I carried on acting during school holidays and was all set to go to drama school when I was offered my first professional job appearing in 'King David' with Richard Gere.

My average day on 'Leverage' starts at 5 A. M. and ends 12 to 14 hours later. An hour drive to the set and back sometimes makes the day unbearably long. You have to grab a few minutes to yourself where you can.

One of the things that takes a bit of getting used to on an American series is having a different director, and often writer, every week.

I'm not really that keen on mainstream; I'm not interested in doing the normal films. I do tend to go for the quirky, different scripts.

People spend their entire lives trying to construct something to grab onto: a family, a home, a business. Rarely does anyone seem to manage to get much ground under their feet.

That's what you want to keep sharing with the players in today's world: knowing that you represent yourself and your family each time you step on the court and to be the best at it because you never know where it leads to after it's all said and done.

After a great deal of thought and discussions with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election in 2014. Politics shouldn't be a career, and I never intended to make it one.

Not long ago, I got to meet some troopers whose lives had been saved. They came with their wives, their children, their parents. It was a very moving occasion.