All I wanted with that film was to represent the possibility that there might be normal people who are Muslim or Arab with the same fears, responsibilities, hopes.
And Big Night, I think by the end the brothers find that balance, when they touch each other on the shoulder over breakfast and it's understood that what should never have driven them apart almost drove them apart. I think that's a true moment.
I come from a really big family, my father was a businessman and what he always instilled in us was to be your own boss. My father built up his business, and he was by no means a rich man, but he figured out how to work four-and-a-half days a week.
I don't look as handsome in Men in Black 2 as I did in the first one.
I play Adrian Monk, a detective with a serious obsessive-compulsive disorder. And I'm really getting into this character. I fear Monk is more like me than I care to admit.
I shot Barton Fink in July and moved out to LA that fall. The movie came out in the spring and it was a year before I got Wings.
I still think of myself as a stage actor. When I do film and television I try to implement what I was taught to do in theatre, to try to stretch into characters that are far from myself.
I was doing The Heidi Chronicles with Christine Lahti, and Brooke came on board as Christine's replacement when she left.
I was one of those people who put too much emphasis on work and career and material possessions, and it took its toll on all my relationships, on my physical health, my emotional and mental health.
I'm a control freak anyway, and directing legitimizes any fantasy of control freakism that you can imagine.
I'm impossible to direct. I couldn't get myself to do anything.
It was really an experience, being my first time directing a movie. The scenes that I was in, Brooke really directed me all the time. And the scenes that both of us were in, Brooke directed those. Come to think of it, Brooke directed most of the scenes.
It's an interesting synchronicity, I think, in our current environment, where artful protest is becoming current again, to revive interest in Gibran.
Now they yell Monk everywhere I go.
Once I was able to compartmentalize and not worry about every little aspect-once I was able to do staging moments, framing shots, working with actors, those kind of things-I have to say that it was kind of like a drug.
Though I slowly was getting into film and television, I always thought I was going to be on stage to make my living.
With what's happened in the world the last three years, it's easier to see why it's become popular again to diminish and revile Arabs and Muslims in American popular culture.
You're not really necessarily the coolest guy in their life. You are a conduit to the really cool people.
Tony co-starred in the movie Against the Ropes, along with Meg Ryan and Omar Epps. The movie is a biopic inspired by true events in the life of renowned boxing manager Jackie Kallen, a middle-aged Jewish mother from Michigan, who guided the careers of several, hi-profile, professional boxers, including four world champions such as: middleweight champ James "Lights Out" Toney, as well as Bronco McKart, and Thomas Hearns.
When Tony was six years old, one of his elder sisters put his name down to play an extra in a high school production of The King and I.
Tony has appeared in many feature films, including, Spy Kids, Galaxy Quest, The Siege, A Civil Action, Searching for Bobby Fischer, The Impostors, Primary Colors, Gattaca, Men in Black, Big Night, Barton Fink, Honeymoon in Vegas, Quick Change, Longtime Companion, 13 Ghosts, and Life or Something Like It. He also reprised his roles in the sequels Men in Black II and Spy Kids II.
Tony lent his voice for the computer game Fallout.
Tony is an accomplished stage actor. His theatre work includes roles in Waiting for Godot, Conversations with My Father, The Heidi Chronicles, and The Odd Couple. He also appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Henry IV Part 1 and Richard III.
Tony’s brother, Michael, is also an actor.
Tony’s cousin is Jonathon Brandmeier, a Chicago radio personality.
Tony was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006 for his role in Monk.
Tony is a member of the F.O.T.
Tony is Lebanese-American.
Tony has said that he would like to make a film based on the life of Kalil Gibran, a Lebanese poet and philosopher.
Tony made his feature directing debut in 2002, with Made-Up, which he also starred in with his wife.
Tony was raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Actress Lynne Adams is Tony's sister-in-law.
Tony's wife Brooke Adams has guest starred in the Monk episodes, Mr. Monk and the Airplane and Mr. Monk and the Kid.
Tony was a winner at the 57th Emmy Awards in the category of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" for his role in Monk.
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