“A star, to the industry, is someone who can
dependably get a film ‘open’- that is, can lure people to see it on opening
weekend. A star, to the rest of us, is the person our eyes are always drawn to
onscreen. Stars come in two distinct varieties. A sirloin star like Brad Pitt
is someone people long for, or long to be. A hamburger star like Ben Stiller is
someone whose struggles and triumphs give us vicarious satisfaction.”—Tad
Friend, “Letter From Hollywood: Funny Is Money: Ben Stiller and the Dilemma of
Modern Stardom,” The New Yorker, June
25, 2012
(Ben Stiller
photographed in New York City by Jiyang Chen, November 2010)
“Being the first in my family to graduate from
modeling school.”— "Derek Zoolander" (played
by Ben Stiller), when asked about his greatest achievement, quoted in “Derek Zoolander Answers Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire,”
Vanity Fair, February 2016 issue
