Quotes

About life

'I get a little wordy and off the subject and a little strange when it comes to talking about myself, I guess I'll get better at it, but it kind of seems like, well, why would anybody want to know what I thought?'

'Many forms, sizes and colors, I think there are heroes in sports, in life... It would be cliche to say my dad, my granddad. I think I'm a fan of people who were brave...my aunt, my grandmother, those are my heroes.'

'Exercise. Travel. I've been trying to pick up painting but it's hard. It looks easy, like surfing, but surfing's hard too. I have a Lab...it's fun to hang out and hike with the dog, people come up to him and pet him...it's fun.'

'I think I'll give it up, the fantasy is over; I wanted to play Spiderman, Peter Parker. He's a very difficult character to duplicate, I used to draw him and stuff. Besides 007 or Billy the Kid, Peter Parker is one of the ones l have to say.'

'It seems like I'm sitting in front of a computer screen when I don't have time to be outside and exercise, so I'm in tune with the internet, I think it's awesome.'

'Hopefully, maybe working in some comic book capacity...I was a comic book freak as a kid, it might be cool to work at DC Comics. Or maybe design and build sets, something fun that you could make a living at and enjoy.'

'I'm interested to go other places, I've been the boy in the bubble since we've been shooting, I need to go travel a little bit, see where the action is, other than going to see family of course.'

'I worked at Gold's Gym. I figured if I had a job during the day, I wanted a job where I could at least exercise. But it wasn't as glamorous as being a recruiter for the club or anything, where you sign people up and meet all the ladies. I was the guy that went around putting all the weights up and saying 'Excuse me, are you done with this?' Then you had to put it up.'

'I don't really think that's something I can control (being through of as a sex symbol). I'm just living my life, and if that's appealing to some people, fine. But you'll never see me in a photo flexing my abs.'

'I don't really follow tv shows. Discovery Channel and Comedy Central are sure things. John Stewart on 'The Daily Show' is very high on the list, besides Howard Stern.'

'I remember a time I was wiping down a bicycle machine, and I look at these legs and I went 'Man, this woman has really good looking legs.' And I looked up and it was Minnie driver. And I went 'What's up, Minnie Driver?' I'm cleaning off her sweat. My brush with fame, no big deal.'

'I was the graveyard shift in a plastics plant in Texas. It was like being a vampire.'

'I'm a steak guy. With A-1, A-1 just does me up!'

'I'm just trying to let everything lie and grow right now, I'm not going to pressure myself to do anything that it's right for the time.'

'I've seen a dead body, I've seen some pretty gruesome fist fights, I've been a hunter since I was a child, though I don't anymore, I've gutted wild game.'

'People on TV shows, they can tell - they know that you know who they are.'

About acting

'I guess I was walking at 2 1/2, I've been a big ham forever! I got into more perspective when I moved out here. But I've been making a living at it for about 5 years, you know, where you're not asking 'Do you want fries with that?'

'I really loved being in front of people...taking a serious issue, breaking it down and making them laugh. I don't know what an educated word for that would be, other than a big old fat ham.'

'It seemed to me, when I was really struggling, that Hollywood was this big playground with a 12-foot-high brick wall around it. You could hear them having a great time in there - you just weren't allowed to come in.'

'It was a lonely time. Of course, with sales jobs, I was used to rejection.'

'To be honest with you, I get a little fed up with actors who act crazy to make themselves more interesting. It's no more than anybody else who has something they have the guts to go out and try.'

'Once you know the ins and outs of the business, acting seems to be a fraternity, and there's a real common denomination there, so you really look at everyone else as colleagues. Although, Julia Roberts could get me a little tongue-tied.'

'Over the years I've gotten a little bit thick-skinned when it comes to the acting thing... You're almost like a carpenter (who) picks up his tools and goes to the next site after you do a job.'

'She (Jodie Foster) told me how much potential I had. You don't quit when you have that kind of inspiration.'

'I used to think that there was a good, hard and fast answer for that, but I'm just a fan of good acting. I can remember so many snippets of movies, from 'Weird Science' to 'The Godfather', just people's performances, that ricked me into becoming an actor. I guess I was a fan first.'

