Sebastian Stan

I can't take one day for granted. That's usually how I think.

Playing an unstable, bipolar, multiple-personality-disorder person is definitely up my alley.

You have license in front of the camera to do things, feel certain emotions that you don't get to in real life. It can be addicting.

I don't think I've got the stuff that Broadway musicals are made of. But there are definitely many musicals that I enjoy. 'Hair' and 'Rent' might be my favorites.

To shoot a movie that takes place in three decades in 30 days is a lot on the hair and make-up team.

I love the '50s and grew up loving works from that time period and from those great playwrights.

When I work on a part, one of the things I love to do is to put together a collage of things, stuff I see or stuff that inspires me, images, whatever.

I was born in Romania and later lived in Vienna, Austria, for a few years, and I eventually made my way over to New York in '95.

The thing that sticks to me most about theater is that because it's such an ape crazy nonstop experience, you really don't have time to think about anything else. You're just really present; you have to be, or else, you know, you can't stop the play.

When I was younger, it was so much easier. All I needed to do was just get a job. It was like, 'Oh, my God, I have a job! I can call myself a working actor.' But then, the older you get, you have to be more selective, and that's tough.

I know, when people are considering me for jobs, sometimes it's, 'Well, you're in a comic-book movie.' And I'm, like, 'But I'm killing myself to try to do the best I can!'

I think it gets a little harder as you find more success. As success happens, you have to figure out this question of 'What I am going to do next that stands out?' Because then you get seen as 'this thing,' which is a part of you. But it's not really you.

You can't judge a character, and you're never going to always play characters that are morally sound or know right from wrong.

You have to pay attention to the moments when you've felt on top on the world. I remember the first time I was on stage, I was doing 'West Side Story,' I was 17 and this woman was crying because she liked what I was doing so much.

The things I learned from my parents, what was deeply ingrained in their generation, is this idea of opportunity and the freedom to have an opportunity. The way the United States was thought of is as a place you can have this chance to do anything, to say, 'This is my idea, and I get to offer it to you, and if you like it, I can profit from it.'

I always look at auditions as not even getting the job as much as I'm just trying to connect with this casting director so they remember me for next time.

I came here from Romania when I was 12 years old. I had an accent. High school was tough a little bit for a few years. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be liked. I wanted to be good-looking. I wanted to be popular. I spent a lot of time thinking, 'What are these people going to think of me?'

I live in New York and I love it, because it doesn't make me feel like my life is always just about acting and that world of acting. I don't have expectations.

I've gotten really good at not judging characters.

Just to get a job is always really exciting to me. I do feel there's a lot left for me to learn about movies, the subtleties of acting.

Most of the people I admire as actors didn't make it until their mid-30s: the Mark Ruffalos, the John Hawkeses of the world.

My job as an actor is to just tell the story as best I can from my character's point of view and let the audience decide.

Embrace your differences and the qualities about you that you think are weird. Eventually, they're going to be the only things separating you from everyone else.

Violence has always been unfortunately embedded in masculinity, this alpha thing.

Sometimes it's okay to give yourself a pat on the back and say, 'That was cool. That made me feel good.'