I don't prefer much of film over stage... The only thing I prefer is the paycheck.

We play lots of roles in our lives, but I got to do that in one movie [Parental Guidance], and ride the feelings, and it was a good challenge for me.

Not to get overly psychological about this, but it's probably why I became an actress in the first place: for that kind of freedom and refuge, as well as for the fact that I just love acting so much.

I've just been really lucky to not be too much of a stereotype.

I did ask Larry David, "How did I get so lucky? How am I here Seinfeld?" He just said, 'Well, when you say your name over and over it just has a really strong rhythm: "Marisa Tomei. Marisa Tomei."

All of us have read the stories about young people in Hollywood and all the challenges they have to confront there, and I think that artistically, I really didn't understand the commercial side of the film business, so I went back to a purely artistic setting.

We would also go to musicals. So Singing In the Rain, On the Town, and West Side Story. Especially West Side Story because played that a lot before VCRs, so that would be something that would be a big deal if it came on, you caught it. So that really started, my family was not in show business at all but really loved that kind of thing.