Turtle's a Rich Bitch: Entourage, Sun, 9pm EST HBO

Entourage's Jerry Ferrara (daTurtle!) talks about the LA lifestyle, free sneakers and the joys of room service.

HBO
You must be enjoying a few of the fringe benefits of being a working actor in LA.

FERRARA
Well you know what it is, it's just weird because when you're broke, you're with the same pair of sneakers for two years. But once you get a little bit of money and you start doing well, everyone sends you s*** for free. I still can't really grasp this concept. I mean, I haven't paid for a pair of sneakers in a year and a half. I can't understand it. And I have like two hundred pairs now, so I give some to my friends. It's just unbelievable. Four years ago I was wearing the same Nikes, cleaning them up with Clorox bleach cleaner.

HBO
Do you find it hard to be an actor if you're shy?

FERRARA
No, because it's a whole different kind of shyness. With acting, I'm not shy because it's almost like an excuse to do these things. If I have to go hit on some girl and make a complete fool out of myself, which is something I'd never do in real life - just walk up to some girl and ask her to have sex - I'd never, ever do that in real life. Ever. But you know as an actor, doing it on a TV show, it's just entertainment. It's like a get out of jail free card. [LAUGHTER] So it's kind of liberating. I live a little vicariously through the character. But I'm definitely fifty-fifty split down the middle about how much I'm like him.

HBO
Have people been coming out of the woodwork since you've been on Entourage?


FERRARA
Well, not really. There are some situations where people that you vaguely knew back in high school, or a few years ago, will invite you over to dinner, and I don't even know where they live. But it's not a crazy situation where they're coming out of the woodwork. Every now and then I'll hear, "I saw so-and-so the other day, he said to tell you hello and we've got to hang out." I'm like, who? Honestly I don't know who that is, I'm not even being a jerk. I really don't know who that is. [LAUGHS]

HBO
Well it will be real interesting to see where the show takes you next. And it seems like with time, the interest in the show is getting beyond some of the Hollywood stuff and has become a little bit more about the characters.

FERRARA
Yeah, I think that's starting to happen. The first season everybody was obsessed with Mark Wahlberg's involvement - is he gonna be in the show, is he gonna direct episodes, stuff like that. And rightfully so - the kid's a gigantic movie star. And people still want to talk to Mark - they go nuts for that guy. But we've kind of grown up a little bit, and we got our own personality now. So people are a little more interested in the show itself, and that's all you hope for. That's what Mark's hoping for too.

Read it all, pretty funny!