I have a taekwondo background, but I also try to invent new moves and make sure that when I step into the Octagon, I'm a different fighter.

- Anthony Pettis

To give you some background, I represent the largest manufacturing district and the largest agricultural district in Ohio.

- Bob Latta

I don't come from a privileged background.

- Bernadine Dohrn

Today's terrorists do not share a particular ethnic, educational or socioeconomic background.

- Bennie Thompson

I did a lot of short films online, so I come from that background where a lot of people see your stuff.

- Ben Schwartz

I was quite a shy child - not chronically, but I tended to blend into the background.

- Ben Whishaw

When I was a kid, I desperately wanted more background information on especially cartoonists.

- Bryan Lee O'Malley

I contemplated a career at NIH at one point. I have a neuroscience background.

- Bill Maris

There have been a couple of things I've been involved in launching that have been a bit more public, but I've always had other things tipping away in the background.

- Brian O'Driscoll

My background is in health care.

- Bobby Jindal

My background is on the stage, so when I'd write movies, they'd be a lot like plays.

- Alan Alda

I come from a working-class background in Queens, New York.

- Amy Ryan

I've enjoyed appearing in Atlantic City. East Coast audiences are a bit brighter than Las Vegas audiences. I think most entertainers will tell you the same thing. The East Coast audiences are more perceptive - especially when it comes to a performer with a theatrical background.

- Anthony Newley

My background is from India, and I always get asked, 'When are you going to do an Indian film, a musical or Bollywood film?'

- Asif Kapadia

I really look up to actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett who have a strong background in theatre.

- Alexa Vega

I'm a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.

- Adam Jones

One of the nice things about a second book is that your readers already have so much of the introductions on board, they don't have to put all their attention into figuring out the world and can more easily let that play out as a background to the other things you want to do.

- Ann Leckie

The years I spent paying my dues are in the background, and so are my concerns about whether my performance is good or bad.

- Alan Arkin

My background is in theater. I was a theater major in college.

- Amy Schumer

I love folk; that's a big part of my background.

- Amy Lee