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“Stephen Tobolowsky. Stephen Tobolowsky. Where have I heard that name before?” His book, The Dangerous Animals Club, has some interesting answers from the general public: a serial killer? A porn star? Or Stephen’s personal favorite, a physicist who recently discovered something about time? You know you know him, but from where? Our waiter in Dallas was kicking himself. “It’s the voice, man! I know you’re a movie star! I just saw you this week! It was a movie I own! Don’t tell me, man!” Turns out it was Wild Hogs, one of his 120 or so movie appearances listed on IMDb. The New York Times and USA Today place him at No. 9 of the folks you are most likely to see in a movie or TV show. Wow. The best of all worlds: working constantly, minus the tabloid headaches.

Balancing marriage, parenting, writing, teaching and acting, Stephen’s advice to newcomers is to say yes in life. “Only one in a hundred times will it lead to a date rape drug and your organs being sold on eBay. Play for free. Shoot for free. Work begets work, and it’s about networking. You don’t know who’s going to be the next Spielberg.” For the same reason, he is a huge advocate of staying in class whether you need it or not. “I was given that advice. When I first came to L.A., I found a class I could afford. On the first day, someone was looking for a replacement for a production. I auditioned. A week later we opened and casting directors came. To this day, one of them still calls me in. If a student film comes up and I am free, I still say yes. It leads to good things.”

Stephen Tobolowsky

About his wildly successful on-camera career, his auditioning philosophy is pretty clear: Control what you can control. “You can’t control anything in that room except how much you have prepared. You cannot show all your talent or experience in the audition, only your confidence. And confidence comes from preparation. Be on time, know your stuff, be pleasant, work quickly. My main message when I’m auditioning is, ‘you have lots of things to worry about on this shoot. You’re not going to have to worry about me.’”

As for creating a character: “It all starts with the script. If possible, read the entire script in a quiet setting. This way you can experience it as the audience will. Then, in every part I play, I’m looking for a little anchor I know is true. Not all the lines resonate immediately. But one or two moments you go, ‘Oh, I know what that is.’ Then finding the truth of your whole character is like walking on a frozen lake. You move in bigger and bigger circles until you reach land.”

What if we don’t have the luxury of reading the whole script? “If that’s the case, then make sure you know these two important questions about your character: What is my greatest hope, and what is my greatest fear? You want to show the writer that you know the part better than they do, to make them say, ‘I never thought of that’. You’re bringing the truth of who you are, not bringing yet another stereotype to life.”

“In your down time, between jobs, keep reading great plays. Drill these characters from literature into your head to keep your chops sharp. A 20-year-old girl can use Shakespeare’s Falstaff in her Two Broke Girls audition!”

On maintaining a strong family unit in this crazy business: 1) “Keep nannies out of the picture! A third adult just gives the kids someone to leverage against the parents.” And he’s had great luck taking his kids to the occasional audition and set. “Having a child does not have to be a wall. It can be a bridge.” 2) He and actress Ann Hearn have made their 24-year marriage work with the commitment to experience life together whenever their schedules can merge. For example, she’s taking the opportunity to travel across the country with Stephen on his book tour.

RMM: So, who’s been really great to work with?
ST: There are so many! Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep — Mel Gibson gave me great advice on fatherhood.
RMM: Who would you like to work with?
ST: Steve Carell.
RMM: I just saw your crooked FBI character get blown away this week on Justified (FX). Too bad you can’t come back.
ST: Ah, You never know!
RMM: Are you kidding? I watched you die!
ST: But this is Hollywood.

He’s probably right. And when they do call, Stephen Tobolowsky will say YES.