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Sisto Kid
Jeremy Sisto has been a serial killer, a transvestite, and a manic-depressive, but let it be known that his true dream is to become a waiter. "I think I'd enjoy it, I mean, not like ten-hour shifts, but a couple hours. It would be fun," says the 28-year-old actor. "It really keeps you out of your head. You have to stay candid and in the moment, and you have a new relationship every half hour or so that you're creating with the table. The only problem is, there's something humiliating about it." Sisto is about to dig into his plate of huevos rancheros at Hollywood's 101 Cafe when he makes this conversation. He is dark and tall with a slight five o'clock shadow (despite the fact that it's only 11 a.m.) and a studied seriousness that has served him well in his film and television roles, most of which involve characters haunted by eighter deep-seated insecurities or outright psychosis. In Suicide Kings, he plays a morphine-addled med student, in Angel Eyes, he plays Jennifer Lopez's troubled and abusive brother. Most recently, Sisto has earned rave reviews for his role in HBO's black-as-death comedy, Six Feet Under. Bringing his melancholy eyes and full, sad mouth to the moody character of Billy Chenowith, Sisto has managed to make even the macabre seem charming. "I think there's something great about expressing some side of yourself that's dark," explains Sisto about his choice of roles. "Getting that darkness out; I think there's something cleansing about that. I feel drained after those roles, in a good way, like after a nice, long therapy session. But it's not therapy, of course. I don't want to overstate it. I don't think my art is therapy at all, but there are positive side effects to these experiences." Not that all of Sisto's roles have been deep explorations into the dark side. He played cool dude, Elton, in Clueless, for instance. He was in Disney's remake of The Shaggy Dog. And he played the nicest guy in history, Jesus, in the CBS miniseries of the same name. His very first role was a comedic one. At age 16, while still a student in Chicago, he won the part of Roberto, the wise-ass teen in Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon. That initial experience with Kasdan and the cast (Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, and Danny Glover) was seductive enough to bring a young Sisto to Los Angeles in search of more of the same. "I came out here when I was 16." he remembers. "I moved out and looked at the deck of cards to figure out what was going on and why I wasn't going to collage, why I was interested in doing this." It took some time, however, for Sisto to adjust to the change and there were periods in those first years when he wasn't entirely sure he had made the right choice. "It took me about five years to really love this place." he admits. "I wasn't even that sure if I wanted to be an actor in the beginning. Then I had a dry period where I wasn't getting any work. It took a long time, but now L.A. is my home. It feels like my home. I went back to Chicago and it didn't feel like home anymore. I have my life here, my life and my loves and my friends. I like it. You create your own space here. You drive around in your own little bubble. I like that. L.A. is good place to create things and explore." This kind of positive attitude is not exactly Sisto's nature. He is intense, both in his roles and in his life, the kind of person who has devoted himself to his carreer with a commitment and a focus that in hindsight he realizes wasn't always necessary. This newfound casualness is something he admits he's worked hard to attain. "I used to take my work way too seriously." he admits. "I'd do too much work and it got in my way because I wasn't spontaneous. I'd try to make every moment be worth the hours and hours of research and work that I did. So I had to pull back a lot. I knew I had to find a different approach. I had a kind of out of wack notion of how important I was and how important the work I was doing was. As a result I wasn't happy and my work was not free, really." Now, however, Sisto seems to have found his equilibrium. He has just come off a succesful one-man theatrical run entitled, Sanguine, which played in L.A. to rave reviews. He's about to star in the horror/thriller Wrong Turn with Eliza Dushku opening in May, then in August, in the drama Thirteen, with Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood (the film won the Best Director Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival). Also in August, Sisto takes another historical turn on television playing the title role in the TNT miniseries Julius Caesar, opposite Richard Harris and Christopher Walken. "I feel good about where I am now," Sisto says, taking a sip of coffee. "I just realized that it was important to have fun and to realize how fucking lucky I am. The job that I do is about creating and expressing myself. The only work I need to do is unlock whatever plugs are in my creative outlets, whatever is getting in the way of me being able to be myself and create." Sisto smiles at this and finishes his plate of eggs. He watches the waiters work with something like longing in his eyes. "I probably wouldn't have accepted being a waiter," he admits. "I think I have a lucky life to be able to do what I do and get paid for it. But you have to be careful or you can veer off into being kind of a shitty person. Materialistic and egotistical and bitter and self-involved. It's easy to become an idiot when people give you a lot. You just try to do it well and try to have the best attitude about it, so you don't feel ungracious toward what life has given you. I think it's a great career because your personal growth is directly attached to the level of your talent and when you realize that, you're fine." |
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