Growing up in Highland Park, in high school, I had some very influential teachers: I had a math teacher who taught calculus that helped me learn to be in love with mathematics; I had a chemistry teacher who inspired us to work what was in the class and to go beyond.

As a young boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was inspired by the nascent space age.

I see no difference between scientific exploration and human exploration.

I think that space exploration as a broad activity is the most important things that humans can do. I've always found it fascinating, interesting, compelling, and I have a drive to go out into space.

I'm not glamorous and a bit bland, but I think that's my strength. That may be a reason behind what people say is my good chemistry with many actors.

Often, some people dress something up to make it sound scientific, use scientific words, call themselves doctor something-or-other, and then you look them up, and they're trying to make it sound like something it's not. There's this entire field that's adding the word 'quantum' to everything. It doesn't even make sense in that context.

I think back to having had the good fortune of being at Warner Bros. when we were doing 'Lois & Clark.' The chemistry between Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher was really wonderful.

I wasn't a big science-fiction fan growing up. But I loved Jules Verne and Sherlock Holmes. Both came into play on 'The X-Files.'