Eric Roberts, Eliza Roberts, and Mike Tove: Hollywood Success Isn’t Just About Talent, It’s About Kindness and Collaboration
“It’s not so much about your looks. It’s not so much about your talent. It is about who you know, but it’s about how accessible you are to everyone, how approachable you are, how kind you are, how understanding you are, and how completely at their disposal you will be.”
Eric Roberts was standing on the set of Star 80 when he made a mistake that belonged to the director. He called “Cut.” Bob Fosse, who was directing the 1983 film, summoned him across the soundstage and delivered an unexpected piece of acting advice. “You’re playing me if I weren’t successful. Do you understand?” Roberts understood immediately. Walking back to the set, he began imitating Fosse’s distinctive walk. The character, a manipulative man whose relationship ends in murder, suddenly made more sense to him. Decades later, Roberts remembers the encounter with admiration rather than embarrassment. “It enlightened me,” he says.
The story reveals something about an actor whose career has stretched from acclaimed dramatic performances to an extraordinary volume of independent films. Roberts has spent much of his professional life playing complicated, occasionally dangerous men, yet his explanation of success is surprisingly modest. He talks about kindness, accessibility, and treating everyone on a production with respect. Those convictions connect him to two people whose careers have followed very different paths: his wife, actress and casting director Eliza Roberts, and screenwriter and producer Mike Tove. Their collaboration on the short film Yard Saleing offers an unusual meeting of Hollywood experience, professional reinvention, and the less glamorous mechanics of getting a movie made.
For Eric, acting began with a problem he needed to solve. As a child, he struggled with a severe stutter and discovered that memorizing dialogue allowed him to speak without stumbling. Performance became a means of communication long before it became a profession. At 19, he moved to New York, endured several difficult years, and eventually attracted professional attention through a stage performance. His breakthrough in King of the Gypsies led to a series of demanding roles, including The Pope of Greenwich Village, Star 80, and Runaway Train, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His later work has ranged from major studio productions to smaller independent pictures, reflecting an enduring appetite for being on a set.
Eliza’s introduction to entertainment was almost the opposite. She grew up in New York City before moving to California at 12, surrounded by a family whose professional interests extended from labor law into television writing. Relatives worked on programs including Bewitched, Get Smart, and All in the Family. She attended the United Nations International School, learned French, and spent time in England as a teenager working as an au pair for an Israeli family. Acting eventually brought her into films such as National Lampoon’s Animal House, but her professional life expanded well beyond performing. She became a casting director, talent manager, and acting coach, developing a perspective on the industry that incorporates both the performer seeking an opportunity and the people responsible for creating one.
That breadth of experience remains central to her work. Eliza manages Eric’s career while maintaining her own projects, and the couple frequently collaborates professionally. At the time of the interview, she was casting six feature films, working with her daughter, and teaching actors through TVI and Working Actor, both online and in person. For someone who grew up around established television writers, the work now involves helping other people find their way into an industry she has known for much of her life. Her enthusiasm for Yard Saleing extends beyond her part to the props, sets, cast, and crew, an appreciation that reflects the many sides of filmmaking she has experienced.
Mike Tove arrived by a considerably less direct route. Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, he grew up in an academic family and earned a Ph.D. in biology. When suitable employment proved difficult to find, his professional direction changed. A casting call for the 1990 film adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale introduced him to the world of movie production, and he was immediately captivated. Tove, who jokes that he is bilingual because he speaks “English and Southern,” describes the film business as an incurable virus. He continued writing stories while building a career outside entertainment, including work as a financial adviser.
The idea that eventually became Yard Saleing first took shape approximately 36 years before the film was completed. Tove pitched it to casting director Shari Rhodes, who encouraged him to make it, but encouragement was not the same as production. Years passed before he connected with director Tom Logan, who helped turn the story into a workable project. Their resulting 2025 short follows a couple whose discovery at a yard sale leads to dangerous consequences connected to hidden treasure. Eric and Eliza joined the production in supporting roles, with Eric playing Senator Devon and Eliza portraying Sylvia King. For Tove, who had long approached movies primarily as a writer and occasional performer, producing the film brought another education entirely.
Logan had warned him that participating in production would be “film school.” Tove discovered how much the phrase understated the experience. He watched the coordination required among actors, technicians, production staff, and the people responsible for continuity. One incident particularly stayed with him. On the final shooting day, a script supervisor missed a single continuity detail and was distressed despite the mistake being caught in time. Tove saw her reaction as evidence of the extraordinary care that often goes unnoticed by audiences. The experience reinforced a belief he shares with Eric: a film depends on people whose names rarely appear in its publicity.
