I never say I work in television, I say I get to work in television.
Look at 'Avatar:' the foreign ticket sales were over twice the domestic returns. The mind boggles at those kinds of numbers, but that's what you get when you effectively reach out to a global audience. If that kind of thing came to comics, it would undoubtedly change how people perceive the mainstream industry.
Prior to 'Pirates of the Caribbean' - the first one in 2003 - I had been essentially known within the confines of Hollywood as box office poison, you know what I'm saying? You know, I basically had built a career on 20 years of failures.
I don't really find it to be a man-dominated industry. I mean, I guess when you look at it, it is, but I don't really look at it as a female or male thing, or female or male guitar players or whatever.
One motivation for the 'Soul Train' awards was the grumbling that all of us in the industry have heard about the way black music tends to be viewed as a secondary phenomenon by the other awards shows.
No, the type-casting didn't happen until after Star Trek. I don't think that you get typecast until you've been cast!
Once you've been booked, people in Hollywood say, 'Oh he must be good.' All the while you're the same actor.
I was definitely acutely aware, the transition of being seen as a child actor to being taken seriously as an adult actor. It's not always a smooth one.
I've definitely become more commercially successful. I think everything has changed over the past two years. People seem to take me seriously now as a songwriter for other artists and as an artist, which is funny to me because I always thought I was good. I guess that's the main change, which is pretty interesting.
There are certain filmmakers who look at the kind of work you have been a part of or if you come with a baggage of bad films.
When I was doing music videos, everybody was very snobbish about music video directors doing commercials. It was all guys from ad agencies.
If you ask me, I have not really seen any negative side of this industry. I have not met those kinds of people who can change the way I see this industry and make me feel that it's a bad or a dark place.
When people see that we're signed to Def Jam, the perception has changed.
I have a few other films in my life where I'm not attached and for a long time it was too complicated. Now it's starting to change because other actresses actually want to work with me, which is great.
My main worry is that after a certain point you become so identified with a character and a series that you might not be able to get work when your show goes off the air.
We sell books, other people sell shoes. What's the difference? Publishing isn't the highest art.
Really, I have no idea how I'm perceived in the industry.
Actors always think that others are getting more work than them. In my case, they usually are.
I think the message has already been sent to Hollywood, which is that this kid's a hard worker, he's talented, and people are coming out to see him. And when you have box-office results, Hollywood treats you different. Hollywood stands up.
We have to litigate to maintain our credibility. Otherwise industry would never take us seriously.
When I signed up for Y&R, my actor friends said, 'A daytime soap? It'll kill your career!' Now they'd trade places with me in a heartbeat.
I don't want to get typecast and I've been doing a lot of stuff to make that happen and not be the case.
The great thing about getting older and doing TV and theatre is that the roles get more interesting, and you're not cast because, 'Oh, she's always looked extraordinary.'
A lot of times in Hollywood you're as good as your last job.
I was very headstrong about wanting to keep my name when I moved to Los Angeles. But casting directors would call my managers and say I was perfect for the part, but my name wasn't marketable - I was a young guy, and had the old man name of Gary. I kept losing jobs because of the name not being marketable, so I changed it to Garrett.
