I wanted to give my actor a break. I wanted to live and to learn English. I wanted to be anything, a cabdriver, a busboy, anything to keep me away from acting for a while.

I believe in creative work.

As a young actor, I booked a movie in the U.S. I didn't speak any English at the time, so I learned my lines phonetically when I auditioned for it.

When you have great scripts, everything is very easy and fun.

It's a really, really hard life when you don't have a document that actually gives you a name and a face.

I like playing human beings - I don't believe in good or bad. I don't believe in black and white. I believe in different tonalities. I believe in different layers of emotions and states of mind. I believe in characters that can be human.

Lincoln' is a powerful film. It's one of those epic films that talk about this very specific issue in history of the United States.