Eric expresses that conviction even more emphatically. “The best people on the planet are crews,” he says, describing their knowledge, dedication, and camaraderie. His advice to younger actors similarly challenges the familiar notion that extraordinary talent guarantees a lasting career. Professional courtesy, reliability, and generosity matter just as much. “I’m not a bad actor, but that’s not what made me successful,” he says. Tove offers a parallel memory from The Handmaid’s Tale, when he showed up on set without being called, simply because he was available to help. That willingness led to further opportunities and taught him the value of being someone a production could count on.
Yard Saleing has since attracted recognition on the film festival circuit, bringing together an established Hollywood couple and a writer whose first produced short emerged decades after its conception. Their circumstances differ, but the conversation reveals a shared refusal to treat filmmaking as a solitary accomplishment. Eliza continues to balance performance with the work of developing and supporting other actors. Tove is pursuing a creative ambition that survived years outside the industry. Eric, despite an extensive career and major accolades, remains attached to the simple pleasure of working with people who know how to make movies. Asked why audiences should watch Yard Saleing, he dispenses with grand claims about artistic significance. “For fun,” he says. “Just pure effing fun.” After everything these three have invested in getting stories onto the screen, perhaps that uncomplicated pleasure is worth taking seriously.
Yitzi Weiner: Eliza, Eric, and Mike, it’s really an honor to meet you. Before we dive in deep and talk about your amazing work, readers would love to learn about each of your origin stories. I’ll start with Eliza because you have to go. Eliza, can you please share with us the story of your childhood and how you grew up, and particularly the seeds and genesis of all the amazing creativity that has come since then?
Eliza Roberts: Thank you so much. I grew up in New York City and lived there till I was 12 years old, and then we moved to California. First, my family were labor lawyers, and they were from Brooklyn and Boston, but primarily initially from Ukraine. Then they got into showbiz. The next group wrote sitcoms like Bewitched, All in the Family, Get Smart, and all of that.
I went to the United Nations International School, which was fantastic, so you read, write, and speak French. I speak French, and very few words in Hebrew, but a few. In fact, I was an au pair for an Israeli family that was part New York and part Israel when I was 16, living in England. Five sons and me, and it was amazing, and we’re still very close.
Then I became an actress and went from there to doing all kinds of things. I’m a manager, I’m a casting director. (Eric: Tell them some of your movies.) Animal House is one of the well-known ones, and then there’s a lot of different fun stuff. You can find it all on IMDb. So that’s the origin story, if that answers your question.
Yitzi Weiner: Please tell us about the exciting work you’re doing now.
Eliza Roberts: Okay. Well, first of all, talking about Yard Sailing is great because I loved that part and loved that movie, and loved everything from the props to the set to, of course, the cast and the crew and Mike and Tom and everybody.
Right now I’m casting, and we’re coaching a lot. We teach through TVI and also through Working Actor, and we teach online and in person. And I’m casting six projects now. It was five, now it’s grown to six — just some charming little feature films that are really a lot of fun. I’m having a great time doing it with my daughter.
Yitzi Weiner: So Eric, how about you? Can you share with us your origin story and the seeds of all the amazing work?
Eric Roberts: Well, my origin story is not so platinum. Hers is very cool. Mine’s a little rougher. I was a kid with a bad stutter, and I found out if I memorized stuff, I could speak without stuttering. So that started me as an actor as a very little boy, and that’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve always been an actor. I’ve always loved good actors, and so I married one.
I moved to New York at 19 and had a hard couple of years, and then was discovered doing a play at the American Academy — a really not very good acting school — and got a manager. From there I got work and just got lucky over and over again, and I’ve had a great life.
Yitzi Weiner: Amazing. How about you, Mike?
Mike Tove: Oh my god, do I have to follow that? Well, I’m a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, born and raised. And no, I don’t sound like it. I always say I’m bilingual: I speak English and Southern. Eric will know what I’m talking about.
My family was in academia, and so I started off life following the academic pathways and ended up actually getting a PhD in biology, but unfortunately there were no jobs.
So I came back to the Raleigh area trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and answered a cattle call to be in a film, The Handmaid’s Tale. I got in and just fell in love with it. Those of us in the industry know it’s a virus. It’s incurable. Once it bites you, it never leaves your body. And I just loved it.
