Pantoliano discusses depression in blog

Washington -- U.S. actor Joe Pantoliano says his new movie "Canvas," about a man whose wife is mentally ill, helped him understand his own history of depression.

Pantoliano, who is best-known for starring on "The Sopranos," made the remarks in a guest blog entry published Tuesday by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The actor's entry comes during Mental Illness Awareness Week and a few days before "Canvas" opens in Chicago and New York.

"It is a different kind of role for me," Pantoliano said. "I'm not a wise-guy or a rogue. As an actor, I always reveal different sides of myself ... In 'Canvas,' (the character) John Marino shows my sensitive side. I'm a lot like him. He's a lot like me."

Pantoliano said making the movie helped him understand mental illness a little better.

"That has included coming to understand myself -- and my own struggle with clinical depression," he said, adding he believes his mother struggled with untreated bipolar disorder.

"Had it been a recognized illness, one without tragic social, economic, physical consequences, and one with accurate diagnosis and attainable treatments, I am convinced that events throughout my childhood, which tore our family apart, would never have occurred."

© Copyright United Press International.