By Cathy Nelson Price
Portland Magazine

When the University of Southern Maine snared television and film star Tony Shalhoub to speak at their commencement next month, they were welcoming home a favorite son of the boards. The Wisconsin-born Shalhoub transferred to USM in his sophomore year, graduated in 1977, and went on to Yale Drama School and a satisfying career in regional theater before television and films beckoned.

His breakout role was as the cab driver Antonio in the NBC comedy series Wings (1991-1997). A succession of solid supporting roles in films followed, including The Big Night, Barton Fink, Searching For Bobbie Fischer, The Siege, Spy Kids, Men in Black, and Men In Black II. But it’s the USA Network series Monk that’s elevated Shalhoub to icon status, earning him a Best Actor Golden Globe award. His portrayal of the cleanliness-obsessed detective was an immediate critical and ratings hit, and he’s currently enjoying the perks and enduring the piques that come with that kind of recognition.

But he hasn’t forgotten USM and his days here. The day before Shalhoub was due to start filming a new feature film, Providence, he spoke to Portland Magazine from the California home he shares with actress-wife Brooke Adams and their children.

You start filming tomorrow; when can we expect to see the final product?

TS: You never know when you’re making movies; they might take eight months to a year to come out. I did a movie last spring, just before we started episodes of Monk, called Against the Ropes, which is coming out now [around April 25], with Meg Ryan. We shot that a year ago.

Let’s hear about Against the Ropes.

TS: It’s based on the life of Jackie Kallen [Ryan], who was the first female boxing manager. She was persistent enough to penetrate the completely male-dominated world of boxing, got a fighter and managed him, and he became a champion. The other guys in the “old boys’ club” tried to keep her out, but she wormed her way in.

And you’re the boxer?

TS: Oh God, no! You don’t want to see me with my shirt off.

It was a fair question.

TS: Actually, Omar Epps is playing the boxer. I play [Ryan’s] main adversary, who is also a boxing promoter, who tries to keep her out of it. Charles Dutton [Roc] is directing and acting in it. He plays the trainer. Tim Daly, my old friend from Wings days is in it, too.

Speaking of good people, take us back to your days at Profile Theater, which of course is now Portland Stage Company.

TS: I was a senior [at USM] and was fortunate enough to join the company at Profile Theater. I did everything there; I ran lights, I got props, I was acting in small parts in the beginning and then gradually larger parts. It was during that same year that I applied to Yale Drama School, auditioned there, and was accepted. I started at Yale in the fall of 1977.

Backing up a bit, what plays do you remember most from USM?

TS: I did [O’Neill’s] Desire Under the Elms, and Arthur Kopit’s Indians – in which I played Sitting Bull. One of my professors was Tom Power – the best teacher I’ve ever had – who really took me under his wing. Minor Roots, Walter Stumpf, Bill Steele, Al Duclos; we all hung out together.

Back to Profile. Can you share with us a triumph from that time – or better yet, an embarrassing moment you’ve gotten over?

TS: We were doing Little Murders. I was in the production, playing Kenny, the sort of insane son. At one point in the play there’s a gunshot, and the woman – played by Deborah Hall, I think – gets shot. Again, I was doing multiple jobs there and they had to have some way to break this multi-paned window. I had an idea and rigged up this little spring-loaded thing, like a homemade hammer. I was offstage during the time of the gunshot so I could pull a string and release this thing and it would whack the glass. I’d score the glass to weaken it, shoot the gun, and the actress would fall. It was really a great little rig – I think I made it out of a butter knife.

And then I missed the cue. I don’t know what I was doing back there, distracted, I guess, because the thing had worked every night. Actually there were two times; once, the gun went off but the glass didn’t break so the question was, “Where did the bullet come from?” And another night, the gun didn’t go off at all. I totally missed the cue and they were stuck out there. She [Deb Hall] somehow brilliantly acted being shot without anything having actually occurred.

Do you think she’s forgiven you?

TS: I sure hope so. I’d love to see all those people when I come out in May. Mike Rafkin, what a great guy. He directed me [at Profile].

How often do you get to visit Maine, and where?

TS: You know, I haven’t been back in a number of years, though I have hooked up with Tom [Power] and his wife [Carole] in Boston and other places. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Portland. I’m so anxious to see how it’s doing. I hear it’s just beautiful and still unspoiled.

You’re originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Having observed and moved among us during those years, what do you notice as an actor when you’re talking to a Mainer? Are there mannerisms or locutions that set us apart?

TS: There’s a certain musicality to the speech. When I first went to USM I was amazed at how interesting the accent was. There were people in my dorm at Gorham, guys from way up north I could not follow; I needed a translator.

Were there contemporaries of yours at that time who you thought would have breakout careers in theater?

