Playboy Interview: Jeremy Piven

A candid conversation with Entourage's resident shark about how agents love him, why tabloids hate him and what it's like to find stardom after 40

There's an old saw in Hollywood: "No kid ever said to his dad, 'You know what I want to be when 1 grow up? An agent!" But nowhere does it say the same child doesn't want to grow up to play a)i agent. Especially now, given the unusual success of Jeremy Piven.

On the HBO hit Entourage, the 41-year-old actor plays an unrepentant Hollywood shark described by Rolling Stone as "hilariously ruth­less." The role not only won Piven an Emmy but has turned him from a journeyman actor with a long list of stage, telei'ision and movie credits into one of Hollywood's hottest stars.

Piven's part in Entourage has launched a cultural catchphrase (his character's oft-repeated "Let's hug it out, bitch") and has brought him a string of roles in upcoming movies, including a lead in Smokm' Aces, with Ben Affleck and Ray Liotta, and The King­dom, with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Gamer.

Even with his starring roles in high-pro-jile movies. Entourage remains Piven's main occupation. An ensemble piece inspired by the real life of actor Mark Wahlberg, the show centers on Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier), a studly heartthrob with authentic artistic instincts, and his posse: Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny Drama, Chase's older brother (Kevin Dillon). Murphy becomes Chase's manager and Turtle and Drama his men Friday. Chase's for-

tunes—boom and bust—affect them all (their finances, their sex lives), and they intersect with real Hollywood denizens such as Scarlett Johansson, James Woods. Ali Latter, Jaime Pressly, Jimmy Kimmel and directors James Cameron and Paul Haggis, among others.

Pwen's character, Ari Cold, is allegedly modeled on famed agent Ari Emanuel of L.A.'s Endeavor Agency, who represents the show's creator, Doug Ellin. Cold belieivs in Chase and promises to make him a star, whatei'er it takes. The fun is discovering what "whatever" entails and watching Cold carom betzveen industry snake and family man. The characterization could easily have been one-dimensional, but as fleshed out by Pwen, Cold is a complex study of humanity and moral ambiguity.

Piven grew up miles away from such heady drama, in Evanston, Illinois, where his par­ents, Joyce Hiller Piven and Byrne Piven, both actors, ran the Piven Theatre Workshop; attendees included John, Joan, Ann and Susie Cusack. Piven's sister, Shira, went on to become a theater director in New York.

Piven split his high school years between foot­ball and theater, mastering both. He graduated with a degree in theater from New York Uni­versity and then attended classes at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecti­cut and the National Theatre ofCreat Britain.

That education and a healthy fear of niedi-

ocrity helped him keep his cool while enduring years—and years—of wailing for his time in Hollywood. Prior to Entourage, Piven put in three years as Ellen DeCeneres's obnoxious cousin on Ellen, and he hod his own short-lived TV series, Cupid, on which he was either Cupid stuck on earth or a crazy guy who thought he was. He also played a neurotic comedy writer on The Larry Sanders Show. He recently chronicled hi.s soul-searching trip to India for his reality-!]' show Journey of a Lifetime.

We asked Contributing Editor David Rensin, whose book The Mailroom chronicles more than 60 years of agenting lore, to meet with Piven. "We began the interview one evening at his Malibu home and followed up with a meeting at his Hancock Park apart­ment," Rensin reports. "At first his man­ner—calm, deliberate, careful—contrasted sharply with his famous character Ari Gold's franticness. It took time for Piven to open up. When he did, I learned he feels his com­mitment to quality acting has been ignored in interviews in favor of gossip generated by his allegedly energetic, celebratory nightlife. He called this emphasis a tax on success. Maybe, but clearly he finds it a tax worth paying."

PLAYBOY: After 20 years of mostly secondary roles on TV and in more than 30 movies, you're a star. Has it been difficult to adjust?

PIVEN: Jamie Voxx called me a star the other day. It was very weird. My father always told me being a star simply means you have choices as a creative person. A nonstar has to schlep into the Valley and audition for one line on Home Improve­ment, even if he can play every role in King Lear with his arms and legs shack­led. So yes, I guess I've got choices. Until now my life has been, "Get the next job. Get it, get it, get it. Kill in it. Kill in it!"

PLAYBOY: Kill in it?

