What Do You Know for Sure?

Simon Baker, on Expectations

Simon Baker stars in CBS's The Mentalist.

I don't want to be anyone else. My life is an amazing, wonderful thing. I think it takes a lot of time to get to that point, particularly when you're in a business where everyone's successes and failures are flashed up in lights.

We get mixed up with what we need and what we want. Growing up [in Byron Bay, Australia], I realized that I didn't need a lot. I still feel that if everything really went south, I could retreat there.

Expectations are somewhat dangerous. You can't control everything. At times, you have to sit back and go with it.

Just as the gardener has to come and trim back the edges of the lawn, there comes a time in a man's age when he has to start trimming back the edges a little. Hairs start to grow in places that you didn't know hair could grow in. I'm not overmanicured—don't worry. I just try to keep nature at bay slightly.

You can't get a decent meat pie in L.A. If you find one, tell me.