I don't feel depressed. I feel elated.
My life has flourished in so many ways both personally and professionally that I can't ask for a better life.
My mom used to take me down to the Jersey Shore when I was 7, 8, 9 years old. I can remember being down in that area - Belmar, Seaside Heights, Asbury Park and all those places that I went back and revisited.
My mother gave up a good part of her career to look after me.
In a very short period of time, actors can become kind of relevant and hot.
I've had three biographies made about my life so people know an awful lot about me.
I've been able to go on and have a successful career on Broadway and certainly the last five years in Las Vegas have been amazing.
I was the last one to join the cast of the west Wing and when I started it was just a peripheral character - the focus was to be on the staff, not the First Family. When I did the pilot, my contract was for just three years and it was confined to maybe three or four episodes every season. The only restraint I had was that I could not play another President while the show was on the air. So, I kind of backed into one of the great events of my life and certainly my career.
If politics were a musical, it would be "Promises, Promises".
After I graduated from high school, one of the former workers on our farm asked if I would be willing to join him in selling Fuller brushes through the summer. It seemed like a perfect way to make some money for college. And being away from my parents and learning to make my own way gave me self confidence.
The operas I listen to aren't in English, and I want to listen to my opera after I'm done with it. I want to have the desire to play it on the stereo. To me, the language is part of the mystery.