I graduated in '94 from Yale and New York Undercover was my first gig on TV. I was really all over the place with roles, which is what I wanted to do.

I graduated in '94 from Yale and New York Undercover was my first gig on TV. I was really all over the place with roles, which is what I wanted to do.

Most of the characters I'd played were so different from me, so far from me that I had to transform.

That's what David Caruso said to me. We were talking about the whole Emmy thing, and he said that one of the things about awards in this town is that a lot is about the drama - like the drama of the performance. And he said "Your show, The Wire, looks so real, it almost looks like a documentary. And people who aren't artists - a lot of people who vote for this stuff - don't get it."

Notes are tricky in an audition, because I find, more often than not, my instinct is right. If they have a preconceived notion about the role and it goes against my instinct, unless it makes sense to me, it often throws off what I'm trying to do. Though sometimes they have an insight that I don't because they've been living with the script. I don't have one feeling or another about notes, but it is always a little bit of a red alert when I get one in an audition.

I'm an artist at heart.

Sometimes you have to say, "No. This is my space." If you're going to come at me, come at me respectfully, and I will respond respectfully.