ML - Michigan Avenue

2013 - Issue 1 - Winter

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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The MCCARTHY ERA With her first big-screen starring role in Identity Thief, Plainfield native Melissa McCarthy leaves her supporting actress days behind. BY J.P. ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARY ROZZI million cats.... I think, at some point, we were up to like 25 cats! Outside, that is. We weren't crazy. It was great for a farm, because there were mice and all these other things, and people would bring strays out to us because they knew we had a big farm, and my mom would take them. It was kind of horrifying, because all through school when people would drive me home for the first time, I always remember thinking, Oh, no. They're going to see the cats. They're going to see the cats. Michigan Avenue: You were born and raised on a farm in Plainfield. What were you like growing up? Melissa McCarthy: [Laughs] I was kind of a handful, I think—pretty energetic. I would run around the farm, climb up into things I wasn't supposed to, and get up into the rafters in the McCarthy with in Jason Bateman barn. I went up into the silo once when the upcoming film I was really tiny, and the farmer had to Identity Thief. come and get me down. It was an amazing way to grow up. MA: You come from a big Irish Catholic family. How many kids were there? MA: What was it like being raised on a farm? MM: [We didn't have to do] so much farm stuff— MM: Just Margie and me, but my dad came from my older sister, Margie, and I did all the things a really big family. He had nine or 10 brothers and every other little kid has to do: We had to help dust sisters, so with cousins and my dad's cousins, they and clean and vacuum. But we always had nine all had kids, so there are just a lot of McCarthys. 78 MA: So what was your role growing up? Were you the baby? MM: I was the annoying baby. Because my sister was really good and kind of quiet, and all I wanted to do was go outside and play baseball or run through the barns and do something crazy. Margie would just want to sit and read a book, and I was too spazzy for that, so instead of trying to lure her in by being nice and friendly, I would just annoy her, hoping that she would then not want to read and instead go play with me, but of course it never had that effect. My goal was always to try to get Margie to play with me. MA: Do you think growing up in that small-town environment has given you a different perspective? MM: Oh, completely. I mean, I married someone from Illinois [Ed. note: McCarthy's husband is Carbondale native and actor Ben Falcone]. There's something about that sensibility that I'm drawn to, [both myself and] in the characters I play. There's a friendliness and an eccentricity to Midwesterners—they're more likely to just be themselves. I know that's an idealized version, but there is something about the Midwest that I love. MA: In a way you're still tied to Chicago because Mike & Molly is set here. Have you spent much time in the city? MM: Once I was old enough to go out, in high school, I just went downtown, much to my PHOTOGRAPHY BY GUY D'ALEMA/UNIVERSAL PICTURES. OPPOSITE PAGE: MARY ROZZI/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES T elevision put Melissa McCarthy on the map—think Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly—but it was her hilarious, Oscar-nominated turn in the 2011 blockbuster Bridesmaids that really made audiences sit up and take notice. Now, freshly ensconced on the A-list, this farmer's daughter from southwest of the city is stepping up for her first headlining film role. In an exclusive interview with Michigan Avenue, the actress opens up about loving the Midwest, brawling with Jason Bateman, and embracing her newfound stardom. MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 078-081_MA_FEAT_CS_Winter13.indd 78 1/2/13 12:43 PM

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