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Shaun Toub Gets Iron, Man!
September 10, 2008

Actor Shaun Toub is recognizable to many from his countless appearances on primetime TV shows throughout the Nineties. Popping up in featured roles on The Sopranos, Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me!, ER, Cybill, Sliders, Charmed and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (to name only a few!) has earned him the kind of “Hey, it’s that guy!” respect that’s only afforded to hard-working actors.

 

But that recognition factor has increased ten-fold over the past few years with his supporting roles in a pair of

big-time feature films: 2004’s Crash, where he portrayed Farhad, a Middle Eastern store owner in L.A., and this summer smash hit Iron Man (due out on DVD from Paramount on Sept. 30), where his character of the imprisoned Professor Yinsen helps Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) develop the first version of the armor that will earns him the film’s titular moniker.

 

“With Crash, The Kite Runner and Iron Man, my career went to a new level,” the affable Toub told me in an interview last week. “It’s really interesting and fun for me, because when I go out with friends, we all notice how people notice me a little bit more than they did several years ago. I’ve been in the business for 20 years now and I’ve learned that the attention comes very quickly and you have to be able to digest it.”

 

Of his work on Iron Man, Toub has only positive words to say about co-star Downey and director Jon Favreau.

 

“We clicked when we worked together; by our third day of shooting, Jon [Favreau] and the editor were saying that we gelled. We felt the same off-screen,” Toub said. “Favreau sort of lets you fly. All directors have their own style—you have to leave your ideas open for their input. Of course, the director has the vision of what the movie is supposed to look like, so the more they tell me, the more I can help them attain that vision.”

Posted by Laurence Lerman on September 10, 2008 | Comments (0)