It's nice to go to small places where we had a lot of fans. They followed our career and it's kind of a way to say thank you to them and do it for a good cause.
I've been kind of lucky. I've always just kind of followed whatever my passion was, and that seems to have led me to better places than if I had followed some career trajectory, which I wouldn't even know how to start.
I sort of watched everyone go through it on that show ["Grey's Anatomy" ] because I came on later in the first season, so I kind of watched everyone else go through it but really I am so grateful and blessed and feel I have had such a great career and I love that fans love the shows that I do, and so when I get approached I still, I go, "Oh, thank you. That makes me feel good."
When I left Middlesbrough I went back there and bought a lot of shirts from the club shop and signed them for the fans. They were very good to me and I wanted to say thank you.
In the end, the best way to succeed is to go small. And when you go small, you say no - a lot. A lot more than you might have even considered before.
I've obviously used fans - I wouldn't say all my life, because we couldn't afford them when I was young, but from my 20s and onwards we've had to use fans. And I've always loathed them. Everything about them. The way you adjust them, getting them at the angle you want. Carrying them. Cleaning them. The danger of putting your finger in them.
I prefer to connect with fans from the stage. Like, I don't have a Twitter page, or anything like that. So for me, that's what the show is about. For me - is a way to interact with fans; being up onstage and showing them, through music - which is all I really know - the best way to say thank you.
Unlike someone like Tom Hanks, or U2, the comics industry is not a thriving industry and we all need to keep and expand our audience. The best way to do that is to keep the fans we have happy and to keep them excited about our next projects so they'll keep following our work. The best way to do that is to continually engage them in conversation. I don't mean to sound flippant by any means. We're not being nice to our fans because we have to.
I still bump into Spurs fans who say: 'Why did you have to go?' I say back: 'What more could I have done?' I talk to them and I think they appreciate I had good reasons.
I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life.
I want to thank the fans so much for their support through the years. Even as undeserving as I was, they were a big part of my being able to move forward and put my life back together. They're the greatest. They're the ones who make the stars. For their support throughout my career and today, I love them and thank them.
You never know what's going to happen. It's kind of nice to limit your expectations so when something clicks, you go, 'Hey, that's nice. Thank you.'
It's nice to be able to directly speak to fans and thank them for their support. The only time that it can get tricky is when they are unkind or say things that may not be so easy to say if they weren't behind a computer. Bullying is never ok. I personally have only experienced it very infrequently so overall I enjoy Twitter and Instagram but I'm definitely aware of it.
I would say, hand on heart, I probably had a very good relationship with the press. The tennis journalists that followed me throughout my career... sure, you know, we had a few bumps in the road, if you like, but that's what you're paid to do.
A couple of fans followed my sister and I all the way to the airport from a live show that we did in Canada. Our driver had to pull over and fake a turn to lose them, but they actually showed up in the airport just before we went through customs.
Thin applications and small amounts in the right places is kind of the way to go with metallics for every day.
How do I stay confident? I just look at my accomplishments that I've made so far. It's a very conceited thing to say, of course, but I just look at everything I've done and all the fans that write letters to me. Sometimes I even look at the good YouTube comments and really pay attentions to them. I've inspired a lot of kids, and it's not every day you get to hear about that when you have this kind of career.