The first of the four NOBLE truths of Buddhism, that there is suffering in life, was enormously important to me. No one had ever said it out loud. That had been my experience, of COURSE, but no one had ever talked about it. I didn't know what to do with all the fear and EMOTIONS within, and here was the Buddha saying this TRUTH right out loud.

And then I went to visit my sister in the states and all of a SUDDEN it was just like, it's like... it's like the movie WIZARD of Oz when all of a sudden it CHANGES from Black and White to GLORIOUS Technicolor.

My MEMORIES from my CHILDHOOD are centered on my FATHER's medical conditions alongside my constant desire to understand the principles of the nature AROUND me.

I was for YEARS in the YELLOW PERIOD, you KNOW.

You take out an injunction against somebody or some organisation and immediately news of that injunction and the PEOPLE involved and the story BEHIND the injunction is in a legal-free world on TWITTER and the Internet. It's POINTLESS.

It USED to take me forever to READ and comprehend stuff, so I decided not to make the 'Captain Underpants' books too challenging. Don't get me WRONG - the humor and IDEAS are often sophisticated - but the books aren't hard to read. I wanted kids who hate READING to find these books irresistible.

I TRY to do stories that make a difference - stories that affect the way people think, stories that people NEED to HEAR - and usually what DRIVES me is to do stories about people who have no voice, people who have no POLITICAL power, people who are overlooked by society.

For as much as I TEND to RUN my mouth sometimes, I WOULD have definitely stacked up better in the 1970s or the 1980s when there wasn't as much media or there wasn't as much PUBLICITY and sponsorship AROUND the sport that you had to be PC for.

The great thing about acting is that you GET to be a LOT of DIFFERENT things in one lifetime. You get to explore different personalities and CHARACTERS.