PLAYBOY: You're 41.

PIVEN: Yeah.

PLAYBOY: And still single.

PIVEN: Yeah.

PLAYBOY: Do you have a girlfriend?

PIVEN: No. And here's your next question: "What's wrong with you, motherfucker?"

PLAYBOY: You said it; we didn't.

PIVEN: Do I want one? Hell, yeah. I'd love to have a girlfriend--if I weren't gay. That's right, I'm gay! I'm gayer than Liberace in 1972. [pauses] No, that's not true.

PLAYBOY: The Liberace part or the year?

PIVEN: I'm gonna catch hell for that.

PLAYBOY: Actually, you once said you had your first sexual experience at your bar mitzvah. We assume it was with a girl.

PIVEN: It was not at my bar mitzvah but right around then. There weren't a lot of Jewish kids where I grew up. I was bar mitzvahed in a church, and the party was in my basement. I was also the only white boy in my high school who played football. At the bar mitzvah a lot of the black kids took the yarmulkes and used them as Frisbees. I think there was a novelty to being the bar mitzvah boy. I had a little shine on me, which was nice. I remember the girl. I thought she was incredibly beautiful. We had a moment. I think being the bar mitzvah boy helped me. It wasn't a full sexual experience, by the way. I can honestly say I was a virgin at my bar mitzvah, a mullet-wearing, braces-faced virgin.

PLAYBOY: In your previous TV series Cupid, you played a guy who thought he was--or perhaps actually was--Cupid. Do you ever play Cupid in real life?

PIVEN: Yes. I'm pretty good at it, believe it or not. I was off once. I set this couple up, and the guy's best friend ended up marrying the girl. I'm like a drunken Cupid: close, dangerously close.

PLAYBOY: What about being your own Cupid?

PIVEN: I'm not so good at being my own Cupid.

PLAYBOY: How about actresses? Have you had relationships with any?

PIVEN: I have. Curiously, there's a whole strain of guys out there who feel the need to date famous actresses. It's interesting, isn't it? Not models but very high-profile girls. I was talking to Emmanuelle Chriqui, who plays Eric's girlfriend on Entourage. She's so cool and so gorgeous and has been in a four-year relationship. She's a buddy of mine. Her boyfriend is not in the business. I said, "You've got to find someone who's in your corner and you're in their corner." That's what you need: a person who can understand what it's like to be an artist, or at least someone who can empathize.

PLAYBOY: Are there special rules for dating actresses?

PIVEN: My mother's an actress; my father was an actor. Being one, I know artists are sensitive people. You have to be like Teflon because you deal with so much rejection in order to break through. You also have to be voluntarily emotionally accessible. There are people who can't be with someone who has a higher profile or makes more money. I don't care about any of that. God, go for yours, man. I know a guy who said, "I can't date an actress. I've got too much ego. I can't have a four-car-ego garage." I could date an actress who's more successful than I am and have no problem with it.

PLAYBOY: Do you use work as an excuse not to have a serious relationship?

PIVEN: No. There were times when I didn't recognize what I had, though. There have been some amazing women in my life. I could kick myself. I grew up in a household where my mother was a hardworking artist who wasn't self-consumed. I'm not a mama's boy, but I had this great example of a mother. Maybe it's hard for me to settle. People get married for lots of reasons. My parents were married until my father passed away. I take marriage seriously. I don't want to dabble in it. I would love to have a family. I love kids. My sister has two beautiful kids, and I try to be around them whenever I can. I hope I'm a good uncle. Meanwhile I just try to keep working on myself to become a better person with the hope of attracting someone with whom I can find some synchronicity in this life.

PLAYBOY: In the meantime you can get the girl on TV and in the movies.

PIVEN: Why not? To be able to play off female energy is a gift, one I feel capable of using. I've never been intimidated by powerful women. I think it's sexy when any woman is self-empowered and has found her own voice.

PLAYBOY: Were you the guy who got the girl when you were growing up?

PIVEN: There was a little bit of both. There were girls I lusted after and couldn't quite close the deal with, but there were times when the deal was closed. [pauses] I think I'm on the verge of telling you too much, so I'm going to tread lightly.

PLAYBOY: Is there a problem?

PIVEN: No, I've just become someone who chooses his words very specifically.

PLAYBOY: What are you concerned about?

