recess: What's it like to work with a bunch of mobsters?
Jamie-Lynn diScala: On camera I do, but off camera, I work with a bunch of great actors. They're great people. I kind of inherited like five great father figures. It's a great show to be on. I guess I have been inherited into the Italian community by association because I have no Italian in me whatsoever.
R: If you drop a line, is James Gandolfini going to off you?
JLD: Not me, maybe another guy [on the cast] would be afraid, but I think I'm always on the safe side.
R: You grew up in a Jewish home, so, which is worse a Jewish mom or a mob-boss dad?
JLD: They both use a lot of guilt and they both put you under a lot of pressure. But, I'd say Jewish mom because I have my mob-boss dad wrapped around my finger. Just by being a girl, by being daddy's little girl: every daddy has a weakness for that. Especially as a mob-boss, he has been working with really tough men all day and has his pretty little daughter bat her eyes at him and you can see him crumble apart. A Jewish mom is tough no matter what.
R: If you had to put a hit on anyone, who would it be?
JLD: Oh, I could never do that, I couldn't deal with the guilt.
R: Speaking of hits, what did you think of Hitch?
JLD: I loved it. Will Smith is my favorite. I think he is so charming. He is so great and so fun to watch. And every time I watch one of his movies, I can just engross myself in his character and the story, to forget about everything else, which is what movies are all about.
R: But come on, can you really take the Fresh Prince seriously?
JLD: I think he's a great actor, yeah, I do. He does a lot of fun, romantic comedies and he plays silly roles and he was the Fresh Prince of Bel Air for so many years, but there's a lot of talent involved in that. He doesn't always have to be doing these serious dramatic roles to get my respect.
R: What was your favorite mob movie?
JLD: Goodfellas. Without a doubt.
R: Was the Godfather a required movie for the show?
JLD: No. Well, not for my character at least, maybe for some of the guys. I've only seen it twice.
R: What's the worst part about being a star?
JLD: When I have the paparazzi following me. It's surreal, it's really weird, every time you are in public, when want to go shopping with your friends or when you want to eat at an outdoor restaurant and you're walking down the street with five people with cameras in your face. And you never know when someone is watching you. That's a little strange, but it comes with the territory. And it's kind of cool, because every once in a while I'll get a call from my mom saying, “Oh, I like that shirt.” You have to take it lightly and disregard it as much as you can, ‘cause it's never going to go away.
R: Do you regret not going to college? You have lived a pretty atypical life.
JLD: I get to kind of live my life vicariously through Meadow. I went to NYU for a little while and I moved into the dorm, I tried to be as normal as I could be. I went to public school all growing up and graduated from a public school while filming the show, so I always got to live a normal life and take all those steps with my friends and built this career on the side. So, of course, I skipped a few things, but I don't regret it. I don't envy anybody else's life and I am so fortunate for the one that I live and I couldn't imagine it being any different.
R: What was the best part of having a normal upbringing?
JLD: Definitely the bat mitzvah year. I had the best social life my bat mitzvah year, really. It was the best year because we got to get into these dresses with all our friends and go dance. Every Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday we had one. We had to have Sunday ones because there were so many kids—we had to squeeze the parties in.
R: And how did your bat mitzvah stack up to those of your friends?
JLD: My bat mitzvah was great. My theme was The Wizard of Oz. It was a lot of fun, the DJ was the M&M twins, and I got to sing “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”
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