Emmys: The Drama Actor Roundtable (Video)

Their collective résumé boasts dozens of Emmy nominations –and several wins — but the folks on this year’s Drama Actors panel weren’t always at the top of their trade. One briefly sold ice cream (William H. Macy), another appeared in B horror movies (Tom Selleck), and a slightly luckier one slogged it out as a lifeguard (Timothy Olyphant).

Gathered in May in Hollywood to chat about their much-buzzed-about roles as a police chief (Selleck), U.S. marshal (Olyphant), 1920s kingpin (Steve Buscemi), empathic serial killer (Michael C. Hall), middle-aged car salesman (Andre Braugher) and drunk-as-a-skunk deadbeat dad (Macy), these six Emmy contenders revealed their scariest moments as actors (singing is a particularly frightening prospect), how much they hate auditioning and why it’s better not to know where their character is headed.

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