TS: They have. Another student, Thomas Derrah, from Cape Elizabeth, was a year ahead of me; we applied at the same time and were in the same class at Yale Drama School. From there, we both took the job at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. He chose to stay and become the mainstay of that company; now teaches at Harvard and acts in regional theater, Broadway, and television as well. And there was another student, also a year ahead, Mary Ann Owen; she was accepted to Yale the year before us and she was actually the one who encouraged me to apply. When last I checked, she was working and living in Seattle and doing theater there.

As a developing actor, what did the area offer you that we would do well to continue doing for those who follow?

TS: When I was working at USM, and before I went to Profile my senior year, I had done a lot of stuff with Children’s Theater of Maine. Tom [Power] was running it; at that time it was not by kids, but for kids. We toured all over Maine and took sets around, played in the parks in Portland. I was very involved. We did workshops with kids in the summers, went to various grade schools. That was an incredibly productive and fertile time. You could do a lot more crazy stuff, take bigger chances and be really silly. In many ways that frees you up [as an actor] and is really valuable.

I was in Maine at an interesting time, going through this artistic resurgence. The Old Port was being refurbished and renovated; there were theater troupes and modern dance companies and artisans. Such a fertile time for the arts. Today, obviously, since the government doesn’t want to be so much involved, individuals have to support small, local theater companies. Theaters that encourage young playwrights should be supported, whether it’s by readings or productions.

Speaking of young theater hopefuls, if you woke up and found yourself a USM student again, would you do anything differently this time around?

TS: I would try to get more sleep. I’d try to do better. I didn’t really do that well until my junior year when I figured out that I wanted to make theater communications my major. I would have gotten involved in the theater department earlier.

How did you hear about USM to begin with?

TS: I was walking down the hall one day at University of Wisconsin and there was a little booth set up for the National Student Exchange Program, which allowed people to go to out-of-state schools but still be enrolled at and pay tuition at their home schools. There were places in Colorado, Hawaii, California … I just saw Maine and had this tug I can’t really describe. I figured I was probably going to be taking general courses anyway, biding my time and figuring out what I wanted to do, so I called them. I’d originally found the school in Fort Kent and thought, “That’s where I’ll go; it’ll be really remote and strange.” When I called the university, they said, “You might want to reconsider; why don’t you try Portland?” I let them talk me into it.

And you came here and embraced your choice. Where did you like to hang out in those days?

TS: After one semester of living on campus in Gorham, a couple of friends and I rented a cottage at Pine Point. We found this little cottage off-season, very inexpensive, and one of my friends had a car so we could drive in to class. That was the greatest. We had the beach … I’d be really curious to go and find that place; the people who rented to us were really nice to us. I spent a lot of time walking out on that beach.

What’s your favorite restaurant here?

TS: I love the Old Port Tavern and The Roma. I worked at the Eastland Hotel, in the restaurant there.

If you bought summer property here, where would it be?

TS: I wish I had bought in the ’70s; now I’d be rich. I love Camden and Boothbay. Somewhere up there.

What’s the most common misconception people have about you as an actor?

TS: Before Monk, people were surprised to hear that I was actually from this country and didn’t speak with an accent.

Is there a role you never got to play and wish you had, and is there one you’re still holding out hope for?

TS: I wish that I had played Romeo – now I’d be one of the grandfathers – and I think I’m too old for Hamlet, although I know English actors have played it in their 50s.

We hear you’ve directed an indie, which has won several film festival awards, and that the making of it was a family affair.

TS: All true. [The film is Made-Up, released in 2002.] My wife’s sister wrote the screenplay based on her one-woman stage show that I produced and Brooke directed. [Writer/actress Lynne Adams is fondly remembered by Guiding Light soap fans as Dr. Leslie Jackson Bauer, mother of Rick.] My wife and I were both in it, along with Lynne. My nephew Michael Matzdorff edited it. [Matzdorff, the son of Shalhoub’s sister Sherry, also edits Monk.] It was literally a labor of love. We all spent a lot of time together, developing the screenplay. It was a real exercise in patience and collaboration, knowing when to let go of something and when to hold your ground.

Would you like to direct again? Maybe something onstage? Maybe here?

TS: Wouldn’t that be great? That would be heaven. I’d love to.

Is there a succinct piece of advice you can give young actors as a sort of mantra?

TS: Whenever I’m having problems or I see someone having problems with a role, I try and simplify. Whatever is getting in the way – nerves, lack of confidence or lack of preparation, or too much preparation or sheer terror, or just the inability to figure out the puzzle – but you have to deliver something – I just say to myself or to the other person, “Talk and listen.” It’s important because actors work so much internally that they forget about the other person.

Talk and listen.

TS: Taking the attention off yourself and putting it on the other person you’re onstage with. It’s very basic, but it works.

©2002 Portland Magazine

Colin Sargent, Editor & Publisher
editor@portlandmonthly.com
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