PIVEN: 1 never figured out moderation in performance. I've always invested everything I can possibly give until I just kind of crawl off. In a play you'd see me at intermission, drenched, on my hands and knees, like, How am 1 going to make

it through tonight? There's no coasting for me. It's going to be interesting to see how things evolve in my roles to come. Many times it's been up to me to create the energy and madness the other characters react to. They'd say, "We need someone to plug this hole." Now I'd love to be the one doing a little of the reacting. PLAYBOY: Were you just under­rated before Entourage} PIVEN: That's a leading ques­tion, [laughs]

PLAYBOY: Well?

PIVEN: I felt I had so much more to contribute than I was being allowed to. It was frustrating. It just wasn't my time yet. While looking for that great part, though, I wanted to be around real artists. I'd take tiny roles working opposite anyone from Morgan Freeman to Dustin Hoff­man, just to be around them. Also I'm just cocky enough to take something that's kind of a blip on the screen and try to turn it into something bigger. I have that kind of aggressive stupidity. I was smart enough to know I could learn something if I could be around the greats. PLAYBOY: What did you learn from them? PIVEN: To keep my head, thank

God. To never get ahead of myself. It's like the old joke: "How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans." PLAYBOY: Entourage is an ensemble show, but you broke out as a star. Has that caused tension with the rest of the cast? PIVEN: In the pilot, my character as writ­ten had one scene, then popped in later in the episode. I signed on based on that one scene. But it's my job to come to every scene fully prepared. I'm full throttle. Once, in a movie, I was supposed to run into a pole. I did it three times, then I said, "Let me just do one more," and I ran as hard as I could into the pole. I'll do anything to get the authenticity of a part. I'm like the jour­neyman sports figure who comes in for a limited time in the third quarter. 1 love to

get the ball when the clock is ticking down. I love it! If someone has been practicing his job his whole life, if he loves to contribute, smart money says at some point the jour­neyman will be onto something. PLAYBOY: Is Entourage a competitive place to work?

PIVEN: No. And comparing and contrast­ing isn't healthy. Plus, we're all completely different from one another. PLAYBOY: Do your co-stars cheer you on? PIVEN: Kevin Connolly is such a decent guy. He's a hardworking journeyman himself. He was one of the first people I saw after I won the Emmy. He was so proud of me. And I'm proud of him. He knows my suc­cess will never take away from his. Ever. I want everyone to have this success.

PLAYBOY: What has made Ari Gold stand out as a character?

PIVEN: The more love I infuse into Ari, the harder it is to dismiss him. PLAYBOY: How do you do that? He's hardly lovable.

PIVEN: Here's an example. In one scene from the first season I dress down a young agent at the Malibu house. I call him 'Josh Weinfuck, the pen-stealing lightweight fuckface." I tell him I'm going to steal all his clients. I say I'll crush him. Then my boy Vinnie Chase is pretty upset with me. I tell him there is a method to my mad­ness. I say I want to make him a lot of money. I say, "We'll get you the lunch box. And an action figure with a huge cock." Then as I'm walking away 1 look into his

eyes and say, "I love you." I improvised it. Adrian said "I love you" back. It's a human moment. Yes, Ari's a shark and a liar. He has attention-deficit disorder. But he loves his wife. He's a family man. He loves Vince. He bounces back and forth between being this charismatic, freakish pig and a caring and devoted husband. He has a fascinating duality. PLAYBOY: Do you know any real agents like Gold?

PIVEN: This isn't a documentary. We're tak­ing dramatic license, but 1 think it's pretty authentic. These characters exist. There are agents whose ADD is more advanced than Ari's and some who are total mensches. Some are sharks, but sometimes you need sharks. I just don't like sharks who also eat

their young.

PLAYBOY: Would Gold represent Jeremy Piven?

PIVEN: He wouldn't have had any patience with me when 1 wasn't on fire. As Ari says, "I represent temperature, not tal­ent. You're not hot, so why the fuck would I talk to you?" PLAYBOY: Do real Hollywood agents think you're bad for their image?

PIVEN: I thought I'd be getting some sort of backlash, but I'm not. The comment I hear the most is "It's so great that people back home have a reference for what I do." I was sitting with my agents recently; they said they watched the episode in which various agencies are trying to tell Vincent he can become a brand. They were engrossed. The character is a charismatic wrecking ball. There's some­thing horrifying and maybe a little sexy about that. PLAYBOY: Do people expect you to be that charismatic wrecking ball in real life?

