When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Universal Monsters movies of the 1930's and the 1940's. I loved movies like The Wolfman (1941) and Dracula (1931). I really wanted to be in those movies. Eventually I started nagging my parents about it, and it turned from, "I wanna be in a monster movie! I wanna be in a monster movie!" to "I just wanna be in a movie." So I think my parents just thought that if they took me to one audition I'd see how boring it was and I wouldn't wanna do it. But I ended up getting the part, and I got a bunch of roles after that as well.
Robbie RistI think that artists have a better chance at making great art if they know as much about every different area in the industry as they can.
Robbie RistSometimes people will bring up these odd things that I did a one-off from. Like, I did a 'Knight Rider,' and I'll get an E-mail from a 'Knight Rider' fan who says, 'Look what I did to my car!' And I don't know if you know about this, but there is a sub-cult of 'Knight Rider' fan who trick out their cars to look like KITT. I'm, like, 'Really? Isn't there anything else you can do? Do you make that much money? Because I have projects I'd like to get off the ground, so how about you don't make KITT and you give it to me?'
Robbie RistI might have been too tiny for it, but I wanted to become a professional tennis player. I was a pretty good tennis player as a kid, but ultimately I just don't think that I have that jock mentality needed for sports.
Robbie RistThe crazy thing about the entertainment industry now is that you can't do just one thing. If you're focusing in on just one thing you're pretty much doomed.
Robbie Rist