At the end of drama school, I made a contract with myself: I'd try acting for five years. I was 26. I had already spent eight years working in restaurants and gas stations. So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that's what acting is: a small business.

I've always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people. So I've always said 'yes' to the thing I'm most scared about. The fear of letting myself down - of saying 'no' to something that I was afraid of and then sitting in my room later going, 'I wish I'd had the guts to say this or that' - that galvanizes me more than anything.

I think adoption is a blessing all around when it's done right.

We can live tough lives, but the human spirit is stronger, seemingly, than anything. There is redemption, hope, and love. All different forms of heartbreak, but beyond all that there is hope, there is love. There is beauty and bliss.

My kids are not that interested in my movie career, by the way. My son, in particular, never talks about it. He just wants me as his dad.

I don't think many actors are the best judge of careers. I think generally we have good instincts about what we can do in terms of acting. And often they become directors, which I don't want to be.

I've dreamt of being in a movie musical for a long time. For some reason I never even thought 'Les Mis' would be possible.