I’ve been a storyteller my whole life and I wanted to write, so I was writing ideas, stories, and short stories, and Yard Sailing was one of those. Thirty-six years ago, when I first came up with the thing, I had a chance to pitch it to Shari Rhodes. I was taking acting lessons, and Shari was this phenomenal casting director — she cast Jaws and Close Encounters for Spielberg and so forth.
I pitched the whole thing to her and she was going, “Oh my gosh, you must make this film. It’s just an incredible story.” Then I met Tom Logan — I have no idea how long ago now, 10 or 12 years ago, who knows — and Tom and I just collaborated on the thing. One thing led to the next and whammo, we have this marvelous, fun little short that I was blessed to have Eric and Eliza join in.
Everybody says, “How did you get Eric and Eliza?” And it wasn’t me, it was Tom. But it was one of the best aspects of the whole thing. I say this all the time: everybody on that set just became super, super good friends, and that to me is as important as anything.
Yitzi Weiner: It’s amazing. Eric, you probably have some amazing stories from your career, and I’m sure this is difficult to single out, but can you share with our readers one or two stories that stand out in your mind from your career?
Eric Roberts: Ah, man. Well, let me give you one from my favorite director, Bob Fosse. I was doing a scene one day for Star 80. It was a true story we were doing, a biography of a relationship and a murder, and I was the bad guy, of course. I was doing a scene one day and I made a mistake, and I said, “Cut.” Well, you don’t say “cut” on a Fosse set unless you’re Fosse.
He said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I messed up.” He said, “Come here.” And he walks away from me and walks across the sound stage — a big old sound stage — to the other side of it. “Come here.” I’m in my underwear, so it’s kind of weird, and I’ve got a crew behind me. I walk over there: “What’s up?”
He goes, “Look at me.” I said, “I’m looking at you.” He goes, “No, look at me.” I said, “Okay, I’m looking at you. What’s up?” He goes, “You’re playing me if I weren’t successful. Do you understand?” And I did. On the way back to the set, I started to imitate his walk. I just played him, because that’s why he was so passionate about the project. He understood the dynamics and the mistakes and the tragedy.
Yitzi Weiner: That’s a funny story. Did it hurt your feelings, or were you cool with it?
Eric Roberts: No, not at all. It enlightened me. I understood exactly what he was after. “Okay, I get it.” Yeah, and he was a cool-ass cat.
Mike Tove: Eric, I’m going to have to go back and watch the film again now knowing these little details. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.
Eric Roberts: You don’t want to watch the film for that. You want to watch the film because it’s the best docudrama ever made, and I’m proud to be in it.
Mike Tove: Well, there’s that. I saw it once and it was dark, as I’m sure it was supposed to be, but yes.
Eric Roberts: But it’s good. It’s so good. And what’s great about it is every frame is perfectly accurate to the story, to the point where even the locations — every location from the Dairy Queen to the place that they both died — is where it actually happened. The mansion, his apartment, all of it is where it all happened in the whole movie. So it’s like a documentary done with actors. It’s the best docudrama ever made. It’s so good. Bob Fosse was so into it.
Mike Tove: Wow. Now I do have to go see it again. I did not know that. I saw Star 80 a long time ago. Wow. Okay, thanks for that.
Yitzi Weiner: How about you, Mike? Do you have any stories from your career that really stand out in your mind?
Mike Tove: Oh my god, let me think about that for a sec. For me, I’m so much the new kid on the block in this arena. Sitting here with the likes of Eric and Eliza — they are legends.
One of the things that Tom told me when we were getting ready to make the film, and he was so right, is that being on the set like I was — I’ve been on film sets as an extra or even as an actor, but being on a film set in a production capacity — was film school. Man, boy, that was an understatement.
You watch the process and all of the components that went in behind it, and you see this thing coming together, and you get a sense of just what it means to be part of a perfect collaboration. Nothing good would have happened except for the fact that everybody on that set, from cast to crew, from the leads all the way to the background talent and everybody in between, was just hitting on all cylinders. We had an amazingly good time, and the quality of the project shone through. It was the result of this extraordinary collaboration, and I just can’t say enough about it.
Yitzi Weiner: Okay, cool. So this is our signature question. Eric and Mike, each of you have been blessed with a lot of success now, and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back all the way to the beginning when you first started, can you share five things that you’ve learned over the years as an actor that someone starting out today can really benefit from?
Eric Roberts: Well, my brain is not big enough to hold five answers to one question, but I can tell you one thing. It’s not so much about your looks. It’s not so much about your talent. It is about who you know, but it’s about how accessible you are to everyone, how approachable you are, how kind you are, how understanding you are, and how completely at their disposal you will be.
