You know this guy, Tucci? Sure. He played mobster Frank Nitti in Road to Perdition. He was in Sidewalks of New York, Big Trouble, America's Sweethearts and Tom Hanks' The Terminal. He wrote, directed, and starred in one of our favorite movies, the critically acclaimed indie flick Big Night. (Want to know even more about his screen chops?)

Like you, the man isn't afraid of demanding work.

For example: Here's how Stanley Tucci spent the summer and fall of 2002: naked in front of a huge Broadway audience with The Sopranos star Edie Falco (also naked). They appeared together 6 nights a week in the highly praised Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a two-character play about a night in the lives of a short-order cook and a waitress searching for love. He's also lending his voice to the upcoming animated film Robots.

Like you, Tucci has trouble relaxing.



You're Italian, you like to eat, you're 41 years old with three young kids and a demanding job—and you've got six-pack abs! ​​​​

Tucci: [Laughs.]

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Hey, we're from Best Life. We have to know how.

Tucci: I have a high metabolism. And I don't eat dairy. I'm allergic. But I can eat goat cheese, thank God.

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Exercise has nothing to do with it?

Tucci: Exercise is my salvation. I exercise consistently—always have. It reduces my stress. It keeps me focused. [I do] the simplest stuff in the world. Pushups and situps daily. I do some light weights and run on the treadmill, ride the bike. I've been doing basically the same workout for 25 years. And I try to get as much sleep as possible.

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When did you know you wanted to be an actor?

Tucci: I knew when I was a kid. My mother is a wonderful cook—she has recently written a cookbook. And my father's an artist. How could anybody become a lawyer when life was all about food and art? We lived in Italy for a year. My dad had a sabbatical, and he studied at the Academia. We lived in Florence. We spent a lot of time going to museums. All this has a tremendous impact on your life.

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What kind of impact did losing your hair have on you? How did you handle that?

Tucci: Oh, it was very painful. I hated it. I was very depressed. But then, the more hair I lost, actually, the more I started to work. And now I have completely given in to the fact that I will never have it again unless there's some incredible medical breakthrough, which could happen. It's fine, and I have been told that, you know, women find it attractive. So, I'm thrilled.
  

You've been in your career a good 20 years, starting with Prizzi's Honor back in 1985. Not all easy, we're sure. How did you deal with setbacks?

Tucci: You always learn something through the painful times. But I think you have to look to your mate and to your friends for peace. I'm blessed with a lot of great friends who have been very supportive. Men don't put enough stock in the importance of friends.

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Amen. But how do you keep up with friends when you're working, traveling, and you have young ones at home?

Tucci: It's very hard. We'll talk on the phone as much as possible. And when we are in the same city, we get together as often as possible. It takes effort, but it's so worth it.

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Balancing career and marriage is always a challenge for men. How do you keep a marriage together when there's so little time and so much temptation?

Tucci: Listening is very, very important. And if you have kids, it's important to find time for yourselves. [My wife, Kate, and I] try very hard to go out for dinner once a week. It makes a big difference for us to sit down, have a nice meal, and talk. But you need to make sure you really talk and don't just discuss logistics.

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Thinking back over your career, can you pinpoint when you were most dissatisfied?
Tucci: Absolutely, yeah. [It was when] I felt that acting wasn't using enough of myself creatively. That's why I started writing and directing. When you're writing, directing, and acting, you use every single part of yourself—your visual, your oral, your aural, your physical, every part. I like doing things I haven't done before, things that make me feel a little uncomfortable. Things like creating new characters. I'm lucky to be in a business that allows me to bounce around. My teacher in college used to tell us, "Go beyond what's comfortable." Otherwise life is so boring.

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How do you relax?

Tucci: I don't. That's my problem. I swear to God. I don't relax.

You must kick back sometime.
Tucci: One of the ways I try to relax now is by going out for dinner withfriends. I also like to paint and sketch, but I have not done that as of late because there's no time. I like to read. I like to go fishing.

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Trout fishing?

Tucci: Fish fishing. It doesn't matter. It's the process, not the result. My father and I have been going since I was able to figure out how not to get a fishhook in my eye. We go to the reservoirs in upstate New York, where I grew up and where I have lived, in Westchester County. We have a great time. I just love it. Love it. To me it's one of the most relaxing things ever.

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Who catches more, you or Pop?

Tucci: No one catches anything. It's hysterical. For years we go, and we talk to people who go to the same places. They say, "Try that spot over by the bridge and the thing. This guy yesterday caught a 10-pound blah, blah, blah." We go over there and...nothing. And we see a guy, like 20 feet away from us, catching fish. We're cursed. Simply cursed. We're the only Italians who can't fish.

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If you were to go to an isolated island to fish and vacation, what would you make sure you brought?

Tucci: Pasta, without question, and good bread and olives. I would bring all the fixings to make martinis. And good wine. Ha, I sound like one of those Russian counts or something, going on a fishing trip. Oh, and I would take good friends. And hopefully we'd catch fish, and if we did, we'd cook it. For me, cooking's the easy part.

In Frankie and Johnny, you play a short-order cook, and you crack eggs and chop onions like a pro. You're pretty skilled in the kitchen.

Tucci: I learned for Big Night. My friend Gianni Scappin taught me. He has a restaurant called GiGi Trattoria up in Rhinebeck, New York. And now we're partners in a restaurant in Westchester called Finch Tavern.

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Is that something you always wanted, a restaurant?

Tucci: Ever since Big Night. Yes, I have to say, it's fantastic, very satisfying. 'Cause you can always get a table. But really, I love the idea of having a third place in your community. You know, a place that isn't your home and isn't your work, a place where you can go and talk to people. And everybody can come—families, couples—and have a good meal, congregate at the bar, and have a good time. We've been losing a sense of community in this country.

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We've read that you have a fascination with America pre-World War II. Where does this come from?
Tucci: I have no idea. I wish I could get rid of it because I'm exhausted by it. [Laughs.] But I am fascinated by it, fascinated about it stylistically, the aesthetics. It was the closest we've ever come to socialism in this country, with a lot of the programs that FDR enacted in the New Deal. I'm interested in a time before we knew the world could end as easily as it can end now. Not end necessarily, but that large parts of it could be destroyed. I suppose I imagine it as a time that was, in a way, more intimate.

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Are you fulfilled now?
Tucci: Today, yes. I'm enjoying being back on stage. And I have interesting projects. We're in the process of producing a little movie that I found at Sundance. I go out there as an advisor at the Sundance Institute every year. And teaching is atruly satisfying experience, mostly because I learn so much. But finding real fulfillment in life is always challenging. I think that's why people throw themselves into athletics and hobbies. I'm always amazed by the hobbies people end up having.
There are secrets all over this town—the Wall Street guy or the cab driver, doing something you'd never expect them to do. He's a poet or a painter, or he plays basketball. Like my friend Jay Parini. He's a teacher at Middlebury College, a novelist, absolutely brilliant. But the thing he loves, loves, loves is basketball. He's obsessed. And he's about my height. He says, "I'm terrible at it, but I love to do it. I can't help but do it."

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That's passion.

Tucci: Exactly. And if you find that thing you love, it doesn't necessarily matter whether you do it well or not—you just need to do it. It sounds cliched, but [it's true] you discover so much about yourself in the process. People need that kind of an outlet, particularly nowadays. It's so interesting to me. It's like there is this other person inside of [Jay] that should have been a basketball player.

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And inside you, a fisherman?

Tucci:Yeah, if only I could catch those goddamned things.