It took me a good decade of hiding in my house and not going outside to even, like, get my arms around this idea of celebrity, where suddenly people are looking for you to pick your nose or get a shot of you kissing some woman. It's a very discombobulating thing.
I was very honored to get to be part of 'American Idol.'
My first single I was nominated for a Grammy with 'Crank That,' and I lost a Grammy to Kanye West, but it was still such a big deal for me to be nominated anyway.
I know from my own experience and from other people in the business that when you come from a place where nobody knew who you were and then there is this sudden shift to where everybody now knows who you are, there's an adjustment that you have to make.
For years I felt like the ugly one in Girls Aloud.
At first, when you go to premieres and award shows, you're thinking, 'How the hell am I here? All these people I've never met are here, and it's so cool!' And then, as time goes on, it's a little bit like, 'Ah... it's more like work.'
I do have a problem with someone that just wants a picture. People who ask for a selfie and don't even say hello to you, it's a weird thing that's happened in the last few years.
People recognize me, call me Ron, and ask me questions. It's really cool and weird as well.
There were screaming girls, I had to learn as a blind person how to run to a limousine otherwise they'd take my clothes off and stuff. I thought to myself 'how could this happen?' I mean I could see it, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, but Jose Feliciano? It was a mystery to me.
I wrote myself a check for ten million dollars for acting services rendered and dated it Thanksgiving 1995. I put it in my wallet and it deteriorated. And then, just before Thanksgiving 1995, I found out I was going to make ten million dollars for Dumb & Dumber. I put that check in the casket with my father because it was our dream together.
All of a sudden, my picture's in the paper, or I'm making a music video, and it's still the most surreal experience. I thought you could learn, and you would acclimatise, but I really haven't.
That was cool, getting to work with Ryan Gosling. I knew he was going to be a huge star after I saw him in that Showtime thing that he did when he was really young [The Believer]. I think the most fun thing about that was I'd never seen somebody that had so many questions about the specifics of everything: where you ate, how much you ate, how much you drank. He's very special.
I was in the 'Alvin and the Chipmunk' movie, which was a real bucket list item.
At the time I just was like, I can't believe I am on the show, and the first thing I have to do is an entire song and dance routine for the whole cast of 'Mad Men.'
'Bigg Boss' was the first time I was exposed to a situation where I had to only speak in Hindi. Prior to that, I was learning but never practising.
I have had stalkers over the years. The police deal with it but it is very scary. One man kept turning up where we filmed 'Countdown in Leeds,' which was scary. It was sad as he'd been sectioned and thought I was talking to him through the TV.
If you want to go on the floor, go in disguise because otherwise you won't be able to. I would just put on a full Darth Vader costume and walk through Comic-Con so I can actually check it out and enjoy it as opposed to being approached by everyone, which is lovely, but it gets very difficult to enjoy because there's so many people there.
Every time I'm recognized in public, I'm super grateful and appreciative, but I also get hot and nervous.
Personally, I hate waiking the red carpet. You are expected to conform to every single expectation. People will say, "Try as hard as you can not to sweat on the red carpet." Meanwhile you are super nervous, and there are tons of camera flashes, and people are screaming your name. It's not fun - not for me, at least!
People seem to think that I'm not aware of how people perceive me. But I'm the one that has to talk about 'Police Academy' all day long 27 years later. I'm totally aware of it.
Julia Roberts taught me how to knit on the set of 'Mona Lisa Smile.'
When I did 'Think Like A Man', I would run into people who were acting like it was the first thing I'd ever done. I was at the premiere of 'Think Like A Man,' and people were coming up to me, like, 'Man, you're going to get work after this, bruh.'
When I came home after 'DWTS,' I had a couple of days, and I had actually given the Mirrorball to my mom. She loves to decorate the house, so I said, 'Here - make it pretty. Do what you want with it!
Science fiction fans are awesome - they love you so much that they'll watch anything you do, even if it's complete crap. I never dreamed that I would go to conventions and sit down and have coffee with a Klingon. It's so weird, but it's my life.
I'm prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar!
