My parents are very hard working people who did everything they could for their children. I have two brothers and they worked dog hard to give us an education and provide us with the most comfortable life possible. My dad provided for his family daily. So, yes, that is definitely in my DNA.
When my dad needed a shirt ironed, he would yell downstairs to my mother, who would drop everything and iron his shirt.
My dad was kind of a pool shark and had a Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin thing going on. I've always been fascinated by the fifties because of him. There was a hip, cool, anything-goes atmosphere back then, but looking good was still a priority.
My dad had emphysema and both of my parents had chronic bronchitis and ended up with cancers - all smoking related.
Dad made it to Gold Shield Detective, so he always busted Robin, my oldest brother, and me. Always got caught, whatever we were doing.
My dad told us up front, 'Guys, if you want to play sports, go ahead, but it's your decision.'
As a dad I'm emotionally dedicated but I'm not 'figuring out their life plans'. But of course as I'm telling them about the rights of wrongs I'm thinking back to what I was like at their age.
When I was on Broadway when I was little, I remember always driving through Times Square with my dad to the theater. Now when I go back, you can't even drive on Broadway in the 40s. New Times Square is too touristy to me.
I had my heart set on becoming an English teacher, but stumbled into acting after meeting a theatrical agent in my dad's restaurant in San Diego.
The Rat Pack was the piece that really kicked me out of that little funk that I was in and then Ted called me up and asked me if I wanted to be the dad in Blow.
Dad was just an emotional wreck. He was drinking a lot of the time, he was smoking a lot of pot. And because he takes certain medications, the drinking was making him... you know, he wasn't even present, really.
If I have a problem, stuff's going through my head, I feel like using, I usually go and talk to my dad... I decided to get sober a lot younger than he did. He first tried to get sober when he was like 32, I believe.
And then before going back for my sophomore year, I decided to change my major to arts and sciences, and my dad cut a deal with me: He said if I'd quit school he'd pay my rent for the next three years, as if I were in school.
I was born and brought up in Liverpool with my clever little sister Jemma, who is 14 and wants to be a vet. My mum Jane is an administrator and my dad Peter is a taxi driver.
Dad worked in a warehouse when I was little and I didn't see him for three years as he was doing all the overtime God gave him to buy me new ballet shoes, or a new tutu.
People say I'm not good at writing about men. My dad left when I was 16. Give me a break. I'm doing the best I can.
My dad loved black singers. So listening to New Orleans music, eventually I wanted to play an instrument.
I had to learn how to chop wood actually - I don't think my dad would have let me go chop wood in the backyard growing up.
It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.
Growing up, I saw my dad do charity work for children with health issues. That had a profound effect on me.
I know I'm 25 now, but there's still that little lad inside me who likes his dad there to see him.
At 18, I guarded the parking lot at the Catholic church bingos. Now my dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smith and Wesson 357 magnum.
My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps, then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant.
Comedy was why I got into acting the first place. Peter Sellers was a huge influence on my wanting to act. I grew up with him and found him hysterical. The Pink Panther films were an inspiration, from my earliest childhood days, when I was watching them with my brother and my dad.
I remember once giving my dad some drawings and writings and said, 'If you could just give these to the publisher, that would be great.' And I was about five!
My dad was an engineer, and he became the CEO of Chevron. His was an engineer's mind-set: Everything's kind of a problem how do you approach the problem?
My dad was a carpenter and I would work with him during the summer and umpire on the nights I wasn't playing.
I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.
My mom and dad met at UCLA when he as a captain in the Air Force and she was in her junior year.
My dad instilled in me a great sense of humor. I wasn't bullied at school because my outward attitude was confident, and that helps.
When I was born in 1970 with a rare genetic disorder called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED), medical science wasn't what it is today and my mum and dad were treated terribly by the medical profession.
I found myself very lost after 'The Partridge Family,' and I lost my dad and I lost my manager, and I lived in a bubble, and it took me 15 years to get through that and a lot of psychotherapy, and I'm laughing about it now!
I came up poor. My mother only had a fourth-grade education. My dad didn't have any education at all. But they were very structured. They worked hard. You know, they didn't complain. They didn't murmur. And they believe in the Christ.
I did rebel. I was the rebel in my family, because my dad wanted me to go and just travel with him.
The music I want to hear in my head sounds somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Massive Attack. It's not really like my dad, but there will always be similarities because we have the same vocal cords, and I learnt the guitar the way he taught me.
I don't really plan to be a pop star I just want to be able to make music without the whole My Dad thing hanging over me, which everyone in my position goes through.
You can' t help being a musician because you've grown up with music, yet being one means being compared to your dad and being slated for it. But I really don't have the ambitions of most people going into the industry.
Keep your head down at school.' Those are sage words from my dad. They kept me in check for years.;Dhani Harrison;dad 12754;Playing music has always felt very natural. You know, you do try to do other things, and you do learn lessons that way, but, eventually - well... if your dad is a plumber, you become a plumber. It's the family business, and I felt like I was taking over the family business.;Dhani Harrison;dad 12755;I never really saw my dad around when the Iron Maiden and the AC/DC were playing. But he knew what I was doing. I was just absorbing music. So he just kind of left me to my own devices.;Dhani Harrison;dad 12756;I did Albert Hall, I got to play the Hall of Fame with Prince. So I've done that kind of stuff for ages. It wasn't until after we finished working on Brainwash, my dad's album after he died, then it was like 'That phase is over in my life now, now we can get on with our music, with our band.
When my dad toured in '91, I think my first gig properly was the Tokyo Dome, 50,000 people indoors. That was pretty scary. I was 12, or 13.
I was recording stuff with my dad when I was like five, six years old. I played with him on tour. I'd gone with him to Japan in '91, played some gigs, did a couple shows at the Albert Hall.