In my prayers every day, which are a combination of Hebrew prayers and Shakespeare and Sondheim lyrics and things people have said to me that I've written down and shoved in my pocket, I also say the name of every person I've ever known who's passed on.

The great love of my life is music.

Movies were a struggle for me - they didn't come easy.

I have no problem with violence, I have no problem playing horrible people.

I think it's fair to say I'm attracted to playing characters who are rather intense.

I'm an obsessive person. I like intensity.

I'm Jewish and I can sing and I'm alive.

I desperately want to see the day today and do the best I can not miss a shred of sunlight. It'll be over before I know it.

I'm lyrically driven, I'm not musically driven.

So I'm truly an actor who sings, and not a singer who acts.

I have the strength from my mother, the survivability. I have wonderful qualities from my mother - but please, Mother, forgive me - I heard judgment constantly about my father.

During 'Chicago Hope,' I never let directors talk to me, because I was so spoiled. I started off with people like Milos Forman, Sidney Lumet, James Lapine, unbelievably gifted people. So there I was, saying, 'Don't talk to me, I don't want your opinion.' I behaved abominably.

One of the greatest gifts that 'Homeland' has given me is it's affirming on a daily basis.

The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do 'Criminal Minds' in the first place.

My inner motivation is to make the world a better place; the bad guy and the good guy think the same thing.

If you're sick, watch funny movies.

The songs I love to sing are story songs, from Yiddish songs to Tom Waits.

When I'm on the road with concerts, people ask me to autograph my CDs, but more and more they come up with the cookbooks.

I have never been asked to be in a movie musical. Other than 'Yentl,' which I didn't sing in.

The great fun for me is these collaborators. I'm nothing by myself. Being with these people, whether it's the 'Homeland' cast or stage collaborators, they make you everything you are. They make you come to work. They make you be alive.

My wife will tell you that if you feel my hands before I walk on for a performance, you could chill a bottle of wine.

I'm not frightened about terrorism. I'm frightened about the roots of what we call terrorism.

In the hands of good writers, you have the opportunity to present both sides of an opinion equally and that you leave it to the audience to listen and then make up their own minds.

Peace in the Middle East isn't going to be created by another war or violent act on the other side.

I moved to New York to go to Julliard Drama School. Didn't sing a single note of music.

I never publicise in advance what I'm going to be singing because I never quite know until I start. I often change my mind halfway through. I sometimes throw in stuff about politics or Shakespeare or do songs in Yiddish.

Actually, the language in Shakespeare is wonderfully musical. You need to hear the music to connect with the words.

I guess I am sometimes over the top on stage, but then, that is my personality. I'm over the top in real life, too.

I've always been someone who some people like and some people don't like.

He was a great man. He taught himself how to walk again, to write with his left hand. My father was a hero.

I saw an interview that I did with someone, and I was horrified by it. And I said to my wife, 'This is unbearable how I talk.'

I'm in a constant state of gratitude.

I didn't live far from where Leopold and Loeb lived on Chicago's South Side, so I had heard about them as a kid.

I did not grow up singing Yiddish.

Even if it's a wonderful life, you wanna go somewhere and see the way other people reflect on the world and the lives that we're all living... I think regional theater is the life blood of our cultural lives.

I just want other people to know the kind of joy that I have in my life. I want other people to be able to have fun.

Sometimes, trying to make a work of art can be very difficult and very painful.

Characters are not created on paper or laptop alone.

Art is something in which you are never an expert at any point of time. It's something you hone all the time and something which is elusive all the time.

The thing is that when you make a film, it is such an intense experience. It's like being married.

I am a big fan of sleek action films.

The journey of filmmaking is so amazing. You start off with great confidence, and develop insecurity at the time of release. When you are ready with the finished product, you are constantly wondering if you have been honest to the story you started out with, if you got what you wanted. One is too close to the project by then to be objective.

In a film like 'Kannathil Muthamittal,' I can't have a Rajnikanth or a Kamal Haasan. If you have a star, the expectation of the film is different. So, you cast according to the subject of the film. Some films are best done with stars because it gives you a base on which if you can get the correct performance, you can reach higher.

I don't watch my old films like 'Roja,' 'Dil Se' because I only see mistakes. I see five minutes of the film and I am scared I will start finding mistakes in them.

That's the beauty of Mumbai. While some parts have grown rapidly, there are places like Churchgate that have retained their character.

I used to wonder how anyone could treat a fellow human as God. I never understood why they would do this.

Seeing any film after I have made it is difficult.

I enjoy making all kinds of films. I love action films, war films, period films, adventure films.

Whatever film you do, even if it's a children's film, you do with the same amount of sincerity.

When I am making a film, it's very instinctive, it's not preset.