Tony Shalhoub

I've been so fortunate throughout my career, when I was doing theater - more theater than anything else - and when I was doing films, that I got a chance just to do a broad range of things.

My father had season tickets to the Packer games, and I have several of those. I have a lot of family that still lives in the Bay Area and in Wisconsin, too. And so, I like to get back as often as I can.

Longtime Companion' was really the first movie that I know of that addressed the problem of AIDS. This was back in the '80s that we did this.

Luckily, the public sees me as a character actor.

My mom was funny and nutty. I suppose she had to be to survive raising 10 kids. To cope and keep a cap on things, she kept us buoyant and harmonious. She wouldn't let us express anger, which later on landed me in therapy but also made it easier for me to play laid-back, measured roles.

I am an actor. I try to do different things.

I get the opportunity to play all different ethnicities and not get stereotyped or locked into one. It's been a tremendous advantage, I think.

I try to do other characters that are different from Monk, obviously, because I'd like to be remembered for more than just that.

It was never really one of my goals to gain tremendous amount of celebrity or make a tremendous amount of money necessarily.

You make certain assumptions as a parent. And you kind of think, at a certain point, you've figured things out. And then all of a sudden, that person that you raised and nurtured and thought that you knew is someone else completely.

I'm a very sensitive guy!

You're not really necessarily the coolest guy in their life. You are a conduit to the really cool people.