I do find, coming form the stage and all that, I've always been conscious of my posture and my body, but also the style aspect, I do find myself throwing on a blazer and a nice pair of loafers more often. Daddy always likes a new pair of Guccis.

I always wanted to be an actor, but I always loved design, and growing up in New Orleans there was such great style, great architecture. I would decorate my little apartment in New York over and over again, because it only had a couple of rooms. And I did it for friends and family on the side just for fun.

Any of Bette Midler's concerts should be required viewing for every actor/performer. She has the audience in the palm of her hands at all times and can switch emotions on a dime: Great singer, great actress, great comedian - fearless.

I changed the lyrics of 'All I Need Is the Girl' to 'All I Need Is the Job' for an audition years ago. It's a great ice-breaker - people want to laugh.

Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don't have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere.

There's always somebody you can call and go have lunch with and just talk out an idea. And it's great, because I need that. It's part of my writing process, to early on sit people down and say, 'Alright, this film I'm working on...' and I tell them everything I have.

I was lucky enough to be exposed to film, art, literature, culture, and then told, 'Yes, you can do that, too.' It's not something that everybody's circumstances allow for.

I'd been in college studying English creative writing and history when I made the decision to join the Marines in the runup to the Iraq war.