Live BOLDLY

The Entourage alum and star of The Performance shares his personal journey

- Susan Hornik

Jeremy Piven grew up in the theater and then knocked around Hollywood as a supporting player until he landed the star-making role of super agent Ari Gold on Entourage in 2004. "The question that I would get the most while I was playing Ari was - and it used to upset me - was how much of me was Ari," Jeremy, 59, tells Closer. "You got to grow up and realize that if you do your work and you play a character authentically, they might think that it is actually you. [But] I didn't make him my own. He was a very specific, fleshed out character on the page."

Since the show completed its run in 2011, Jeremy's continued to keep busy - both on and off screen. He recently starred in The Performance, a film directed by his sister, Shira Piven, about a Jewish dancer recruited to perform at a one-night only engagement in 1930s Berlin that forces him to question his values. In February, Jeremy is scheduled to return to touring the country with his stand-up comedy.

You were born into a theatrical family. Did you feel any pressure to join the business?

Oh, no, there was no pressure whatsoever. I don't remember exactly how it happened but I crawled up on stage at eight years old. My parents needed a kid and so I got up there, and was the kid in The Seagull. John Cusack and I would alternate roles from one night to the next. I just had a great time.

Did your parents give you any coaching before you got up on stage?

They always instilled this ideology that we're enough in this life. Whatever we are is enough to get up on stage and contribute. Never think that we're not enough. That was very empowering from a very early age. And I loved doing it. They never forced me, or even told me to do this for a living.