We had the honor of sitting down with Ron Perlman to discuss Sons of Anarchy, how he got started in acting, and his own favorite television shows. Here's what he had to say:

How did you get started in acting?

R. Perlman: I couldn't make it on the swimming team in high school. In fact, I got thrown off the swimming team and was forced to audition for the school play because they had at the audition about 35 girls show up and no boys, so my swimming coach suggested that I might be able to do the drama department more good than I was doing the swimming team. Why he had that instinct I don't know, but the rest is history.

How did you come into this part on Sons of Anarchy? I mean, did you audition?

R. Perlman: Kurt Sutter asked to have lunch with me and told me that they were interested in exploring the idea of me playing Clay and that I was going to have to audition for the network, and so I did and here we are.

What attracted you to this show?

R. Perlman: The writing. End of story.

What was it about the writing?

R. Perlman: It's incredibly smart, very, very, very vivid, completely ungratuitous for a show's that as hardcore and violent and explosive and radical behavior, these are not your average conservative Republicans, these guys are ruthless and badass. And the way it's depicted is very organic, which you could only do if you're a brilliant screenwriter, as Kurt Sutter is, and as an actor you know you're always going to be supported by - you're never going to be made to look gratuitous or silly because everything is incredibly well supported in a very organic and very brilliant way.

How much research did you do into biker culture?

R. Perlman: Not as much as I would have liked. I'm continuing to do research into biker culture. I got kind of thrown into this thing with no prep time so I just basically dove in with two legs, with two feet, and started playing him and have picked up things. You know, we have a tech advisor who's a member of the Oakland Chapter of the Hells Angels named D.L., he's one of the most famous guys in that club, and he - whenever I get a break in the action, I sit and chitchat with him.

Charlie's done time up there, he's spent serious time up there learning, immersing himself in the subculture, and whenever I have a minute I pick his brain, I learn from him. And I feel as if I have enough of a foundation where I've got a pretty strong point of view about where Clay is coming from and what his core values are, but I really would like to learn more because the more I know about them the more fascinating they become to me.