I loved cinema while growing up and, for the longest time, wanted to be a director.

To pursue a career in Hollywood you have to have a personality bypass. Look at the top 20 stars in the world - there's probably only two actors among them. Hollywood's not about you as an actor. It's about your currency, what you 'bring to the table'. And I've never been one to jump through hoops for anyone.

A lot of Scots have settled in Canada over the years and it's a very easy place for Scots - they understand us, we understand them.

When I look back at it now, my past and the way I grew up, I grew up on communes.

My father died when I was young, and my mother, Ruth, went to work in an office selling theater and movie parties. She put me through private school, Horace Mann, in Riverdale. She sent me to camp so that I would learn to compete. She was a lioness, and I was her cub.

It's very hypocritical to constantly say, 'We want to keep our kids close,' then send them home with so much homework that family time becomes nonexistent.

For me, the spirit of Christmas means being happy and giving freely. It's a tradition for all the kids in the family to help mom decorate the tree. Christmas is all about family, eating, drinking and making merry.

My parents did their best - that earns a lot of forgiveness. But they say children grow up in spite of their parents, and I think I did.