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Tiffany Hanssen

'Everything is a doorway and everything is a prison': Faith in Hollywood

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Stephen Tobolowsky
Actor Stephen Tobolowsky
Submitted press photo

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky was 10 years old when he had his first crisis of faith.

Living in Texas at the time, news of a horrific plane crash came on the radio. The fate of a surviving boy Tobolowsky's age played out in the media and it consumed him.

The boy's eventual death touched him and made him doubt God. He writes in his new memoir, "My Adventures with God," that it didn't make sense.

Toblowsky said his thinking was that the truth had to be one of these options:

"1. God did not exist.

2. God did exist, but didn't do a very good job.

3. God existed. He may or may not be doing a good job, but his job was different from what I thought it was."

This early crisis of faith propelled Tobolowsky to a life of searching and questioning, and to an eventual rediscovery of his Jewish tradition in the most unlikeliest of places: Hollywood.

While his name may not be recognizable, Tobolowsky's face is. He's appeared in more than 200 television shows, including "Glee," and over 100 films, including "Mississippi Burning" and "Groundhog Day."

MPR News guest host Tiffany Hanssen spoke with Tobolowsky about his story and the unique concept for the book, which also draws upon his faith. The memoir follows the arc of the five books of the Torah (or the Old Testament): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

"About everyone I've ever met, their lives fit the template of the Old Testament," Tobolowsky said, "We all have a Genesis. These are usually stories we say on a first date with a first glass of chardonnay. About who we are. Who our family was. What our aspirations and intentions are.

"And then we all go into slavery, like in the book of Exodus. Then we have this Leviticus moment and we say, 'This is what I am.'"

The stories of Tobolowsky's life in Hollywood fit nicely into the remaining books of the Torah, as do his reflections on the duality of belief and doubt and the necessity of pain to finding grace.

When asked about grace and why, it seems, that we must suffer to find grace, Tobolowsky answered, "If I try to do as many of the good things. If I try to fill my life with these things more. Good things will come to me.

"And when catastrophe comes to me, I will have more tools to find grace in the catastrophe. Everything is a doorway. Everything is a prison. And grace is part of that."

Here's some great life advice from author and actor Stephen Tobolowsky. His new book is My Adventures with God. pic.twitter.com/RIX90TiG0g

— On MPR News (@onmprnews) May 4, 2017