When you're growing up, your dad is your superhero. Once you've let yourself fall that in love with someone, once you put him on such a high pedestal and he lets you down, you never want to experience that pain again.
It's toughest to forgive ourselves. So it's probably best to start with other people. It's almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself.
You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.
I talk to younger actor types, and they bring up that word, 'brand,' and it's like, 'All right, if that's the way you want to look at yourself.' Diet Pepsi's a brand; you're a human being.
You get to choose how you perceive your reality. So why, when it comes to perceiving yourself, would you choose to see anything other than a super-huge rock star of a creature?
The limelight is a tricky place, because you can't believe what's going on around you. You stop observing. You stop perceiving. You stop extending yourself, and you become isolated.
You can totally work with brands. People love seeing that, but you have to build stories. You have to build credibility, and those brands have to really be the perfect fit for yourself.
I still do believe in carrying yourself a certain way, and I do my best to be somewhat of a role model. I'm not a perfect person. I'm a human being. I'm not the Lord, but I do accept that responsibility, and that's why I do try to carry myself with confidence, with poise, with grace, and with class.
Scrivener can be a tricky beast to get your head around. When you do, a bell rings, and suddenly it all seems perfectly clear. But to reach that stage you have to understand what it can do, and try it out for yourself. Which can be daunting.
If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.
Performance-wise, you really need to be down in the trenches; you need to do the hard work, for a lot of reasons: To build yourself as a performer, to get a sense of the audience, to work hard and to wonder, 'Do I really want to do this?'
If there is someone in your life who is not serving you or making you better, give yourself permission to move on.
Of the countless ways to feel old in your 40s, perhaps none is quite as perplexing as seeing a young person trendily decked out in 1980s-style garb and saying to yourself, 'I can't believe that look is back in style. It was bad enough the first time around!'
I always say leave things at the door. Whether it's at your audition or at your house, leave the problems of the day away. Keep persevering, stick to yourself. Don't do what other people ask, do what you want!
It's the same with people knowing absolutely everything there is to know about an actor. I actually think the more personal information you have about an actor, the more you have to carve out for yourself when you go to a movie and see them in it.
On a personal level, I think dressing is such a form of expression, and when you do events, it's important to feel as though you are authentically yourself.
I don't really follow fashion exactly, but I've always been very interested in the way that you present yourself as an expression of yourself, so that's my idea of fashion and style from a personal point of view.
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
There's always a personal satisfaction in writing a song by yourself. You get the inspiration, and see it through, and you're done. It's focused and very personal.
One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.
