It's all performance and my acting background made me very comfortable in front of people, in front of cameras. It helped me think on my feet in front of a crowd.
I didn't go to acting school, so it was great to be able to rehearse for a month or two, to workshop, and be with a director who even gave me acting exercises.
Ballet has really helped me in every acting role. You have to be very disciplined, you have to be able to control your nerves and perform under pressure, and all those things you have to use in acting when you're on film or going for an audition.
What made me fall in love with acting, which is my life, was watching other people perform. It made me hunger to do that.
Working with Nawazudin Siddiqui was like an acting workshop. It helped me become a more confident person.
It's helped my outlook, how I interact with people. It's made me more conscious. It's helped me be able to focus, make better decisions, think on my feet. I don't know what I'd do without it. It's my sanctuary.
A lot of the time, you're supposed to play to the top of your intelligence, as truthful as possible. But when you're on stage making people laugh, you're still acting. I think it helped me a bunch to go on stage two or three times a week.
Acting helped me as I was growing up. It helped me learn about myself, helped me travel, helped me understand life, express myself, all those wonderful things. So I'm very, very grateful; it's a fun job. It's a luxury.
I think the best part for me is just being able to perform for people every week.
I've been able to perform in front of thousands of people on stage in a character that's nothing like me. I'm very shy.
I always knew where I was going eventually, so it helped me to stay at home for three years. It helped me to develop my game. But it also helped me off the ice. Life here is way different, and I was able to get older.
I think I had a shyness about me, I think I discovered acting as a way to break out of that and as a way of belonging, a sense of being special.
My shyness has been in reality my shield and buckler. It has allowed me to grow. It has helped me in my discernment of truth.
I was attached to star in a project that was going to be an unbelievable character piece, to be showcased all over the world. It was everything I had been working toward and had suffered for. I had two months to prep and pretty much bankrupted myself in the process. A week before I was supposed to get on the plane, the whole project fell apart. Not only did it leave me completely broke and out of work, but I felt as if I had been betrayed by acting. Acting is not just something I love but a part of who I am. I was shattered. Thankfully, the love of those around me helped push me forward.
For someone like me, who as a kid could not have two people in front of me without wanting to hide, to end up on stage with a lot of people in front of me, feeling good, it has to be a strange and special place.
College lacrosse can be pretty brutal at times, so that definitely helped me with the toughness. It's a fast-paced game, so that helped me kind of translate over to the game speed of playing in the NFL. I think just the one-on-one aspect of trying to beat the guy in front of you definitely helped me as being a receiver.