The A-List: The Little Dog Laughed Stars Talk Hollywood, Broadway and Agents | Playbill

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Special Features The A-List: The Little Dog Laughed Stars Talk Hollywood, Broadway and Agents Playbill.com takes an exclusive look at the quartet of stars — from the stage and the screen — who live in the celebrity-based world of the new Douglas Carter Beane play The Little Dog Laughed, which officially opens on Broadway Nov. 13.
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From top: Johnny Galecki, Ari Graynor, Tom Everett Scott and Julie White.

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Johnny Galecki
Character: Alex - New York City hustler
Number of IMDB.com credits: 38 (acting), 1 (producing)
Main IMDb credit: "Vanilla Sky"
IMDb credit most proud of: "Honestly, I haven't seen a lot of what I've done. My job is done as soon as I'm done. The process interests me, not the product. But, 'Suicide Kings' with [Christopher] Walken was a fantastic time and I learned a lot [and] working with Don Roos on his movies ['Bounce,' 'The Opposite of Sex,' 'Happy Endings'] — [they were] always a blast."

Managing stage vs. screen work: "I do theatre as often as possible; basically when I can afford to do theatre, whenever they'll have me. Generally, I've gone home to Chicago and worked at Steppenwolf. The Second Stage production of this show was my first play in New York and certainly my first play on Broadway. As a Chicago boy who can't dance or sing, I didn't have many Broadway ambitions. [Laughs.]"

Managing professional vs. personal life: "You mean on scales of 1 to 10, how well did I do? [Laughs.] I absolutely love what I do, and it can become troublesome because I enjoy immersing myself entirely in my work when I have an opportunity. It's at times probably annoying at best to those around me, but they understand it's what I love doing and [that] I'm happiest when I'm doing it. I'm always at the theatre — I'm pathetically early every day." On his agent: "Those are always interesting relationships because I think unlike most business relationships the dynamic is not very traditional. I don't work for my agency, yet I kind of do. They don't work for me, yet they kind of do. Especially when it's two men, it can be somewhat complicated because there's not that traditional hierarchy of understanding; nobody's anybody else's boss or employee. So, it just really breaks down to personal relationships or dynamic and getting along."

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Ari Graynor
Character: Ellen - girlfriend of Alex
Number of IMDB.com credits: 12
Main IMDb credit: "Mystic River"
IMDb credit most proud of: "Oh God. Well, one of the random things, somehow it turned up on IMDb that I'm a talented photographer. [Laughs.] I really appreciate and love photography and did some great work in high school, but it's been a long time since I've been in the dark room."

Managing stage vs. screen work: "I've been incredibly fortunate that this is my third consecutive play in New York at the same time [of year] with Brooklyn Boy, then Dog Sees God. I love doing theatre — then after an experience, I can't wait to get my feet wet in a film again and vice versa."

Managing professional vs. personal life: "I'm not quite at a level yet where I have the paparazzi stalking me. I'm part of a world that subscribes to being amongst friends. I'm not really a crazy scene-ster, so I haven't really had to deal with that yet."

On her agent: "I have a few, but I've been with my manager since I was 17. Jill Kaplan is my main person in New York. We're both on the same page about the career, and she's incredibly smart, outgoing and a real go-getter. The other day she called — and I said, 'This is why I love you as my manager' — I was taking a nap and she said, 'Hi, I'm calling for a really lame reason; Britney Spears just got your haircut, and she's divorcing K-Fed.' We talk about things like that, but she's a total firecracker about work."

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Tom Everett Scott
Character: Mitchell - Hollywood star
Number of IMDB.com credits: 28
Main IMDb credit: "That Thing You Do!"
IMDb credit most proud of:"I'm very proud of a lot of stuff that's on there. With this play and 'Saved' - the television show I'm working on [now], I've had a very good year."

Managing stage vs. screen work: "This [show] in particular takes me far from home, my wife and kids, we all live in L.A. They been there the whole time since I've got here six weeks ago, but they're coming tomorrow and are going to stay for two months, and we'll all be together. It's really great though to do movies, TV and stage. This, in particular, though, to do Broadway is thrilling."

Managing professional vs. personal life:"It's work. Any good marriage or family life requires you to set time aside and be selfless. I never realized how selfish I was until I had children. It's work, so I just try to manage it that way. You have to juggle stuff; everyone does.

On his agent: "It's definitely not like the relationship that Mitchell has with Diane. I don't have any hand-holders — I just have a very good professional relationship with my agent. I think that we've been working together for quite a while now and really get it and work well together. I'm very fond of my agent."

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Julie White
Character: Diane - Hollywood agent
Number of IMDB.com credits: 21
Main IMDb credit: "War of the Worlds"
IMDb credit most proud of: "Well, I guess one my favorite things I've done is 'Six Feet Under.' Alan Ball wrote it just for me — of all the hoops you jump through to get a good job, and then one of my favorite he just started faxing me over script pages and was like, 'Hey, Julie, you wanna play this part? I'm writing you this part, and it's going to go all through next season. You wanna do it?' And I'm like, 'Uh... Yeah!' [Laughs.] Oh my God, I can't believe I played a character that said 'Just because I f****d you does not mean we're on a first-name basis.' [Laughs.] And that sort of began this path where I've played some bitches here lately. Maybe that's fun — I've found my inner demon."

Managing stage vs. screen work: "Luck. It's always such a miracle whenever you get a job, especially then to get a job that's good and then to get a job that people like. It has been kind of funny — at the age where I figured, 'Well, that's it' [laughs] — I've ended up with a lot of [work and] kind of nice film roles too."

Managing professional vs. personal life: "It's what I've always done. I'm pretty good at leaving my character either in the trailer or at the stage door. I have a real normal life. I walk my dog, I do crafty craft things, I have a great husband. I have a pretty normal life, really, except that I'm an actor."

On her agent: "It's funny because you never have just one agent. You have your voice-over agent and your legit [theatre] agent, then I have agents in L.A. and I have a manager. But, Paradigm in New York, I've got to say is just filled with the classiest people — they're so the opposite of Diane. And the kind of agent who covers the Off-Broadway thing [for me] is this really young guy named Tim Sage, and he is so sweet and cute. When I was at the Drama League Awards, you have to stand up and say a little something. I just made it all about him. I was like, 'I just wanted you to know that there is still a young agent in New York who recognizes the intrinsic value of doing a 'PLAY!' So I gotta say I could not draw on my own agents [for this role] at all."

* IMDb.com is the Internet Movie Database, which lists film and TV credits of those in the entertainment industry.

 
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