Actors

The star of the football drama Friday Night Lights discusses her role on the NBC series with Fresh Air contributor David Bianculli. Britton explains why she likes playing Tami Taylor, how she prepares for her scenes — and speculates on when the Texas epic will finally end.

The Oscar-winning actress has played everything from a sassy car expert in My Cousin Vinny to a stripper alongside Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. In an interview with Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies, Tomei explains how she picks her roles -- and why she's excited about playing a mother in the new film Cyrus.

The Southern actor discusses playing a white supremacist turned born-again Christian on the critically acclaimed FX series Justified — and how he gets into the mind-set to play one of TV's worst bad boys.

The comic actor, who played Jack on TV's Will and Grace, makes his Broadway debut in a revival of Neil Simon's musical Promises, Promises. He has also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the made-for-TV movie Martin and Lewis and Jack Nicholson's valet in The Bucket List.

The son of a career diplomat, the actor explains how being a theater geek helped him acclimate to new schools every few years — and details how he channeled his father while playing White House Counsel Oliver Babish on Aaron Sorkin's drama The West Wing. Platt currently stars in Nicole Holofcener's film Please Give.

Chances are you've seen Australian actress Toni Collette in more roles that you realize. Collette has starred in Muriel's Wedding, The Sixth Sense and Little Miss Sunshine and currently plays several roles on Showtime's United States of Tara.

The star of Noah Baumbach's new film, Greenberg, initially wanted to be a serious actor -- and he's still got a thing for Vietnam War movies. Stiller talks to Terry Gross about how he got from that initial ambition to films like Meet the Parents and Zoolander.

The Oscar-nominated actress stars in the new Paul Greengrass thriller Green Zone as a journalist investigating the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. She has also played a port authority police officer in the HBO series The Wire and Michael Scott's girlfriend on The Office.

Actress Chloe Sevigny is known for her fashion sense, but she doesn't mind wearing a prairie dress for her Golden Globe-winning role as a wife in a polygamous family on HBO's Big Love. Sevigny explains how she prepared to play second wife Nicki Grant -- and remembers her other film roles.

William Hurt has been nominated for four Academy Awards, and won in 1986 for his role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Hurt prepares for his performances by burying himself deep inside the character — for his role as an ex-con in the film The Yellow Handkerchief, Hurt spent a night in a Louisiana prison.