Fisher Stevens: He’s More Than the Boyfriend of Michelle Pfeiffer

Fisher Stevens is a veteran of the New York stage, starring in the Broadway productions of “Brighton Beach Memoirs� and “Torch Song Trilogy,� and has appeared in 13 feature films, including “Short Circuit,� “Short Circuit II� and “Reversal of Fortune.�

But his acting career has been overshadowed by his personal life. He’s getting more press these days as the boyfriend of the fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer. The two met in 1989 when they starred together in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of the Bard’s comedy “Twelfth Night.�

“It’s funny,� Stevens reflects. “You do all of this acting stuff and then you get in the press for being somebody’s boyfriend. And for some reason the press like to call me ‘geeky’ and all of that stuff.�

Stevens laughs. “You know,� he says, “they’re just very jealous.�

The actor has been receiving rave reviews for his tour-de-force performance as Jimmy Bonaparate, an angry young man from New Jersey, in Jonathan Marc Sherman’s controversial drama, “Veins and Thumbtacks,� currently at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Bonaparte, who describes himself in the play as “a man with ice cream in his veins,� wants to be a stand-up comic, but works as a grocery clerk and lives with his ailing grandmother.

Stevens says it’s a difficult play for both the audience and the actors. “I didn’t think it would be,� he says. “It’s kind of like the graduate school of acting. The character is a very difficult person to deal with.�

Especially for Stevens, who sees certain qualities in Jimmy “that I have in myself. Some of those qualities are not the favorites of myself. I love him, but I have trouble liking him. I love the play when it clicks, but that doesn’t happen every night. At the end of the show I get in touch with a lot of stuff inside myself and it really really depresses me. It takes 10 or 15 minutes after the performance to relax and calm down.