SIDNEY POITIER showed what was possible for me. You must remember, when he arrived, it was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. He showed up as this sterling black man, with strength, courage, and grace. He was a black man who did not bow to anyone. Always eye-to-eye with the white people he shared the screen with. White actors had to come up to his level.

JAMES EARL JONES showed what was possible in terms of range for a black actor. He played a wide variety of roles. He was the first black president on screen, then he was a garbage man, then the prize fighter Jack Johnson, several Othellos on stage, Darth Vader, and this TV movie about alien abduction ("The UFO Incident", 1975). What a range of roles he played.

PETER O'TOOLE has a kind of intensity that I find absolutely thrilling. He expresses with an intensity that I can relate to. I have that kind of intensity inside me. He has this way with language, a way of speaking that's incredibly intelligent and witty at the same time. I just love the way he swings. They couldn't figure out how to give him a real Oscar for his work, so they gave him a lifetime award. It's great, but I wished they'd given him more than that.

RICHARD BURTON has another kind of intensity. He once said of Clint Eastwood, comparing him to Spencer Tracey, Gary Cooper and Robert Mitchum "He has a kind of dynamic lethargy." That's a way of speaking that is so unique, so great. With Burton there is this incredibly passionate, raging, feverish intensity behind the eyes, a power and majesty. Like O'Toole, never having won an Oscar, he's a tragic figure too.

ROBERT DENIRO AND AL PACINO came along in the 70s when I was seeing myself as an actor. They were ethnic guys. They didn't look like movie stars--a dark Sicilian? Woah! So the language they spoke, contemporary, and me coming out of Brooklyn where everybody talked like that. So I can really relate to them. I found their work captivating, riveting and deeply human.

Also: Toshiro Mifune, Oskar Werner, Peter Sellers, George Kirby, Sammy Davis, Jr; Morgan Freeman, Katherine Hepburn, Alfre Woodard, and Cicely Tyson. Even Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, and Art Carny. Then there's Gary Oldman, Chris Walken, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Lee. Old time actors like Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Vincent Price, Anne Baxter, and the great George Sanders. All of these actors transcend either themselves or the characters they're playing. This is the stuff that inspires me that I'm reaching towards.