After a critically acclaimed breakthrough performance in the Vietnam War film, The Thin Red Line, he landed a starring role opposite Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes. He can currently be seen in theaters as Edmund Dantes in the major studio release based on the Alexander Dumas classic, The Count of Monte Cristo. He spoke recently with Barbara R. Nicolosi for the Register.

Where did you grow up, and how did you get into acting?

I was born and grew up in Mount Vernon, Wash. I went to Catholic grammar schools, Catholic high school, and eventually to Bellevue College and played basketball. After an injury that kept me on the bench, I got involved in acting. One day a talent agent saw me do a monologue and then one thing led to another.

I understand that early on some Hollywood agents told you to change your name?

They did indeed. They said, no one will be able to say it and I said, “Well, you've learned to say Schwarzeneggar.”

What kind of role did faith play in your life growing up?

We always went to Mass. How true it is that, “The family that prays together stays together.” Many other Christians emphasize the importance of choosing to believe at some later point in life, but the fact is, you can be born into something. I was born into a climate of faith and it has made all the difference in my life.

Is it true you say the rosary every day?

Mary has always been there for me. Mary is there to grab her son's hand and our hand and put them together. People don't understand the power of the rosary. There is a different kind of sight, a spiritual sight. When you pray the rosary, whatever is covering your eyes is taken away. There is a reason why our Blessed Mother in all her apparitions on earth keeps insisting that we pray.

There was a point in my life when I got tired of being mediocre. I was tired of all the pain in my soul. So I started praying the rosary really from my heart, not just lip service. The next day I went through this horrible darkness inside. It was very painful, like a purging process. It's something I had never gone through before. After I went through it, I said, if this is what will be necessary to get closer to God I will go through it.

You are a successful Hollywood actor with a demanding career, but you still make time every day for personal time of prayer. What is the principal gift that prayer brings to your life?

St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “Lucifer is so clever he can blind any man.” Unless you pray you can't see the patterns of sin in your life, the areas that are in need of transformation. Also, when you pray from your heart you receive more grace. You make sin more rare in your life. We have the words of Jesus calling us to, “Be perfect as my father is perfect.” This starts to come to life when you pray.

What do you see as the greatest challenge to the Church today?

Most of us don't aspire to holiness. Indifference is the biggest sin of this current age. Indifference practically means there is no difference, in the way we think, in the way we handle difficulties. Few Catholics have a zeal for holiness. To attempt to boldly go to a deeper place in their spiritual journey with every passing year. The people of the world do not believe because we are not setting an example for them of lives transformed by the love of God. People can only aspire to what they see.

In your new film, The Count of Monte Cristo, your character Edmund Dantes goes on a pretty dark spiritual journey.

He becomes a walking Lucifer. There is no such thing as a void in human life. If you get emptied of one thing, something else will rush in. So when Edmund loses everything that matters to him, everything that he loves, including his faith in God, hatred and the desire for vengeance fills him up. But it weighs heavily on him. He can't escape the love of God that pursues him.

There is a scene in the prison in which Edmund and the Abbe Faria, played by Richard Harris, argue about faith. My character says, “I don't believe in God” to which the Abbe responds, “That's okay, he believes in you.” You can disagree with gravity on the way to the ground, but eventually every knee must bow.

Working in Hollywood brings with it a lot of spiritual temptations. What kind of advice would you give young Catholics who feel called to be actors?

Whatever walk in life you pursue, you are always going to be put to the test. Go to Mass. Receive the sacraments seriously. It seems to me that as regards the journey with God, you can have a ripple effect in the water, or you can really move into the deep.

If you want to move into the deep experience of God, you have to move away from sin. You have to be a soul in motion and sincerely want to become a saint.