I decided to go to school for advertising and graphic design. That was what I was gonna do but acting is that thing it's like a splinter in your mind and you can't get rid of it. So I decided to move to L.A. a few years ago and it just snowballed into this thing called 'The Hunger Games.'

Of course I did lots of what would be called graphic design now what used to be called commercial art.

The first novel I wrote was a monster - clocking in at 180 000 words - but it died a death a death it deserved. It was called 'The Gods First Make Mad.' It was a good title but it was the only good thing about the book. I didn't let that put me off.

A Shakespearean tragedy as so far considered may be called a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate. But it is clearly much more than this and we have now to regard it from another side.

The Greeks said grandly in their tragic phrase 'Let no one be called happy till his death' to which I would add 'Let no one till his death be called unhappy.'

Death would not be called bad O people if one knew how to truly die.

Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid the further the date of redemption is postponed.

Death so called is a thing which makes men weep And yet a third of life is passed in sleep.

I heard on public radio recently there's a thing called Weed Dating. Singles get together in a garden and weed and then they take turns they keep matching up with other people. Two people will weed down one row and switch over with two other people. It's in Vermont. I don't think I'd be very good at Weed Dating.

I suppose I was a little bit of what would be called today a nerd. I didn't have girlfriends and really I wasn't a very social boy.

I wasn't aware of my dad being an actor when I was young. I remember there was an Australian children's entertainer on television called Ralph Harris and when I'd say my father was an actor kids would say you know 'oh is he Ralph Harris?' And I had to say no and then they would lose interest.

I was born and raised in the high desert of Nevada in a tiny town called Searchlight. My dad was a hard rock miner. My mom took in wash. I grew up around people of strong values - even if they rarely talked about them.

My father was Catholic my mother was Protestant and because of that I got Christened in both churches so I've got all these names... but my Dad always called me Mick.

So I go to my first book signing and these two girls came up and gave me a piece of paper: '10 reasons you should date our dad. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He's a lawyer.' He didn't know what was going on. He didn't even know me. They called him and he came down and asked me out that day. Now I'm dating their dad!

I finished high school moved to Nashville for college and set out to break into the music business. Every night when I called home with news of my experiences my mom and dad would encourage me to keep taking those small steps.

When I found out I got this job I cried of course - I'm a girly-girl - and then I called my dad and he cried too. On so many levels this is a thrill for me.

When I was born in 1970 with a rare genetic disorder called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED) medical science wasn't what it is today and my mum and dad were treated terribly by the medical profession.

The Rat Pack was the piece that really kicked me out of that little funk that I was in and then Ted called me up and asked me if I wanted to be the dad in Blow.

My dad came out of the Roosevelt era and the Depression. One person and one party made a difference in his life. That's what everybody forgot when they called my father and other people political bosses.

It's not like he called me up and asked me. They've never wanted to throw us into that world and I think our decision probably shocked them. But I love my dad and I think I'd regret it if I didn't do this.

Dad sometimes patted me on the knee and called me his Little Schmuck.

But you know my dad called me the laziest white kid he ever met. When I screamed back at him that he was putting down a race of people to call me lazy his answer was that's not what he was doing and that I was also the dumbest white kid he ever met.

My mom was a professional. My dad and mom met each other in a movie called 'New Faces of 1937.' My mom went under the name Thelma Leeds and she did a few movies and she was really a great singer and when she married my dad and started to have a family she sang at parties.

My dad worked two jobs and moved us to the suburbs and just being a black person I went through a lot of racism and being called names and being bullied every single day. And it was hard. I didn't have any friends.