Tim DeKay

We actors do this to pretend, to go into imaginary circumstances, so when the imaginary circumstance is of a different time, that just compounds the joy of doing what we do.

I think USA has a great handle on programming and content. They know their viewers and they know what works... Character driven programming!

For a good workout, I go to At One Fitness in North Hollywood, where my trainer, Jon Allsop, puts me through it all. I like it because it's a small gym and I've known the people for a long time. Jon will have me do cross-training where I'll lift weights, jump rope, throw around a medicine ball and I never get to stop.

In the evening, since I have a lot of friends in theater, we might take in a Deaf West production in North Hollywood, or, since I'm a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, they have screenings that are really great.

About once a month or so, my daughter and I go out on what we call a Fancy Dinner Date, just the two of us.

It is quite different, but I love doing a series because you get to live with a character for a much longer amount of time. And the other aspect of it is that you have a steady job.

Jeff Eastin is good in that he'll tell me a plot twist that's coming up if he thinks it would be something Peter would know ahead of time, and if it's something that would be a surprise to Peter, I'll tell Jeff, 'Oh, don't tell me. I don't want to know.' And then it's exciting to read it and exciting to play it.

I was young enough to certainly realize the excitement of how popular 'Seinfeld' was.

I think for business reasons, fiscal reasons, I think these cable networks can take greater risks and I think with a risk comes better programming. And I think USA has got an amazing identity to it now that is clearly defined with its 'Characters welcome' tag.

Doing 'White Collar,' quite often my character goes undercover, so therein lies the compounding of the imagination. I get to play Peter Burke and then someone else when Peter Burke goes undercover.

I've always admired Gene Hackman, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck. I'm showing my age here.

I do have comfort, because as an actor you don't want that anxiety of wondering if you're going to continue with a certain role or if you're going to be employed the next year. It's nice to be comfortable with that and then you can concern yourself with the stories and nothing else. There's no other agenda than putting out a good product.

'White Collar' is a show about the unlikely pairing of an FBI agent and an ex-con solving smart, glamorous, interesting and provocative crimes in a sometimes very funny way.

There tends to be this hierarchy of film and television, and theater is somewhere else in its own milieu. However, as actors, yes, we love to do theater because it's our story. Nobody can edit it, the curtain goes up, and it's ours for two hours or three, or whatever. And we tell it.

As actors, if you get a pilot on HBO or on USA, your odds are good that it's going to get picked up.

I feel very fortunate to be an actor on a network whose tag line is 'Characters Welcome' and not 'Procedurals Welcome.'

I would just love to do 'It's a Wonderful Life.' I think that movie is fantastic.

I was a baseball player. I played in high school and a little bit in college. I was a catcher. I don't know if I could have played any other position. As a catcher, you're always on the ball.

To be honest, I don't think there's anything more exciting than an empty stadium. When you see it empty like that, all you see is possibility.