PIVEN: Yeah, but if I had to run that hot all the time, I'd burn out. I have highs and lows. Mostly I love to observe. When people meet me they're usually disap­pointed diat I'm not that abrasive,

fast-talking guy. When they saw Jnuniry of a

Lifetime, the reality show about my spiritual

search in India, they wanted to know who

that character was. I said, "That's me." They

were like, "That's you?" Yeah, that's me.

PLAYBOY: Who, exactly?

PIVEN: )ust a hardworking stage actor

from Chicago.

PLAYBOY: Who has hit it big—way big.

How do you celebrate your success?

Some would suggest you are a regular at

Hollywood hot spots.

PIVEN: I'm not one of those people who

can't leave the house and live in fear of

interacting with others. I don't let that

paralyze me.

PLAYBOY: What's the hippest nightspot

in L.A.?

PIVEN: You have to ask Kevin Connolly. At work, he's on time, ready to go, pre­pared and totally professional—and he still goes out every night. PLAYBOY: But not you? According to some of the tabloids and Internet gossip sites, it looks as though you're having a good time too.

PIViN: [Grim/ices] To be honest with you, that stuff just kind of baffles me, espe­cially when legitimate journalists use some of those sites as source material. PLAYBOY: Are they misleading? PIVEN: Yes. Let's say I go out once a week and happen to pick the hot spot. No big deal, except at the moment I happen to be the motherfucking pretty girl. PLAYBOY: The motherfucking pretty girl? PIVEN: The pretty girl who goes to the hot spot sure does look like she goes out all the time, right? That's my problem. I'm just not very savvy at executing entrances and exits from public situations. Yes, I go out every once in a while, but I don't get the thing about pulling up to the back entrance. I'm not a very self-conscious person, so I don't operate from "Hi, I'm television and film's very own Jeremy Piven." I pull right up to the front and do my thing. Only later do I go, "Fuck! Now I've got to go out the front, and the paparazzi are all out there." I heard Jack Nicholson will go to a place a day early and plan his escape route. He's really got it down. I'm an infant. As a result I get caught. They pull up a car that looks like mine, I think it's mine, I get in and sit down, and it's not my car. Suddenly it's on every website: jeremy piven steals car. Goddamn, they must be bored. I don't get it. Why is that newsworthy? And to make shit up? Is it possible my work is easier for people to digest if I am the character they see on television, as opposed to that character being a result of hard work? Is it just easier for peo­ple to go, "Oh, he is that guy"? It's as if because I play these abrasive, aggressive characters, people assume they know me, and they want to perpetuate the image instead of taking in what's right in front of them. Am I a party boy? Well, I like to work hard, and there are times when I like to go out. I'm a single guy living my life. I don't see anything wrong with it. Like I said, I'm the pretty girl right now. I'm having a pretty-girl moment. I haven't been the pretty girl before. PLAYBOY: How good a friend is Lindsay Lohan, who was photographed pos­ing in her bikini—or was it her under­wear—at your birthday party? PIVEN: Here's the mistake I made. Some people approached me and said, "Can we throw you a birthday party?" I said, "Oh, no thanks. I'm going to throw myself a birthday party. Thank you, though." They said, "You don't have to pay. Let us throw you this birthday party at a house on the beach in Malibu." I said, "Can I bring my drums and my friends?" I'm this punk-ass from Chicago, thinking,

like a wide-eyed stupid bitch, You're gonna throw me a party? Turned out it was a fucking photo op, that's all. I'm just a stupid-ass motherfucker. I went to the party. I had a 5:30 call the next morning. I didn't have a drop of alcohol. I can't do cocaine. I don't have that con­stitution physically. If I go out and have a few glasses of red wine, they report on me as if I'm out there slaying it. Lindsay Lohan rolls in for one second, I say hello, someone takes a picture, it gets in People magazine, and it looks as if I'm hanging out with Lindsay. I don't hang out with Lindsay Lohan, man. She's a sweet girl, but there's nothing going on. They're just trying to sell magazines. They're try­ing to create scandal. PLAYBOY: What's the wildest rumor you've heard about yourself? PIVEN: I read about my being drunk and almost missing a plane. A magazine writer wrote, "Let's get to the hair thing. Does Jeremy Piven wear a wig?" If you want to ask me a question, ask me a ques­tion. Don't be a coward and then—oh shit, now I'm really sinking myself. PLAYBOY: Sinking yourself how? By bad-mouthing the journalist? PIVEN: Yeah. And all he had to do was pull my hair, which grows out of my head, or ask me. The answer: I don't wear a wig.

