I found my niche as a character actor, and I`ve never felt like a movie star or teen idol and never wanted to.

Our show is different, because it`s not about law and order, it`s about psychology, the intent of somebody.

(On his career choices) "It`s something that I`ve been saying for years when people ask me how I pick the things that I do. I pick the things that scare me the most. You have to like the story first. I`m not gonna play a part that doesn`t instill some kind of fear in me. If I read a part, and suddenly, I`m thinking halfway through, `I`m not sure I could get away with this`I think of everything I can think of to keep me from doing it, that`s the one I should do."

What kind of recognition do I deserve? I don`t deserve any recognition.

I`m a character actor, and I made a choice when I was young, after Mystic Pizza, not to go for the mainstream stuff, and to do a more eclectic kind of route.

But the one thing that I did do was establish myself as a good actor.

Unless you look like Brad Pitt, it`s really hard to have full control of your character.

When I was younger I used to pick things just to face the fear.

(On playing real life characters) "There`s a lot of shame that goes on when you`re playing someone who has really lived and has passed. You`re struggling with it all the time. I am, anyway. When I played "Robert Howard" in The Whole Wide World (1996), I was struggling with it. There`s this dual thing where you feel real good about being able to play this juicy part, and then there`s constant shame. Who am I to pretend to know who this guy was? Who am I to represent this guy for people who never knew him? The pressure is unbelievable, I can`t tell you".

People who are extremely inside their head, like he was, are caught in a neurosis that goes round and round. Then something will hook them and take them to their end and they can`t control it.

The more you are known, the more difficult it is to hide behind characters.

They were all interested in what I was going to do, because I`d never worked in televsion before.

I`ll be working the rest of my life because I`m a character actor and don`t have to worry about box office.

No, I knew when I was doing theater in New York that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

It was something I was reluctant to do because there have been performances about serial killers in the past that have done pretty well.

The only thing I do worry about is that the more films I do the more visible I am going to become as a personality because of press and because of the sheer quantity of films.

It doesn`t need to be a No 1 show, it just needs to be good.

The Whole Wide World is the first movie I`ve ever produced.

When you are a character actor they trust you will go in and give them a full character and leave.

This haunting idea of becoming a celebrity doesn`t settle well with me at all.

Like De Niro. He`s one of the best character actors we have ever had.

I`m not gonna make excuses for other actors. I`m just talking about myself. The good actors that I`ve met - I`ve met some of the best actors that we`ll ever see - and I know for sure the one thing that we all have in common when we all look in each other`s eyes, is that we`re all struggling to achieve 100 percent. That`s all I see when I see another artist. All of us are trying to achieve 100 percent in our work. That`s all we struggle to do. We never do, but we never stop trying until the day we die. It`s that struggle to achieve 100 percent, that`s where our performance lies, that`s what the audience gets. They get the struggle.

To me the definition of true masculinity - and femininity, too - is being able to lay in your own skin comfortably.

And I have been able to establish this sort of decent reputation as being a decent character actor.

It`s pretty simple, pretty obvious: that people`s first impressions of people are really a big mistake.

If you try to go beyond your interests just for the sake of pretensions or wealth, your art becomes less legitimate.

Look, all you can do when you find your niche is go with it.

So I moved to Europe and only came back when directors like Robert Altman would call me after they`d seen my work in Full Metal Jacket.

With Altman, he does discuss everything with you, but then leaves you to it and gives you full rein and lets you improvise and create a character while the camera is rolling.

And then, as the years went on, I just kept moving along, busting into doors and getting roles, until I started to actually believe that what these other people were saying was true.

(On his role in Ed Wood (1994)) "I never was happy with the job I did in Ed Wood (1994). Even though Tim (Burton) was, I wasn`t. Because it`s not what I wanted, it`s not what I wanted. First of all, the company, for whatever reason, not Tim, but the company took a very long time to hire me and I was busy doing another project. I eventually only ended up with three weeks to prepare for it and that bothered me. But, you know, I had to be brave and I had to do it the best I could. It was too much of a caricature. I didn`t like it. It was too surface of a performance".

I am a method actor, but I`m also a film actor as well as a method actor. Characters that don`t have humility, whether they are heroes or villains, are hard to relate to. All characters in every aspect of what we do should have humility. If they don`t, then they`re a cartoon character. I know that during actual performance scenes, what I need to trigger myself off, and I know how to trigger it off so that it will trigger you off, which will also influence how you feel when I`m expressionless.

I want every episode to feel like we still haven`t done this right yet.

It`s like why people read scary books or go see scary movies. Because it creates a distance. They`re scared, but they`re not going to get hurt.

I think that being a producer is business and being an actor is art.

I`ve never tried to be something I`m not.

At our best, it`s a good experience but we do 22 episodes a year, so there are some clunkers.

The minute you start feeling like you`ve got it down, you know what you`re doing, you`re dead in the water.

My partner Dan Ireland wants me to direct, and I read a lot of scripts - some good enough that I could see myself. But then it`s like, so what? Who cares? Let someone else direct it.

So a failed movie is not going to ruin my career.

(On being a method actor) "The thing is, it`s the research that you do that is exhausting. That`s what always affects you. When I did The Cell - no matter what you think of that movie, because I have my opinions of it too - it was, you know, I still have nightmares from the research that I did. Not from playing the part, just from the research. There was stuff that I should have never looked at, that I should have never gone anywhere near. As a father, I can`t imagine going to that place again. I`m not saying I wouldn`t, I`m just saying it was too much."

Then I did Mystic Pizza, just to do something I wasn`t fat in.

[on acting:] "Some scenes you juggle two balls, some scenes you juggle three balls, some scenes you can juggle five balls. The key is always to speak in your own voice. Speak the truth. That`s Acting 101. Then you start putting layers on top of that."

[on playing real-life characters] There`s a lot of shame that goes on when you`re playing someone who has really lived and has passed. You`re struggling with it all the time. I am, anyway. When I played Robert Howard in The Whole Wide World (1996), I was struggling with it.

I`m not gonna make excuses for other actors. I`m just talking about myself. The good actors that I`ve met - I`ve met some of the best actors that we`ll ever see - and I know for sure the one thing that we all have in common when we all look in each other`s eyes, is that we`re all struggling to achieve 100%.

I am a method actor, but I`m also a film actor as well as a method actor. Characters that don`t have humility, whether they are heroes or villains, are hard to relate to. All characters in every aspect of what we do should have humility. If they don`t, then they`re a cartoon character.

[on his career choices] It`s something that I`ve been saying for years when people ask me how I pick the things that I do. I pick the things that scare me the most. You have to like the story first. I`m not gonna play a part that doesn`t instill some kind of fear in me.

I took a route of acting, rather than starmaking, so it cost me a lot financially.

[on acting] Some scenes you juggle two balls, some scenes you juggle three balls, some scenes you can juggle five balls. The key is always to speak in your own voice. Speak the truth. That`s Acting 101. Then you start putting layers on top of that.