When I was younger, my whole sense of self-worth was based on whether or not I was working, which was awful. And I had a baby at 20 years old, so it wasn't just about me. At around the age of 30 there was a stretch where I wasn't working - certainly not on anything I liked, anyway - and I started to do other things.
There are two things that Jack Bauer never does. Show mercy, and go to the bathroom.
I think the most attractive thing is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you've gotten a lot out of the way.
When you're a young actor you like to go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ended up playing the weirdos. I can assure you I'm not a psycho or a criminal or a bully.
I think that the day you've figured out the differences between women and men is the day that you're no longer attracted to women. It's the difference that is so fantastic and frustrating and angering, and really sexy.
When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don't have a second to be bored or take anything for granted.
When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don't have a second to be bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a season, which is like making 12 movies.
I like chatting with people. If people ask me a direct question, I give them a direct answer and I feel I've always done that with the press.
When I saw Virginia Woolf, somewhere between the first and second acts, someone I had known as my mother became somebody else.
When I wasn't the flavor of the week or month or day, those were hard times.
When Julia and I broke up and I was really scared to go into a market or anywhere because I thought, 'Oh God, everyone must hate me. And that wasn't the case. People said, 'I'm sorry this happened, man. Are you alright?'
I couldn't see my father's films because they were restricted and we didn't have videos or DVDs back then.
I did a play called Throne of Straw when I was 11, at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. It became really clear to me at that point that I enjoyed acting more than any other experience I was having.
I didn't realize that television has gone through immense changes and has become very progressive.
There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.