Interview: Peter Facinelli
The Twilight & Nurse Jackie actor on raising three daughters.
by Tammy La Gorce
July 10, 2009
Peter Facinelli probably caught your eye this summer as the hot-but-socially awkward doctor, Fitch Cooper, opposite Edie Falco's nurse on the new Showtime series
Nurse Jackie. If not, you know him from his vampire movies: Facinelli is thirty-five and doesn't look a day older, yet he's beloved by millions for playing Carlisle Cullen, dad of teenager Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), in the films
Twilight and New Moon (out this fall). Facinelli is also a young dad in real life. He and his wife Jennie Garth plan their acting schedules around daughters Luca Bella, twelve; Lola Ray, six; and Fiona, two. Babble talked to Facinelli recently from
his home in L.A., where he handled a phone interview like a champ, even though he had painters and a DirecTV guy to contend with. The Facinelli-Garths are remodeling. —
Tammy La Gorce
Peter, thanks for taking the time to talk to Babble. You have a lot of fans! In checking out the guestbook on your website, I noticed a Swedish fan's comments. She said her favorite characters are Carlisle Cullen and "the guy who squeezes boobs
in Nurse Jackie."
Really? That's on my guestbook? I check there every now and then but I'm going to have to go back and look again. That's cool.
You are thirty-five — does that feel young to have three kids, including a twelve-year-old? You started early!
I feel old, actually. But you've got to keep a young spirit every day when you have three kids, because having kids makes you go through youth again, in a way. You experience it again through them — like my daughter (Luca Bella) is playing soccer, and to
be her coach I had to learn soccer. I read books on it, did clinics.
"When you think about a vampire movie closing the generation gap, that's pretty incredible."How is it being the sole guy in a heavily female household?
I grew up with three sisters — I was destined to be surrounded by women, I think. I'm used to it now and it's great. I'm really completely happy with a family of five, the Facinelli five. My wife wants a boy, but it doesn't really matter to me. Who knows? We're both young enough to have more.
As an Italian-American, do any of the stereotypes apply in your household? Loud arguing? Lots of emotion?
I think what I took from my youth, from our household, is an appreciation for really good food. And I've definitely instilled that in my family. Dinnertime is a really important time for our family. And we do have loud conversations — we're always talking
over each other. So now I started this new thing: I got this little wooden star, and I call it "the talking star." We all take turns holding the talking star so everybody's not talking at once. It's funny, if you talk out of order now my two-year-old gets
mad, like, "You don't have the talking star!"
You're from Queens and now live in L.A. Are L.A. parents different from New York parents?
I think the differences are more generational than it having anything to do with where you live. I mean, I have friends who, if they weren't home at a certain time, their dads were out looking for them with a belt. You don't get the belt in L.A. Or anywhere
else now, either, I don't think. Now we have time out — you go in the room, you sit and you think. Which I think is a little healthier. For the record, my dad never came at me with a belt. But that's what the neighborhood was like.
Your twelve-year-old is Twilight age, a tween. And you're reprising your role as Dr. Carlisle Cullen in 2009's sequel, New Moon.
Did you let her watch the first movie?
She's read the first two books and has seen the movie. She definitely was a fan, which is why I let her. My daughter is an avid reader. And I've had wonderful experiences bonding over reading — my sister and her daughter bonded over
Twilight. The book and the movie actually made my family closer. When you think about a vampire movie closing the generation gap, that's pretty incredible. I'm pretty strict with what the kids watch overall, though.
©2009 Babble Media
About the Author
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Tammy La Gorce is a freelance entertainment writer living in New Jersey with her son and daughter. Her work regularly appears in The New York Times, GRAMMY and other magazines. |
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