Who I Was Then by Patrick Swayze

People say it was Ghost or Dirty Dancing that blew the lid off my career, but it was North and South, a miniseries I did in 1985. What's made my career hang on so long is all these cult movies, like Road House, Next of Kin, and Point Break. They wanted me to play [Keanu Reeves' role] Johnny Utah, but Bodhi was the perfect character for me. He's aesthetically in love with challenge and the spiritual side of pushing to the limit. I've always been that sort of person. Bodhi was an opportunity to grow my hair long and turn into this wild, guru, Zenlike surfer, utilize skills I'd developed all my life — gymnastics, skydiving, surfing.... I was in a spiritual awakening, looking at who I was as a man and who I was as a spiritual being and how those fit together.