PIVEN: One time an interviewer asked me, "What's your favorite role?" I said, "Like the Dalai Lama said, it's not the best thing to have a favorite anything." When asked the question, I happened to be standing with my arms around two women--friends, neither of whom I had anything going on with. Someone took a picture. Later I saw the picture in the magazine, and the caption read, "When Piven was asked about women, he quoted the Dalai Lama: 'It's best not to have a favorite anything.'" They will extract things and plug them in anywhere. They're desperate to sell magazines, and the only way to do it is to tie someone to the back of a truck and drag him around town.

PLAYBOY: Who has dragged you around?

PIVEN: I'd rather not talk about that. What's the point? It's all part of the tax on this life--on success, I guess. But I can't get caught up in the way I'm being perceived, because it's just a lot of wasted energy. On the other hand, when my name was called at the Emmys, I got to speak for myself. There are moments when people get a clear look at you, and there are moments when some silly rag will portray you inauthentically.

PLAYBOY: Did you learn some of these lessons from your father?

PIVEN: From him I learned family comes first and to be a conscientious provider and father. Loving, caring energy. And at the same time, he was completely passionate about the theater and his work--the integrity of his work and of that space you occupy when you act. I will take all those things with me my entire life.

PLAYBOY: What's the brass ring in Chicago compared with the brass ring in L.A.?

PIVEN: Stages, the Goodmans and Steppenwolfs of the world. I auditioned at both of them--that was the Super Bowl. And we had our own little Super Bowl going. My parents had their own theater. It wasn't a school play or a high-profile thing. You did your thing, and you didn't go around taking victory laps. We'd pack 'em in. I did the leads in our plays. I was Methuselah, the 900-year-old man, in whiteface and fat pants, tearing it up, drenched in sweat every night. People go their whole life without finding a role like that. It's like finding King Lear at 24: It's unheard of. Then I would stay in all day, not go out or even talk. I would just rest and harness my energy, then explode at night. Rip it apart.

PLAYBOY: After growing up in the theater, did you have a plan to conquer TV and movies?

PIVEN: I've never had a plan. I just knew I didn't have the constitution to come out here and pound the pavement. There are too many distractions. I was touring with Second City. I started there with Chris Farley. I was lucky. While I was with Second City I knew I needed to work on my weaknesses. Then I left to go to the National Theatre of Great Britain and study Shakespeare. I had been working with my family, so I'd been working on improv. We did a lot of story theater and cool literature like Chekhov, but I hadn't done much Shakespeare. At the National Theatre I studied Shakespeare seven days a week. At night I'd go to plays. I'd see Judi Dench, Anthony Hopkins in Antony and Cleopatra, all these great performances.

PLAYBOY: Then you moved to L.A.

PIVEN: My first job in TV was on Carol & Company, Carol Burnett's return to television. I was fired when the network made changes. I came back with a vengeance and got The Larry Sanders Show. I remember they couldn't decide between me and Wally Langham, so they cast us both. In a way that's kind of indicative of my first 10 or 15 years in the business. There was no rhyme or reason to it. If you look at any of the first 25 movies I did, there was never a lot on the page. I would just try to get in the door and mix it up when I got there.

PLAYBOY: If Hollywood were a Shakespeare play, which would it be?

PIVEN: A toss-up between Othello and Macbeth. Iago whispering in your ear. Being sidetracked and ruled by witches' predictions. That's the dark side of it. The light side is I get to live my dream. I get to be a person who's allowed to be creative. That sounds either ethereal or pretentious, but I don't care.

PLAYBOY: Did you ever consider other careers?

PIVEN: No, nothing that didn't involve acting. I don't know how to do anything else.

PLAYBOY: At its worst, how tough was it?

PIVEN: When you've been waiting two and a half, three hours to audition, something happens to you. You forget why you're there. You go around the bend a little bit. I could never sit in the waiting room with all the other actors. I couldn't focus.

PLAYBOY: How did you avoid those waiting rooms?

PIVEN: I'd ask the person in charge if they could get me when my turn came, and I'd stand outside the door in the hall.

PLAYBOY: Did anybody ever forget to come for you?

PIVEN: It happens.

PLAYBOY: Did you ever lose it--throw a tantrum, have a fit?

