I feel so lucky. When an actor that has been struggling for so long makes the transition into being an actor full-time, it is the most amazing feeling. It's just sort of like a 3,000-pound weight gets lifted from you, and you're able to mostly focus on just being an artist, which is an amazing, blessed luxury I have.
— Steve Zissis
Acting is something I've done since I was in high school, but I never had a model in my life, whether it was a mentor or a parent, where I could realize that acting could actually be a career.
I would say if you're young, if you're a teenager, act in plays, as many plays as you can. It's an amazing way to build your craft and an amazing way to build your presence.
I'm definitely proud of myself anytime I can make Amanda Peet break out into laughter.
Basically, from the pilot of the first season of 'Togetherness,' I was strategically losing weight all the way through and then all the way into Season Two. So luckily, I had the plan, and I had a lot of time to do it. But it's definitely not easy, because I'm from New Orleans and I love to eat.
I always did plays, and when I went to NYU - and I didn't go to Tisch, the theater school, because I was like, 'Well, acting's not realistic. You can't make a career out of it.' So I just studied general studies and humanities at NYU, but I was doing plays while I was there. So I was sort of cheating.
I was an early peaker, and then I went through a depressive part of my life and had some struggles personally. Things don't always happen as you'd expect them to happen, but there's always a second act.
Networking, of course, is great, but the best way to network is to do work.
Growing up in New Orleans, when you're in seventh and eighth grade, and you're into music, and you're a dorky dude, you know, you listen to the entire Rush catalog and the entire Zeppelin catalog, and you go through these, like, phases of classic rock.
I'm Greek-American, and I come from an immigrant-type background, and Greek-American parents want you to be a doctor or a lawyer. Because that's how you make money, and it's very respectable.
Aziz Ansari was on 'Parks and Recreation' for, I don't know, what, seven years? And he was a really popular stand-up comedian. He even says that his Netflix show wouldn't have gotten made unless he created it himself. No one was probably willing to put someone like Aziz as the lead in a show until he actually created it himself.
I directed the play 'Amadeus' with puppets way back in the day for theater. I also studied puppetry at the Eugene and Neil Center with a lot of the 'Sesame Street' people, so I do have a little bit of a history with puppetry.
New Orleans is home. That's where the heart is.
