TheOppenheimeractor wasnt invited to the Oscars, but hes still got a lot on his plate.
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It was the size of a small minivan, and few had ever seen it awake.
(TheNew YorkTimescalls it repellently watchable.)
You spend a lot of awards seasons watching from your couch, thinking,Those sons of bitches.
When am I going to get my chance?, Krumholtz says.
And then it happens, and its almost too much.
I dont know if I prefer the couch.
He is also starving.
I barely ate last night, he says.
You run around like a nutcase.
Sinatra drank here, as did Bogey, Elvis, and John Wayne.
They say that when you ask for what you want, the universe provides.
Sometimes it provides too much.
This proves a mistake.
The rice arrives on a platter the size of a vinyl record, piled high in portions that recallScarface.
The pork can trace its origins to some prehistoric behemoth.
Its bigger than either of our heads, lacquered to a deep mahogany.
In loyal attendance are a half-dozen bao buns and a heaping bowl of salad.
Oh God almighty, what did I do?
Krumholtz has often had a lot on his plate.
(He was also Bernard the Elf, a seasoned professional, in theSanta Clausemovies.)
Then suddenly, in the 2000s, nerds werent just cool; they were hot.
The show was canceled in 2010.
A year later, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
When his thyroid was removed, I just ballooned, he says.
Now in his 40s, Krumholtz has become a character actor.
InOppenheimer, Krumholtzs Rabi functions as the audience surrogate.
Hes the heros trusted confidant, providing an earthiness that cuts through the theory.
And he was not invited to the Oscars.
The life of a character actor requires a lot of humility and a healthy knack for self-deprecation.
When Cillian Murphy shows up at parties, they walkie-talkie to each other, The eagle has landed.
When I show up, they say, The roach is here, he says.
I feel like people see me coming and go, That cannot be an actor.
Since he deliberately cultivates a sense of ordinariness, he says, Im not offended by it at all.
Still, after 30 years in the business, he knew he might never get another Oscar season.
I was panicking a little bit, he says.
You want to soak it up.
Over the urinal, he met a 27-year-old doctor.
I said, Im inOppenheimer, we just won everything.
He said, In that case you get free Botox from my office.
And I thought,I should probably go.
He was home by 11:15, with one new Instagram follower.
Though Krumholtz spent his formative years in Los Angeles, he does not live there anymore.
Being in L.A. has become excruciating, he says.
There are memories around every corner, ghosts of my past.
He left town in the early 10s, after a period he considers his personal and professional nadir.
Krumholtz had not come from wealth; his father was a mailman.
TheNumb3rsgig brought more money than he had ever dreamed of.
He spent it like a madman.
I was that guy, he says.
Id go to super-fancy French restaurants and order the $6,000 bottle of wine.
I paid for my own wedding at the Plaza Hotel, a quarter of a million dollars.
He bought a house in the Hollywood Hills, down the street from Kanye Wests.
It had four stories and an elevator, and it was a disaster.
The roof started leaking as soon as we moved in.
The elevator broke and cost $11,000 to replace.
My friends were making fun of me.
I got foreclosed on, short sale.
I lost half a million dollars.
You start looking at your house going,I am my house.
It wasnt just the house.
For a brief timeNumb3rsput him on the map, and he felt he hadnt been able to capitalize.
But labor riots in France causedParisto lose financing, and that version of the project fell apart.
(Hed later appear in AllensWonder Wheel, which he now says he regrets.)
Months later, Quentin Tarantino called to ask if Krumholtz was available forInglourious Basterds.
HisNumb3rscommitments made it impossible.
You just know at that moment those opportunities are never going to come again.
The next year one of his close friends, Seth Rogen, became terrifyingly famous.
The moment stuck with him.
Seth is one of the toughest people I know.
But I saw a fear in his eyes that Id never seen before.
And I thought,The first rush of fame is fear.
Soon after, another friend, Heath Ledger, died, as did KrumholtzsSidewalks of New Yorkco-star Brittany Murphy.
It was madness, he says.
It was a really hard time.
All of this coincided with the calls slowing down.
But at a certain point, I became embarrassed by myself.
He decided to leave.
When you work in L.A., the sun shines brighter.
Adversely, when youre out of work and searching, the town gets dim.
Because everywhere you go, youre reminded of what youre not working on.
Krumholtz is now a proud resident of New Jersey, where the billboards are for plumbers and injury lawyers.
And I never hit traffic, not once, in 195 performances.
Krumholtz used to turn down interview requests, thinking it would create a mystique.
Eventually he realized he was suffering from an affliction that hurts many character actors.
While people knew him from individual roles, they never connected the dots to his entire body of work.
Thirty-two years, 51 movies in, I think its time I stand and be counted a bit.
His recent forays on the website formerly known as Twitter likely helped on this front.
They felt the way Twitter used to feel funny, filthy, and dishy.
Some of them got dark.
Krumholtz wrote that thread at home, in bed.
I had been tweeting funny stories, and I thought,Lets give people a dose of reality.
This thread went as viral as the others, and spurred a fresh round of media interest.
Yet once again, Krumholtz took stock of himself, and didnt like what he saw.
I realized I couldnt wait for people to respond.
He realized he was indulging in that old knee-jerk ego response: Pay attention to me, hey.
He deleted his public account, though he retains a secret handle that he uses to lurk.
He still believes what he wrote, though.
I dont know what acting is.
I dont think its an art form.
Its not easy, but it looks easy, he says.
The hardest part is getting out of your own way, of thinking,How will this be received?
For Krumholtz, this wisdom was first paid for in the death of his father.
I needed to have my heart broken, he says.
Krumholtz was his fathers caretaker at the very end.
Witnessing the strength he went out with, it just lit a fire under my ass.
But it took hisDeuceco-star Maggie Gyllenhaal to teach him how to act free of expectations.
I was angry, and I thought,Ill use this.But Maggies style is, Lets just feel something.
Lets not make any rules.
Suddenly, for the first time in my career, I didnt see the camera anymore.
Krumholtz hasnt fully given up caring about how his performances will be received.
Hes happier than hes ever been.
If thats not quite Krumholtz, then at least hes happy in his unhappiness.
For a long time, he was ashamed about never feeling satisfied.
Why couldnt he just look back on the work hed done in the past and be content?
Only recently have I gone,No, youll never be able to do that.
I need to think that I have the potential to be something special.
I want to be doing this when Im 90.
Legends walk among us, Krumholtz whispers.
Ive always wanted peace for everyone, Lennox says.
Thirty minutes later, theyre leaving.
Lennoxs husband pauses at our table.
He couldnt help but overhear, he tells Krumholtz.
If you won an award last night, congratulations.
