I did a year of 'Guiding Light', and I was going to be a movie actor or a stage actor, but not a TV actor. That just wasn't going to happen. And obviously, things changed so remarkably.
I was on network TV for about 15 years or so, which I loved.
I've appeared three times on 'The Good Wife.' I'm proud of being associated with the show. 'Time' magazine called it 'the best thing on TV outside cable.' Did I mention that I also appear on cable?
I really love being in 'Game of Thrones,' but I don't know if it's my big break.
I was a kid when I did the hit show 'Kasturi' in 2007. Maybe stardom went to my head and I thought I was bigger than I actually was. I took everything for granted.
Before 'The OC,' I was on track to do some great films... and one thing happens, and then I got this mega-stardom all from this show.
I'm probably the biggest reality television star living.
I kind of started 'Game of Thrones' as a really young actor and not a lot on my CV.
I became an actor, and because I had success as an actor, I became famous. I was acting for quite a while before I got famous; television made me famous. I guess that it's television that is responsible for everybody's desire to be famous.
I would love to be on TV, but a good show has to come my way.
A lot of times, people are simply interested in seeing me because I was on television.
I was a piano major with Craig Robinson from 'The Office.' Me and Craig were very close in college at Illinois State University... It's so bizarre to see us out here now doing things.
I went from a sitcom to a hospital drama, feature films. I've kind of been living the actor's dream. I'm not associated with one role or one medium. You're lucky if you're associated with one hit show.
In 1977, at age ten, I was cast on the TV sitcom 'Good Times.' My character was Penny, an abused child in desperate need of love. I really didn't want to do the show. I didn't want to be away from my family.
There was a day when doing TV was like, oh my God, the end of your career. Now it's just like, we all want to do TV; we all want to do great TV.
When I was doing all this acting stuff, all these kids, like, assumed, 'Oh, my God, you're on TV, and you probably have a lot of money.' And I was living in a garage.
Being on a TV show is a really good gig for an actor.
Also, if you're in a TV show that does turn out to be very successful, you then can do whatever you want to do in theater for a very long time.
To act alongside a TV idol of mine, Peter Krause, was phenomenal. I watched him in 'Six Feet Under,' I watched him on 'Dirty Sexy Money' and I'll carry on watching him, and I've been lucky enough to be a part of that world with him.
I was the first movie star to plunge into night-time soap opera.
It's actually just as cool to be on television as to be in a movie, and nobody's ashamed of this back and forth.
I am very glad I did 'EastEnders,' and I'm flattered that people still remember me in it.
I am lucky to be part of a 'Kyunki.' Not every actor gets a chance to be part of a successful television show.
You have to be on TV a surprisingly long time before you're stopped on the street. Then, when you are, you get a lot of, 'Hey, you're great! What's your name again?'
I don't need to be reminded that I was on 'Friends.' I remember - some of it, anyway.
