What experiences, postive or negative, have made you a stronger person?

Quitting drinking and smoking have been the two biggest turning points of my entire life.

DA MAN: Does it cause any stress about always having to look cool off-camera when the paparazzi are following?
Joe Manganiello: As a man, if it takes me longer than five minutes to get out of the house, I’m doing something wrong.

DA MAN: Do you discuss things much with creator Alan Ball? And is he open to input from you or the rest of the cast?
Joe Manganiello: I don’t tell daddy how to f*#k … Alan is a genius. I trust his judgment implicitly and I give everything I have to my job, which is playing Alcide. Alan and the writers give me the situation and what I’m going to say and then I put my stink on it.

DA MAN: Are there any special exercises or grooming rituals that you go through when preparing for your nude/shirtless scenes?
Joe Manganiello: I get in the gym and bust my ass. I don’t really have any body hair to groom … if that’s what you’re asking.

DA MAN: Who was your biggest influence while growing up that encouraged you to pursue a career where so many want to do it, but so many fail?
Joe Manganiello: There was a cascade of events that led to my pursuit. My mother took me to see a production of the Hobbit with puppets, as a kid, and I remember being absolutely enthralled but I didn’t want to be an actor until later in life. I remember vividly this sense in my gut that this was what I was supposed to do. I also had a high school theater teacher that saw something in me and kept bugging me to try out for the senior musical, and so I did and I got the part. That gut feeling then led me to try out for one of the toughest drama schools in the world and I ended up getting accepted with a scholarship. The moral: trust your gut.

Joe on the Feburary/March cover of DA MAN magazine  [source]