PLAYBOY: You're not a constant partyer? PIVEN: People who know me would laugh at that. If I stayed out until four in the morning, I promise you wouldn't be interviewing me now. PLAYBOY: What would we be doing instead?

PIVEN: You might be asking me to super-size you. I might be putting some curly fries in a bag for you. I might have on a paper hat deep, deep, deep in the Valley. So there's no way I can run it like that. Ask those boys on Entourage. I don't even eat red meat or dairy prod­ucts. A lot of the time I can't even han­dle an espresso, much less cocaine. It would be exciting for people to believe I'm Sam Peckinpah, but it's not that way. If I were the person some of the press depicts me as, there's no way I could contribute as I do. I work hard. I treat Entourage and everything I go near like a play. The speeches I'm so blessed to have on the show are like those in a well-written play. To do a play, you warm up with rehearsals and previews and find your momentum. Only then do you open. I've got to figure out a way to condense that entire process into no time at all. I'm just some stage actor from Chicago who works hard, goes out and has a couple of glasses of red wine. They don't want to report on that. They want—I don't know what they want, to be honest with you. [pauses] Excuse me, I have to pee. [His phone vibrates wildly on the coffee table while he's gone.] PLAYBOY: Who called? PIVEN: Bill Clinton and Nelson Man-

dela. That's just the way I roll, [laughs] I wish. I wish both of them would text me. Wouldn't that be exciting? Wouldn't it be great if Nelson Mandela texted? You think he's ever texted? That would be huge. PLAYBOY: If not Clinton and Mandela, who's in your black book now who you thought never would be? PIVEN: Let's take a look. Brian Urlacher, the middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears. I was gushing to Brian the other night, saying, "Do you understand that all actors are frustrated athletes?" He said, "Thank God you're frustrated, man, because you sure are entertain­ing me." To meet one of your heroes and he has a reference for what you do and he enjoys it—that's pretty cool. That was a great moment. V'ou have to understand: I wanted to be a five-foot-10, 173-pound Jewish outside line­backer. Urlacher's possibly the future of all linebackers and one of the great­est, if not the greatest, linebacker in the game today. When you get to the really authentic people, they're always the most successful and the coolest.

They don't have to impress on you how interesting they are or pull any status or rank on you.

PLAYBOY: Ari Gold's signature line is "Let's hug it out, bitch." Do you hear it wherever you go? PIVEN: I do hear it a lot. PLAYBOY: What did you hear from thou­sands of Chicago Cubs fans after you said, "Let's hug it out, you little bitches" over the stadium PA system during a seventh-inning stretch? PIVEN: They said, "Hey, get up there and say your signature line." It's very exhila­rating to perform. It's a great high. At times onstage I've felt as if I were literally hovering. I know it sounds ethereal, but I do love it and I am a ham. That said, you should never give me the microphone in front of 41,000 people. It should just be a rule. Was I thinking. This is Father's Day, and it's Sunday? I should've been, but I wasn't. I was just lost in the rapture of the moment—in the Ari Gold energy. He's a button pusher. PLAYBOY: And it wasn't appreciated, was it? PIVEN: Well, I apologized to the Cubs.

I'm a huge Cubs and Bears fan. I'm so proud to be a Chicago guy. They were cool about it.

PLAYBOY: When was the last time you hugged it out?

PIVEN: Three hours ago. 1 had lunch with a friend—and I emphasize the word friend because you can be friends with women you don't sleep with, con­trary to Chris Rock's take that friends are just women you haven't slept with. [pauses] You can have friends you have slept with, by the way, which is also kind of exciting.

PLAYBOY: Are you the kind of guy who stays friends with his exes? PIVEN: Yes. It's so decent and important. They were in your life for a reason. But you can overdo it. Recently this guy came to my house and brought his wife, his ex-wife, his ex-girlfriend, another woman who was in the mix—I'm not quite sure how—and two of his daughters. He trav­els with them. He's like, "Listen, I love them all." That was too much. PLAYBOY: You're 41. PIVEN: Yeah.

PLAYBOY: And still single. PIVEN: Yeah.

PLAYBOY: Do you have a girlfriend? PIVEN: No. And here's your next question: "What's wrong with you. motherfucker?" PLAYBOY: You said it; we didn't. PIVEN: Do I want one? Hell, yeah. I'd love to have a girlfriend—if I weren't gay. That's right. I'm gay! I'm gayer than Liberace in 1972. [pauses] No, that's not true.

PLAYBOY: The Liberace part or the year? PIVEN: I'm gonna catch hell for that. PLAYBOY: Actually, you once said you had your first sexual experience at your bar mitzvah. We assume it was with a girl. PIVEN: It was not at my bar mitzvah but right around then. There weren't a lot of Jewish kids where I grew up. I was bar mitzvahed in a church, and the party was in my basement. I was also the only white boy in my high school who played football. At the bar mitzvah a lot of the black kids took the yarmulkes and used them as Frisbees. I think there was a novelty to being the bar mitzvah boy. I had a little shine on me, which was nice. I remember the girl. I thought she was incredibly beautiful. We had a moment. I think being the bar mitzvah boy helped me. It wasn't a full sexual experience, by the way. I can honestly say I was a virgin at my bar mitzvah, a mullet-wearing, braces-faced virgin. PLAYBOY: In your previous TV series Cupid, you played a guy who thought he was—or perhaps actually was—Cupid. Do you ever play Cupid in real life? PIVEN: Yes. I'm pretty good at it, believe it or not. I was off once. I set this couple up, and the guy's best friend ended up marrying the girl. I'm like a drunken Cupid: close, dangerously close.

(continued on page 141)

JEREMY PIVEN

(continued from page 50)

PLAYBOY: What about being your own Cupid?

PIVEN: I'm not so good at being my own Cupid.

playboy: How about actresses? Have you had relationships with any? PIVEN: I have. Curiously, there's a whole strain of guys out there who feel the need to date famous actresses. It's interesting, isn't it? Not models but very high-pro­file girls. I was talking to Kmmanuelle Chriqui. who plays Eric's girlfriend on Entourage. She's so cool and so gorgeous and has been in a four-year relationship. She's a buddy of mine. Her boyfriend is not in the business. I said, "You've got to find someone who's in your corner and you're in their coiner." That's what you need: a person w ho can understand what it's like to be an artist, or at least someone who can empathize.

PLAYBOY: Are there special rules for dat­ing actresses?

PIVEN: My mother's an actress; my father was an actor. Being one. I know artists are sensitive people. You have to be like Teflon because you deal with so much rejection in order to break through. You also have to be voluntarily emotionally accessible. There are people who can't be with someone who has a higher profile or makes more money. I don't care about any of that. God, go for yours, man. I know a guy who said, "I can't date an actress. I've got too much ego. I can't have a four-car-ego garage." I could date an actress who's more successful than I am and have no problem with it. PLAYBOY: Do you use work as an excuse not to have a serious relationship? PIVEN: No. There were times when I didn't recognize what I had, though. There have been some amazing women in my life. I could kick myself. 1 grew up in a household where my mother was a hardworking artist who wasn't self-consumed. I'm not a mama's boy, but I had this great example of a mother. Maybe it's hard for me to settle. Peo­ple get married for lots of reasons. My parents were married until my father passed away. I take marriage seriously. 1 don't want to dabble in it. I would love to have a family. I love kids. My sister has two beautiful kids, and I try to be around them whenever I can. I hope I'm a good uncle. Meanwhile I just try to keep working on myself to become a belter person with the hope of attract­ing someone with whom I can find some syiK'hronicily in this life. PLAYBOY: lii the meantime you can get the girl on TV and in the movies. PIVEN: Why not? To be able to play off

female energy is a gift, one 1 feel capable of using. I've never been intimidated by powerful women. 1 think it's sexy when any woman is self-empowered and has found her own voice. PLAYBOY: Were you the guy who got the girl when you were growing up? PIVEN: There was a little bit of both. There were girls I lusted after and couldn't quite close the deal with, but there were times when the deal was closed, [pauses] I think I'm on the verge of telling you too much, so I'm going to tread lightly. PLAYBOY: Is there a problem? PIVEN: No, I've just become someone who chooses his words very specifically. PLAYBOY: What are you concerned about?

