I recognized that I had a window of opportunity that had opened because of my exposure as an actor.

The interesting thing about my character Sylar is that my strengths as an actor seemed to go completely against the shape of a character in the shadow.

That idea of comparison is what fans do. That's why fans exist. They believe in something and something connects to them, and they have passionate feelings and opinions about films.

I went away to this summer program after my junior year of high school. They used to have this thing called the Governor's School, and they had it for different disciplines - science, math, performing arts. I auditioned and I got accepted, and it was an eight-week program away from home. I went for acting. I was 15, and I turned 16 while I was there, so that was a seminal moment for me. It made me realize the life of it, the discipline of it, and the joy of that discipline, where it was all we did.

Other actors are not my concern, and that's their life and that's their journey. Everybody has to get to a point in their own time and their own way.

My passion is acting, and has always been. It's what brought me to this point of being able to diversify and do other things, and I hope it's something I'll continue to have a passion for.

I went to high school directly across the street from Carnegie Mellon, actually, and I knew people that were a couple of years older than me that went there. I was able to see shows in the drama department, and hang out there little bit, and it just felt like a natural progression. It was at the top of my list.