I was aware of it but I think I was aware of it abstractly, theoretically. You know I understood who Edward Snowden was and what he did but I didn't really see the relevance that it bore in my life and doing film changed that tune pretty quick.

Leonard [Nimoy] was such a teacher for me. He was one of the most fully realized human beings I have ever known on every level - in his personal life with his personal relationships and his love for his wife and his evolution with his family. Then as an artist, as an actor, as a writer, as a poet, and as a photographer. He never stopped.

I think we're a little bit more astray, more far afield from true integration and true acceptance.

I think I integrated that over the first couple of years that I was out of school, mostly in auditions, to be honest.

The advancement of technology has probably guided us more than anything else in one direction or another. I don't know, it's hard to say. We're so much more connected, but we've never been more fractured as a culture.

Again, as a gay man I look at that and say there's a hopelessness that surrounds it, but as a human being I look at it and say 'Why? Where's this disparity coming from, and why can't we as a culture and society dig deeper to examine that?' We're terrified of facing ourselves.

Who's to say what would have happened if I had trusted my instincts and moved to New York like I thought I would.