I've always just sort of had an interest in acting. I was in theater in school. I did voice acting for a few youtube things. Vocal impersonations. That sort of stuff. I'm actually pretty decent at acting. Which sort of helps get me into the mindset of the characters I write. I also love weaving visual narrative in music, which is why I adore concept albums as much as I do. For those who couldn't care less about lyrics. As a writer, who actually tries to take his work seriously. It makes a difference in appreciating the great vs the good enough. When I write a character, I'll just be able to become that character, with very minimal time. I just have a really fluid imagination, so I often don't purposefully base characters of anyone I know.

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Confirmation of my belief that every character a writer creates has some portion of their creator in them--no matter how small, or be they the hero or the villain.
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I honestly consistently write characters that do not represent me in any fashion. Maybe, I write how I perceive the world. If that counts as a part of me, but it certainly isn't direct. I'd also say, more consistently people from writing mary sue's to complex characters in fantasy. People don't write to be like themselves. People write heroes they aspire to be, or villains that fill out darkness that most people would never even imagine doing. At least that's what I tend to see.