The philosophical underpinnings of my approach to acting are that there are universal human qualities, and that every character is actually available within each one of us, that if we tap down into that universal humanness, we can find whatever character it is that we need to play already there within ourselves, and it's just a matter of peeling apart the onion that is you and finding that character within you, because of this universal human quality.

I think there are presences out there that we can't see or directly communicate with that have benevolent influence on us. Whether they're angels or something else, I'm not sure.

Helping others pulls us out of our own problems. And so does dressing up like frogs and playing leap frog in a Starbucks. Who would've known.

I've been playing the same character on Supernatural for the past nine years and while that character has gone through a lot of different iterations, it's nice to step out and just do something altogether different.

Don't pressure yourself. Don't worry about what others think you should do or what the societal "norm" is. Do what moves you and makes you smile and the "good" will follow.

When I was in high school, I liked to pretend that I was a Russian foreign exchange student. I would do things like go into a pizza restaurant and tell them Id never had pizza before, and theyd bring me into the kitchen and show me how to make an American pizza. Its really fun.

I actually think that the most efficacious way of making a difference is to lead by example, and doing random acts of kindness is setting a very good example of how to behave in the world.