I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to – until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.

Kate Winslet also happens to be one of my close friends who I goof off with like crazy. It was a reunion of two people who, I guess, are a little bit older, a tiny bit wiser but ultimately were the same as they were when they were 21.

I've gotten to play some pretty intense characters and I tend to think it's therapeutic for me.

I have no problem playing anyone who has different politics than me. In fact, I don't take that into consideration at all. You have to find something sympathetic in a man. It's that common ground you need to connect with someone.

I sometimes have to look back and say, "Wow, this is amazing what has happened to me. I have been able to fulfill a lot of these dreams that I had when I was very young." It's a pretty amazing feeling. But at the same time it becomes addictive!

To play a repressed gay man, I had to explore what life was like in an era of sexual repression.

The last thing I want to turn into is a fat Hollywood jerk. I was brought up without much money and I was happy. I don’t think that I will strive for money or success and end up greedy or big-headed. That only leads to unhappiness. I can still be down-to-earth and do this job as long as I enjoy it.