Last month, Arrested Development and Veep actor Tony Hale spoke at Q Ideas about how his fame and life in Hollywood intersect with his Christian faith. He went deep.
Hale was asked about his experience working in Hollywood and being a counter-cultural figure. His response was surprising: “When I first came to L.A., I wondered what God was going to do through me,” he said. “And during that season, I honestly pushed people away from God. The only person that needed to change was me. I had to realize I had a lot of arrogance. I talked to people instead of listened to them. I had a real us/them mentality that I’m not very proud of.”
The actor went on to explain he was convicted to start listening to people around him and pay more attention to their stories and perspectives: “I’m a huge work in progress, and when I’m honest about that and talk to people and hear their stories, I love hearing where everyone else is. My faith is everything to me. I love being where I am and learning about people.”
The interview closed with Hale talking about fame. When asked, “Is fame all its cracked up to be?” Hale spoke about a paradox he discovered after gaining notoriety for his roles:
[lborder]Having been a person in the public eye, the base of fame is everyone wants to be known. If you’re known by people you love, that’s all the known you need. The people that have massive fame, what comes with that is a lot of isolation. The person who’s hugely famous has to live in isolation because they don’t trust the people who come to them. It’s the opposite of what everyone thinks it is.
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