Joe Pantoliano

Pantoliano:(On the reasons he has shared story of mental illness) My reason? I see an injustice. And you can use celebrity, my celebrity, to shine a bright light. To bring this out of the shadows. Mental illness is the only illness where you get yelled at, get shamed, for having it. Shining a light is a way of obliterating that shame. And if I can be that light? Yeah.

Pantoliano: They say that politics is show business for ugly people.

Pantoliano: I liked Matrix Reloaded better than I liked the first one. I haven't seen Revolutions. I loved Cypher. He was very human. He was the one guy that doubted Morpheus, that doubted the real world. He was best served to go back into The Matrix and be a movie star and never know he was out of it. What a deal that would be!

Pantoliano: My real fear playing Ralphie in The Sopranos was that I would be typescast. Luckily, like Jimmy Gandolfini, I was able to get plenty of other work - Bad Boys 2 and Daredevil in particular. But in a way, Ralphie encouraged me to do more, to ensure he didn't define me. That's why I did Frankie & Johnny on Broadway and, to be honest, it's why I took the role in The Handler - to show my fanbase that there's more to me that just that nutcase, Ralphie.

Pantoliano: A character actor to me was someone who played a bunch of different roles versus a leading man or supporting actor, I wanted to be a character actor and do good parts. The guys that inspired me were Spencer Tracy, Robert Duvall, Albert Finney and Michael Caine, you, know, urban guys that came from the street. I just thought if they could do it then so could I. They were the kinda guys who started out being the fourth guy through the door and then, at last, they get a line of dialogue.

Pantoliano: (On making the transition from character actor to leading actor): It doesn't make any difference if you're a lead. It's all playtime.

Pantoliano: There aren't any small parts, only small paychecks.