Is Liev Schreiber Today's Best Actor?

Some Critics Say His Performance In "Talk Radio" Places Him Atop The Heap

(CBS) 
"You sit around all day, you know?" he said. "It's, you know, eatin' carrot sticks and crackers and cheese. And then you go and you act for five minutes and you go sit around some more. Then somebody comes up and powders your nose and you go and you act for two minutes. Then you go and you sit around some more. A producer comes over. Now you talk, and he shoots for a little while. And then you go back and you act some more. I mean, when is it gonna end?"

Even sipping tea with him at New York City's Russian Samovar, you get a sense that Schreiber is an actor who's never quite content to take it easy. It's evident in rehearsals for "Talk Radio." He is meticulous, demanding and generous with others.

Schreiber is a fascinating product of erudition and hard-knocks. He is a Shakespearean-trained actor who grew up as a squatter on New York's Lower East Side.

"My mom is a kind of wonderful, free spirit of a woman," he said. "You know the things that are really important to other people, weren't so important to her…like clothes."

"I had long blond hair down to my butt," he added. "My mom gave me a seal skin coat and cowboy boots that came up to my knees. I looked ridiculous. And I think I felt a little ostracized in the early days. She was a real bohemian character, and I'm very grateful for that. The things that were important to her were music and literature and art."

In high school, he used the arts to fit in. One of his first big roles was as Nick Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It was, he said, "the jackass part."

"I was 15 or 16 and I made the donkey noise, and I remember the audience laughing and I was like, 'Ooh, that was cool!' he said.

Schreiber went on to Yale, paid for by his father, but his biggest role model was his grandfather, who Schreiber said used his life savings to win a custody battle.

"A real great guy — in the Jewish vernacular, it's mensch," he said. "That was my grandfather."

When he died in 1993, Schreiber had just gotten out of grad school.

"It made me ask myself some tough questions," he said. "It made me depressed for a while and it made me angry for a while. It made me confused. But it was all the right things to feel. It was like, 'That's how life works. People die so that you can learn and you can move on.'"

Schreiber's breakout performance in the film "A Walk on the Moon" was influenced by his grandfather, and his directorial debut – a screen adaptation of Jonathon Safran Foer’s bestseller "Everything is Illuminated," is essentially a young man’s journey to learn more about his grandfather. He finished the film while he was doing "Glengarry Glen Ross," editing at night after he got off stage.

"Ya know, the safety zone is — is the safety zone. And after a while it's not that interesting. And so, I like things that are a little intense. I like things that are scary. Ya know, at the time I'll complain a lot. But like this, ya know, we're really comfortable having tea now at the Russian Samovar. I've got a show on Broadway. And, yeah, it's very easy to say that I grew doing "Everything is Illuminated," but if you ask me back then, I said I'll never do it again."

But in reality, Schreiber said he is dying to do it again.

As Schreiber's career is reaching new heights, so is his personal life. He is dating the well-known actress Naomi Watts and starred with her in last year's "The Painted Veil." He said they have made each other better actors.

"I think we're competitive," he said. "Definitely."

The two are expecting a child together.

"I'm very excited," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it. I'm scared. But I think it's just a — I think it's it, you know? It's the be-all, end-all."

But that's all in the future. Before the baby comes is this year's Tony Awards. Next Sunday night, Schreiber may once again find that his skill at being "someone else" is something that makes him one of Broadway's best.

"That's what I love about the theater," he said. "You put your best foot forward every time, always. It's live…it really is lightning in a bottle. It will never happen again ever. In the history or future of the universe, this event will never occur again, and you gotta get it."