You want to try and bring a character to life in an honest a way as you possibly can. It doesn't matter whether he's a doctor, an actor, a car salesman or a captain of a starship. If you can bring truth and honesty to that character, then your audience will believe you.
I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am.
When I'm writing, I try to have the mask of my character on as I'm walking through the world. When I'm not at my desk, the rest of the time, I try to stay in that character and see the world the way that character would It's almost like method acting in a way — keeping the character close the way the actor keeps a script close and always tries to be in character.
I feel like I express myself, as an actor. Whatever the character is put in front of me, I try to bring truth to it, whichever way it lands. I try to bring as much truth to it and make it as believable as I can. I think that's the job of an actor.
You have to play the character in the best way you know how and do what you need to do in order to bring that character to life and not worry about the millions of people that you may be disappointing!
I try to give each performance my own soul, to bring a truth to my character. Hopefully, when I bring that much truth to a character, it resonates with somebody, and it sparks some kind of emotion in them.
Usually when I work, I'm totally dedicated to the role, and when I leave the set, I bring some of my character home with me, but I can't bring anyone home with me now because my son would freak out.
When you play a character, you bring yourself into the character. You get a chance to shine and show your translation for the character and her state of mind.
In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it. Either the character helps you discover that element of you or the other way around, where that element of you helps you discover the character.
I'm a dedicated father - a hopeless, dedicated father. I mean, I am dork dad. I am just - I love my children. I have kids - you know, Joey's 30-something, and then I have all the way down to 4 years old, believe it or not. At my age, five kids.
I try to bring all that I am to my work and all that I experience. That includes how people react to the way I am - the prejudice and the celebrations.
The more ridiculous the character is, the more sincerity you have to bring to it.
Brian is an archetypal character, a bit like Don Juan, which is how I play him. He's a blast to play. He believes unapologetically in his freedom. He holds nothing back. Something I'm learning is, you can't hate the character you play. If I think my character is an asshole, that's all that will come across. He is drawn in an extreme way, but that doesn't mean he's not a person.
I try and find a way to love every character I play.
Being a TV actor is quite different from being a movie star, and I always try and highlight my character. It is the reason why I am more inclined to taking frequent sabbaticals: so that when I return, people can identify with the character I play.
My only job as an actor is to try and understand the character and, to the best of my ability, bring this character to life.