By: Randa Kayyali
- Shalhoub's family is from Lebanon and the American Midwest. Tony and his nine brothers and sisters were born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Their father emigrated from Lebanon to the U.S. as an orphan at the age of ten. He later married Shalhoub's mother, a second-generation Lebanese-American, and founded a family company from the seedling of one grocery store in the center of Green Bay. It was the American dream with a distinct Arab flavor.
- Tony Shalhoub does not remember any Arab-Americans in Green Bay that he was not related to. His extended family worked and relaxed together. "[There was] a strong sense of socializing and people helping each other out," Shalhoub said. His father dreamt that his ten children would stay in that community and work in the family business "but it didn't really take on," Shalhoub said with a tinge of regret. "Many of us didn't want to stay in that community. In some ways it would have been nice."
-
-
- Before the big city beckoned, Tony Shalhoub's brothers and sisters introduced him to the theater. Tony was just six years old. One of his elder sisters volunteered her little brother to play an extra in a high school production of "The King and I." Even though the young Tony was left standing on the wrong side of the curtain during the final dress rehearsal, he became hooked to the theater.
-
Since that small musical production in Green Bay, Tony Shalhoub has consistently worked on his skills and range as an actor. He attended the Yale Drama School and trained for the theater. Upon graduation, Shalhoub joined the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Cambridge, MA. Shalhoub said that ART was a fantastic place to launch a serious acting career because of the flexibility and skills required from every cast member. ART puts on two to three shows a week. After four seasons with ART, Shalhoub moved to NYC where he met his wife, a fellow actress.
|
 |
- Shalhoub immediately became shy when I asked him whether his wife was of Arab descent or not. He replied, "If I had fallen in love with a Lebanese woman, I would've [married her] but that wasn't what happened. That wasn't an issue for me." They have two young daughters, aged four and nine, and living in Los Angeles. Tony Shalhoub is now being cast in more films and TV shows than theater productions but he and his wife still miss the theater. In fact, in the fall, he is planning to return to NYC to play Vladamir in a new production of "Waiting for Godot."
Throughout his burgeoning career, he says that he has never felt any discrimination. Directors and casting agents have told Shalhoub that he looks "too ethnic" but they have also told him that he is not "ethnic enough" just as many times. He explained that physical factors play a large role in casting. Instead of his looks and background being possible discriminating factors, Shalhoub feels that they have made him more sensitive to other ethnic and racial groups. "Because I have an ethnic background and look, I am sensitive to all of the [different ethnic groups] from Native Americans to Jews to Pakistanis." He has turned down numerous scripts that he felt had negative racist overtones and said that he will continue to do so.
When asked about the origin of his name by people in the entertainment business, Tony Shalhoub said that he sometimes replies, "It's a last name" and at other times he says that it is a Lebanese name. He reasons, "If someone else is focusing on nationality, then that's their problem."
- Filmography:
Paulie: A Parrot's Tale (1998)
Men in Black (1997)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Gattaca (1997)
Big Night (1996)
I.Q. (1994)
Barton Fink (1991)
Big Night (1997)
|
