Gary Sinise

Gary Sinise: (about the audiences who see his band perform) They're curious as to what the hell I'm actually going to be doing in the band. Usually when they show up and hear us, they're shocked and surprised that we're actually good. We play a good, long show. There are a lot of fun moments.

Gary Sinise: The first play I did, the night it was over I sobbed like a baby because it was over and I had discovered this thing and it meant so much.

Gary Sinise: (on founding Steppenwolf theater with friends at the age of 19) We all made sacrifices. We decided not to make any money out of it for quite a long time. We ate a lot of macaroni and cheese and tuna fish and went to the theater and worked all night and went and worked other jobs in the day.

Gary Sinise: (on choosing acting as a career) I was one of those lucky ones that found his life's work at a very young age. When I was 16 I did my first play and I haven't stopped doing plays or acting since then.

Gary Sinise: (on visiting wounded soldiers in the hospitals) When I walk in, it's like Lt. Dan is walking in, and they think that I understand their situation because I played the character. I only understand it so much. That was acting. But I think because I did play that character, there's some kind of connection they make with me. And if I can come in and help them during a difficult time in the hospital, that's the least I can do.

Gary Sinise: (on work) When I think of work, it's mostly about having control over your destiny, as opposed to being at the mercy of what's out there.

Gary Sinise: (on character development on CSI NY) I was concerned and interested in having relationships and drama to play and things that are different from the plots and solving crimes. Our show is a procedural crime drama so we had to find a way to add back story and love into it. Our writers subtly plant this into the mysteries we solve every week.

Gary Sinise: Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on time. The trick is to always keep the engine running.

Gary Sinise: Sometimes you're in great demand. Then suddenly your career hits the breaks.

Gary Sinise: Wherever I go for the military, they always call me Lt. Dan. They just can't help it.

Gary Sinise: (On working for television) You know, I called certain people who had already done [television series] - I even called Ron Howard and asked what he thought because that's where he started his career.

Gary Sinise: The school that we went to was very, very modest by our standards … nothing but a dirt floor — no windows, no fans, no toilets. It was just a cinder block structure with nothing. So the troops went in there. And they put a concrete floor in. They knocked some holes in. They put windows in. They put fans in. … To these kids and to those Iraqis who had been living there, dealing with that school, it was like a brand-new place. I was so moved by the experience and these kids were hanging on us and just hanging on the troops and just — They were so wonderful with our soldiers. … And so I came home and … founded Operation Iraqi Children.

Gary Sinise: Movie stars are made when they are young, basically. I never had that kind of career that some of the younger stars like Tom Cruise and people like that have had.

Gary Sinise: I've been a character actor playing supporting roles and occasionally [a] leading role. I haven't done a movie where I was the lead character that made a lot of money. You could be the worst actor in the world, but if you're in a movie that makes a lot of money you'll get another job. They'll offer you another movie. So, for actors like me it's always going to be a little uncertain.

Gary Sinise: (on his portrayal of Lt Dan in Forrest Gump) So many good things came from that film but I will never forget getting a call from the Disabled American Veterans offering to honor me for my portrayal at their national convention. I will never forget the emotions I felt when I received the award, standing in front of thousands of these veterans. Winning an Oscar could not have meant more.

Gary Sinise: Most wives try to get you off the golf course, mine got me on it!

Gary Sinise: (about the appeal of CSI: NY) They are little Sherlock Holmes tales. Agatha Christie type mysteries. For centuries, people have been captivated, fascinated by mysteries. We do them every week.

Gary Sinise: I volunteered to support the troops, and get out there and show them that we care about them.

Gary Sinise: I save money when I'm working so that I never have to take a role simply to pay the bills.

Gary: (On acting) You've got to keep taking certain risks, because my priority is in acting, it's not in movie stardom.

Gary: (On joining the cast of "CSI") I wanted to have a family life, and CSI was kind of a gift that allows me to have the security of knowing I have a job, money's coming in, and I can be around my kids all the time and be around my wife and just concentrate on the family life. The celebrity and all that spotlight stuff, that's not the important thing to me.

Gary Sinise: When I was presented with the opportunity to do CSI I said, 'Do I want to settle into one character for what could be a long period of time if the show is a hit?' And that was a tough decision," "It's a very good deal and it's a wonderful opportunity for me to be at home with my kids and work--steady work, rather than having to worry a lot about the next movie job and those movie offers that aren't coming in. Now I know that I have a job and I'm going to be there and let's see what happens.

Gary Sinise: It's always been my dream to do a dance scene with Anthony Hopkins.

Gary Sinise: I've learned and worked with really fine directors: Frankenheimer, Ron Howard, Bob Zemeckis, you know, some fine folks there who know a lot and so I think I've just learned more about film though I certainly don't know it all.