What was your initial reaction to “Tiny Beautiful Things”?
"I read it on a flight back to Los Angeles and cried so hard. I think two flight attendants said: “You know that ‘Big Fat Greek’ girl? She is unstable.” I was a wreck. They kept checking on me, “Are you O.K.?” I ate all my feelings, landed and then called Tommy and said, “We have to get this book.” So we reached out to (Wild author) Cheryl [Strayed] through social media, and she happened to be coming to L.A. the next day. Unbelievable."
So while you were adapting the book, Tommy [Kail] was directing “Hamilton”? That must have been surreal.
"He said, “Hey, come see my rehearsal for the show called ‘Hamilton,’” and I was like: “Well, that sounds boring. Sure.” So I went, and Renée [Elise Goldsberry, who played Angelica Schuyler] and Lin [-Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator, who played Alexander Hamilton] were rehearsing the going-backward scene when Renée reveals that she has been in love with Hamilton from the moment she met him. I watched Tommy put that scene together. I kept telling myself: “You have now realized that your friend is a genius. You must continue to treat him the same.”"
You’ve commented in the past that you lost 40 pounds, and that’s all anyone wants to talk about.
"What I’ve decided is that I just never answer a question about weight — and you can write that — because if I do it will become the whole article, and my adage is that we are more than our bodies. Because I’m given a validity when I am a sample size. I’ve had designers say to my face, “Oh, I want to dress you now that you’re skinny.” And that’s really rude. [Pause] Well, now I just talked about weight."
Did you feel stereotyped after the huge success of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”?
"I love the fact that I’m stereotyped because this is my ethnicity. If I’m identified by my nose the rest of my life, I’m O.K. with that. I grew up looking for myself onscreen and never could find myself. And I believe that I am supposed to be Toula to show people that it’s O.K. to be different."
Read the full interview at the New York Times.
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