We all grew up in Bronxville, I went to Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart - in the old location on Convent Avenue - and I've lived here since 1962. I couldn't feel more like a New Yorker.
But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.
I live on the same block where I grew up. We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place.
Because Eddie [Murphy] came from where I come from, the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. People in the projects used to call me Fat Murphy.
I went down and spoke to some of the people who lived in the neighborhood in Miami. At the end of the day I think my connection with Tarell [Alvin McCraney] is what helped me the most.
There's no sense that you can knock on your neighbor's door or be part of a local community group, and that's part of your responsibility as a human being.
Like 'Sex and the City' - if you're a New Yorker, you knew half the places they were going to. I want 'The Chi' to feel that way as well.
I grew up in the Valley, and I didn't know any of our neighbors. I think when you grow up like that, there's always sort of a fantasy of a place where everybody knew each other, and you had that safe sort of feeling.
