Mandy Patinkin Opens Up About Career Decisions, HOMELAND & More!

Stage and screen star Mandy Patinkin recently opened up about his career in an interview with the New York Times, in which he chatted about his past 'abominable' behavior.

He told NYT: "I struggled with letting in other people's opinions. During 'Chicago Hope,' I never let directors talk to me, because I was so spoiled. I started off with people like Milos Forman, Sidney Lumet, James Lapine, unbelievably gifted people. So there I was saying, 'Don't talk to me, I don't want your opinion.' I behaved abominably. I don't care if my work was good or if I got an award for it. I'm not proud of how I was then, and it pained me."

On his current gig, he adds: "One of the greatest gifts that 'Homeland' has given me is it's affirming on a daily basis. I'm always with the script, walking around with this stuff 24/7, so my head's in a good place. The role is about listening, and when you don't listen to yourself, you get in trouble. I wasn't listening to myself in 'Heartburn,' I listened to the parental figure of Sam and the culture at large saying, 'You've got to be in a movie, this is going to make you,' and it wasn't who I was. Yes, I did 'Yentl' and 'Dick Tracy,' but I felt, and I still feel a little bit today that I'm really not successful, because I didn't become a movie star. The irony is half of those movie stars are all trying to be in television shows like this."

Click here to read the full interview.

Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin has an extensive list of theatre credits that include Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater. He won a Tony Award for his 1980 Broadway debut as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was again nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park With George. He returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden (1991), appeared as Marvin in Falsettos (1992) and in 1997 played a sold-out engagement of his one-man concert,Mandy Patinkin in Concert, with all profits benefiting five charitable organizations. Mandy's other solo concerts, Celebrating Sondheim andMamaloshen have been presented on Broadway, Off-Broadway and have toured the United States. His other stage credits include The Wild Party (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), The Winter's Tale, The Knife (Drama Desk nomination), Leave it to Beaver is Dead, Rebel Women, Hamlet, Trelawney of the 'Wells," The Shadow Box and Henry IV, Part I.

Mandy won a 1995 Emmy Award for his critically acclaimed performance in the CBS series "Chicago Hope," and recently starred in the CBS series "Criminal Minds" as FBI profiler Jason Gideon and in the Showtime Original Series "Dead Like Me" as the reaper Rube Sofer. Mandy begins a third season as CIA Division Chief Saul Berenson in the Emmy Award-winning Showtime Original Series "Homeland".

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos