(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Sam Rockwell gets annoyed at the contemporary get-famous-quick attitude towards acting.

The 41-year-old American thinks budding actors who just want to be famous de-value the craft. His parents were both in the profession and Sam insists a lot of hard-work goes into being a talented actor, although not enough people appreciate it.

I was naturally adept at acting, and I had learned how to film act very quickly. But [with] Bill Esper I learned there's a lot more to it, there's a craft if you really want to be an actor like a Robert Duvall or a Meryl Streep, he told WWDMens. That's what I always aim for. I think there's not enough of that sort of respect for apprenticeship for being an actor. People just want to become famous so quickly and so young and nobody really gives a sh*t. But I do. So that's my self-righteous spiel about acting."

Sam has mainly starred in independent films but his new role in Conviction sees him tackling the real-life character of Kenneth Waters, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1983 and spent 18 years in prison. His sister Betty Anne Waters trained to be a lawyer so she could prove his innocence.

While Sam admits to having a pretty middle-class existence when growing up after his parents split, he can still relate to getting into trouble with the law.

"I wasn't a tough kid, but I knew a lot of tough kids, he said. I got into trouble, but nothing really big: smoking pot, I got arrested, but it was just for buying beer with a fake ID. I did a little shoplifting, like in grocery stores and stuff, just like salami and cheese and potato chips and alcohol, usually, just typical kind of bulls**t. (C) Cover Media