Some actors play parts; others live them. Liev Schreiber is a performer in the latter half. He is a craftsman genuinely invested in the roles he plays, concerned about their motivations, worried about their consequences, and actively giving his input on how to make the process better. Schreiber, who was raised in a turbulent atmosphere that involved moving to other countries, custody battles, extreme poverty, kidnapping, living in an ashram, and being shunned from watching color movies by eccentric parents, all played significant parts in shaping the man once dubbed the “finest American theater actor of his generation” by The New York Times.

Schreiber, now a television, film, and stage actor with a Tony award and Yale School of Drama and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art training, is raking in accolades as the titular Ray Donovan (2013) on Showtime’s popular crime drama series. Schreiber’s personality and approach to acting brings him great success and equal challenges playing the character. As his partner of ten years (Academy Award-nominated Naomi Watts) told Men’s Journal, “His mind never shuts off. He is not the kind of guy to flail his hands in the air and go, ‘’Wow, this is fantastic!’ He is so not a fist pumper.”

She refers to his penchant for reading and revising scripts and never simply accepting characters as they are handed to him. He takes what he is given and contemplates it, studies it, and puts it into practice mentally to see if it feels right. If it doesn’t, he won’t hold back—scripts are regularly returned to the writers of Ray Donovan with Schreiber’s scribbles, offering the actor’s perspective on Donovan’s motivations and behaviors.

Schreiber has a bit of reservation about awards, believing it is somewhat strange to rank and qualify something as subjective as art. When he received his Emmy nomination for Ray Donovan, he told The Wrap, “I’m proud of the work I’ve done on the show, it’s solid. I struggle with the idea of comparing people’s work and art. The notion of giving awards or putting a competitive spin on something that is a relative art form is sort of odd to me. But I totally appreciate the acknowledgement.”

Having never seen himself as a film star, he explains his strength is not as a cinematic leading man. He continues to Men’s Health, saying, “I really never thought I was that good at film. And honestly still don’t. My strength is language. My background is monologues and a certain kind of Brechtian spin on theater. There’s no suspension of belief; there’s a proscenium: ‘We’re going to do some cardboard sets here, but basically you’re here because you’re interested in what this guy says, and we’re going to talk about that.’” He seconded that sentiment to Vanity Fair, saying, “There’s nothing more exciting than that conversation you have with a live audience. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

The irony of that statement, of course, is that Ray Donovan, a Boston-Hollywood fixer known for speaking more through baseball bats than lips, is a far cry from a verbal character. And while it is a television series and not a film, it still finds him in front of a camera as opposed to a crowd. Not to mention Ray Donovan is easily Schreiber’s most famous role, establishing his chief public renown through both a medium and character with which he is outside his comfort zone.

But in a noir world like Ray Donovan’s, the man with the least to say is often the most powerful. The role requires him to turn his penchant for spoken word into nonverbal language, speaking through actions instead of dialogue. In that department, Donovan has plenty to say. Schreiber may not ever operate in an aura of full confidence when behind the camera, but his dedication to shaping, developing, and controlling the character of Ray Donovan has certainly paid off.