I think the toughest thing about being an actor in a film is to be with a director who doesn't know what they want. And that can be really, really frustrating.
I grew up like Athena — covered with playing cards instead of armor — and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual.
I started doing radio pieces with no clear, preconceived idea, except that I have a tendency to be theatrical.
I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.
Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best shrimp cocktails that ever were.
I'm pretty fortunate that I'm in the films I'm in largely because the directors have asked me to be in them. I'd love to do more of them, but the writing and historical stuff I'll probably always do.
In the winters, I enrolled in the hotel management program at Cornell University. I naively thought that I knew something about sleight-of-hand, entertainment and food, and that would be all I needed.
Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't.
