If I wasn't a writer/director, I would be an investigative journalist. There's something about being an undercover journalist. I mean, that's freakin' cool!

With all due respect to 'The Vampire Diaries,' doing the same thing, over and over again, for essentially five years straight, it really becomes laborious and tedious, and it becomes a job. You obviously find gratification in acting, but you're playing the same character. No matter how compelling it is, it starts feeling pretty monotonous.

Growing up in New Jersey, everyone wanted to be a tough guy. That meant baggy pants that fell down, big T- shirts, and chains. I couldn't imagine wearing tight jeans, as I thought it was dorky. Now I look at pictures of me then and think, 'Yeah, you looked dorky.'

I would hope that, for me, regardless of what happens in my career in the future, I always want to maintain a level of humility. I think it's so important to not lose yourself and to just understand that you're a conduit.

My wife made me a book of photographs she took of our road trip across the United States. Makes for a good coffee table book.