Jeremy Sisto has done it all--playing a broad array of characters on stage and screen with iconic roles in Clueless , Six Feet Under , Law & Order , and Jesus . His latest role is playing Special Agent Jubal Valentine on the CBS drama, FBI , currently in its 7th season. Sisto sat down with us in the studio recently to tell us all about it and more. This is a LifeMinute with Jeremy Sisto.
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00:00I'm Jeremy Sisto, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:04Actor Jeremy Sisto has been a mainstay on stage and screen for years, from his iconic
00:09roles in Clueless, Six Feet Under, Law & Order, and Jesus, even lending his voice to Frozen.
00:15His latest role is special agent Jubal Valentine on CBS' FBI.
00:20Sisto sat down with us in studio recently to tell us all about it and more.
00:25This is a Life Minute with Jeremy Sisto.
00:28Woohoo! Jeremy Sisto in the house! Yay!
00:30Thanks for joining us on Life Minute.
00:32Thanks for cheering for me.
00:34So glad to have you here.
00:35How are you doing?
00:36I'm pretty good, I think.
00:38I'm a little tired at this moment.
00:40I don't know why, exactly, because I was just in Guitar Center, and it's an exhausting
00:44experience.
00:45Everyone's playing, the difference.
00:47But in general, I'm good.
00:48I'm very happy with my show.
00:50FBI.
00:51Seventh season.
00:52Seventh season.
00:53It's amazing.
00:54I know.
00:55It's been a long time.
00:56The ASAC over at 26 Fed.
00:57Tell us about it for those that don't know a little bit about it.
01:00So, well, it follows a team of agents.
01:02The FBI, the way they work is when there's an active shooter or an active threat, all
01:07of these agents and analysts and representatives from different organizations pile into a room
01:11with screens everywhere, and they're just siphoning information through them out to
01:18the agents in the streets.
01:19And so it basically is, it follows a group of agents, and it gets into some of their
01:23personal life, but largely it's dealing with these threats, these situations that they
01:28weren't able to prevent, which the FBI is very good at preventing stuff.
01:32They keep a track.
01:33But the show follows more the ones that they were not able to prevent, and they slip through
01:37the cracks.
01:38And now we have to kind of clean up the mess.
01:41Tell us about your character a little bit.
01:43Jewel Valentine.
01:44Yeah, it's been a cool character.
01:45I mean, with a show like this, when I met with Dick about it, in a way, we were trying
01:49to, you know, of course, in these procedurals, oftentimes there is some version of the tech
01:55version back in the office.
01:58But this particular sort of usage of this FBI mechanism as a device in one of these
02:02shows was something we were trying out.
02:04And the characters on shows like this, you kind of are allowed to find them as you go
02:09along.
02:10Our original creator, who wasn't on the show too long, I think had an idea of where everyone
02:14was going to go.
02:15This show has really been a process of sort of slowly finding it.
02:20And Jubal has, you know, he's been a really great character.
02:22There's been sort of different, largely tragic elements of his past that are perhaps shameful
02:28or where he strayed from the good path, but also some very tragic occurrences in his life.
02:34So a lot has happened to him, but somehow they've managed to stay grounded within the
02:38character as well.
02:39So I feel very lucky to be at this point where the character is complex to some degree, but
02:45also fun to watch and fun to be around.
02:48Dick Wolf, who I'm referring to, who's a large figure in my life, so I refer to him as Dick,
02:53assuming everyone knows.
02:54But yeah, Dick Wolf created this.
02:56We say our thanks to him over dinner at my house.
02:58Film Courage You're kind of like a pro in this character.
03:00You're so good at it.
03:01It's so good.
03:02How did you get into playing it?
03:05Yeah, you know, it's a certain situation that sort of fits me and my skill set well.
03:13I enjoy trying to make things feel spontaneous and bringing life to them.
03:19And what we have to do in that room is just a really specific type of trick that I enjoy
03:26doing, which is trying to make it feel like it's happening, it's real, it's alive, and
03:30yet the information's got to be very clearly.
03:33So I don't know, that particular thing is something that for whatever reason keeps me
03:37on my toes.
03:38I like to, it's almost like a sport in there, you know, where we throw ourselves into it
03:42and it's pretty easy to tell, like, this isn't working.
03:44Do you know what I mean?
03:45It's like doing a gymnastic trick or something and you're like, oh, I didn't do the flip
03:48and then we have to start over again because everything's connected.
03:51All the different extras, all the people in the room are passing the energy back and forth.
