There are days when I am just dead on the floor, and I'm there in my makeup, and that's getting a little tiring.
— Tom Verica
I am definitely most proud of 'American Dreams.'
Audiences have become so much more sophisticated, and they're looking for different eyes and different ways to tell a story. And 'Scandal' certainly gives us the freedom to take those chances.
Most of my work had been in theater, and I was jumping not just into television but 'L.A. Law,' which had all these megastars in it.
Most shows are normally 40 or 50 pages.
I remember seeing this picture my mother had of Dick Clark. It didn't inspire me to be an actor or anything, but when I did 'American Dreams' with Dick Clark, my mother came out, and she showed him this picture of them that was taken 35 years earlier. It was great.
I played in 'From the Earth to the Moon,' working with Tom Hanks. He is a great guy, very smart.
Right before 'American Dreams,' I started to pursue these avenues, like short films and getting into a couple night courses to really study photography and cinematography, and the language of visual storytelling.
I guess that is a good compliment for an actor for people to hate you wherever you go.
Myself, I happen to be married to an African-American woman, and we're together 17 years. We took a few trips to the South 15 years ago, and we were sobered by some of the reactions people had - how subtle or not-so-subtle their reactions were.
My family is very close. I can't say that about many people I meet in Hollywood.
If we had a perfect world, we can do 'Scandal' during the day and 'Murder' at night - that's the optimal thing.
Having spent a lot of time on sets, I was really interested in the overall storytelling aspect of shows and projects.
I can put on my resume: 'Can play dead.'
I started my career as an actor, but I've been a director for 15 years now.
