Stephen Colletti

Growing up, it was about finding a way to entertain myself outdoors. We spent all the summers on the beach, camping with my family a bunch, and traveling as much as we could. My parents wouldn't let me watch too much TV growing up or play video games, or anything like that.

Top Gun' was one of my favorite movies growing up.

Acting was something I did growing up. I never it took it too seriously; it was just one of those things I got into high school and was like, 'Nah, I don't want to continue acting.' Cause I got into it professionally by local theater, and from there, I just decided to do sports and be more a high school kid and have my fun.

I've always been adventurous. In the summertime, my mom would lock me outside of the house and say, 'Do something, and come back later.'

I really loved working on 'Laguna Beach,' and I'd do it all over again. I'm one of the luckiest kids in the world, but I thought it was going to be a documentary about kids in high school, and they exaggerated all this drama. When it came out, it was this weird thing. People feel that they know you.

I was a very spastic kid who loved to see how high he could climb a tree. That's just the way I've always been.

Who I was back then, when I started on 'One Tree Hill,' is so different from who I am now. Coming off Laguna, being 19 years old, and thrown into this odd, ridiculous spotlight, wasn't for me. There have always been haters, and people don't want to give you a chance or the benefit of the doubt, but this show gave me an opportunity.

Working on 'Laguna' was great because just being in production and shooting stuff and having to go back and relive some things, and there were some lines here and there that the producers would want us to say, and just kind of, you're forced to recreate moments, and just working on the show was so much fun.

I remember girls watching it in high school, and I thought the basketball part of the show was cool. And lo and behold, a few years later, I found myself in 'Tree Hill' land.

Acting is fun, and if you enjoy doing it, you should take it seriously and see what you can do. It's been a blast, and so you know it was kind of like a test for me to move to L.A. and start studying and see how much I was really into it. Cause I wasn't gonna do it if I wasn't 100% committed.

Acting is fun, and if you enjoy doing it, you should take it seriously and see what you can do.

Things don't just fall into place because you have a dream. You're always going to have those negative thoughts. Our minds love to play with us - we're going to be our own worst critics - but I just say to myself, 'File it back.' I just try to bring any negative thoughts to light and deal with them, so I can file them away.