I've come up in the scripted world, and I have wished there were more time slots for us to tell compelling scripted stories and not fill the airwaves with a lot of fluff and tabloid entertainment.
My father owned some Laundromats, and when I was 10, he had me in there making change and being an attendant. He taught me that on weekends, you had to get up and go to work. That has been a big help in acting.
I was playing this role on 'Ugly Betty,' the sweetest, nicest guy. He was a fun character to play, but I was in a Latin soap opera - where are you gonna go with a nice guy in a Latin soap opera?
Persona-wise, I represent a lot of people's childhoods.
I think one of the reasons 'The Karate Kid' film has stood the test of time, aside from 'Get him a body bag,' 'Sweep the leg,' catching flies with chopsticks, all of that stuff that's become pop culture, is that it worked on a human level.
There's little that compares with the thrill of a hit major motion picture experience.
I do live a decently healthy life.
There's an audience out there for all these different types of things. Whether it's comedy, motion-picture drama, family movie or a cool, cutting-edge indie, it's nice to know that I can span all those different genres.
When you look at the 'Roseannes' and the 'Will and Graces' - when those reboots or sequels or whatever you want to call them are well-executed and have a fresh angle that's relevant, it's a big, warm comfort hug to the audience.
Guys like Spielberg and Zemeckis and really anybody who is a storyteller-filmmaker today has studied Hitchcock and the way he visually tells a story. He was the master of suspense, certainly, but visually you would get a lot of information from what he would do with the camera and what he would allow you to see as the story was unfolding.
I remember making the all-star team in Little League when I was around 11 years old. I was not a great athlete, but I loved it, so making starting second base in the all-star was great for me. I think someone must have been sick and they slotted me in.
I wasn't the guy running out to the Viper Room or comedy clubs until three in the morning. I was the guy running back to watch the Mets win the World Series in 1986.
Sometimes I wish I was more shrewd.
What's most exciting about the 'Cobra Kai' series is that it pays homage to the legacy; it has the nostalgia sprinkled throughout, the callbacks to all the stuff the fans would want to see. It has a completely fresh, relevant angle into the next generation.
I was in 'The Outsiders,' which was a good launching pad for me, but 'The Karate Kid' sent me into a different stratosphere.
