James Marsden

James:(On celebrating the new year) I am definitely not the guy who drives to Vegas and stands in the middle of the street drunk with beads around his neck. I'm the guy that's with his family in the backyard holding sparklers.

James: (On whether he is happy with his career) Yes, because I have a life. I'm 32, I have two kids and a wife, and that's important to me. Obviously, I want to be working on things I'm inspired by but superstardom is not interesting to me. The only thing I like about [celebrity] is having the power to choose what I'm going to do. I'm not to that point yet-while I have some ability to carve out which scripts I want to go after-but I am doing work that I really believe in.

James: (About his family) They've taught me that I can lead a richer life by living for someone that's not me. For much of my life, I felt like I was just going through the motions. It was like, 'When am I gonna be who I am, so I can start living?' And then it happened: My son was born, my daughter was born, and suddenly, it feels like you're really living. I decided I was going to stop thinking about things so much. I got this push from behind - it was like, 'Just do something. Just go. Do it. Live.'

James: I grew up in Oklahoma, and I feel really grateful for that, because it's given me a perspective on this business that I don't know if I would have had if I'd been raised even in Los Angeles. And that is the fact that it can go away at any second ... you're so lucky to be doing what you love to do and to be making a living at it. So I don't know any other way to be, really. It would be an effort for me to be a difficult, egotistical actor. ... I enjoy it too much; that's what people think is down-to-earth, I guess.

James: In the fifth grade I didn't have any friends. And on top of that, my mom was a cafeteria lady. At that age it's like, 'Mom, don't come up to me and be all sweet and tell me you love me. I'm trying to make friends here'.

James Marsden: I don't care what anybody says, thick black leather from head-to-toe is not the best thing to be doing gymnastics in.

James Marsden: (On how his children, ages 5 and 2, liked his 2007 film "Enchanted") My daughter's too young, but my son is like, "Okay, Dad's on TV, he's wearing puffy sleeves, and he's swinging a sword around. That's cool." Then he eats some popcorn. He thinks I'm cool, but he keeps me grounded too.

James: If you're lucky enough to pick what you do, that's the greatest career you can have. Ultimately, that's my goal: to have choices.

James Marsden: If you're an attractive guy, everyone thinks you're successful just because of the way you look. I hate that.