Actors need bricks to play with, and in fact we rejected all the improvised fragments we had made without a plan. Improvisation without a plan is like tennis without tennis balls.
I have four sisters at home, and both my mom and dad worked, and both of them took care of us. It wasn't like my mom was fully domestic, or my dad was fully domestic: they were just equals in their relationship. So I grew up with the perspective that women should be pursuing their dreams and not have to depend on a guy.
My mom had a job, and she also took care of us, and she also took care of Dad - I always saw her pulling triple duty, doing more than I ever felt like she needed to. I made a promise to myself that it would be more of a team effort in my family someday. And because of that, I became more independent.
My dad and my mom had to sacrifice so much, and had to teach us and show us the way of going about things, how to be humble, all those things. They helped us stay on track for what we wanted to do.
Fishing tournaments seem a little like playing tennis with living balls.
Once I caught my dad in front of the TV watching a tennis match, and I realized they were tricking us. Poor guy, he had to sneak in a tennis final - probably the French Open.
Baseball began early for me. When I was 5, my father took two Little League bats and put them on a lathe. He whittled them down and sanded the bats so they were the proper size for my brother and me. He began by throwing tennis balls to us. Eventually, we practiced hitting and fielding at a field near our house.
We grew up as this family of deniers. And people who knew us for years were stunned when "The Great Santini" came out because we had this appearance of being this happy, large, smiling family. We were taught to smile, put the best face forward. And so when the book ended up - Dad swatting us around the room, no one believed me.
My dad was always at work running a business, so our mom really took care of us. She'd bring us all to our practices, and we all basically played four sports: baseball, hockey, football, and basketball.
The concept of 'family' has changed so much. It's not just 'mom and dad' anymore. It's 'mom and mom' and 'dad and dad,' and it's kind of beautiful.
I remember that my mom, my dad and I would play different roles in mock debates, where one of us would be the moderator, one of us would be my dad - frequently not my dad - and then one of us would play his opponent.
A lot of our family was undocumented. My mom and dad were both super conservative. My dad had a green card; my mom was an Eisenhower Republican who did not approve of all the 'illegal people.'
I was spoiled growing up. My dad would really spoil us. He would bring us to high-end stores and ask us to please try on those clothes. He'd make us try on all the pretty clothes, modeling like that... He liked dressing us up, my dad and my mom they loved dressing up.
When I was a baby, I was on a tennis court every day with my mom and with my brothers, so I would pick up the balls for them when they'd play, and then sometimes I'd play with them, but not very often.
I'm sure there were times when I wish I had thought, 'Gosh, that might really embarrass mom and dad,' but our parents didn't raise us to think about them. They're very selfless and they wanted us to have as normal of a college life as possible. So really, we didn't think of any repercussions.
My family was pretty solidly middle-class. We had a furniture store out near Connie Mack Stadium, and when Dad died, my mom took it over.