03:56And then it kind of creates an engine for the show.
03:58And then also, you know, like I said, the writers have been able to explore his sort
04:04of personality and his backstory and his home life and all that stuff in a way that has
04:08continued to feel real.
04:10And that stuff's fun for me as well.
04:11I mean, that kind of acting is in a way, it's just different.
04:16There's not as many tricks in that other thing when you're just like talking to your son,
04:21you know, you're talking to your wife, you're trying to work through something.
04:24That's something I can relate to more.
04:25The other thing is almost like I see it like some like black box theater and, you know,
04:29off Broadway.
04:30And do you film here?
04:32You do, right?
04:33We do, yeah.
04:34In Brooklyn, yeah.
04:35We're at the Broadway stages over in Greenpoint and then all over, yeah, it's a very New York
04:39sort of, you know, like Law and Order.
04:41It tries to use the city in a way that it has a character.
04:45How real is it, do you think, to real, you know, New York law?
04:48Well, I think there's a lot more paperwork than actual FBI.
04:52We're going to do a spinoff called FBI paperwork, but it's going to be, I don't know what channel,
04:56it hasn't been picked up yet.
04:57You know, it's a lot of preventative in the FBI, you know, the following people, the tracking,
05:00people have friends in the FBI.
05:02I was sitting with one of them, they got a call, you know, at dinner and then they had
05:06to decide whether or not to let somebody into the country based on a few facts and they
05:11had to make that decision and go back to dinner.
05:12So they're making big decisions all the time, but no, what happens every week for us doesn't
05:17happen very often because they're good at their jobs.
05:19It's got to be, it wouldn't be as exciting, you know, it's a, you know, you got to have
05:22a whole story in 42 minutes, but there are certain elements to it that we're using that
05:27I was really excited about in how connected they are, you know, to these other agencies
05:32and how quickly they pass information along and how powerful a mechanism it is to stop
05:37acts of crime in action and also try to hit at different other human aspects of what it
05:44means to have a job with stakes this high and what that means for one's personal life
05:49and relationship with other co-workers and stuff.
05:53So I don't know, the combination of all that stuff and, you know, loving the people and
05:57loving being on a sort of the stable dick wolf sort of vehicle is, you know, and I get
06:02to spend, be there for my family, I'm not traveling around, spent so much of my life
06:07just looking for work and trying to convince people to give me jobs.
06:11More time out of that world is good for my, wasn't great for me, I already had a, I still
06:17have a great need to be, for approval and stuff.
06:20I mean, to go over and do a job interview after the next, it's a...
06:23Well, you've been in so many, you've had so many good roles.
06:25Yes, and that was like .001% of the things I asked to be in.
06:30Really?
06:31Yeah, you know, that's just the life of an actor.
06:33It just kind of fell into your lap or?
06:35Well, no, you just get told no, mostly, and then you get lucky with one and you try to
06:40make the most of it and I'm just very fortunate right now to be in this vehicle.
06:45Well, we are.
06:46I loved you in Six Feet Under.
06:48I think it's really cool you live in a funeral home.
06:52Six Feet Under, yeah, that was a great one, yeah.
06:54So good, so good.
06:56And that role was written for you?
06:58Ish, yeah.
06:59You know, I tested for David, Michael Cial's character, and didn't get that, but I guess
07:04he liked me, and so he said, yeah, do this one scene in this pilot, and if it goes, you
07:10know, I have an idea for that character, and so I'm sure the character was around before
07:13me, but actually I'm not sure how it all came together.
07:16I'm not sure how far he had thought.
07:18That's an interesting question because by the time I got there, I started coming on
07:20the sixth episode, seventh episode more fully, and by the end of the first season, it was
07:24like he just knew, Alan just knew these characters like they were his family, but I'm not sure
07:28where that started, the creative process, I wonder.
07:31But yeah, by the time I was there, and throughout the time, it was a character that he just
07:35understood, all the writers just understood this guy.
07:37That was really nice.
07:38I've been on other ones where the writers are kind of trying to search, find him, I'm
07:42trying to find him, and it's never quite fully formed, but there was something clear and
07:46juxtaposition of me with this character, it just kind of worked in a way.
07:50Yeah, it sure did.
07:51I still, it's like, it was so powerful.
07:55And so many great films, Ferdinand, Suicide Kings, Waitress.
07:59You played Jesus.
08:00I did, yeah.
08:02It was fun.
08:03I mean, God, I was a young man, so it's all colored by that.
08:05This is my youth.
