It is quite different, but I love doing a series because you get to live with a character for a much longer amount of time. And the other aspect of it is that you have a steady job.
Tim DeKayI was a baseball player. I played in high school and a little bit in college. I was a catcher. I don't know if I could have played any other position. As a catcher, you're always on the ball.
Tim DeKayI've always admired Gene Hackman, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck. I'm showing my age here.
Tim DeKayI do have comfort, because as an actor you don't want that anxiety of wondering if you're going to continue with a certain role or if you're going to be employed the next year. It's nice to be comfortable with that and then you can concern yourself with the stories and nothing else. There's no other agenda than putting out a good product.
Tim DeKayDoing 'White Collar,' quite often my character goes undercover, so therein lies the compounding of the imagination. I get to play Peter Burke and then someone else when Peter Burke goes undercover.
Tim DeKayIn the evening, since I have a lot of friends in theater, we might take in a Deaf West production in North Hollywood, or, since I'm a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, they have screenings that are really great.
Tim DeKayAs actors, if you get a pilot on HBO or on USA, your odds are good that it's going to get picked up.
Tim DeKayThere tends to be this hierarchy of film and television, and theater is somewhere else in its own milieu. However, as actors, yes, we love to do theater because it's our story. Nobody can edit it, the curtain goes up, and it's ours for two hours or three, or whatever. And we tell it.
Tim DeKayWhite Collar' is a show about the unlikely pairing of an FBI agent and an ex-con solving smart, glamorous, interesting and provocative crimes in a sometimes very funny way.
Tim DeKayI feel very fortunate to be an actor on a network whose tag line is Characters Welcome and not Procedurals Welcome.
Tim DeKayFor a good workout, I go to At One Fitness in North Hollywood, where my trainer, Jon Allsop, puts me through it all. I like it because it's a small gym and I've known the people for a long time. Jon will have me do cross-training where I'll lift weights, jump rope, throw around a medicine ball and I never get to stop.
Tim DeKayIn order to be able to work with somebody in acting, you've first got to think that person's a good actor before you can enjoy working with them. I guess that goes with the trust.
Tim DeKayTo be honest, I don't think there's anything more exciting than an empty stadium. When you see it empty like that, all you see is possibility.
Tim DeKay