SIMON BAKER

I've seen the odd tarot reader and had my palm read in various countries and explained to me in many strains of broken English. Did I believe a word? To be honest, I didn't understand much, but I loved watching the presentation.

I need some challenges in love or I'm bored.

I cut my own hair most of the time. You just do it all by feel.

My kids think I'm old and over the hill.

My life is pretty hectic, but I'm really into it.

I don't use deodorant. If you drink enough water, you shouldn't have to. I think I smell pretty good without it.

I'm a big fan of Alan J. Pakula's films like 'All the President's Men', 'The Parallax View,' and 'Klute.' I'm a big fan of those movies.

As a kid I was always a bit of a clown, a performer.

The French have the reputation of being arrogant. I don't think it's arrogance but a certain authenticity.

I am very straight-forward and direct. If I disagree with something, I say something about it.

I do have a lot of Australian friends.

Sometimes the intensity and the grind of doing television can wear you down, but at the same time there's something about the repetition, the sheer mass of work that you do that's also liberating.

I love con-men characters in film.

L.A.'s a better place to live than it is to visit.

Every TV show is a crapshoot, really. But every once in a while, a show gets anointed as 'the show.'

I don't like fancy fiddly girlie stuff.

I don't like the idea of talking down to kids. I think I was talked down to, and you rebel against that.

In general, the problem in a relationship is when the couple stagnate.

I would love to do a rom-com, but they are not good - good and successful doesn't equate to the same thing.

I've always been a shy person.

It's always difficult when you're on a show that goes for more than a year or a couple of years.

Well, capitalism is going to grow and grow. The nature of it is that the guy who has the most poker chips on the table has more leverage than everyone else. He can eventually outbluff everyone else and outraise everyone else at the table. That's what has happened and it needs to be corrected.

When I have to play the same role every day, I have the flexibility to play the character in so many different ways. It's almost like playing five different roles.

Time goes a lot quicker when the work is a lot more enjoyable.

A shot is only as every as good as how well it tells the story.