PIVEN: One time an interviewer asked me. "What's your favorite role?" I said, "Like the Dalai Lama said, it's not the best thing to have a favorite anything." When asked the question, I happened to be standing with my arms around two women—friends, neither of whom I had anything going on with. Someone took a picture. Later I saw the picture in the magazine, and the caption read, "When Piven was asked about women, he quoted the Dalai Lama: 'It's best not to have a favorite anything.'" They will extract things and plug them in any­where. They're desperate to sell maga­zines, and the only way to do it is to tie someone to the back of a truck and drag him around town.

PLAYBOY: Who has dragged you around? PIVEN: I'd rather not talk about that. What's the point? It's all part of the tax on this life—on success, I guess. But I can't get caught up in the way I'm being perceived, because it's just a lot of wasted energy. On the other hand, when my name was called at the Emmys, I got to speak for myself. There are moments when people get a clear look at you, and there are moments when some silly rag will portray you inauthentically. PLAYBOY: Did you learn some of these les­sons from your father? PIVEN: From him I learned family comes first and to be a conscientious provider and father. Loving, caring energy. And at the same time, he was completely pas­sionate about the theater and his work— the integrity of his work and of that space you occupy when you act. I will take all those things with me my entire life. PLAYBOY: What's the brass ring in Chicago compared with the brass ring in L.A.? PIVEN: Stages, the Goodmans and Slep-pcnwolfs of the world. I auditioned at both of them—that was the Super Bowl. And we had our own little Super Bowl

going. My parents had their own theater. It wasn't a school play or a high-profile thing. You did your thing, and you didn't go around taking victory laps. We'd pack 'em in. I did the leads in our plays. I was Methuselah, the 900-year-old man, in whiteface and fat pants, tearing it up. drenched in sweat every night. People-go their whole life without finding a role like that. It's like finding King Lear at 24: It's unheard of. Then I would stay in all day, not go out or even talk. I would just rest and harness my energy, then explode at night. Rip it apart. PLAYBOY: .After growing up in the theater, did you have a plan to conquer TV and movies?

PIVEN: I've never had a plan. I just knew I didn't have the constitution to come out here and pound the pavement. There are too many distractions. I was touring with Second City. I started there with Chris Farley. I was lucky. While I was with Second City I knew I needed to work on my weaknesses. Then I left to go to the National Theatre of Great Britain and study Shakespeare. 1 had been working with my family, so I'd been working on improv. We did a lot of story theater and cool literature like Chekhov, but I hadn't done much Shakespeare. At the National Theatre I studied Shake­speare seven days a week. At night I'd go to plays. I'd see Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins in Antony and Cleopatra, all these great performances. PLAYBOY: Then you moved to L.A. PIVEN: My first job in TV was on Carol a Company, Carol Burnett's return to televi­sion. 1 was fired when the network made changes. I came back with a vengeance and got The Larry Sanders Show. 1 remem­ber they couldn't decide between me and Wally Langham, so they cast us both. In a way that's kind of indicative of my first 10 or 15 years in the business. There was no rhyme or reason to it. If you look at any of the first 25 movies I did, there was never a lot on the page. I would just try to get in the door and mix it up when I got there.

PLAYBOY: If Hollywood were a Shake­speare play, which would it be? PIVEN: A toss-up between Othello and Macbeth. Iago whispering in your ear. Being sidetracked and ruled by witches' predictions. That's the dark side of it. The light side is I get to live my dream. 1 get to be a person who's allowed to be creative. That sounds either ethereal or pretentious, but I don't care. PLAYBOY: Did you ever consider other careers?

PIVEN: No, nothing that didn't involve acting. I don't know how to do any­thing else.

PLAYBOY: At its worst, how lough was it? PIVEN: When you've been waiting two and a hall, three hours to audition, something happens to you. You forget why you're there. You go around the bend a little bit. I could never sit in the

waiting room with all the other actors. I couldn't focus.

PLAYBOY: How did you avoid those wait­ing rooms?

PIVEN: I'd ask the person in charge if they could get me when my turn came, and I'd stand outside the door in the hall. PLAYBOY: Did anybody ever forget to come for you? PIVEN: It happens.

PLAYBOY: Did you ever lose it—throw a tantrum, have a fit?

PIVEN: I never did. If you do, word gets out fast. So even though the only role available is Abrasive Guy Number Seven, you do it. That's what you have to live through. You figure you're going to go in and do everything you can with that. I'd have 10 different options on the dia­logue. My job was to make something out of nothing and hope they dug it so they'd throw in another scene for me. PLAYBOY: Did you always know if an audi­tion went well or not? PIVEN: One time I was up lor a role on a TV show, an Aaron Spelling production that didn't stay on the air. I went in and thought the audiuon went great. My father always said, "Each audition is a job unto itself. Once you're done with the audition, the job is done and you move on." He was right. If you don't, you'll be tortured. 1 felt like I killed. They were laughing, and I had a great time. I was loose, present, in the moment. Killed it and got out.

