Looking the way I look, whenever anybody's looking for a light brown funny guy, I get the call... I'm 100 percent Greek, but I look like I could be Indian or Middle Eastern or Hispanic. If it's ethnic, they'll try and put me in it.
They can't make any of these talented young actors Fletch. You might as well make a movie called Chevy Chase.
If a filmmaker is making a movie about a nice Midwestern family or a story that needs a very white character or a black or a Chinese, then I don't expect to go up for it. But I know, especially in places like New York, there's no excuse not to see various colors.
I was reading through endless junk scripts that were being sent my way. Typically the roles were to play his wife or his girlfriend - leading roles for women were few and far between.
I'm dying to do a 'Gambit' movie with Channing Tatum.
Well, in the '80s and '70s, with the exception of Sidney Poitier and Brock Peters, maybe Ivan Dixon, if you were as big and black as I am, you were a bad guy. Simple. Because in real life, I scare people.
That's one of the problems with Hollywood. It'll say 'policeman,' and an unless it says 'black policeman,' a lot of times you won't even get the opportunity to read for it, which is kind of crazy, but that's the way it is.
When you do casting in Hollywood, it's always the same question: 'Who is available?'
In Hollywood, you play a mom and instantly, you've got osteoporosis.
It's weird, because usually if you're British and you go to America you play baddies; but I play naughty people here and goodies in America.
I was always typecast as a Latina.
My character in 'Batman v Superman' isn't supposed to be Japanese, but director Zack Snyder said he'd seen me in 'Wolverine' and had to get me in the film somehow. Hearing that was like music to my ears.
It's difficult for a young girl like me. Because there's a certain time for young actresses, which is like a really juicy period when all the parts are love interests and young heroines. Of course, there's always work for men whatever age they are.
As a young actor, I was advised to bide my time. Back then, there weren't good roles for someone like me. There were handsome leading men and character actors for smaller supporting roles. But I was told to hang in there, and it was good advice. We're all character actors now. Even a handsome man is a character actor at my age.
I hope the next actress offered millions to play the 'fat girl for the day' stops to think about this before she signs the contract - even if just to ask, like any professional actress would in any other situation, 'Why does she weigh 350 pounds? And why me for the part?' If the director can't answer these questions, don't do the movie.
Before 'Lucky Louie,' nobody would ever cast me to play a mom or a wife; nobody ever saw me in that role, which is weird, since that's who I really am.
I think as far as straight actors playing gay roles, "Brokeback Mountain" was a big breakthrough. I'm pretty sure when they were casting that movie that - I think the story is, like you know, 10 to 15 other actors turned it down.
When I went to LA I was almost 30, I'd been nominated for two Tony awards, and on the New York theatre scene I was pretty well known. I went out to LA to meet with casting people, and I remember walking into one meeting and saying: "Hey, how are you? I'm Patrick..." And they said: "I'm so sorry! I thought you were British!" When I asked why, she replied: "Because you're 30 and I've never heard of you!"
But I've lost parts because of my looks. I auditioned to star with Richard Dreyfuss in 'The Buddy System.' The producers said no one would believe he would leave me for another woman. They just couldn't see me with him.
In Hollywood, there's not a ton of roles for Asian people. So a lot of it is waiting and waiting and waiting.
First black Bond - that's my aim! That's the one!
I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama's life soon because I could play him. That's the goal. I watch all the addresses. Any time I see him on TV, I don't change the channel. I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice. If you ask anyone who knows me, I'm pretty good at impressions.
I think I was quite difficult to cast when I was in my twenties because I never looked like Cameron Diaz. I'm not talking myself down, but I was never going to be the romantic lead in a Hollywood blockbuster. You need better cheekbones and longer legs.
Although it's depressing to admit this, more than a handful of post-'Donnie Brasco' Al Pacino roles would have been better served by Steve Buscemi.
If they had offered me James Bond, I probably couldn't have gone to England anymore in my life. James Bond with an accent? That would have been something.
