Did you know that when Vin Diesel was a child actor in New York he played a tree? Apparently this is a true thing — according to the actor — and clearly a foreshadow of his career to come, particularly in regard to his role as Groot in "Guardians of the Galaxy."

When approached by the film's producer Kevin Feige to play the tree, Diesel explained that "Immediately all my phobias ... resurfaced. It felt like a great time to face those fears."

Naturally the actor came with some words of wisdom for all you actor-y hopefuls out there stuck in the underbrush (metaphorically speaking). "If you're cast as the tree in your school play just know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

But it wasn't all Feige and facing fears, as it were. "It culminated last year at Comic-Con," Diesel said of the frenzy to get him into the Marvel universe. "The way it really happened was the social media craze. It's something they manifested, they made it happen."

The "they" he speaks of are, of course, his fans who created "all this fan art of [Diesel] juxtaposed as different Marvel characters." Which, you know, we'd love to see below in the comments if you have any. The weirder the better!