I try to pace myself and not work for the sake of working and stick to what inspired me prior to receiving recognition.

I was a wild, mischievous kid, and I had tremendous imagination. Any experience I had, I'd try to reenact it.

Being just yourself means you're unselfconscious in that moment. Or maybe we're all self-conscious to an extent. You meet a pretty girl, you're different from when you meet a tough kid on the street. So perhaps we always are acting, in a sense. But you meet someone you feel you admire or you "know," and it'll be different for that reason. So far, it's an interesting ride, and I'm curious to see what I can find next.

I grew up without a lot of money and my parents grew up with far less money. And that's kept me in line. Really in line.

It's great when people appreciate your work, but I don't know how seriously to take it. The amazing thing is that I found something so early that I can support myself doing, and that can even be extremely lucrative, but I love it either way.

There are the obstacles of your position as an actor, not being a commodity enough to be hired by the big directors for projects that have some kind of integrity, because the successful actors who've been in the game for a while want those roles. So there's more competition, so you have to work harder and be right for it.

I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag.