I grew up in the theater, and you can't improvise Shakespeare and Ibsen. You have to speak the language. But obviously, in a contemporary film, there's often room for improvisation and spontaneous things that happen. As long as I know what I'm trying to achieve in the scene, and when something comes up, I know that the response is genuine, I'm comfortable. That's really how I build everything.

I had done some TV movies that were great experiences but, no, I wasn't looking to do a series.

I've been amazed that it's so popular with people. But it's been fantastic. People are very excited when I walk into a place and they recognize me from the series.

What I realized was how difficult an hour show is and how miserable you can be if you're not happy doing it.

I have no skills. The only thing I could possibly do is teach.

Then I did one fight scene, and they said it looked good. Because I did it well enough, they've given me more.

Thank goodness I started getting movie roles and then television shows came along. So I was very fortunate to be able to do all three and I like all of them.