Biography

On his Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) role as Ray Pruitt: "At first he was like this sort of like the underdog he was this guy from the wrong side of the town, who didn't fit in with the Beverly Hills kids but he had his music and he was honest and all this stuff. And then they started twisting him into being like this abusive evil boyfriend. I was like you either have to change the character or you have to let me off the show, because I'm going out and I'm like trying to sell tickets on our tour, and there's like teenage girls out there who think, like they really think I'm an abusive guy you know, and they'd hold up signs saying like 'leave Donna alone' and that's like so not what I wanted". - 1999

I like combining acting and music. I also like playing characters that are similar to myself 'cause they're playing my music. It's sort of the best of both worlds. - 1995

People were so attached to those characters, and then when one of those characters starts abusing one of the other characters, people do get mad at you. I didn't throw Donna down the stairs but my character did. I kept having to remind people of that, you know...that it was a show, I played a character. - 2003

I don't want to turn into someone like David Cassidy. Most people's impressions of those kind of guys are that they're cheezers. I'd like to think of myself as a lot more real than some of the pop stars I grew up watching. - 1992

Nobody wants to take an actor seriously as a musician. I'm totally expecting to get shit. Music has been my love forever. Playing the guitar to me is like therapy. And that's how I write most of my songs, too; it's my way of working through experiences I've had, working them out. Acting is cool and I love to do it, but you don't get the same back from it that you do from playing music. - 1994