There Will Be Blood, Love & Mercy, and Escape at Dannemora star Paul Dano has recently completed his Broadway run in Sam Shepard’s True West opposite Ethan Hawke, which is Dano’s first appearance on Broadway in almost a decade.

Speaking with Interview about his career, Dano spoke about whether he had “natural” acting talent from appearing on stage before he was even a teenager and some of the challenges of becoming an actor.

Regarding whether or not he has “natural” acting talent, Dano says, “I started acting as a kid, and I don’t think that would have happened if I didn’t have some sort of natural talent for it because it certainly wasn’t something that I was consciously looking for.”

Reflecting on those early years as an actor, Dano speaks about one of his biggest challenges: auditioning. He explains, “I can’t even tell you how many auditions all of us have been on. One of the hardest things to do is to just continue to get to know yourself and be yourself when you’re constantly at the behest of other people for your work. How to find yourself in an industry that sometimes feels so shallow?”