Tobey Maguire is a self-made man, said Emma Brockes in The Guardian (U.K.). Born to teenage parents, the actor grew up in poverty in California, relying on food stamps, public assistance, and charity. “We would get groceries from neighbors,” says Maguire, 37. “I always had a roof over my head, but I slept on couches of relatives, and some nights we wandered into a shelter.” The whole experience made him doubt the American dream. “The idea is that equal opportunity and social mobility in this country are easy as pie.” But when you must struggle just to survive, he says, it’s difficult to dream of a better life. “Your brain space [is] occupied by worrying about what I’m going to eat or how I’m going to pay rent.” Despite that cynicism, Maguire did create a better life in the unlikely field of acting; he attributes his success to a combination of drive and luck. “I’m self-aware enough to understand that it’s statistically very hard to achieve the position I’m in. But I also think I have a lot of ingredients that are right for the path I’ve chosen. I like to be productive. I find the way, like water. Since I was 17 or 18, I knew I wanted to live a great version of my life. Those ideas have been [my] north stars.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How to decide on the right student loan repayment planThe explainer President-elect Donald Trump seems unlikely to approve more student loan forgiveness, so you may want to consider other options
-
Crossword: January 15, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Sudoku medium: January 15, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
