I was always enjoying the moment. Acting, writing, looking for roles and getting involved with people and trying to create something that would be entertaining to people. With 'E.R.,' we were all very lucky to get this combination of people together in the right story in the right way to take it to the level it has reached.

I love being a part of something that is grassroots, and you can see the actual changes, the effect of what people do.

I had this thing about hanging out in dark theaters. My family thought I grew out of a rock.

People relate to things that feel real to them. All the good, happy, over-sexed and moneyed endings on TV are not the way most of us feel in our lives. The success of 'E.R.,' I think, is not relying on overly sentimental stories that are solved where people's lives wrap up nicely with happy endings.

You know, you never say never because before I did 'ER,' I always said 'I'll never do a TV series,' so that's what I said.

You've got to make the most of where you are. Then, when you're somewhere else, you've got to have the ability to fulfill that.

I did tons of theater in school, and then when I was 16 and got my driver's license, I started driving to Los Angeles, along with my friend Eric Stoltz, who was a year ahead of me and was doing the same thing. So we had the same manager, and we started auditioning for things and doing commercials when we were 16.