As far as the lack of hits goes I think perhaps it's because I've played a lot of different roles and have not created a persona that the public can latch on to. I have played everything from psychopathic killers to romantic leading men and in picking such diverse roles I have avoided typecasting.
It is really rare to find someone you really really love and that you want to spend your life with and all that stuff that goes along with being married. I am one of those lucky people. And I think she feels that way too. So the romantic stuff is easy because you want them to be happy.
I think the American West really attracts me because it's romantic. The desert the empty space the drama.
Too many women throw themselves into romance because they're afraid of being single then start making compromises and losing their identity. I won't do that.
The reason it has relevance is because I as a popular Arab personality - the Arab people like me and respect me - thought it was time for me to make an ever so tiny statement about what I thought about this whole thing.
You don't stay married for thirty-nine years because of sex or even because of love but because your partner is a real friend to you because they respect and regard you.
In the military I could exercise the power of being automatically respected because of the medals on my chest not because I had done anything right at the moment to earn that respect. This is pretty nice. It's also a psychological trap that can stop one's growth and allow one to get away with just plain bad behavior.
I got into acting because my teachers kept nudging me into it. The power a teacher has to influence someone is so great. I can't think of a profession I have more respect for.
We never really felt a real level of respect. The fame was fantastic but that wasn't that important to me because for every million people that loved me I focused on the one that hated me.
The other inmates stand in a long straight line flanked by guards and I am dragged past them. I do not respect them because they will not run - will not try to escape.