We all can relate to people's weaknesses. We might put up a facade that everything is perfect but none of us are. When we see that weakness in somebody else, we understand or give ourselves a little bit of leeway.

It's hard to act with just your jaw.

If I play a villain, I try to find his lightness and his good side. And if I play a hero or a good guy, I'll try to find his darkness or his flaws. Because I don't believe in good and evil. I believe in grays.

A lot of people have problems thinking of you doing more than one thing. If you do one thing, then you couldn't possibly do another thing well. Of course, we know that's not so.

I'm crazy about surprises. I love chance.

Whenever I get to work with great actors, I'm happy.

That's what people forget about, is that when things are very, very powerful in a sad way, they have that possibility of also being over-the-top, hysterically funny.

I saw Lee J. Cobb in 'Death of a Salesman' when I was about 15, and I couldn't get up from my seat in the theater; I was so... I was weeping, and I was upset. And I find that people are still like that in a similar circumstance in a theater today, where they just can't get up. It's too heartbreaking.

I'm essentially an actor. And the fact that I got away with singing and dancing for a long time is still a miracle to me.

I was accepted to UCLA, but at the same time, I had a job offer at Chicago's Chez Paree nightclub. My father, being a practical man, felt I should take the job.

I thought 'The Humans' was a beautiful play.

There was always this idea that I would work on Shakespeare and some of the other classics, but it never came to be.

I'm about possibilities and about surprises and the life force.

I really do enjoy everything I do. I just do so much.

The Yiddish language is so rich and unusual that I've always been hooked on its sounds, although I don't speak it.

I'd like to direct something at the Public.

When you cast cross-racially, another dimension is added.

I used to eat Danny Kaye's food. I had his Chinese and Italian meals, and that was as good as it gets.

There's a civility that has always been a part of me.

The fundamental job of the actor is to tell about the human condition, to be a voice for the truest ideas and deepest emotions.

I never think about my age very much. I've always lived my life the same way, full of excitement and anticipation of wonderful things and the knowledge that some not-so-wonderful things come with it.

Eight times a week, I got to be a gay man, a remarkable gay man, and every night, that felt as full, as true, as passionate, and as authentic as I ever felt in my life.

For me to take a role, I read a script, and I think, 'Wow, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I want to try.'

I was traumatized by a lot of childhood stuff. I felt that I was bad somewhere, starting with my birth.