Manny Montana

I'm from Long Beach - not the best area in the world - and I had a lot of ghetto friends growing up.

If I was to do anything besides acting, I would be a fireman or a beat cop. I'd do a regular job.

When you're young, it's all about the society of school and being cool, but they don't understand that somebody can be different and live a different lifestyle and still be a regular person. I was the same way when I was a kid.

As an actor, you're always worried about getting stuck on a show that's not good because working actors need the paycheck. So being cast on a regular procedural, where everything gets wrapped up by the end of the episode, was always a fear of mine because that doesn't really test you as an actor.

People usually spend the first two months playing themselves up, not really being themselves. You waste those two months - and then they tell you, 'You're not who I was dating the first month!'

I grew up a really shy kid, but I always surrounded myself with a lot funny people. It depends on the day - if I feel like being quiet, I will be. I'm not a complete goofball, though.

I grew up in the hood, and I was raised to hate cops. But then, I started to realize that they're people, and they have lives, too.

My friends told me that it's the hardest thing to separate the personal life from their work.

I'm first generation in the country - my family's Mexican.

I'm quiet and introverted, and I like to just be by myself a lot. I like to read and just get away and surf. I have a lot of alone time.

You remember Donnie Brasco? It's the most notorious undercover movie ever; it's so street and so real. If you ever imagined yourself doing cop work, you imagined yourself getting pushed to that limit - seeing the furthest you can push yourself while still upholding the law.