1 Jericho's nuclear-war plot doesn't scare him: At 10, Ulrich had open-heart surgery for a congenital defect. ''I had a 25 percent chance of living,'' he recalls. ''I've had this 'F--- odds' attitude for a long time.''
2 The Johnny Deppelgänger scored six film roles straight out of NYU, including a killer part in Scream (1996). ''It's the easiest time when you're the new guy, the It Guy.''
3 Much of his role as a gay hustler in 1997's Oscar-nominated As Good as It Gets was cut. ''I decided my character would have a Brad Pitt fetish and I [ad-libbed] a little ditty, 'Brad Pitt, he's the s---.'''
4 ''I did a couple of really bad movies.'' See: 1999's Chill Factor, a.k.a. Speed on an ice cream truck. Or, don't.
5 Then, ''I took a couple years off to be with the kids,'' 5-year-old twins Jakob and Naiia, from ex-wife, actress Georgina Cates (Illuminata).
6 The Virginia native says his parents' divorce and his turbulent childhood actually ''made me a great dad.''
7 And a better actor? ''David Mamet said to us [at] NYU, 'If you didn't want to be an actor, you should have had a good childhood.'''
8 Born Bryan Ray Trout, Ulrich is his ex-stepdad's name. And Skeet? Not his idea. ''I'm not that dumb,'' he says.
9 He's digging doing TV. ''It's fun to have an arc that lasts 22 episodes. You don't know where [your character is] going.... It's a rush.''
10 In his decade in the business, he's gained some perspective. ''Who knows what's gonna happen? [Hollywood] is a big high school.''
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.