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MOST MAGAZINE - ISSUE 75 59MOSTMAGAZINEMOST MAGAZINE - ISSUE 75Q: YOU%u2019VE HAD ROLES IN HIGH-PROFILE PROJECTS LIKE STAR TREK: PICARD AND FOR ALL MANKIND. HOW DO YOU ADAPT TO WORKING ON SUCH VARIED PRODUCTIONS, FROM SCI-FI EPICS TO GROUNDED DRAMAS?A: I find the truth in the scene or the character. That%u2019s the thing. I mean, it%u2019s the same story in different environments. You have a story about love or a story about betrayal or story about revenge. So, it%u2019s either revenge on a space ship or in someone%u2019s backyard, but it%u2019s still the same story. I just find the truth of the situation and the moment and then I play that. Q: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ASPIRING ACTORS WHO MAY BE FACING CHALLENGES OR SETBACKS IN PURSUING THEIR CRAFT?A: I would say, %u201cDon%u2019t compare yourself to others.%u201d I used to do that. And I would tell them that they%u2019re unique and that no one has the same experiences, and there%u2019s nobody like them. I would tell them to just be them. I always used to go to auditions wondering how the casting directors would want to hear something. Am I supposed to scream? Am I not? But then I just started doing what %u201cShaw%u201d wanted. And maybe Shaw doesn%u2019t want to scream. Maybe Shaw wants to go against it and he want to whisper a particular line. When I started to do that is when I started to work more. When I started doing what I would do%u2014not what the guy next to me would do, not what my acting teacher would do, not what I think my best friend do, but what I would do as Shaw in that moment%u2014I started to work more.Q: AS SOMEONE WITH A BACKGROUND IN PSYCHOLOGY AND BUSINESS, HOW DO THOSE DISCIPLINES INFORM YOUR APPROACH TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OR NAVIGATING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY?A: I%u2019ve always been interested in people and why they do the things they do. I can%u2019t tell you exactly why or how that was created in me. Maybe in my childhood. But I%u2019ve always felt like a chameleon. I felt like I had to become different people to fit in with different groups as a survival method as a child. And studying psychology in school just gave me more depth to that by studying different types of people and why they do the things they do. You have to know why the character does what he does. Not what does, but why he does it. And he might be the only one who knows that. In terms of navigating the entertainment industry, I think it%u2019s just doing the best you can, believing in yourself, having manners, and being kind to people.