Ted Levine Net Worth

Ted Levine's Quotes

• I scared them to death in the audition. I had no idea what I was going to do. I read the script; I read the book; I tried stuff. I met Jonathan [Jonathan Demme] in Los Angeles, and we just talked, and I got a sense where he was at about it. He called me back; I went to New York to talk some more, and I just read. I sort of copped something on the way, which is something you have to do, whether it's right or wrong. Actually I think my audition was better than my performance, by far. -on how he got the part of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• It was hard. I'll never do a character like this again. I would have loved to just have done the part from the script, and not deal with the book, it would be so much easier to work that way, and there are so many images in the book that aren't in the film. On the one hand they can be useful to you, on the other hand you can end up working too hard, which is something I think I did. I drove myself nuts with this character. I lived with this son of a bitch. Something that is very consistent with serial killers is they look at a lot of pornography, and I did that too. That will make you fucking crazy. -on his character in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Generally you have a month of rehearsals and a couple months of productions. You know that, so you have a nice framework. That's one of the beauties of it. Your balls are on the line. There's no slacking off. It comes down to the wire, and you're up there. You're going to do the whole thing in a number of hours, so prepare for it, relax and stretch, and then you do it. It's a very physical thing as well. You've got to be bigger on the stage. You have to be heard for one thing, which is something I've always had trouble with. It's one of the reasons I like film, because I can mumble. I've always felt my person is more effective on film than onstage. I'm just not a real extroverted person. Not that film is easier, it's just an easier place for me to be. -on theater acting vs acting on film
• When I read [The Bridge] and saw the source material, it was just smart. I think that's what drew me to this. I guess that's how I end up in this milieu. Plus I'm on the other side of it, and it took me a number of years to get on the other side. I'm immensely grateful that I am. ... It's really pretty cool that people see me from other things now and they aren't saying, 'Hey, say that line you said in the thing.' That baggage isn't as heavy anymore. -on playing a good guy in The Bridge (2013)
• I don't live in Los Angeles; I might have to in order to be near it. I love the Midwest. LA is like a porno without the sex. It has about that much allure for me. Is this film going to make me or break me? The typecasting thing is very frustrating. I do get cast as bad guys, and I'm not. I love my children, I'm a good father, I've got a pretty strong sense of right and wrong. That's probably the hardest thing in doing the roles that I do, that's really rough.

Interesting Facts about Ted Levine

1. Like Sex and the City (1998) star Chris Noth ("Mr. Big"), he attended Marlboro College in Vermont for a time in the 1970s.
2. After his terrifying turn as "Buffalo Bill" in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), he's had some trouble getting parts other than sadistic psychopaths. He generally tries to choose parts more along the lines of ordinary family men and unfriendly co-workers to get away from the creepy shadow of "Buffalo Bill".
3. After appearing in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), he appeared in Heat (1995), which was directed by Manhunter (1986) director Michael Mann and featured Manhunter villain Tom Noonan.
4. Has worked with both Clarice Starlings. He appeared in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with Jodie Foster and, ten years later, he appeared in Evolution (2001) with Julianne Moore, who played Clarice Starling earlier that year in Hannibal (2001).
5. Has worked with two Jack Crawfords. Prior to appearing in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with Scott Glenn, he appeared in the television series Crime Story (1986), produced by Michael Mann and starring Dennis Farina, who played Jack Crawford in Manhunter (1986). Also featured in this series was Stephen Lang, who played Freddy Lounds in Manhunter (1986).
6. The voice of Chris Griffin in Family Guy (1999) is based on him.
7. Has a daughter named Melissa (b. 1976) and a son named Mac (b. 1988) with different women.
8. Over the years, he has co-starred with four actors from TV's Prison Break (2005) - with William Fichtner in Heat (1995), Dominic Purcell in Moby Dick (1998), Wade Williams in Ali (2001) and Paul Adelstein in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).
9. He was nominated for a 1996 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for "Buried Child" at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.
10. Has been friends with Sam Shepard and William Petersen since their early theater collaborations in the late 1970s.
11. His father was of Russian Jewish descent. His mother had English ancestry.
12. Ted and his The Silence of the Lambs co-star, Scott Glenn, have both portrayed America's first man in space, Alan Shepard; Levine in the Tom Hanks-produced HBO mini series "From the Earth to the Moon," and Glenn in the 1984 Philip Kaufman film "The Right Stuff.".
13. Appeared in two films with Will Smith: Wild Wild West (1999) and Ali (2001).
14. Starred in a movie called Ellen Foster (1997). He also costarred with Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). The one scene that they had together was when Buffalo Bill had night vision goggles and was hunting her in his own house, was spoofed in Monk: Mr. Monk and the Blackout (2004)(#3.3).
15. Starred with Debra Monk in Ellen Foster (1997). He later starred as Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in Monk (2002).
16. While filming The Silence of the Lambs (1991), he and Brooke Smith, who played his hostage, became close friends due to having so many scenes together without any other cast members. Consequently, costar Jodie Foster began referring to Smith as "Patricia Hearst", a reference to the heiress who was abducted by a domestic terrorist organization in 1974 and eventually turned to the side of her captors.