Tony Shalhoub on a Green Bay Childhood

posted on: Feb 20, 2015

Tony Shalhoub, 61, starred in TV’s “Wings” and “Monk,” and has appeared in more than 50 films, including “Barton Fink” and “Too Big to Fail.” He currently is starring with Diane Lane in “The Mystery of Love and Sex” at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. He spoke to Marc Myers.

Talk about pressure. My father came to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1920 when he was 8 without knowing a word of English. He traveled to Green Bay, Wis., married, bought a house, and he and my mom, Helen, raised 10 kids. Everything depended on his one-man business driving a truck.

My dad, Joe, immigrated with his three siblings after their parents died in Lebanon. All the kids were placed with relatives already in Green Bay, which was a lot colder than Lebanon. They made the transition with courage and spirit, and they all did well.

I was the second youngest and grew up with six sisters and three brothers. We lived in a three-story, white-stucco house on Doty Street, but I wasn’t happy about the corner location. Neither was my brother, Dan, who was 1½ years older than me. In our teens, we had to shovel the snow, which meant two sides of a house instead of just one.

Our house had 6½ bedrooms. My father had converted the third-floor attic into two bedrooms and the hall area into a third. My bedroom always shifted. In my early years, I was in a room with two double beds. There were five of us in there at one point. For a while, Dan and I slept head-to-toe in a single bed.

The best part about being on the young end is that as my older siblings went off to college, worked and married, I’d get upgraded to a larger space.

Growing up in our house was fun. I never wanted for playmates or an audience. But it was crowded. You were rarely in our 1½ bathrooms by yourself. Privacy was at a premium. Later, my father set up a workshop in the basement and built a little shower for himself.

For three years in the ’50s, I was the youngest and the center of attention. I was spoiled silly. One of my first memories is standing in the foyer as a crowd came through the front door. Normally I’d be swept up in someone’s arms. But this time a series of legs breezed past me. They were bringing my mother and new sister, Amy, home from the hospital. I remember thinking, “It’s over.”

My dad was a meat peddler who drove a refrigerated truck. He bought his meat in Sheboygan, Wis., and sold it to stores in the region. He was a terrific salesman. People loved and trusted him, and he never let anyone down.

My mom was funny and nutty. I suppose she had to be to survive raising 10 kids. To cope and keep a cap on things, she kept us buoyant and harmonious. She wouldn’t let us express anger, which later on landed me in therapy but also made it easier for me to play laid-back, measured roles.

The actor, left, in an undated photo at his home in Green Bay, Wis., with three of his nine siblings. PHOTO: TONY SHALOUB

Performing felt natural. Whenever my brothers and sisters came home from college, I’d run upstairs where they were sleeping, wake them up and try out some lame sketch I had made up or stolen from TV.

I was in my first play when I was 6. My older sister was in a high-school production of “The King and I.” They needed children for a scene so she brought me in. I had a costume and a couple of serious lines that got a laugh. I loved the feeling.

In college at the University of Southern Maine, I planned on being a teacher. Then I took a drama class, and acting became my life. I had all of these characters in my family, from older siblings to extended family members with accents, quirks and idiosyncrasies. After college I went to the Yale School of Drama and then spent four seasons with the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., before moving to New York.

My father didn’t have high hopes for me, since he didn’t view acting as real work, but he was never discouraging. He first saw me perform when I was in a female version of “The Odd Couple,” starring Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno. We were performing in Florida before bringing the play to Broadway in 1985, and my father was spending time down there in the winters after my mother died in 1983.

My father had been a big “All in the Family” devotee, so I invited Sally to have dinner with us after. That’s the moment I knew I had finally won him over. After my performance and our dinner, he said he was so pleased and happy to see that I was doing what I loved and that I wasn’t afraid of working hard.

Today, my wife, actress Brooke Adams, and I live in Hollywood in a four-bedroom home. Thinking back on my mother running our house in Green Bay, I’m still in awe. My wife and I have two daughters, and we can barely figure it out, even with help.

Source: www.wsj.com