Robert explains what it's like to play the leader of the virtual reality team in Spy Kids 3D, and how acting has changed his life.

Star Stats:
Full name: Robert Vito
Real name: Robert Vito Diaz
Stage name: Robert D. Vito
Birthdate: July 13, 1987
Birthplace: Tampa, Florida

Star Faves:
Sports team: New York Yankees
Car: 1967 Shelby AC Cobra 427
Food: seafood—snow-crab legs
Movie: Top Gun
Actor: Tom Cruise

Q: Robert, tell us about your character, Rez.
Robert: Rez is the oldest, so he's like the leader of the virtual-reality game boys who are in the game. He's the oldest so I think he's the most confident in himself, the most self-assured. He's mysterious and charismatic.

Q: Is he a real-life person or is he a character in the game?
Robert: He's a real-life person. Like, the plot of the movie is there's this video game that the Toymaker runs. It's a virtual-reality game and they put on the headset and they go into the game.

Q: And the game boys—who are they?
Robert: We're the beta testers. We were the first people allowed in the game and I'm the leader.

Q: Have you ever done virtual-reality games before?
Robert: Actually, I've done one or two but it's nothing like this.

Q: Are you trapped in the game?
Robert: Well, no one's trapped in the game. It's like once all the kids come from around the world, the Toymaker is going to shut off the game and keep them all in the game. So we're trying to stop him.

Q: Is Rez anything like you?
Robert: Yes, because I myself like to be a leader and I am confident and I think I'm tough, so...

Q: Had you seen the previous two Spy Kids movies?
Robert: Yes, I had.

Q: You also appeared on the TV series Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.
Robert: I was Michelle Trachtenberg's love interest.

Q: And you were also on Bernie Mac?
Robert: Yes.

Q: Anything else that we might have seen?
Robert: I was on the soap opera Port Charles for a year.

Q: How did you get into acting?
Robert: When I was 4, I was watching TV one day and I just told my mom, "I want to be on TV." That's how it all got started. She sent my pictures in to different agents and I got some commercials and went out and started working. My very first jobs were...actually I got some commercials like a Tylenol commercial, McDonald's, Burger King. I did five Subway commercials. My first TV spot was on Chicago Hope.

Q: How old were you then?
Robert: I was 10.

Q: Did your life completely change when you started doing this?
Robert: Well, I would just come out to California for pilot season, and I would stay in Florida for the rest of the year, so I was just doing half regular school and half home school. It did kind of change my life, but now it's really changed because now I'm out in California the whole year, doing home school the whole year, and I only get to go back to Florida to visit my family. I get back to Tampa usually for a month in the summer and a month for Christmas and New Year's.

Q: Do you like to read?
Robert: I love reading magazines. I have magazines all over my house that I read every day. Mostly car magazines, but I like Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Paintball.

Q: Do you go out and play paintball?
Robert: Yes, I've actually been going out and getting really into it the last three or four months. They have these fields set up. One example is called Vietnam, like the field name, and it's made of all bamboo and natural bunkers. They split people up—let's say there are 20 people there, they put 10 on one side and 10 on the other. They'll call the game, and the object of the game is one team has to eliminate all the other players on the other team, and the way to eliminate them is if you shoot them with a paintball and it breaks, it has to be the size of a quarter or bigger.

Q: So you get pretty messy by the end of the game.
Robert: Oh yeah, you get nice and dirty and sweaty.

Q: What else do you like to do to relax and have fun?
Robert: Well, to have fun, I've played baseball my whole life.

Q: What position do you play?
Robert: Second-base and pitcher.

Q: What about video games—are you a gamer?
Robert: Yes I am. Right now I have XBox and PlayStation 2, so my favorite video game is Ghost Recon.

Q: Is there a video game that you would love to be trapped in?
Robert: Oh, well either Ghost Recon or Halo.

Q: What was unique about the set of Spy Kids?
Robert: Well, the first thing is that it was filmed in Austin, Texas, and the actual set was made in an old airplane hanger, and it's the world's largest green screen. So we were there working every day in this huge airplane hanger with green all around us.

Q: Is that you're favorite color now?
Robert: Green? I think I've seen enough green for the rest of my life.

Q: Did you go to Robert Rodriguez's castle?
Robert: Yes, I actually went there for a Valentine's Day party. His house is amazing. He had some medieval statues with swords. That's pretty cool. He has a bunch of secret passages in the bookcases where you have to open the bookcase and go in. Really cool. He actually envisioned the house in his head, and then he had someone build it for him.

Q: What famous person that you've met has most impressed you?
Robert: I would have to say Robert Rodriguez. He is, first of all, he does everything. He directs, he writes, he edits. He edits the whole thing from his house! He is an amazing guy. And, he cooks. He made this jalapeno-pepper pizza. That was good.