Then I got the feedback from the agent: "Uh, it's not going any further." "Really? I'm not going to the network on that one? That's weird. I thought I killed." "You know, Jeremy, you can't make excuses." "Oh no, I'm not making any excuses. I'm just baffled. Huh." 'jer-

emy, come on." "I'm just saying it doesn't make sense." "Well, what do you think it is then?" "Urn, I think that to be part of an Aaron Spelling production you have to be pretty, and I would bet the variable is that I'm not pretty. In fact, I will go so far as to say—how do 1 put this without sounding like a complete narcissist?—I will bet they saw me in the role and I was the guy who achieved it in the room, but I'm just not pretty enough. Do you know anyone on the inside on this job who would give it to you straight? ' "As a mat­ter of fact, I do." "Would you call them?" "You know why I'm going to call them? To prove you're wrong." "Great."

I get a call back: "Hey, Jeremy, you were absolutely right. They wanted to go with you, but they're going with some­one who's kind of...pretty."

Getting that information was a victory seldom seen. You never have those. No one's going to make that call for you. But what do you do with that information? Well, the good news is it can inform how you continue to navigate in this world. Do it and move on. So much of it is really out of your control.

PLAYBOY: Do you feel pretty now? When did you start to?

PIVEN: I haven't. In the 1970s you had leading men like Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. They looked like real people. That worked for all of us. Then we moved into a phase when you had to be this traditionally handsome leading man to carry a movie. Now it seems people are more open to very specific, charismatic leading performances—Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamalti, Terrence How­ard. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but like 1 said, it seems to be opening up.

PLAYBOY: As a former journeyman actor, do you have advice for the new genera­tion of up-and-coming stars? PIVEN: II I were that young and someone were sticking a microphone in my face all the time, I wouldn't know what to do. .-Ml that attention at such a young age? My questions are: Do you respect what you do? Do you show up and contribute? Are you working on the highest level you pos­sibly can? If you're doing all that, what's wrong with going out once in a while? PLAYBOY: Any acting secrets to impart? PIVEN: Once I was being directed by my sister. We were in the middle of a scene, and I was having a lot of trouble with a beat. I was in junior high. I couldn't quite understand her direction. I finally just blurted out, "You mean you want me to say it as if I'm saying it for the first time?" Wait a minute: That's what acting is. My God, she's right. It sounds so simplistic, but it's true. Being totally present is the key.

PLAYBOY: What's the best example on your resume? In your opinion, what's your best performance? PIVEN: Probably on a TV show originally called liclh'vuf but refilled Wonderland. It aired opposite ER in its heyday—twice. Mine was the third episode, and the show was pulled before that one aired. I played a bipolar stand-up comedian who goes too far onstage and gets beaten up by a guy in the front row whom he'd offended. He is sent to Bellevue, where he can't stop performing until he's sedated. He is so opposed to the seda­tion, he convinces his doctor that in order to live this life as an artist he needs his edge. No sedation. The last scene is him onstage performing, with the doc­tor watching from the audience. The best thing I'd ever done in my life, and no one will ever see it.

PLAYBOY: Over your years as an actor, how many agents have you had? PIVEN: A few. I think there were times 1 probably shouldn't have moved on. 1 fired an agent once because he said. "It's about money, baby. It's always about money. It's about money with you, it's about money with me, it's about money with them. It's about money with all of us. baby. I said. "It's not about money for me. You don't know me; don't speak for me. You're fired." "Aw. come on. baby,' he said. "No, you're fired."

Thai was it. I probably should've taken a deep breath and not been so reactive. It was just so offensive to have someone else tell me why I do what I do. PLAYBOY: Do you really not care about money?

PIVEN: ()f course 1 want to make money for the work I do. Who wouldn't? That's why I have an agent. I handle the rest of it. I act.

/ can't even handle an

espresso, much less cocaine.

If I were the person some

of the press depicts me

as, there's no way I could

contribute as I do.

I'm not so good at being m\ own Cupid. I take marriage seriously. I don't want to dabble in it.