My mom's family is Russian Jewish, and my dad's Puerto Rico Catholic, so it's kind of a weird mix.
Ian Gomez
As a child, one of my defense mechanisms was to try to be funny. My mom tried to nurture that by putting me in acting class. But I got bored when we stopped pretending to be trees and actually had to work.
I have a speech impediment because I slur a lot, and they even make fun of me on 'Cougar Town' because there's certain word combinations that I just can't say.
Scott Foley was always fun because he's a very funny guy. So I liked working with him a bunch.
I remember I got an ALMA award for an actor being on three shows simultaneously.
My stepfather had a connection with The Second City and told me I should go there. I woke up in a cold sweat one night and said, 'I'm moving to Chicago.' That's how I went to Second City.
It's funny because 'Felicity' didn't have a huge following, but the following it did have is hugely devoted, so people who are fanatics about 'Felicity' would run up to me all the time. I'd be at a bar, and someone will go, 'Hey, were you on Felicity? ...' I loved doing the show.
People come up and say, 'Hey, I know you!' They're middle-aged women and big burly guys. They say, 'Don't tell anyone, but I watch Felicity, and I think it's great.'
I met my wife, Nia Vardalos, at The Second City, and she was chomping at the bit to move to L.A.
We come from Second City where you're taught if you make your fellow stage partner look good, that makes you look good.
When I got out of high school, I was working in restaurants in New York City, when I heard Bill Anderson from The Neighborhood Playhouse was doing private lessons. I started taking classes, and it was a lot of improv and Meisner and repetition.
Once you lose that fear, good stuff can happen because you're not in your head about whether it will suck. Once you don't care and accept that it probably will suck, then it probably won't suck.
