One of my favorite episodes in West Wing was the homeless man that died and they found, in the overcoat he was wearing, a card of the speechwriter, Toby. He had given that coat to the Goodwill and this guy had ended up wearing it, died in it and Toby went to his funeral. He turned out to be a Korean war veteran. It was our first Christmas episode and that was a true story - a member of the staff had done exactly that. So many of these stories were far better than any fiction.

Aaron Sorkin very sticky about using precise language. It's in his contract: you have to use what he writes!

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.

I don't have any conscious memory of wanting to be an actor, but early on, there was something in my makeup that I felt comfortable with. Then when I was around five or six, I started going to the movies and gradually it dawned on me that I was like one of those people on the screen. And that was it. There was never any question or doubt about what I was going to do for a living.

While acting is what I do for a living, activism is what I do to stay alive.

You are equally responsible for your place in the culture, and you must make a contribution, and you must accept responsibility for what goes down on your watch. You have no excuse if you are a conservative not to be concerned about the environment. You are equally responsible.

We are not asked to do great things. We are asked to do all things with great care.