I think the most attractive thing is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you’ve gotten a lot out of the way.

When I wasn’t the flavor of the week or month or day, those were hard times.

There are a lot of movies I’d like to throw away. That’s not to say that I went in with that attitude. Any film I ever started, I went in with all the hope and best intentions in the world, but some films just don’t work.

The most significant piece of advice my father gave me early on about acting was, don’t get caught acting. Really believe in what you’re doing and then commit to it. Even if it feels uncomfortable, even if you feel that you’re gonna look like an ass. It’s all acting, but find the truth in a moment as opposed to just pretending you have and rather than trying to act your way out of it.

My parents not only did it for a living, but they were really good at it.

I think that the day you’ve figured out the differences between women and men is the day that you’re no longer attracted to women. It’s the difference that is so fantastic and frustrating and angering, and really sexy.

I’m a huge fan of Canadian rock-and-roll. When I was growing up, Rush came out with a record called Hemispheres, and I must have listened to that record for two years straight. Even when I was asleep I had it on. So, yeah, whenever I hear a Rush tune, the first thing I think of is Toronto.

One of the big draws of the show is here’s a guy who is ordinary in a lot of ways but, due to his profession, he’s placed in extraordinary situations that he has to make right with action and with thought. That’s what is appealing about Jack – he takes charge.

There are two things that Jack Bauer never does. Show mercy, and go to the bathroom.

I think the most attractive thing is a sense of humour. If someone can make you laugh, you’ve gotten a lot out of the way.

Youth is an amazing thing: I think back on when we did The Lost Boys, and I didn’t think I could do anything wrong.

There are three things we need to do for a band. We need to make a great record; we need to get the record played; and we need to find an audience for the live shows.

When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don’t have a second to be bored or take anything for granted.

When I saw Virginia Woolf, somewhere between the first and second acts, someone I had known as my mother became somebody else.

I couldn’t see my father’s films because they were restricted and we didn’t have videos or DVDs back then.

There’s a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point, as an actor, when you do know better, and that is when the fear starts.

When I was younger, my whole sense of self-worth was based on whether or not I was working, which was awful. And I had a baby at 20 years old, so it wasn’t just about me. At around the age of 30 there was a stretch where I wasn’t working – certainly not on anything I liked, anyway – and I started to do other things.

When you’re a young actor you like to go for characters with a bit of flair, so in many films I ended up playing the weirdos. I can assure you I’m not a psycho or a criminal or a bully.

When we shoot 24, there are so many things I have to worry about, from the script to technical things to my performance, that I don’t have a second to be bored or take anything for granted. We produce 24 hours of film a season, which is like making 12 movies.

I’m not that complicated as an actor. I have a formula in which I work, yeah. But not like Sean Penn does. Sean is one of the few actors I know who can work like that, actually becoming the character he is playing, and get consistent results. I don’t believe you can ever be someone else. You manifest different levels of your own personality to come up with a character.

I’ve had some amazing people in my life. Look at my father – he came from a small fishing village of five hundred people and at six foot four with giant ears and a kind of very odd expression, thought he could be a movie star. So go figure, you know?

The writers keep managing to turn the show in on itself, coming up with something that’s well thought-out and miraculous.

I did a play called Throne of Straw when I was 11, at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. It became really clear to me at that point that I enjoyed acting more than any other experience I was having.

I’ve always traveled with a picture of my daughter from 1989, her kindergarten school picture, that has ‘I love you, Daddy’ written on it. She’s always made fun of me because I never changed that picture out. It’s like my resistance to her getting older. It was the first thing she’d ever written to me and it means the world to me.

My whole mood or sense can change by virtue of the music that I’m listening to. It really does affect me on a visceral and emotional level.

When Julia and I broke up and I was really scared to go into a market or anywhere because I thought, ‘Oh God, everyone must hate me. And that wasn’t the case. People said, ‘I’m sorry this happened, man. Are you alright?’

My mother’s five-foot-two, and I’ll be honest with you – she’s the only person I’m scared of.

I’ve made films that I’ve given all I had to, that no one has seen. The bottom line is I want to work and I want someone to enjoy it.

I like chatting with people. If people ask me a direct question, I give them a direct answer and I feel I’ve always done that with the press.

I didn’t realize that television has gone through immense changes and has become very progressive.