In school, I was always being cast as the clown. And then I did The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), and once people hear you scream, they can't un-hear it. But I don't mean to say that I've been typecast, either.

Well, I made an announcement to my family at 8 that I wanted to be an actor, and I focused like a laser beam on it. I never had a fallback plan.

I never thought that I would be so attracted to television, but I don't think gigs like 'Dexter' come along too often.

I just want to be with great teachers. If that means I'm in a horror film with good teachers, I'll do another horror film. But I would love to branch out and do more comedy or just more straight dramas.

I need to make sure that I'm taking roles that I feel like I can communicate through.

Sometimes when I pick up a book off the shelf, when I'm buying a new book to read, I'll look at all of them and they all have the exact same words inside, but I'll think that one is meant to go home with me. I'll never pick the first thing off the shelf, I'll always go one behind.

I have learned that keeping my personal life outside of work is the easier, richer way to work.