"I guess I've always wanted to push the boundaries as an actor." — Alessandro Nivola

I see myself as a character actor, and I've always been drawn to playing characters that are different from myself because acting is escapism for me. I've never been that comfortable playing people that are like me.

I tell you, the Pokemon industry has bled me dry.

A lot of the time with child actors, you get the feeling they're trying to have a kind of poise or presentation that's beyond their years that might be put on, but also might be because they've spent years just hanging out with adults and they don't even have a sense of what it's like to grow up with kids their own age.

When you speak in another accent, it affects you. You can't help but be changed by it.

People are always going to identify with what it's like living in society and have people judge you in certain ways, and how you can be strong enough to be your own person and all those good things.

I started off as an actor thinking that I would be this Romeo, this dashing leading man. It turns out that I'm a character actor.

I've often gone to start a film only to find the producers surprised to discover that I'm American.

Acting can be very selfish and all-consuming.

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I guess I've always wanted to push the boundaries as an actor.