SEBASTIAN STAN

I don't think I've got the stuff that Broadway musicals are made of. But there are definitely many musicals that I enjoy. 'Hair' and 'Rent' might be my favorites.

I was born in Romania and later lived in Vienna, Austria, for a few years, and I eventually made my way over to New York in '95.

I specifically remember doing the musical 'Sweet Charity' at Stagedoor. I was playing Vittorio Vidal, which is a very funny part, and some other small roles. I couldn't really sing that well, but there were so many fun bits, and I just remember the tremendous adrenaline rush I felt from being onstage and hearing the audience enjoying it.

The thing that sticks to me most about theater is that because it's such an ape crazy nonstop experience, you really don't have time to think about anything else. You're just really present; you have to be, or else, you know, you can't stop the play.

Working out and working as an actor have gone hand in hand - I always feel more prepared if I know I have done a workout. It gives me confidence - and peace of mind.

Embrace your differences and the qualities about you that you think are weird. Eventually, they're going to be the only things separating you from everyone else.

Sometimes with films you have a freedom to be able to, Okay, we got that take so let's try another one where suddenly I'll say this, or you'll get to improv. You can't do that with stage. We have to make it new every time, and also within the structured settings.

Sometimes you don't want to get married too much to a lot of rehearsing, I feel, when it comes to film, because there's so many technicalities. So if I'm in my head, I've gotten settled on something, I'm gonna have to change it if I get there and something was set that's completely different.

You have license in front of the camera to do things, feel certain emotions that you don't get to in real life. It can be addicting.

Just to get a job is always really exciting to me. I do feel there's a lot left for me to learn about movies, the subtleties of acting.

I love the '50s and grew up loving works from that time period and from those great playwrights.

I like to be lean and flexible. I'm not interested in gaining size.

I live in New York and I love it, because it doesn't make me feel like my life is always just about acting and that world of acting. I don't have expectations.

Sometimes it's okay to give yourself a pat on the back and say, 'That was cool. That made me feel good.'

I came here from Romania when I was 12 years old. I had an accent. High school was tough a little bit for a few years. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be liked. I wanted to be good-looking. I wanted to be popular. I spent a lot of time thinking, 'What are these people going to think of me?'

You have to pay attention to the moments when you've felt on top on the world. I remember the first time I was on stage, I was doing 'West Side Story,' I was 17 and this woman was crying because she liked what I was doing so much.

There's gotta be a human being in everybody, regardless of what they do or what people think they did.

To shoot a movie that takes place in three decades in 30 days is a lot on the hair and make-up team.

I've never been ice skating, ever. I'm traumatized by the idea of it.

I can't take one day for granted. That's usually how I think.

Playing an unstable, bipolar, multiple-personality-disorder person is definitely up my alley.

I think it gets a little harder as you find more success. As success happens, you have to figure out this question of 'What I am going to do next that stands out?' Because then you get seen as 'this thing,' which is a part of you. But it's not really you.

I've gotten really good at not judging characters.

Comic-book movies are mythology, in a way, and there are a lot more parallels in them with what's going on in the real world than people want to discuss.

My first job was in a movie theater. I worked at Cinema 6 in New City, New York. I was an usher. I sold popcorn.