I don't take myself too seriously. I think that's something so many actors and people in general tend to do.
That's precisely what we do as actors: try to convince the audience we are somebody else. And if you can do that, you are really doing something.
I'm identified as a New York actor, I sound like I'm from New York, and I couldn't be more proud of it.
An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be.
I think lots of actors are very nervous and shy. I know lots of them who are, and some who aren't of course.
There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House... I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living.
There's just such a premium on hurrying, and the camera is the be all and end all, and the actors had better hurry up and get it right and get it done.
I'll write a character with a certain actor in mind, but then once I start casting, I have to forget about who I pictured.
On 'Saturday Night Live,' you wear so many hats there. You're the prop person, the actor, you're everything.
I think when a lot of actors hear improv, they think of throwing a line in or doing a slightly different take.
You need to see what the actor needs. This one wants to be talked to privately. That one doesn't mind if you block it for them. Just tell me the truth and I'll adapt to it.
I'm incredibly close to my family. I have two younger brothers; they're both artists and actors, and their work and the way they see the world inspires me.
I think, as a younger actor, you are more open to the experience. And to an extent, you want to go into things blind and energised as if you were 15. Keep that terror.
'Deadwood' was a magical experience. It was an absolute culmination of everything I've ever wanted to do as an actor as an artist, and I was enormously proud to have been involved with it.
Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves.
I have to say, speaking from experience, just because an actor starts out in a role in the workshop, they won't necessarily play it when it goes to Broadway.
Actors are part of a certain percentage of people on this planet who have an emotional vocabulary as a primary experience. It's as if their life is experienced emotionally and then that is translated intellectually or conceptually into the performanc...
As an Asian actor, I would like once in my life to do just one Hollywood movie. It would be a memorable experience.
When you're starting out as an actor, there isn't much food around. I was lucky to have a hit pretty early on. I didn't starve too long.
I find that all great directors, and I would include Ben Affleck and Clint Eastwood in that, they have great confidence. And with great confidence comes great freedom for the actor.
It is to TV that I owe my freedom from bondage of the Latin lover roles. Television came along and gave me parts to chew on. It gave me wings as an actor.
