Myself, I happen to be married to an African-American woman, and we're together 17 years. We took a few trips to the South 15 years ago, and we were sobered by some of the reactions people had - how subtle or not-so-subtle their reactions were.

I remember seeing this picture my mother had of Dick Clark. It didn't inspire me to be an actor or anything, but when I did 'American Dreams' with Dick Clark, my mother came out, and she showed him this picture of them that was taken 35 years earlier. It was great.

Audiences have become so much more sophisticated, and they're looking for different eyes and different ways to tell a story. And 'Scandal' certainly gives us the freedom to take those chances.

There are days when I am just dead on the floor, and I'm there in my makeup, and that's getting a little tiring.

My family is very close. I can't say that about many people I meet in Hollywood.

Most shows are normally 40 or 50 pages.

Most of my work had been in theater, and I was jumping not just into television but 'L.A. Law,' which had all these megastars in it.

If we had a perfect world, we can do 'Scandal' during the day and 'Murder' at night - that's the optimal thing.

I started my career as an actor, but I've been a director for 15 years now.

I played in 'From the Earth to the Moon,' working with Tom Hanks. He is a great guy, very smart.