Playing POTUS on TV has its perks.
Tony Goldwyn exclusively told Page Six that people thought he was “smarter and more powerful” all because of his role as governor-turned-president Fitz Grant on “Scandal.”
“People gave me more credit than I was due for far more gravitas than I actually possess,” the actor, 61, said with a laugh on the red carpet at the “Hot Zone: Anthrax” premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday.
“It took me a while to get used to people sort of straightening up when I came into a room or calling me ‘Mr. President,'” he continued. “And then I just went with it. Maybe I really am smarter!”
Goldwyn’s latest gig is playing Bruce Edwards Ivins in National Geographic’s “The Hot Zone: Anthrax.”
Ivins was a microbiologist and vaccinologist and the suspected perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax attacks that caused the deaths of five people and injured 17 others. He died in an apparent suicide in 2008 after learning that the FBI was likely going to file criminal charges against him for his alleged connection to the attacks.
Goldwyn told us the worst part about the role was the pornstache he had to grow to look like Ivins.
“It was just really itchy and uncomfortable,” he said. “There was nothing sexy about it.”
The Peabody Award winner is no stranger to playing bad guys. In 1990, he broke through with his role as the villainous Carl Bruner in “Ghost.” He remembers women having opposing reactions when meeting him at the time.
“Either they wanted to sleep with me or spit on me on the street,” he explained before noting that both options were amusing.
Goldwyn is the third generation of his family to be involved in show business. His father, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., was a noted producer, while his grandfather Samuel Goldwyn was one of the founding fathers of Hollywood.
“He was a tough guy. I knew him well,” the “Divergent” star said. “I was very close to him. He wasn’t tough with me — he was sweet and a grandpa to me — but he was a character.
“But I mean, look at those guys. He was a man who walked from eastern Europe on foot at 15 years old, alone, with one pair of clothes and made it to America. So you gotta be pretty tough.”