Gary Sinise

I've worked with a lot of really fine actors, both on stage and on screen. The level of their game lifts me up and brings the level of my game up to theirs. Always. It's like a constant upgrade.

It's always been my dream to do a dance scene with Anthony Hopkins.

I do spend a lot of weekends on the road. I have to pace myself. It can be pretty busy, but I'm not out in the Afghan desert with 70 pounds on my back, away from my family for a year at a time. I keep a good perspective on it.

You learn from things that don't go well, and you try to capitalize when they do. You build on those strengths and try to make your weaknesses stronger.

My mission is to support our service members. They're volunteers, and if they're going to go to a hostile place like Afghanistan, I think we owe it to them to back them up and try to help them get through it.

Well, I've been to Iraq twice now. I was in Baghdad in June and then north of Baghdad in November.

I have veterans in my family. But I didn't know anything about DAV, Disabled American Veterans.

I've never had to compromise myself for a job, ever.

Sometimes you're in great demand. Then suddenly your career hits the breaks.

I was always fascinated with rock 'n' roll, or girls, or something like that when I was a kid.

There's always the ongoing actor frustration of finding the great role to do next. I don't go to work a lot. I wait as long as I can until the money runs out or a great part comes along.

Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on time. The trick is to always keep the engine running.

But I've got more to learn, too. I don't feel like I'm done or I know it all.

I started a theater called Steppenwolf. We've been very supportive of the veterans there.

I go into military communities and do fundraisers and that kind of thing with the band, because I know that the music can help do a lot of things. It can bring communities together, it can raise awareness... and it entertains.

Yeah, I volunteered to support the troops, and get out there and show them that we care about them.

I study to learn, to be an educated person.

I've directed enough in the theatre and a couple of films to know that - to feel fairly secure that if I find a story that I really like I can probably get it done somewhat.

Before discovering theater, I was sloughing off and didn't have any passion for school. Then I couldn't get enough. All of a sudden, I was getting good parts in all of these plays. I just loved it. I started getting A's in acting, directing and technical theater. I found something that clicked.

The wonderful drama teacher at my high school, Barbara Patterson, saw me standing in the hall and told me I should audition for 'West Side Story.' I guess she thought I looked like a gang member.

I save money when I'm working so that I never have to take a role simply to pay the bills.

I'm not like one of those actors who's a frustrated director.

I think you're lucky if you discover what you really love at a young age. College wasn't something I was going to do. I wanted to keep acting, and I didn't want to go to New York or California and pound the pavement.

You've got to keep taking certain risks, because my priority is in acting, it's not in movie stardom.

I have a band that I started with a buddy of mine, a Vietnam veteran pal named Kimo Williams from Chicago.

Wherever I go for the military, they always call me Lt. Dan. They just can't help it.