I don't look as handsome in Men in Black II as I did in the first one. Tony Shalhoub More Quotes by Tony Shalhoub More Quotes From Tony Shalhoub I'm from a Lebanese-American family. And I've been had lot of contacts and - with Arab-American community, especially Arab-American filmmakers and actors and so forth. It's a community that, a minority that really hasn't been heard from enough. And so many of the stories that are told about Arab-Americans these days are just negative portrayals in the news, but also in television and film. So we're - we set out to try and offset some of those stereotypes. Tony Shalhoub community trying negative 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. In fact, a lot of my choices that I made were about that very thing. Every project that I had an opportunity to do or chose to do, I wanted it to be different from the last thing I did, and I think that's why I have a good, you know, I had kind of a diverse kind of résumé. I'm really - it's what I set out to do as an actor originally. Tony Shalhoub choices opportunity thinking I don't want to take too long a vacation, although I do think I need a break. I start to - whenever I take too long a break or don't work a while, all my demons start to resurface, and I go a little nuts. Tony Shalhoub vacation long thinking Other characters in the story are treading new ground, new territory. Tony Shalhoub top-news People change all the time. Tony Shalhoub people-change change time people You're not really necessarily the coolest guy in their life. You are a conduit to the really cool people. Tony Shalhoub cool you life people All I wanted with that film was to represent the possibility that there might be normal people who are Muslim or Arab with the same fears, responsibilities, hopes. Tony Shalhoub same who film people I don't look as handsome in Men in Black 2 as I did in the first one. Tony Shalhoub look handsome black men It was really an experience, being my first time directing a movie. The scenes that I was in, Brooke really directed me all the time. And the scenes that both of us were in, Brooke directed those. Come to think of it, Brooke directed most of the scenes. Tony Shalhoub think me experience time I did some acting in high school and then a little more in college, and it just was the thing that I felt that I wanted to do more than anything else. And then I was fortunate enough to audition for and get into Yale Drama School right after college, and I spent three years there. Tony Shalhoub high-school college drama school I'm a very sensitive guy! Tony Shalhoub very sensitive guy '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. Tony Shalhoub aids back know problem 'Quick Change' was my first real movie. It was an interesting audition process because there were no lines in the script. Bill Murray's character would say something, and Geena Davis and Randy Quaid would say something, and then it would just say, 'The cabbie speaks.' How do you audition for that? Tony Shalhoub you real change character I feel like I was born in the wrong time. Tony Shalhoub i-was-born feel born time I've been lucky that even when I was younger, just because of my look or whatever, I was afforded the opportunity or called on to try. 'Can you do this Hispanic character?' 'Can you do this Italian character?' 'Can you do this Jewish-American character?' I just had to develop a facility for their accents. Tony Shalhoub look you opportunity character Before I did any television or film, I did years and years of theater. Television and film stuff, even though it went on for a good, healthy number of years, almost felt like a diversion from theater. Tony Shalhoub good like healthy television I try to do other characters that are different from Monk, obviously, because I'd like to be remembered for more than just that. Tony Shalhoub more try like different I'm drawn to that period, the '50s. Tony Shalhoub drawn period 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. Tony Shalhoub think different play opportunity I started out in the theater when I was a young actor, so I've always tried to move from one medium to the other. Tony Shalhoub actor tried always young