'Another challenge? Getting up at 6:30 in the morning to go act. It's not fun acting that early in the morning or acting at 4am in the middle of the night, or in the morning when you're really tired. That's a challenge. What a luxurious problem to have.'

About 'CSI'

'I work so hard for the fans who watch our show.'

'I think people like to solve puzzles. I think when they tune to the show...they feel like they're really learning something. It seems like in this day and age, with computers, the tv's become more than just this 'boob tube': people can tune in, learn something and have a good time.'

'I think people like good television, and it seemed good even after the pilot, and kept getting better. Not so much a surprise, as just very pleased.'

'There are other shows where you can watch married women cheat on their husbands - you can get that somewhere else.'

'Change the channel, man! We're not going to make out. I'm not making out with anybody!'

'I loved it when Grissom rode the rollercoaster. I've only seen it 5,000 times! But he was on the rollercoaster in an emotionally weird place...I love watching that.'

'You don't have to be a rocket scientist (to get the 'CSI' jargon). But I've actually been begging for more dialogue, more adult conversation about something that is grounded in everyone's reality right now...just things like why people do what they do and why some people really go off the edge.'

'I talked to one of the criminalist tech advisors on the set and I said to her 'You're standing around with a dead body. Are there ever any lewd comments made that are inappropriate?' She said 'Oh God, you should hear us!'

'Newfound respect? Hmm, I think I always had respect for the profession, my dad was a district attorney back home for over 20 years, so I had that going in. I find it more interesting though how you apply the science. The gadgets are the icing on the case to make you look cool!'

'Most of my research came from extended conversations with my dad who's been District Attorney in texas for a number of years, and my step-dad, who is a surgeon, and has to deal with life or death issues on a daily basis. I was more concerned with the effect the job had on your disposition, rather than the specifics.'

'I feel that I'm a fairly educated guy. If you give me the word, it's definition, it's spelling, how it's applied...then all the rest is about acting the part. As long as I know what I'm doing, I'm ok. And the technical advisor is there every step of the way.'

'There are a lot of times that if a detail in a scene or a beat, feels unnatural, they'll allow me to explore another direction to go until we're all comfortable with what we are doing.'

'One of my good friends is a director on the show, and we talk about directing a lot. But it will probably be years before I start doing that stuff. I'm having too much fun acting.'

'I wasn't believing what was happening to my character, and I expressed my frustration. Marg finally said 'Hey man, we're number one! have fun.' She laughed, and I thanked her for putting things in perspective.'

'I was getting a little cranky waiting for my scene to be shot, and Billy came over and said 'I have an idea. Why don't you get in your nice new car, drive to your nice new house...' That put it all into perspective for me. I really needed a mentor in my career.'

'We're not really into pranks. No Vaseline on doorknobs, gluing doors shut, and that's good. We give each other a hard time, but no pranks.'

'We're pretty Method about what we do, but our gag reel is hilarious. Like one time I had to say to Jorja Fox's character 'You need to get out more.' But for one take, I changed the line to 'You need to have Daddy give you a good roll in the hay. That'll straighten you right out.' She tried so hard not to laugh.'

'There was the one time that Marg and I were in the Tahoe, lights on and flashing, going to a crime scene. We had to stop and say something to Grissom on the way, fill him in on where we were going. And I was supposed to back out and I forgot to put the car in reverse, so I turned around and so did Marg, and I really acted like I was going in reverse, really selling it, and we went forward and we knocked over a couple of stands!'

'I think people would be surprised at how much we curse when we screw up. I'm like somebody with Tourette's Syndrome.'

'Any time you put a cast like this in compromising circumstances or shake it up a little bit, I think we're all pretty close so we draw on real emotion.'

'That's what makes our show special - the unspoken communication.'

'The show has boundaries right now we're trying to widen them not break them.'

'One lady wrote me and told me how she wants to see me get beat up and near death and that kind of stuff.'

'I was gonna play the exact same look, this exact same hairstyle for as long as the show went. And then, um, I was late for work and got fired, and that made me mad so I shaved my head.'

