“My life has been the antithesis of that book ‘The Secret’. I’ve always been interested in doing what I do. I love storytelling and I really enjoyed acting, but it never seemed like a realistic thing.”

You have to find it in the moment, and that’s one of the challenges of being an actor – especially a film actor – is that you have to maintain these heightened emotions for long periods of time. There’s no trick to it. You just have to do.

Wes Craven is obviously a horror film icon so I was definitely very interested in bringing something back to life that Wes had created.

But a lot of shows, they pose questions and they give you a puzzle where there’s no solution.

People love roller coasters. People love skydiving. These things that really get your heart pumping, and horror films are sort of a safe way to get that rush I guess.

I try to pick characters that I find interesting and complex and that I feel I can bring something of myself to.

You always take a little bit back with you at the end of the day. I always put a little bit of myself into the characters, too.

The best compliment was Ben Kingsley coming up to me, putting his hand on the back of my neck, and saying, “Good job, son.”.

People have always liked to be frightened. People love to feel that jolt of adrenaline.

I consider myself a blue-collar actor, just chugging away.

Actors, we like stories, we like storytelling, we love being a part of the story, and if you give us a story that’s interesting then we’ll want to do it.

I do know that I’ve read somewhere that it’s been statistically proven that in times of war, horror films are much more popular. I don’t know why that is. You’d think it’d be the opposite. You’d think people would want to escape from it.

It’s nice to know when you’re a part of a story, it’s nice to know at least something about the beginning, middle, and end.

Of course, I’m not allowed to talk about the script, but I can say it is a really good story.

I didn’t follow the whole ‘X-Men’ story because it got too complicated. I’d pick up a comic book and have no idea what was going on.

I’ve been recognized very seldom. I think I just look different in person than I do as the character.

You find parallels, points of connection, things like that. But I’m not an actor who gets so incredibly haunted by my characters that I can’t come back.

You ever spent eight hours acting in water?

People do more important jobs than acting in film that should be recognised, but for some reason it’s big money, so people are elevated in status. If I was a bus driver, I’m sure you wouldn’t be interviewing me.

It’s bad writing, however naturalistic it’s written, that’s where you have to do your best acting.

Acting for me was an escape and it wasn’t until Smoke Signals that made me realize that acting is a personal development and challenge to grow.

Acting had always been the social scene I’d fallen into. It was sort of a merry band of band geeks and theater nerds.

Ever since I started acting, I’ve always spoken to our people about identity. I’ve spoken to kids, telling them: “Where do I get my strength to push through the barriers to get me where I’m at today? It’s my culture and my traditions, you know?

I got a little house in East L.A. and did the gardening. I was doing some acting here and there, doing my own thing… getting back to reality.

When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn’t acting. It’s following instructions.