Quotes

"When somebody is attacking your hometown, and you're just sitting in the basement, you feel really useless. I felt I had to do it to defend my country. That's normal." - on why he extended his military service.

I'm working with a dialect coach, but it's not helping. I want everyone to understand what I am talking about, like 'peritoneal lavage', you know, these medical expressions... I don't want to lose my accent, I just want it to become smaller.

"Every time I perform, I work really hard to give part of myself to the audience. Then I do an interview and I read some story that just isn't true, or someone draws a crazy conclusion about my life, and it's such a betrayal. It hasn't happened here, but in Croatia, I've had to stop reading about myself. I don't think actors mean to be secretive - they just don't want strangers looking through their kitchen window." - on why he doesn't give many interviews.

I don't understand the word 'hunk.'" - "Calgary Sun, " Jan. 30, 2000.

The first time I came here it was 10 days, then 15 days, then three months. Now this time I have to stay to April. I'm slowly getting stuck here and I miss Europe.

I would really like to do theatre in my native language because that would be like so relaxed after ER ... English ... those medical words!

ER is a pretty big deal in Croatia. When my agent called and told me about this show, I said, 'Are we talking about the same ER?' And I thought about it for half a second and then said, 'Yes, of course!' I was watching them in Croatia when I was still at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and now I'm working with them.

Making my English better is a hard job, a slow job. But it's getting better. Three years ago it would have taken me a half hour to say this sentence.

This cute woman walked into my favourite bar in Gavella, Croatia, about 5 years ago. When I saw her I said "Uh-oh, that's it". But I was shy, so I didn't ask her out until a couple of days later, when I finally found someone who knew her phone number.

I was happy to do it when I saw the chance of helping out the local theatre scene ... I am delighted to be able to help the theatres where I grew up and learned my profession. I have never forgotten my past.

Several years ago I saw a video of a seal hunt in Canada and was shocked. I just couldn't believe that sort of thing was still happening in the 21st century. But it was. The way seals are killed is so inhumane. They're clubbed then pulled across the ice with big hooks. I mean, I have a pretty strong stomach from being on ER all these years, but it still disgusts me. Once you see a video like that it's really hard to sit on the sidelines and say "Who cares."

After singing "stop the war in Croatia" for a couple of months we realized nobody was going to give us a hand and we had to do this on our own.

[on why he, though a smoker in real life, doesn't smoke on "ER"] I started smoking in high school. I later wondered whether my fondness for musicians and movie stars who smoked might have influenced me to pick up the habit. I don't know if you can send a message through a movie or a TV show in a very direct way, like: 'Now believe this. Now think this way.' But I do think you can affect people on a subconscious level.