I went into Saluki Con with two things in the back of my mind.

First, I was going to go broke, and second, I didn’t want to waste my time with Henry Thomas by asking him questions about E.T. that he has probably heard a thousand times over. Yes, the role is what put him on the map, and his role matters to a lot of people. But I was more interested in him, the career he built for himself, the fame he has attained and the experience he has gained from nearly 45 years of acting.

And he didn’t disappoint.

Thomas did not come off as someone trying to uphold a reputation or a status. He came off as someone who was in it for the passion and fun behind acting. He stayed in acting because it kept challenging him with every role he played and was, overall, someone who aimed to leave an impact on the hearts of many with whatever role he took. When I asked what pulled him into show business, he didn’t give the typical speech or a clearly rehearsed answer. It was like whenever he spoke, I felt an entire lifetime flash before my eyes. He talked about how he grew up in San Antonio, Texas, with a trumpet-player father who put him in music lessons at a young age. His music teacher at the time also directed a local theater group, and that was really the gateway that got him into acting through local plays.

“I decided, in my seven- or eight-year-old mind, that this was a lot more fun than piano lessons,” Thomas said.

This quote says a lot about what kind of person Thomas is and how interesting a guy he truly is.

He went on to say that he enjoyed films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars, and those films made him feel that acting wasn’t impossible at a young age. His parents were open-minded and encouraged him at a young age. It was really something of a bygone era, when the message to kids was simple: “You can do anything. You can be a doctor, you can be a scientist, you can be a policeman, you can be an actor.”

For Thomas, he took this ideology, ran with it and stuck with it for the rest of his life.

“It all sort of happened within a year and a half of me sitting in a theater going, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he said.

This path took him from an audition for Raggedy Man to a career that has stretched across four entire decades. But one of the most revealing moments in our conversation wasn’t about E.T. It was instead about fencing, a lesser-known part of Henry Thomas that no one seemingly talks about. It all started when he acted in a period film. What was meant to be stage fighting turned into a serious passion for historical fencing, medieval martial arts and even jousting. He also mentioned that he taught martial arts for four years and even taught his own son how to fence.

That’s one aspect people tend to neglect when talking to these big faces. Their lives are a lot bigger, more textured and sometimes weirder than the roles most people know them for.

That aspect came up again when I asked him which role he has connected with throughout all these years. His answer wasn’t sentimental.

“It’s sort of the trick to feel connected all the time,” Thomas said.

He went on to say that some characters stick to you more than others, some are easier to admire and “some characters you are happy to get away from.”

Thomas answered it like a working actor, not an actor who is trying to make every role he plays some sacred memory. He expressed that he loved period films like All the Pretty Horses, Legends of the Fall and Gangs of New York because he enjoys history and feels it is compelling to step into another time.

“It’s interesting to kind of put yourself in that world,” he said. “It’s really not that different because people, human nature, it’s the same.”

I found that more interesting than him giving me an answer that consisted of just one or two roles. He really went into the world the characters live in instead of centralizing it to a few characters, really embodying the characters he portrays and owning each role he takes on.

This really showed through when I brought up the question I was dying to ask him, and that was how it felt stepping into the shoes of Jack Torrance in the film. Thomas said he was anxious when he took on the role.

“It’s an iconic character,” he said. “You don’t want to touch those.”

He understood what came with taking on the role of this iconic character. He understood how dearly audiences and fans held that character. He felt that if he had just done a Jack Nicholson impression, it would have fallen flat on its face. Thomas only agreed to take on the role because of Mike Flanagan and how he handled the character.

“Any time you kind of step in that territory, you are painting a big target on your forehead,” he said.

He certainly was correct about that statement. Many actors who try to imitate other actors usually fail. His role and answer really left an impression on me. When I asked him, “What advice would you give to younger actors?” he didn’t respond in a hokey manner by saying things like “Follow your dreams” or “Follow your heart.” He was brutally honest when he spoke about the importance of listening, learning from actors and, most importantly, being willing to fail.

“Taking chances and failing, putting yourself out there, opening yourself up for criticism, that’s how you get better,” Thomas said.

I took this advice to heart, because if you don’t fail now and again, you won’t ever feel the euphoria once you succeed.

Saluki Con was an overall success. It didn’t feel claustrophobic or overwhelming like a typical con. It felt more like a proper social gathering than a typical convention. It wasn’t about the merchandise the vendors sold or the celebrities who were there.

Granted, it was cool to see what merchandise vendors sold and the fact that they had two celebrity guests, Henry Thomas and Annabeth Gish, but it was what a convention should always be about: people just coming together with common interests and just being themselves for a few hours.

At the end of the interview, I asked Henry Thomas one last question, and that was, “Is there anything else you would like to share?” He looked at me with a smirk and said, “No, not really. I really don’t find myself that interesting. That’s why I like to play other people.”

And it hit me that he didn’t hold himself in a higher regard, like he’s this mythical being, or try branding himself that way. He’s a fan just like us, and he loves what he does because it gives him a chance to inspire, to reach out to others, to let others come together to tell stories of their own and to share stories that shaped them, and just for a little while, feel like they belonged.