Michael Chiklis

Michael Chiklis: A brick layer, lays bricks... I'm an actor, that's what I do.

Michael Chiklis: I played baseball, hockey and football in high school. And it has come in handy in my life, because working on a film set is like a team sport. You can't go onto a set and have it be all about you. Film is best when it's collaborative.

Michael Chiklis: (on Hollywood) In this town there's room for everyone. There are plenty of ugly-ass people who make it. And I'm one of them.

Michael Chiklis: As for starting a trend, bald is sexy and here to stay!

Michael Chiklis: (on his similarities to his character The Thing from "Fantastic 4") But he's a guy who has a hard, tough guy exterior but sort of a marshmallow inside, and that pretty much sums me up.

Michael Chiklis: (on "The Shield") Something I think audiences have always craved is that ambiguity. Don't we all possess both of those qualities, the dark and the light?

Michael Chicklis: (on being pigeonholed by industry executives) The friction comes from the fact that (being pigeonholed) is counter to everything we are as artists. We transform and change ourselves by the very nature of what we do.

Michael Chiklis: (on the challenge of handling Vic Mackey) And to be sure, some of the material is hard to let go of. It really has challenged me on a professional level where--I mean, it's affecting, and sometimes I've had to literally shake myself and consciously say, "OK, let this go." Otherwise it really could permeate my entire life.

Michael Chiklis: (on scary movies) I saw The Omen when I was 12, and that stayed with me a long time. And The Exorcist-those two freaked me the [expletive] out, especially the fact that they deal with God and the devil. Those are the reasons I don't watch horror movies anymore. If I see one, it would have to be during the day, so I can sort of laugh at it.

Michael Chiklis: (when asked if he thought "The Shield" was better than "The Sopranos") Nice try. I'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole.