Profile for Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.com

“Right when ‘Doogie Howser, M.D.’ was beginning, [the show's creator] took my parents and me to a restaurant, sat us down, and said, ‘A career is like surfing. You paddle out and paddle out and get wet and hit by these waves. When you finally get out where you’re supposed to go, you have to sit on a surfboard for a long time, just waiting. If you’re really lucky, you’ll catch a wave, and it’ll be the most amazing feeling. But the key is that that wave will inevitably crash to the sand. Then what you have to do is paddle back out and get hit by a bunch of waves again. But trust that in the long term there will always be waves to catch.’ To a young family from New Mexico, you can imagine our reaction: ‘What the hell is surfing?’ But thinking back, it was a very impressive thing to hear as a kid and, as it turns out, absolutely accurate … It’s good to have a lot of once-in-a-lifetimes in your lifetime. If you get the chance to skydive, go skydiving. If you’re offered a part in a weird Shakespeare play in San Diego, slap on some tights and rock out some iambic pentameter. If you’re offered the opportunity to have a swastika painted on your ass, glitter on your nipples, and to simulate sex with a man and a woman behind a curtain, go for it… provided it’s ‘Cabaret’ on Broadway and not in some dude’s basement.”

—Neil Patrick Harris shares with Entertainment Weekly his advice for making it in Hollywood over and over again. But, I really think these are great words of wisdom for anyone in almost any field. I am appointing Neil as my life coach. I hope he takes checks. [EW] Keep reading »