When I first came to Hollywood, I was still striking out a lot. Almost getting cast and then not. I knew this fellow who we all thought was a funny guy, a smart guy—interesting but really, really cheap. We used to tease him about how cheap he was. One day he said to me, “Sharon, you get so close on every project you go up on, but you always come in second. You really need a great acting teacher. I know this man who is so amazing that if he doesn’t completely change your life, not just your acting, your life, I will pay for all of your lessons.”
Well, we all thought this was hilarious, this friend being so cheap, of course. So I said I would go to his guy.
That guy, Roy London, ended up teaching a lot of us. Not just me: Brad Pitt and Robert Downey Jr. and Forest Whitaker and Geena Davis and Garry Shandling, and oh, the list goes on. That amazing, lovely man was such a special, dear teacher in the truest sense of the word. He passed away way more than 25 years ago now, and it amazes me still how I continue to learn from him. I can be standing in a driveway waiting for someone and suddenly be struck with a deeper understanding of something from a class years ago. Good teachers are like that. They are few and far between. I am and will be eternally grateful that Roy was in my life.