Joe Pantoliano, also known as Joey Pants, also known as Cypher in The Matrix, and Guido the Killer Pimp in Risky Business, and Ralphy Cifaretto on The Sopranos, begins our conversation by shouting at me.

"Dawn! Go away, I'm no good for you!" rings out the familiar voice on the telephone. It's a joke I've heard before, but hearing it from Joey Pants is a singular thrill.

"Thank god it wasn't a Tony Orlando joke," I say, attempting some semblance of cool. At 56, Pantoliano is, after all, one of the iconic character actors of his generation, having appeared in over 120 films and TV shows. He was in Memento, for heaven's sake. And Bound! Talking to Pantoliano makes me feel a little like a fangirl.

Right now, though, he sounds like I've annoyed him.

"Tony Orlando? Who's that?" he asks. I gently remind him of Tony Orlando and Dawn, but it doesn't seem to ring a bell. I mention "Tie a Yellow Ribbon," though, and I can almost hear the light bulb pop on over his head.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," he says, still miffed. "'Dawn, go away I'm no good for you' is a different song reference." I allow that his was far more appropriate, given that he and Frankie Valli both hail from New Jersey, and he warms considerably.

"Thank you for appreciating that," he says. There's a smile in his voice, and I feel like I've dodged a bullet. I've seen Joey Pants in enough movies to know that I don't want to get on his bad side.

So I mention that I'm currently reading his book, Who's Sorry Now? and he asks if I'm enjoying it. I tell him that I am, very much so. I don't have to lie, either. Pantoliano's memoir of his childhood in Hoboken, New Jersey is a compelling read, full of fascinating characters, and an insightful window into where his portrayals of wise guys like Ralphy originate. It's also very, very funny. If Pantoliano ever decides to give up acting, he could probably make it as a writer.

"You know, I didn't realize until much later that the book was really about my mom, and her mental illness," he says. In his book, Pantoliano's mother comes across as a mercurial, difficult woman, given to bouts of screaming for pills and harming herself, but he writes about her with affection and humor. "It was only years later that I figured out that she was probably undiagnosed bipolar."

That understanding came as part of a larger revelation about himself and the stigma of mental illness as a whole. While playing the husband of a schizophrenic woman (played by Marcia Gay Harden) in the 2006 movie Canvas, Pantoliano noticed similarities between his mother's behavior and that of the wife in the film. He'd also recently weathered the suicide of a good friend, and had been having suicidal thoughts himself. So he went to see a doctor, who told Pantoliano that he was depressed. A psychiatrist prescribed antidepressants, and the drugs made a difference.

I tell Pantoliano that I take Lexapro for depression and anxiety. "Hey -- I take that!" he says, as if discovering we liked the same kind of pizza. There's a bonding that happens when people open up about mental illness, he tells me, which is part of why he started a non-profit foundation called "No Kidding, Me Too!"

"Mental illness touches four out of five Americans," he says, warming to the subject. "It affects every family. But depression is the only disease that you can get yelled at for." Soon after his diagnosis, Pantoliano was asked to fill out an insurance form for a film he was working on. The studio's lawyers told him that he couldn't be insured because he was on antidepressants.

"I'd been taking Lipitor for years for my blood pressure, but they never said I was uninsurable because I might have a heart attack," he says. "Why is it okay to have a problem with your liver or your gallbladder, but not with your brain?"

"Your website says that the goal of 'No Kidding, Me Too!' is to 'make brain dis-ease cool and sexy,'' I say. "How do you make mental illness sexy?"

"We make that sexy by bringing in sexy young stars to get kids interested in the issue of mental illness, through information and education," he says. "I mean, Bob Dole made Viagra sexy, we can make mental illness sexy."

I tell him that I'm not convinced that "Bob Dole made Viagra sexy" is especially good motto.

"Well, you're the writer," he says. "Give me something." I think for a moment, but I can't come up with anything.

"Sorry," I say. "I'm stuck on 'Mental Illness -- As Sexy as Bob Dole's Erection!'"

Pantoliano laughs. "Yeah, I see your point."

As part of his commitment to the subject, the actor produced a documentary on mental illness, Hope's Angels, and took an edited teaser trailer to both the Republican and Democratic conventions to drum up support. I ask him about the experience of lobbying -- does it involve steak dinners and hookers? Does he have to put on a tuxedo and schmooze at charity events?

"I'm not a lobbyist, I'm an activist," he tells me, deftly side-stepping the juicier details. "Lobbyists get paid to go to Washington and talk to people about issues they care about. I'm just trying to raise awareness of mental illness, that there isn't a single family that isn't touched by the disease in some way."

"I went to the conventions, got to meet with politicians, congressmen, senators. Their wives would be waiting to meet me, to talk about their children and the way mental illness affects their lives," he said. "Mental illness is a bipartisan issue -- it doesn't matter what side you're on."

At this point, I realize that I haven't asked him a single movie-related question, and I have a legal pad with about a hundred of them. I decide to hit Risky Business first, since the 25th-anniversary DVD release is the actual reason for the interview. How vivid are his memories of the picture, I wonder, after 25 years?

"My memories are really vivid!" he says. "It's strange, it's like it was yesterday, like I just did the job last week."

"When you read the script, was it just a case of taking it because it was a job, or did you realize that the movies was, well, actually good?" I ask.

"No, no, it was a job. I was too stupid to read the script and see anything metaphysical," Pantoliano says. "I was 29 years old, and it was an important part for me. Can you imagine where I would be now if I hadn't gotten that movie?" I tell him that I think he'd probably still have a good career, since he's a talented actor.

"Well, maybe," he allows. "There were people lobbying for me to not get that part, but [director Paul] Brickman and [producer Steve] Tisch fought for me, and it changed my life. I might not have a career if it wasn't for Guido."

"You're one of those actors, like Christopher Walken, who may not be a marquee star, but when audiences see your name in the credits they get excited," I tell him. "That has to feel good."

"Yeah -- isn't that great?" he laughs. "Character actors, we may not make the big bucks, but we get the girls."

At this point, the publicist comes on the line to tell me that there's time for one more question. One question?! But I haven't asked him about doing Bound for the Wachowskis, and them hiring him for the Matrix, or if he could tell that Tom Cruise was crazy back when he was only 19, or about his work on The Sopranos, or what it was like doing voice work for the Grand Theft Auto video game! My inner fangirl weeps. So I go to my end-of-the-interview question, and toss it out.

"You've been in over 100 movies," I say. "At this point in your career, what's the dream job? If you could play any character at all, what would it be?"

"I just want to keep working in my chosen profession, getting good parts and working.," he says. "So any directors who are out there reading this -- remember Joey Pants, he's available and would love to be in your movies. Keep him in mind."

And with that, he was gone. Maybe some day I'll get a chance to ask all those well-researched questions scribbled on my pad. But for now, I'll treasure the memory of Guido the Killer Pimp making fun of my name by shouting a Frankie Valli song at me over the phone. That doesn't happen every day.

Dawn Taylor wants Joey Pants to record a message for her voicemail.

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