08:06I was like, oh, I wish I was Jesus again.
08:10It was a great experience.
08:11I was, I mean, I must have been 23 or something, but I was too young for Jesus.
08:15It was great.
08:16I went to like Morocco and became good friends with my disciples and had an upside down face,
08:22they shaved my head, like hair here, so the whole pitch from the director was like, he's
08:27like, so we're going to make a Jesus, you know, all those Jesus movies, the guy's kind
08:30of creepy, like you wouldn't follow him to the desert.
08:32We're going to make a Jesus that kind of parties, that you'd like to hang out with.
08:36I was like, I like it.
08:39And so sometimes you'd be like, give me that Jesus smile.
08:43And there are still some churches that, you know, it's actually a very good Jesus for
08:47the younger audience, I think.
08:48You know, it teaches them those stories in a way that's, it was a really nice experience.
08:53But it was also surreal and kind of silly, and it was one of the first jobs that really
08:57I felt I was afraid.
08:59I was acting.
09:01I was like, God, I'm going to mess this up.
09:02How do I continue this career that's so random, and I don't know what the heck I'm doing.
09:05They were like, play Jesus.
09:06I was like, all right, if I'm going to play Jesus, I'm not going to question it because
09:09it's so ridiculous in a way.
09:12And so that gave me a certain freedom that allowed me to kind of, you know, have a good
09:16time with it.
09:17Play Jesus.
09:18You can play anybody, right?
09:19And of course, Clueless, the iconic film, Clueless.
09:27Do you think that was your most famous role?
09:31For sure.
09:32I mean, it's a very famous movie.
09:33To have a movie like that, that sort of continues to be relevant for a generation after, it's
09:38what, 30 years or something?
09:39It's like, at the time I was 19, 20, whenever it came out.
09:43It was for a slightly younger audience, and I was out in Hollywood trying to do like serious
09:46movies.
09:47So I was a little, I wasn't the audience for it when it was made.
09:50So it took me a while to fully appreciate it, but now it's like, it's pretty special
09:53to be in something that has, you know, just been a part of, you know, when I was growing
09:57up, it was like the John Hughes movies, and still to this day, if I run into any of those
10:01actors, I'm like, so they're like deities for me.
10:04So the fact that both my kids have gone through the years where they've dressed up as, you
10:09know, the Clueless characters during Halloween, thanks.
10:13Also the voice of Frozen 2, that was interesting, I never realized that.
10:17Magic makes people feel too powerful, too entitled.
10:20It makes them think they can defy the will of a king.
10:25Yeah, no, I mean, I came in like twice, and then I went to the premiere, and they were
10:29like, and Jim!
10:30I was like, thank you!
10:32I did this!
10:33But no, I didn't really do that, I just showed up and was very happy to be there.
10:36But those movies take so much work, they start years, I mean, I've been in early concepts
10:41of certain ones where they make a version of the movie just with images, it takes years
10:47to develop it.
10:48So to some degree, acting is always that, like you come in after a lot of the hard work
10:52is done, and then you take credit for everything.
10:54Voice over is even more so.
10:56You're really modest, huh?
10:58In Frozen, yeah.
10:59Did your kids like that too?
11:00They must have liked that.
11:01Yeah, I remember, they went to the premiere, and it was a very big deal.
11:05And so it was cool.
11:06It was really a lovely surprise.
11:08Did you always know you wanted to be an actor?
11:10When I was young, I didn't want to be an actor.
11:12I was an actor just because my mom, single mom, when she was pursuing acting, so me and
11:17my sister started doing plays, and those were really good experiences, you know, I did Tennessee
11:22Williams, my first play was Tennessee Williams' last play when he was still alive, and just
11:26being at these theaters with these adults who were playful, but mature and nice, but
11:30it wasn't about the acting, or just like I wasn't that enamored with it or anything.
11:35My mom was.
11:36She loved the whole thing, so it kind of like just made sense.
11:39But by the time high school rolled around, I wasn't that into school, I was playing in
11:43my rock band, I just didn't, I couldn't really foresee like a job or what, you know, so the
11:49fact that I got this acting job, so immediately I jumped on it.
11:53At that point, I was like, acting is my thing, I'm going to do it, I love it, and that's
11:57when I realized I had no idea what it was, and went through a few years of trying to
12:02figure out.
12:03A lot of people out in Hollywood will tell you what it is, and you're like, oh, that's
12:07what it is!
12:08And you go up on set, you try to do it, you're like, I don't know if I did it, they're like,
12:12and then eventually, they give you Jesus, and you're like, how would you do it, Jesus?
