New Bohemians: THE SOAP STAR
Photography by Tom Winchester

Name: Chris Stack

Occupation: actor

Years in New York: 11

Hometown: Indianapolis, IN

What brought you to New York? A tractor beam and an '89 Volvo

What do you love about the city? The possibilities, the energy, the people, the focus.

"A great city is nothing more than a portrait of itself, and yet when all is said and done, its arsenal of scenes and images are part of a deeply moving plan. As a book in which to read this plan, New York is unsurpassed. For the whole world has poured its heart into the city by The Palisades, and made it far better than it ever had any right to be." -Mark Helprin

What do you hate? Haters, the city's obsession with deli bags and with "this town isn't what it used to be..." 'cause it never has been.

What's your definition of a New Yorker? I'm gonna steal from e.b. white for this one: "There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter- the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something."

Best or worst New York moment? Seeing Richard Serra's MoMA exhibit come down 2nd Ave on 20 flat-bed trucks at two in the morning on a Monday was pretty great.

What three things are you addicted to right now? Cigarettes, therapy, and love. Not necessarily in that order...

What one New York job would you want to do, if you weren't who you are? Fire fighter, drummer, early morning skyscraper window washer

Where do you see yourself in five years? At my barn for the weekend

If God were an animal, what would it be? In my imagination a blue whale, but in reality, probably a flea-bit rat.

What do you think the difference is between faith and religion? Faith is the self-held belief that there is an something larger than ourselves individually and collectively, religion is buying into somebody else's game show set of rules defining that same belief.