PIVEN: I never did. If you do, word gets out fast. So even though the only role available is Abrasive Guy Number Seven, you do it. That's what you have to live through. You figure you're going to go in and do everything you can with that. I'd have 10 different options on the dialogue. My job was to make something out of nothing and hope they dug it so they'd throw in another scene for me.

PLAYBOY: Did you always know if an audition went well or not?

PIVEN: One time I was up for a role on a TV show, an Aaron Spelling production that didn't stay on the air. I went in and thought the audition went great. My father always said, "Each audition is a job unto itself. Once you're done with the audition, the job is done and you move on." He was right. If you don't, you'll be tortured. I felt like I killed. They were laughing, and I had a great time. I was loose, present, in the moment. Killed it and got out.

Then I got the feedback from the agent: "Uh, it's not going any further." "Really? I'm not going to the network on that one? That's weird. I thought I killed." "You know, Jeremy, you can't make excuses." "Oh no, I'm not making any excuses. I'm just baffled. Huh." "Jeremy, come on." "I'm just saying it doesn't make sense." "Well, what do you think it is then?" "Um, I think that to be part of an Aaron Spelling production you have to be pretty, and I would bet the variable is that I'm not pretty. In fact, I will go so far as to say--how do I put this without sounding like a complete narcissist?--I will bet they saw me in the role and I was the guy who achieved it in the room, but I'm just not pretty enough. Do you know anyone on the inside on this job who would give it to you straight?" "As a matter of fact, I do." "Would you call them?" "You know why I'm going to call them? To prove you're wrong." "Great."

I get a call back: "Hey, Jeremy, you were absolutely right. They wanted to go with you, but they're going with someone who's kind of...pretty."

Getting that information was a victory seldom seen. You never have those. No one's going to make that call for you. But what do you do with that information? Well, the good news is it can inform how you continue to navigate in this world. Do it and move on. So much of it is really out of your control.

PLAYBOY: Do you feel pretty now? When did you start to?

PIVEN: I haven't. In the 1970s you had leading men like Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. They looked like real people. That worked for all of us. Then we moved into a phase when you had to be this traditionally handsome leading man to carry a movie. Now it seems people are more open to very specific, charismatic leading performances--Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Terrence Howard. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but like I said, it seems to be opening up.

PLAYBOY: As a former journeyman actor, do you have advice for the new generation of up-and-coming stars?

PIVEN: If I were that young and someone were sticking a microphone in my face all the time, I wouldn't know what to do. All that attention at such a young age? My questions are: Do you respect what you do? Do you show up and contribute? Are you working on the highest level you possibly can? If you're doing all that, what's wrong with going out once in a while?

PLAYBOY: Any acting secrets to impart?

PIVEN: Once I was being directed by my sister. We were in the middle of a scene, and I was having a lot of trouble with a beat. I was in junior high. I couldn't quite understand her direction. I finally just blurted out, "You mean you want me to say it as if I'm saying it for the first time?" Wait a minute: That's what acting is. My God, she's right. It sounds so simplistic, but it's true. Being totally present is the key.

PLAYBOY: What's the best example on your résumé? In your opinion, what's your best performance?

PIVEN: Probably on a TV show originally called Bellevue but retitled Wonderland. It aired opposite ER in its heyday--twice. Mine was the third episode, and the show was pulled before that one aired. I played a bipolar stand-up comedian who goes too far onstage and gets beaten up by a guy in the front row whom he'd offended. He is sent to Bellevue, where he can't stop performing until he's sedated. He is so opposed to the sedation, he convinces his doctor that in order to live this life as an artist he needs his edge. No sedation. The last scene is him onstage performing, with the doctor watching from the audience. The best thing I'd ever done in my life, and no one will ever see it.

PLAYBOY: Over your years as an actor, how many agents have you had?

PIVEN: A few. I think there were times I probably shouldn't have moved on. I fired an agent once because he said, "It's about money, baby. It's always about money. It's about money with you, it's about money with me, it's about money with them. It's about money with all of us, baby." I said, "It's not about money for me. You don't know me; don't speak for me. You're fired." "Aw, come on, baby," he said. "No, you're fired."

That was it. I probably should've taken a deep breath and not been so reactive. It was just so offensive to have someone else tell me why I do what I do.

PLAYBOY: Do you really not care about money?

PIVEN: Of course I want to make money for the work I do. Who wouldn't? That's why I have an agent. I handle the rest of it. I act.

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