I like repressed characters. That gives me a lot of freedom to make a lot of different choices through subtleties.

I would say that playing this character has caused me to think about a lot of things. He's always questioning himself and trying to get back to something he lost touch with and trying to find forgiveness. Everybody struggles with these things to some extent in their life.

Food compulsion isn't a character disorder it's a chemical disorder.

I've been very lucky in the characters I've chosen. Up until last year I was a nobody. I did jobs I booked because I needed to put food in my mouth.

Entrepreneurs always pitch their idea as 'the X of Y' so this is going to be 'the Microsoft of food.' And yet disruptive innovations usually don't have that character. Most of the time if something seems like a good idea it probably isn't.

It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life.

You can tell alot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.

The public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of discussion and his fitness or unfitness for office may be fairly canvassed by any person.

I approach my character with the question: What would an animal think? How would an animal respond? A lot of times it's quick action and no fear and sometimes it's irrational fear. You don't always know.

People feel uncomfortable talking about racial issues out of fear that if they express things they will be characterized in a way that's not fair. I think that there is still a need for a dialogue about things racial that we've not engaged in.

By action and reaction do we become strong or weak according to the character of our thoughts and mental states. Fear is the deadly nightshade of the mind.

My greatest fear is feeling like a professional novelist. Somebody who creates characters who sits down and has pieces of paper taped to the wall - what's going to happen in this scene or this act. What I like is for it to be a much more scary sloppy reflection of who I am.

I wasn't a kid who moved out from Iowa with aspirations of becoming a famous star - I was intrigued by the idea of filmmaking and by the idea of what it would be like to play a character in a movie.

Normally I name my characters after famous comedians.

The excitement for me lies not so much in interviewing the hard-to-get famous person but the person whom you are about to discover. You know like maybe the character actors who are just coming into their own and you're realizing how great they are.

None of my characters are rich or famous and the situations they find themselves in could happen to anyone.

My goal was just to work regularly. I didn't ever expect to be rich or famous. I wanted to be a working character actor.

There is less pressure as a character actor. It generally means that you will be acting for all of your life which is my intention. It is not my intention to just be a rich and famous person that would be pretty boring.

There's more pressure to be famous for being yourself than if you're being a character.

I'm not comfortable being around too many people. I don't like being out in public too much. I don't like going to bars. I don't like doing celebrity stuff. So most of the characters I play are people who don't always feel comfortable beyond their small circle of friends.

I don't want to be reincarnated that's for sure. When you've had rewarding experiences in your life - a loving family friends - you don't need additional reassurances that you're going to do something with a new cast of characters. I'd just as soon pass.

There is a common theme though in the stories I have told which are usually associations of characters or families that are formed outside of a family circle.

This character feels so much like my brother. He has two children. He has a wife. He works with me. He chooses to stay in New Hampshire because he wants his kids to grow up in the school they started with. He doesn't want them to lose friends. He is his family's hero.

For my own family I would always choose the makeshift surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.