Pain is pain, joy is joy - you can't avoid bringing pieces of yourself into a role.
Being behind a camera, in front of the camera, is my own little deconstructionist niche.
I ultimately have faith though, that good films will find their audience.
The first thing I do when I read a part is see if I can identify emotionally with a character. If I make that connection, everything else is just working on knowing their life circumstances and manifesting those through practice and research.
We hit a stride where all self-consciousness disappeared.
I would love to direct some day. It's a good job for a control freak.