LOS ANGELES, California?In this second of three parts of our most memorable interviews of 2008, we feature actors ranging from Steve Carell to Sir Ben Kingsley. With such a diverse list of thespians, we got quotes that ran the gamut?from downright funny to deep musings about happiness and creativity.

Steve Carell

Since it?s awards season again, Steve?s take on the red carpet walk and the glamorous aspect of show biz, which he shared with us early this year, is worth bringing up again:

?Frankly, that?s such a strange world to me?the red carpet, the glamour and the glitz,? Steve admitted. ?My wife and I laugh at each other the entire night, because we don?t feel like we?re really part of that world. The first big one I went to was the Golden Globes. It blew my mind! It was so unlike anything I had ever done in my life. It was exciting, and there were stars all over the place. I was like, ?How did I get invited to this thing??

He added, ?I love to watch the red carpet, and see people make fun of themselves, and wear things that are crazy. It always seems more glamorous from a distance than when you?re there. You?re in the men?s room next to John Travolta. It puts things in perspective?they?re just people who have to pee like everybody else.?

The comedian volunteered, ?Oh, incidentally, Ricky Gervais and I were together in the men?s room at the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards. This is another men?s room story. We greeted each other. I was at the urinal, and he was at the next. He peered over the little partition and said, as loudly as he could, ?I knew it!? I was like, ?Thanks, great!?? It appears that Ricky?s verbal prank was to leave everyone in that men?s room wondering whether his comment was complimentary or insulting to Steve.

Harrison Ford

Writers use ?laconic? to describe Harrison Ford so often that the word might as well be considered a synonym to the actor. But, that adjective didn?t apply to Harrison in our interview with him this year. He was not stingy with his words, and his trademark wry, self-deprecating humor was on full display.

?Life is good,? he said at one point, as if to confirm what we thought?that he was in good spirits. ?Here I am at this stage of my life, very much enjoying my profession, my avocation in flying, and continuing to learn and challenge myself in both.?

When asked if he at one point told Steven Spielberg and George Lucas that he was no longer going to do this or that stunt in ?Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,? Harrison asked back with a furrowed brow, ?Why?? Then, breaking into his famous lopsided smirking smile (part of his charm, really, especially when he does it onscreen), he said, ?That is my exercise?that?s what I do for fun. Are you kidding? I love it! I love running, jumping, falling down and rolling around on the floor with sweaty men. That?s what I like.? With a comedian?s dry wit, he quipped: ?Otherwise, I?d have to act or something.?

Jack Black

Jack Black jokingly reacted when told that his leading ladies, including Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet (in ?The Holiday?), find him attractive: ?It?s my fragrance. Jack Black natural scent.? He quipped, ?Do you think people would buy the Jack Black fragrance? Is that something I should consider??

The son of rocket scientists (his mother worked on the Hubble telescope)?who divorced when he was 10?admitted that he was already a comedian even at such a young age. ?When I was a kid, I was the class clown,? he recalled. ?I wanted to make everyone laugh. I?d go to great lengths. I would humiliate myself. Shamelessly. Anything to get the laughs, which were like a fantastic drug. They put me in a state of euphoria. I also pretended to be bionic, and I wanted to be an inventor.? He asked rhetorically, ?Was I so desperate to be loved??

Ben Kingsley

A question inquiring if Ben Kingsley is happy and fulfilled these days prompted the actor to share an illuminating anecdote: ?I remember a great theater director, Peter Brook, who said something to all of us when we were gathered together rehearsing ?A Midsummer Night?s Dream? at LA?s Ahmanson Theater in the 1970s.

?Peter told us that it?s impossible for an actor to do his work if he is unhappy,? he continued. ?He offered us the hypothesis that sometimes, unhappiness drives us forward creatively, but even though you?re driven, and you may be energized by an escape from unhappiness, you actually may not be doing your best work.?

E-mail rvnepales_ 5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.