Those things are what make you successful. Not the looks, not the talent, but all the other little stuff. All the thank yous, all the you’re welcomes, all the “may I”s — that’s what makes you successful. It is not being a brilliant actor. I’m not a bad actor, but that’s not what made me successful.
Yitzi Weiner: That’s a great answer. What would you say, Mike?
Mike Tove: Well, I don’t know that I’m going to follow that either, but I think that one of the things that I run into a lot is the idea that you have to respect the industry. You have to just understand — again, I go back to the collaboration thing — that everybody around you is there for a purpose.
It’s funny, I can tell one anecdote. When I was doing The Handmaid’s Tale, it was the very first film thing I did. (Eric: I’ll be right back.) One day, just because I didn’t have anything else to do, I just drove to the set. The production office was at one of the central locations, so I just drove there. I was essentially an extra or featured extra, and they said, “What are you doing here?” I said, “Well, I just showed up in case. If you need me, great, and if not, that’s fine, I’ll leave.” And they went, “Well, no, stick around. We might.” Later they said, “Hey, yeah, there’s a scene that we want to shoot and we’re glad you’re here, and you can do it.”
What transpired from that — and I think this is the lesson — is that I got a reputation of being someone they could count on, of someone who was there for the benefit of the project, and that I was a team player. I was willing to work. Because when that film wrapped, I was able to literally pick up the phone and call casting and say, “Hey, is there anything for me to do?” And they would go, “Yeah, we can do A or you can do B, what do you want?” And that was it. So I think my advice would be: respect the industry, and a lot of what Eric said — just be available, be a team player, be someone that production can count on, and the rest flows.
Eric Roberts: I want to add something to all that, because we’re talking about a movie. The best people on the planet are crews. I’m in movies all over the world, and the only thing in common with all movies are the crews. They’re the same type of person. They work their asses off, they want to be there, they’re fun to know, and they know everything about making a movie. So get in with the crew and you’re in.
Mike Tove: Yeah, they’re the greatest unsung group — people that are behind the scenes that nobody ever sees, and quite frankly nobody knows who they are. Try making a movie without one. It doesn’t work. They’re the glue.
And oh my gosh, the level of professionalism on Yard Sailing! Eric, you weren’t there on this day, so Noelleignoh, our scripty — amazing, amazing, amazing. The last day we were shooting, she missed one continuity thing. One. And it didn’t matter because we caught it in time, and the truth is that the light was better to reshoot it anyway. It was no big deal. But she was beating herself up all day long and all the way into the night because she missed one. Tom was telling her, “Hey, it’s fine,” and I was saying, “Hey, it’s fine.” She said, “I don’t care.” And of course, now what happens is she’s the scripty on almost any Tom Logan picture from now on because of that — just because she had the integrity and attention to detail that was necessary.
Yitzi Weiner: Amazing. This is our final aspirational question. Eric and Mike, each of you in your own way are honestly people of great influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? Because you never know what your idea can inspire.
Eric Roberts: Well, The Beatles said it best: “All you need is love.” And if you have love, everything is going to follow suit.
They said it best. It’s in a song, it’s the title of a song, and it’s the way everybody should live. All this hate going on in the world is really unproductive, dude. Come on.
Mike Tove: Yeah, I was going to say the exact same thing. Exactly.
Yitzi Weiner: Amazing. In your own words, why do you think our readers have to watch Yard Sailing?
Eric Roberts: For fun. Just pure effing fun. It doesn’t have to be heavy-handed or profound or meaningful. It can be fun, and be meaningful just to be fun. That’s why I make movies, because I have fun making them.
Mike Tove: I will add, it’s easily seen. Go to my website, www.emeraldoakproductions.com, and up in the upper right-hand corner there’s a little link. You can click on it and watch the movie. So, crass commercial.
Yitzi Weiner: Eric and Mike, how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can they support your work in any possible way?
Eric Roberts: Thank you, brother. Thank you so much.
Mike Tove: EmeraldOakProductions.com.
Yitzi Weiner: Amazing. Thank you so much. It’s really been a joy meeting you. I hope we can do this again in the future, and I wish you both good health and continued success.
Eric Roberts: Thank you, brother. Peace out.
Yitzi Weiner: My pleasure.
Mike Tove: Yeah, see you.
Eric Roberts, Eliza Roberts, and Mike Tove: Hollywood Success Isn’t Just About Talent, It’s About… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.