I thought that if no one was going to give me a great part - and it was very difficult to break into film, obviously - then I'd write one myself.

I'm very proud of being Italian-American, but people don't realize that the mafia is just this aberration. The real community is built on the working man, the guy who's the cop, the fireman, the truck driver, the bus driver.

I thought that if no one was going to give me a great part - and it was very difficult to break into film, obviously - then I'd write one myself.

The key is you have to keep doing the right thing. Do the right thing and stay around long enough, and you'll keep getting parts. And if you don't, you write your own parts, which I'm lucky to do. It's like anything else: you get hot, you get cold, then you get hot again. You just keep working.

I came here knowing nobody. I worked clubs as a singer and even the doors a few times before I landed some TV roles.

When you feel good about the work you're doing, that's what's important, not the budget or anything like that. If you're happy about the actors you're working with, that's what's important.

My mom was Sicilian, my dad was Sicilian. Mom was a great cook, but all the women were.