A little ego can be quite entertaining. But [Alessandro Michele is] a very humble, gentle, kind person. And I think that his humanity would probably surprise a lot of people, because he's so confident and bold in the choices that he makes.

Live your life for anyone but yourself

I just think it's really important to be yourself and not trying to be something you're not.

On the one hand, how many people do you need to love you before you feel OK about yourself?

One of the reasons I moved away from painting was because I eventually discovered that I wanted to deal more with motion, time, and performance - and that became a much bigger part of my life both as an actor and as a musician and someone who goes on stage and travels around the world and works on productions.

I mean, if I'm going to the Oscars or something, yes, there are people that are contributing and I'll tell them what I don't like or whatever. I know what I don't like.

Impossible is possible if you put your mind into it and don't give up.