Coal companies have a lot of power in the media, and unfortunately a lot of information doesn't get out.
I wasn't originally taking drama, but the drama teacher asked me to audition for Bye, Bye Birdie. I did and got the lead role. Initially I was kind of scared, but once I did it I got bitten by the bug and loved it.
I've always loved music, not necessarily just the Osmonds.
Of course we need coal right now, and although there are plenty of alternative fuel methods to investigate, we haven't come up with one yet.
The camp was in the Appalachian Mountains, in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I was a hike leader and camp counselor, and my brothers and I mowed the grass, cleaned the toilets, helped out in the mess hall and participated in the camps.
I remember lying on the floor of the living room with headphones on when I was four or five years old, listening to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
I did Chicago on Broadway the year before last. That was a great opportunity and I had a blast.
I wanted to help raise awareness, so I created an environmental foundation called Just Within Reach.
Yes, I loved Dean Martin. He was one of my father's favorite singers. He was so smooth. I like him better than Frank Sinatra.
I am not a tree-hugger and I don't think mine is an extreme point of view.
I did an educational video with National Geographic a year and a half ago, and it will be distributed to a few thousand schools around the country.
At Christmas our house is like a Donnie and Marie Christmas Special.
I had been singing all my life, but I started acting in high school.
My grandfather was in a barbershop quartet and my grandmother was in a gospel quartet with her sisters.
I wasn't originally taking drama, but the drama teacher asked me to audition for Bye, Bye Birdie. I did and got the lead role. Initially I was kind of scared, but once I did it I got bitten by the bug and loved it.
Once colon cancer becomes symptomatic, nine times out of ten it is too late.
If we can get kids talking about conservation and doing it, they can have a great influence on their parents by lecturing them and pointing the finger.
Our father was old-school. He had a very high pain threshold, and he was a southern man who didn't complain a lot. He was an outdoorsman, a construction worker, a fireman.
I believe as human beings we are out of balance, out of synch with the earth.
The coal mining industry is very destructive and it doesn't have to be.
So if people will pay attention to what I say because of our success as a group, I am going to use that.
I haven't been to the camp since my father passed away in 1991, but I go back to Kentucky all the time. I want to live there eventually.
In musical theater you have to be very big and very animated, while film and television are more toned down.
In Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia and Pennsylvania, instead of digging tunnels and mining coal through the mountains, they get about 15 heavy-machine operators and some demolitions experts, and they take down the top of the mountain and dump it into a valley.
They wanted to do a movie about the Backstreet Boys.
I truly believe the reason cancer rates and stress levels are rising is all the toxins we are absorbing through our food, air and water.
I started playing in the band and learned to play piano by ear.
I have been taking classes and I'm familiar with stage, but I'm not as familiar with acting on camera.
We're not saying that you don't need coal, but when you do mine the coal there are responsibilities to it. It may cost a little more, but it is the right thing to do.
We can have technology, prosperity, nice homes and cars, but at the same time we must be conscious of what we are dumping into the water, the air and our food.
Music was always a part of my life.
Cancer is just a horrible disease.
I just moved to Florida to seek out opportunities.
Eventually, I'd also like to produce.
Prior to that I testified before the Senate subcommittee addressing mountaintop removal.
Seeing my father, a big, strong, burly man of 6'2" and 215 lbs., just deteriorate in a hospital bed - it was sad and unfortunate, and I don't want anybody to have to go through that.
My wife Kristin and I are developing quite a few ideas. Kristin is an actor as well and has performed on Broadway.
The current Bush administration was trying to circumvent the Clean Water Act by having the Army Corp of Engineers change the definition of valley fill.
Quite a few movies are starting to film in Florida.
Florida has tons of entertainment opportunities because Walt Disney World and Universal Studios are there.
I sang in church choir all my life, through elementary school, junior high and high school.
My father worked for the Diocese of Lexington, an Episcopal church - although we weren't Episcopalians - and he ran a summer camp in Eastern Kentucky.
Actually, my first concert was Ike and Tina Turner when my mom was nine-months pregnant with me. I felt the vibrations! It's been in my bones ever since.
I have been reading scripts, going to auditions and looking for the right opportunities.
But I would lie on the floor and analyze everything. I'd listen to all the strings and the background vocals on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and try to pick out the different instruments.
For example, colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Every four minutes someone is diagnosed, and every nine minutes someone dies.
My mom sang in high school choir and so did my father.
