I love film noir, so Billy Wilder is like my favorite director of all time.
I was raised by my aunt and we bonded over the eight-o-clock movie on TV. We'd watch everything from James Cagney in 'White Heat' to Lon Chaney in 'The Wolf Man' and every Bogart movie.
When I was a kid I really loved Humphrey Bogart. But when I was in theater school, Robert DeNiro was my go-to guy.
Whenever I do something, particularly if it's a cameo, I make sure that I have a backstory written out so that I can talk to the director intelligent and try to communicate a three-dimensional character.
In my mind, I'm not scary at all. I'm channeling my inner Cary Grant!
I remember watching 'Abbott and Costello vs Frankenstein' continuously as a kid and being amazed that my horror legends were making a comedy.
I've played four roles on 'Star Trek.' My favorite episode was 'The Visitor' on 'Deep Space Nine.'
I'm also a blues musician, and all blues artists can trace their pain to the slavery fields of the Mississippi Delta.
I grew up on video games. When I was in college, even during snowstorms, I would go the half-mile to the drugstore to play 'Millipede.'
So I grew up watching film noir, you know the classic stuff. William Holden, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, all those.
I hustled my way through college playing pinball.
I think people are getting more and more - unfortunately - inured to violence. People are like, less sensitive to things they should wake up about.
I remember my first professional paycheck. I couldn't keep it as a memento because I needed the money, but I have kept some of the residuals that I get. I got one the other day that was for two cents. I might put that in a frame.
I collect Gottlieb games, and I play classic pinball.
Everybody loves a horror story because it's a roller coaster ride -you wait for the slow ride to the top then speed down with all the bumps, twists and turns.
Voiceover is probably the toughest of all the markets to get into. Everybody wants to do it because it's again three to five hours work. You can roll in there with your bedroom slippers and robe on if you wanted to. And it's fun.
October's a busy month for me. I usually find myself working but I also try to do one or two conventions in that period. Then whatever city I'm in, they want to drag me to their local horror theme park.
Whenever I can make it work out, and schedule permitting, I like to help young filmmakers.
