I grew up in Cleveland and started doing plays in high school. And I went to the University of Illinois, and I majored in drama. And after school, I went up to Chicago, because I didn't really know anybody in New York or Los Angeles, and I knew people who were doing plays in Chicago.

Alan Ruck

Categorized in : New School People High School

When I'm doing a drama, I wish I was doing something funny. When I'm doing something funny, I wish I was doing something more serious.

serious wish drama

If you're going through a divorce and you're in a comedy you have to find some way to find the funny side of things even though you might not want to.

divorce comedy

I actually think film and TV are sort of the same thing now. To me they're all motion pictures. There's a camera, a script, other actors and a director. Doing a sitcom is a little different. It's kind of a hybrid, half movie, half play, presented in a proscenium fashion - the camera's on one side of the line, the set on the other, the audience sitting behind the cameras.

fashion different thinking

Now things on TV are every bit as good or better than what you fi... by Alan Ruck

Now things on TV are every bit as good or better than what you find in movie theatres.

theatre

When I'm doing a drama, I wish I was doing something funny. When I'm doing something funny, I wish I was doing something more serious. I think it's just human nature.

think serious nature funny

I really enjoyed multicamera comedy. You film in front of a live audience, and it's kind of the best of both worlds. It's like doing a one-act play every week, but if you screw your lines up, you get to do it over.

live best you comedy

'Spin City' was a really wonderful time for me. I made friends for life on that show. I made friends with Richard Kind, Michael Boatman, Barry Bostwick, Sandy Chaplin. We're all close. It was a really wonderful time.

city me time life

I think multicamera comedy is a much-maligned American art form. by Alan Ruck

I think multicamera comedy is a much-maligned American art form.

american think comedy art

Nobody's ever gonna accuse me of being a singer, but I can sing. by Alan Ruck

Nobody's ever gonna accuse me of being a singer, but I can sing.

singer nobody me i-can

I did a musical that I don't think anybody ever saw, called 'One Shining Moment,' and in that cast was Megan Mullally and Kevin Anderson.

cast anybody think moment

I moved from Chicago to New York in 1984 for 'Biloxi Blues.' In 1989, my wife and our then-baby daughter moved to Los Angeles to try to get in television.

new wife daughter television

People would say, 'Boy, I really loved you in Ferris Bueller," and it would really aggravate me. I thought I was a one-trick pony, and people had seen the trick. Now that things have worked out and I've gone on to other things, I'm really pleased that people enjoy it.

me you enjoy people