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.
With 'The Karate Kid' especially, there's been so many references and visual images from that film, you know? Who knew that 'Wax on, wax off' would become part of the American lexicon?
There's little that compares with the thrill of a hit major motion picture experience.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As long as I'm creating, I am happy... whether directing, producing, writing, acting.