In a rehearsal room, your real resource as an actor aren't the things around you; your resources are your imagination and your director and the other actors. In those close quarters, your imagination and your skills are what you turn to.
Your primary tools, as an actor, are observation and imagination. You can pretty much get everything you need from that, and you do. It brings back that element of pretend.
My job, professionally, is tapping into stuff. We've all got it. But, I just am fortunate enough that, beyond the age of 11, it's what I do professionally.
I'm always reading plays, and when I find something that I really want to do, then I'll make the time to do it.
On some level, acting is the art of pretend, and you have to have a highly cultivated sense of imagination. You have to be able to see things that aren't there, no matter what aspect of acting, whether it's green screen, whether it's on stage, whether it's anything else, whether you're working on the radio.
I think that war is diplomacy by other means, for sure, and there have been wars that have been fought for righteous reasons. There are wars that have had to be fought, and there will probably continue to be.
As you get older, stuff starts to wear down. I can't play four basketball games a week anymore. It takes me three days to recover from one. I'm a little older, a little scrappier. So now I do yoga instead. And whatever else happens in the day, I'm set up in the best way possible. I feel great. I'm so flexible.
Occasionally, I have time to go to the theater, and I think for a minute, 'Man, I'd really love to be doing a play right now.' Because I loved doing plays when I was doing them. Then I think, 'I want to do it right now, but will I want to do that Sunday matinee in six weeks?'
Theater, because of the commitment, it has to be a great role and a great play to me. It takes a lot out of you.
My philosophy is, 'Show up, shut up, and do your job,' and if you do it to the satisfaction of your director and the public, you're likely to be able to do it again.
The idea of being in a television series is a wonderful one to be considered, but you want to make sure it's the right thing for you because if you are fortunate enough to have something go for a long term, you want to make sure that it's something that you really want to be spending a bulk of your time on.
I can't imagine a more profoundly exciting experience than I had working on 'Avatar.' And whether I'm ever part of it again, I'll always be very proud that I was a part of it.
I wouldn't say 'Avatar' changed my life, but it definitely changed my career.
Whether I appear in 'Avatar 2' or 'Avatar 3', I always feel I'm a part of the 'Avatar' team.
I don't want to, in any way, characterize a race or a people or get accused of racial profiling, but the Irish, as lyrical and romantic as they can be in their poetry, they can be every bit as repressed in their personal relations.
My Hamlet was about as alienated as you can get. Mine was a bitter and lonely prince. Valid, I think, but maybe tough to root for. I think that romance was missing.
I love the stage. It's terrifying in a way that film and television is not. When you're about to go out, and you're adrenaline just gets out of control, and that can be really daunting.
Acting can be a very reactive profession. Acting is a fantastic thing, and it's my life, but writing is also part of me too, so I did it, and in so doing, took responsibility for my own life.
'Beyond Glory' is responsible for this wave that I've been fortunate enough to ride for the last few years. And that I did primarily because I didn't know what else to do. You might say I did it out of desperation.
Hamlet, that's the only role there is, finally. The only role. After that, you settle down and only do the fun things on stage.
