I have a saying: 'I'm good for three things: making fried bologna sandwiches, making money and picking out good movies.'
For me, it was never a question of whether or not I was transgender. It was a question of what I'd be able to handle transitioning and having to do it in the public eye. One of the issues that was hard for me to overcome was the fear of that.
Fear, conformity, immorality: these are heavy burdens. They drain us of creative energy. And when we are drained of creative energy, we do not create. We procreate, but we do not create.
I'll play a happy character, but most characters are driven by a pain or a fear. They are driven by something deep down, and most people are like that in the sense. And so, that's what interests me.
I know what actors fear, what they like; I know how to get things out of them and I listen to them better, since I've been there.
I've never been mugged, never really experienced street fear. In fact, I'm the one who gets into arguments because I don't keep my mouth shut.
I like challenges, I like that fear you feel for something new, and with a new director, I think it's very important to always support new projects.
There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.
Hollywood movies are run on fear and they don't want to make bold choices. They, generally, speaking want to keep things status quo. That's not really interesting for me.
I'm always interested in trying to investigate different personalities. I want to keep myself guessing and keep the fear element alive, so that I don't get too comfortable.
You know when you play Pictionary and someone draws a state? My biggest fear is that I'm not gonna know what state it is. I'm so bad at geography.
I live in a kind of controlled awareness. I wouldn't call it fear, but it's an awareness. I know I have a responsibility to behave in a certain way. I'm able to do that.
I don't seek discomfort. But, very often, you realise that what you fear is actually quite ephemeral; something's different, something's unfamiliar; therefore, it must be worse.
Now, there is always a tremendous fear of science and progressing forward into areas of the unknown and it is a valid fear. Some of the genetic alterations of food are a little edgy.
I wake up every morning feeling lucky - which is driven by fear, no doubt, since I know it could all go away.
Fear may very well be a caveman fear of the predator, of the giant lizard chasing them - maybe that's what Steven Spielberg connects with so well in Lost World.
My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it's about pain, in whichever form it comes.
What's my greatest fear? I don't know; I have lots of fears. Regret, I don't want to have any regrets; that makes me scared.
When I left drama school, my fear was that I'd get pigeon holed into comic acting and I did so much to counter it that I got stuck in the opposite.
You know, sometimes I feel well and vital in the world, and sometimes I just feel so distressed I want to pull my hair out by the roots.
I had no fear 'cause it seemed everyone in the audience always applauded whatever I did. Course, maybe it was because I always seemed to know everyone in the audience.