About Nick Stokes

'I think getting the opportunity to play an adult. I seemed to be pigeon-holed as kind of this hunk or 'Ok, I have this great movie for you with this great part, but you're going to play the boyfriend that's the jerk.' So for me to get to play an adult, to get to play a young man that's very smart, very driven, mature, growing as a man, and takes responsibility for his actions...'

'I finally get to play an adult, who is smart. I'm 33 years old. I'd like to play a grown man, not some guy who is out to get the girl or the single guy with the smart-ass comments.'

'Oh, every day I fight for the integrity of the character and where I want it to go. Sometimes I think the writers are better at writing story than dialogue, or maybe I just understand the character better than they do. But they do allow us to collaborate. I just got to see Nick's apartment for the first time in 43 episodes, and I had to tell them to get rid of some stuff.'

'I think we take for granted police officers and detectives that walk into some pretty heinous situations and they really have to be very brave. So I love playing a character that's very brave - someone that kind of dives in the fire to figure out what's happened.'

'Believe me, if I ever had to smell a liquified body in a bag, I'd throw up. But my superhero Nick Stokes, he can't. A lot of times I've said 'Wouldn't he have some smelling gel under his nose or something?' And they say 'No, no, your character's tough.'

'I think my character's getting to the point where he can't even eat spaghetti with red sauce anymore, where he has horrible nightmares, he can't sleep anymore.'

'I'm learning about him along with everyone else. I think after further meetings and some brainstorming, hopefully we'll come up with something that would be the direct opposite of what you'd expect. But there are no boundaries to the story, we don't want to make it about Nick's hangovers! It's about forensics, about getting the bad guy, and about taking care of business. We know that too.'

Quotes by Nick Stokes

Nick: 'Is there anything you won't bet on?'
[to Warrick Brown, 1x01 - 'Pilot']

Nick: 'How do you know all this crap?'
Grissom: 'It's our job to know stuff.'
[1x02 - 'Cool Change']

Nick: 'Can I ask you a question?'
Jamie: 'Sure.'
Nick: 'How are you so cool? You took someone's life! Don't you care?'
Jamie: 'No. He disrespected me.'
[1x02 - 'Cool Change']

Nick: 'Eleven years ago I was you, man. Smoking cigars in closets. Playing tanks. I wore a trout in my jean pocket for seven days till my leg went half numb. I've been there.'
[1x04 - 'Pledging Mr Johnson']

Sara: 'What's that smell?
Nick: 'I'm nukin' a burrito.'
Sara: 'Junk food and radiation, good combo.'
[1x04 - 'Pledging Mr Johnson']

Nick: 'I can't believe I used to live in a place like this.'
Sara: 'And here I had all this respect for you.'
[1x04 - 'Pledging Mr Johnson']

Nick: 'You don't even have to know every star. And you can still draw in a constellation.'
[1x05 - 'Friends And Lovers']

Nick: 'Blood's like my grandfather. He never lies.'
[1x05 - 'Friends And Lovers']

Nick: 'Mrs. Hendler, I'm a good listener. You gotta give me the gun.'
[1x06 - 'Who Are You']

Greg: 'So how many grains of sand in the ocean? Huh?'
Nick: 'I don't care about the ocean. Just the sand in my skeleton. Can you pinpoint a beach?'
Greg: 'I don't know, I may have to do some field research. Hey, think Grissom would send me to Hawaii?'
[1x06 - 'Who Are You']

Nick: 'I'm not your dude.'
[to Jesse, 1x07 - 'Blood Drops']

Grissom: 'Good work. It'll be back to normal in 24 hours.'
Nick: 'Normal'd be nice.'
[1x07 - 'Blood Drops']

Warrick: 'Superglueing the entire car? A little excessive, don't you think?'
Nick: 'Hey, man this is war.'
[1x08 - 'Anonymous']

Nick: 'You look tired. Want me to fix you a bottle? Go night-night?'
Warrick: 'You want me to crack that jaw? Put your ass night-night?'
[1x08 - 'Anonymous']

Nick: 'Like a laxative... it works.'
[1x08 - 'Anonymous']