The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.
I like to play characters that get to do it all - to have a bit of comedy here and a bit of pathos here and a bit of suspense here, that's what's fun.
Clean living is the cardinal principle in the lives of the world's greatest athletes, as the phenomenal performances of these outstanding characters will obviously show.
I used to audition for 'NYPD Blue' quite a bit, so I had this stock New York detective character that I would bring in for all their auditions.
I wish I were a character actor. Of course, if I played hockey without a mask, I could become one.
You have an awareness of your body and how to use it and I think that if you can embody a character physically it's another really useful tool.
My impulse is to create an aesthetic that's about a humanistic approach to a world and trying to create compassion for all the characters.
People sometimes seem surprised because often, you know, you know, there's a lot of tortured characters in the stuff I write.
I'm not one of these 'the characters write themselves; the story just fell out of me' kind of writers. Wish it was like that.
Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.
There is a misperception, if you will, in critical response or even in Hollywood, that I can only do exaggerated characters. Or what they would call over-the-top performances. Well, this is completely false.
It's usually easier for me to begin writing in a character's voice if that person is different from me in some significant way.
I always find filming stressful. I get very caught up thinking about my character - 'Am I doing it right? Should it be done this way?'
Once I start putting all my little insecurities in my mind, I'm not actually acting. Then it's about me - and it should never be about me. It should be about the character.
What interests me in writing a novel is taking really remote voices, characters, and stories and beginning to create some kind of web.
I think the more the actor lets you know what he thinks of the character, the less the audience cares - like a comedian who laughs at his own jokes.
The thing that I like about the way characters are written on the show these days is that nobody's perfect. Everyone has made a lot of mistakes and bad choices.
All I wanted to do was read, to be told stories. Stories were full of excitement and emotions and characters that entertained and often inspired.
Dysfunctional co-dependent relationships always appeal to me. I don't know exactly how it started. I start writing sketches of characters and little scene-lets, and then it builds.
Will isn't a screaming queen - that's Jack's part. They needed someone to play the part for America. It's just not the same as Britain. To have a gay character as a lead is risky.
In human character, simplicity doesn't exist except among simpletons.
