"I'm just looking always for characters that change, because I want to get better, as an actor and as a person"
About this Quote
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is smuggling a professional manifesto into a modest little sentence. He frames his taste in roles as a hunger for "characters that change", but the real tell is the double bind he sets up: craft and selfhood tethered together. For an actor best known for charismatic heavies and morally complicated men, this isn’t just a preference for juicy arcs; it’s a way to legitimize risk. Playing a static character might pay the bills, but it doesn’t justify the emotional exposure. Change does.
The phrasing matters. "I'm just looking always" sounds casual, almost self-deprecating, as if ambition would be gauche to admit outright. Yet "always" is totalizing, a quiet insistence that growth is not an occasional project but the job description. It also nudges against the entertainment industry's incentives: franchises reward consistency, branding rewards recognizability, and audiences often want the same feeling in a new container. Morgan’s line argues for the opposite: the point is to become unrecognizable, to move.
The subtext is therapeutic without being sanctimonious. He’s not claiming art will save you; he’s admitting that repetition can rot you. "As an actor and as a person" collapses the usual boundary between performance and life, hinting that the work is only worth doing if it leaves a mark. In an era when celebrity can freeze a public image in place, Morgan is staking out a more private, more practical definition of success: the role that changes you back.
The phrasing matters. "I'm just looking always" sounds casual, almost self-deprecating, as if ambition would be gauche to admit outright. Yet "always" is totalizing, a quiet insistence that growth is not an occasional project but the job description. It also nudges against the entertainment industry's incentives: franchises reward consistency, branding rewards recognizability, and audiences often want the same feeling in a new container. Morgan’s line argues for the opposite: the point is to become unrecognizable, to move.
The subtext is therapeutic without being sanctimonious. He’s not claiming art will save you; he’s admitting that repetition can rot you. "As an actor and as a person" collapses the usual boundary between performance and life, hinting that the work is only worth doing if it leaves a mark. In an era when celebrity can freeze a public image in place, Morgan is staking out a more private, more practical definition of success: the role that changes you back.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Improvement |
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