve been talked about as much as you’ve been cast, “do parts that I enjoy” doubles as a refusal to let the audience’s curiosity set the agenda. The intent is almost disarmingly practical: keep showing up, keep getting better, take roles that feel right. It’s not anti-ambition; it’s ambition resized to something sustainable, and therefore quietly radical.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Suplee, Ethan. (2026, January 16). I'd like to just work - steadily work - and do parts that I enjoy doing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/id-like-to-just-work-steadily-work-and-do-90445/
Chicago Style
Suplee, Ethan. "I'd like to just work - steadily work - and do parts that I enjoy doing." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/id-like-to-just-work-steadily-work-and-do-90445/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'd like to just work - steadily work - and do parts that I enjoy doing." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/id-like-to-just-work-steadily-work-and-do-90445/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