12:17And Jesus said, do it the way you want to.
12:20You've produced a number of films too, you want to tell us a little bit about that?
12:23I did for a little while, I'm not great at it though, it's really, I mean, it's like
12:27going out and selling and trying to find people to give you money, and so I was like, I did
12:31it for a while, there was a while where I was like trying to do a thing, but I was like
12:34a weird, desperate, I would go out and try to meet rich people, and be like, hey, you
12:38like movies?
12:39It was just not a good look for me, and then I'd follow it through, and I mean, I have
12:43something that seems to be coming together, that I kind of have not done too much of that,
12:48but a little bit to help out, and I don't know, it's own skill set, it's just, I like
12:54to make things better, I love developing things, I love working on things, I'm working on scripts
12:58and stuff like that, but yeah, to some degree, feeling like you have agency to try to make
13:01something better, you know, is kind of a producorial aspect of things, and trying to encourage
13:07people to bring the best out of them, I try to do that in my own way as an actor.
13:12Musician is not, I don't think it has any specific, some people do it some way, other
13:16people do it, so it's not really, it's hard to say, but I know that I don't like asking
13:19people for money, that's not, or trying to convince people to like, that's just not my
13:24excuse.
13:25Not your thing.
13:26Well, you're a musician, tell us about that.
13:28Yeah, my dad is a jazz musician, but I didn't grow up with him, but, and then I was in a
13:43rock band in high school and played rock bands, but over the last six, seven years, I've studied
13:47more about theory and guitar, and actually tried to improve in a different way, you know,
13:52so it was always, I was a big, I was a songwriter, so I would just, it was just a way to express
13:55myself always, and so I've tried to add a little bit more skill or understanding of
14:00it to that, so it's become a really nice part of my life, I convinced my wife to learn the
14:06drums and we jam together, I've got a few, I'm about to put out a few songs with one
14:11guy that I'm working with, and I'm gonna put out some more, you know, it's a different
14:15kind of world now, music is very easy to put out, you know, so.
14:18What does it sound like?
14:19Well, I did do an album like ten years ago under a name called Escape Taylor, I was calling
14:24it Freak Folk, as the type of music it was, or somebody else made that up, but yeah, just
14:29whatever, rock, folk.
14:31Who were your influences growing up?
14:34Growing up, when I was in high school, it was, you know, we did mostly Rolling Stone
14:38songs, a lot of 70s, classic rock kind of stuff, and then different people throughout
14:42the year, when I made my album, I was really into the National and stuff like that, there's
14:45different bands that pop up and that I'm really excited about, but I'm writing with a lot
14:49of different artists that I, or musicians that I think are great, and I'm starting to
14:55like slowly be able to take myself seriously as a musician, I'm not there yet, I'm getting
15:02to a point where I can sit in a room with whoever and feel like, alright, we can create
15:08something.
15:09And you just self-taught?
15:10Well, yeah, I mean, most of my life, but I've been actually doing courses and stuff for
15:16the last six years, now I have a little bit more, but it's a great thing to pick up later
15:20in life, because it's an endless amount of knowledge, music is theory, there's no bottom
15:24to that.
15:25It's a version of creativity that works for me, but yeah, I'm really enjoying the music
15:30in my life right now.
15:31Oh, that's great!
15:32That's awesome.
15:33You have to come back here and play.
15:34What do you like to do in New York when you're not working?
15:37Well, my friend David Walton, who's an actor, is going through a midlife crisis and started
15:42to do stand-up.
15:43He's doing a podcast called Starting Stand-Up, so I was out with him last night and I actually
15:48did an open mic on my own just to support him.
15:51Very strange experience.
15:52Yeah, that was always one of those things where I was like, I hope I just do that one
15:55day.
15:56Oh, that's so cool.
15:57And I've done it, so now, maybe I'll do it again someday, but yeah, just being down and
16:01listening to music, we live about an hour north, but I wish I lived in the city, because
16:06I just really thrive off of all of the people here just trying to create things, and I just
16:12respond to that, trying to find meaning in their own way, you know?
16:16You have two kids.
16:17How do you balance everything, work and home life?
16:20Well, it's a great job.
16:21Yeah, I have a great job, because my stuff is in a studio, so we can do ten pages a day.
16:25So when I go to work, I'm there, on your feet, just trying to figure all this stuff out,
16:29but then my co-workers have to go out and do these action scenes, and they take a lot
16:33longer, so I have a lot of days off, is my point, so I've been able to be present, perhaps
16:36too present for some of the people in my family.
