I've been working steadily as an actor since around 1998. I wasn't well known in the public, but I was a dependable working journeyman.

I'm very hairy, and men in film and TV are no longer allowed to be hairy.

I think it's fascinating that I receive attention for what people perceive to be a level of manliness or machismo, when amongst my family of farmers and paramedics and regular Americans, I'm kind of the sissy in my family.

I first read Wendell Berry's short-story collections, "Fidelity" and then "Watch with Me." They just knocked my socks off. The characters and the fellowship of the small town reminded me of my own small town in Illinois.Then I discovered that, much like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, that all of Berry's fiction was centered in this same town.

I learned in my early years in the theater that I would never become the guy on top. I'll never create a show; I don't have a brain expansive enough to see the whole picture, in a way that would behoove anyone.

I'm always pleased that I managed to stay out of jail throughout my tenure in Chicago.

And what we've lost sight of is that performing manual labor with your hands is one of the most incredibly satisfying and positive things you can do.