I am not a politician or a public servant. I am still a journeyman actor and a peace and justice activist. I'm a pilgrim trying to win my freedom and serve as best I can in the time I have, with this gift I've been given.

We have to fight for something. It has to cost us. Our lives, our faith, have to cost us something; otherwise we're left to question its value.

I am not the president; instead, I hold an even higher office, that of citizen of the United States.

The most satisfying thing in my life and my career is to work with my children.

Jim Dean and Elvis were the spokesmen for an entire generation. When I was in acting school in New York, years ago, there was a saying that if Marlon Brando changed the way people acted, then James Dean changed the way people lived. He was the greatest actor who ever lived. He was simply a genius.

I never lost my faith...But like all modern Catholics, I felt for a time that I had outgrown the church. Now it is a bone of contention in my soul that I did not share my faith with my kids, as my parents did with me. It was a source of grace when I needed it. I have been greatly nurtured and inspired by my faith.

I love The West Wing for many reasons. The show has been a fantasy. But we have offered a parallel universe to reality.