On my wall, along with my favorite football players and baseball players, I had Marlon Brando and Sir Laurence Olivier. These were childhood idols.
I love emotion. I love being in love. And showing that on screen. I think it's wonderful.
My father was Catholic, my mom Baptist, so we were raised Baptist but had a lot of Catholic upbringing: fish on Fridays, no birth control.
I really do believe that was what I was put on this planet to do: to give to people and, through my performances, show them another world - in the case of '24,' to show them what a politician, black or white, should be. Basically, I wanted to be a service to others.
Dad worked as a security guard for United Airlines, and Mom was a housewife who cleaned houses to make ends meet.
There are always different roles and questions to be asked about certain characters.
I've studied theater since high school. Of course, it's a different story altogether being on Broadway, but it's still theater, and you have to be in front of a live audience, and that's very exciting. It's something I've definitely wanted to do, but I got involved in movies and television, and then it became a luxury to get back on the stage.
I played a little basketball, but basketball interfered with theater season. That's when we did our term plays and did nutshell versions of Shakespeare for English classes. And, believe me, I got a fair amount of looks from the guys on the team. 'You're in theater but you can play football?'
When you're playing a good character, you have an idea that you're playing the hero and the good guy. Actually, I think you're more stymied playing the good guy than you are the bad guy. As the bad guy, you have no inhibitions. Nothing stops you from doing what it is you feel you have to do. You do it because it's what's required.
People want good stories.
I've done a lot of different things in my life. I've parachuted, done some deep-sea diving. Inasmuch as it's safe to do, I can do it.
I knew I wanted to act since I was 10, but I didn't actually start acting until I was in high school. My favorite play was 'Lilies of the Field.'
I grew up in Northern California, and theater is all there was. I didn't know how to go about starting a career when I was 10.
I look at Facebook a fair bit. I see what's posted. I see the travesties and illegalities of what police forces do. And I also see and understand that it is sanctioned by the general public - or we would do something.
I used to get really jealous of Ron Howard as Opie on 'The Andy Griffith Show' - we were the same age. I would just think, 'God, that little kid can work, and I can't!'