16:39My daughter's like, can you please go to work?
16:41It's really that.
16:42So that's the big adjustment right now, is having pre-teens and teens, is trying to figure
16:47out what I'm supposed to be, because I loved hanging out with them when they were younger.
16:50We'd play games, we'd have, you know, now they don't want to quite as much, so what
16:55am I just here to nag them?
16:56I don't want to be that, that's boring, and I'm not great at advice, you know?
17:00I get nervous.
17:01My wife does that.
17:02So I'm like, what are we doing?
17:03Are we just living together?
17:04I just drive you places?
17:06It's really that.
17:07I'm in an Uber service, but one of those bad Uber drivers who's like, oh, so what are
17:11you interested in, sir?
17:12I'm always trying to talk to my kids.
17:13They don't want to talk to me.
17:14They'll come around again.
17:15I know.
17:16I'm right there too.
17:17What's your biggest life lesson for a young actor?
17:20My advice is always like, I have no idea if this is even going to be a business in five
17:24years.
17:25So if you really like it, just do it as much as possible, because in L.A., there's so many
17:29people who are like actors, but they never acted.
17:32They were just waiting for the phone to ring, waiting to get a thing, and it was like, that's
17:35not the same thing, you know what I mean?
17:39And that's fine.
17:40Having some value on success within this industry is, that's not great.
17:45Having that be your career is trying to get validation from some nebulous kind of whatever.
17:53That's not a great choice.
17:55But if you like being in front of people and whatever it is with acting, like people watching
18:02you while you try to work things out and hope that they are sort of inspired by it in some
18:08way, if that for some reason makes sense to you, then you'll do it.
18:13And you'll be doing it and continue to do it.
18:15But I don't even know now.
18:16Now it's YouTube.
18:17I don't even know what with YouTube and the different social medias, I don't know what
18:22young actors are looking for anymore.
18:23I mean, I've had multiple people lately, just like kids, friends of kids, and be like, I'm
18:29into acting.
18:30I'm like, oh, great.
18:31So you should do it.
18:32But plays have you done?
18:33She's like, I'm thinking more of like YouTube, those little YouTube videos you do.
18:38And it's like, that's like their dream.
18:39They want to do it.
18:40I'm like, that's great.
18:41I don't know anything about that.
18:42I don't even know what that seems like.
18:43They need a writer on that.
18:44They need like a, it's just a different version of things.
18:48So, but I was never great advice for young actors because I got, I got lucky.
18:53I got a job when I was 16 that gave me an agent.
18:56And so I never had to like come out to LA or New York and be like, look at me, I'm good
19:01enough to do this.
19:02And it was that, I have respect for those people who were just like, we just have a
19:06dream and are following it, you know?
19:08You see that and say, that jerk.
19:11What's that?
19:12That jerk, somebody's going to say.
19:13No, it's not.
19:14I am.
19:15No, it's because you're talented.
19:16You're just talented.
19:17It's not.
19:18It was lucky.
19:19I mean, the role that I got was Larry Kasdan, you know, it was like, you know, very legendary
19:24and kind of the time had a lot of heat and he wrote a role based on his son who was my
19:28age and of a similar demeanor.
19:31I couldn't have written that to be the right thing.
19:33I'd say it wouldn't have happened another way perhaps, but there's so much in life that's
19:37luck.
19:38It's like all luck.
19:39It really is.
19:40And the fact that you get lucky to be born with the right chemistry.
19:44I mean, the whole thing is, there's so much luck in this life.
19:48So what's next for you with something you want to do you haven't done yet?
19:51You've done a lot.
19:52Including stand-up comedy.
19:53Yeah, there's this movie that we're about to shoot in our hiatus, but I don't feel like
19:57I can talk about it yet, but it's got another actor in it who's really very famous and hopefully
20:03that'll be great.
20:04I haven't been in one of those in a long time where it's like, I used to do those a ton
20:08back in the 90s, 2000s, those kind of little independents and it's just a different industry
20:13now.
20:14So I'm very excited about having that and about my music and also just excited about
20:18being on FBI because it's always changing.
20:20You know, we have a new team of writers this year.
20:23It's really fun to just be on a ride that, you know, we want this thing to go 20 years,
20:28but if that occurs, through many different changes and many different versions of it.
20:33Awesome.
20:34That's so cool.
20:35I love it.
20:36To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV, on iTunes and all
20:41streaming podcast platforms.