Chris Wood

I studied religions and all kinds of other things in college. I took a Shakespearean villain course for English literature. It was really intense. I think that sort of rounds a person. In this business, it's really important for us to be interesting... and have interests.

I play rec softball sort of religiously. I'm a huge baseball fan. When I lived in New York City, I'd go to a Yankees game every week.

I was one of those weirdos who, at six years old, was telling everybody that I wanted to be an actor. I saw my sister in a play and realized that I wanted to play make believe in front of people; I was always goofing around and putting on shows for my family.

Hopefully, everyone has the same feeling I do when they perform. I get such a thrill from getting to play make believe. My favorite place to be is trying to be somebody else.

If I wasn't making a movie, I was trying to master a new musical instrument or trying to teach myself how to shave with a straight razor. I had to find the weirdest things just to increase my understanding of other cultures or other arts or intellectual pursuits.

I've just always sort of been mesmerized by our minds and how people think and how people react differently.

Any other illness, any other disease that we're faced with, there's sympathy and understanding. We get help for those. With mental illness, our go-to is to categorize them as, 'Oh, they're crazy,' to belittle the problem.

I lost my father four years ago to what was the culmination of a manic episode that seemingly, to my family, came completely out of the blue after 59 years on this earth with no issues that we knew about, at least - sort of a normal run-of-the-mill guy who did his job and came home and had a family.

Six years is a long time to play the same characters on the same show.

I left 'Containment' for the first time understanding the exhaustion some people have after they've done a really demanding emotional and physical project. I wanted a break, to be honest with you, and I needed to recover.

The sexiest thing my girlfriend has ever done for me is when she planned three full days of events, meals, and surprises for my birthday. It was like one continuous gift.