ROMA MAFFIA: Who?!

by LA correspondent Billy Mernit

Roma Maffia is a New York actress whose zooming career (a major supporting role in Barry Levinson's upcoming Disclosure, with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore, a regular role on CBS' Chicago Hope with Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, et al) has yanked her westward into the wilds of L.A. - She was interviewed in Los Angeles by fellow expatriate Billy Mernit.

Urban Desires: So I know we both know, but the Net folks want to know; so... What's with the name?

Roma Maffia: It's real. When my mother was pregnant with me, she didn't know what she wanted to name me, so she looked at a map and she thought, where would I like to be? Rome. Hence Roma.

UD: And the last name?

RM: Not long after, she met my stepfather; Joseph W. Maffia. Hence, Maffia.

UD: You couldn't have made that up.

RM: No, like I sez, it's real.

UD: Tell the people about your initial experience with the highways and bi-ways of beautiful Los Angeles.

RM: I know how to drive. but I didn't know how to merge... So I rode the bus.

UD: Everywhere?

RM: Yes, everywhere!

UD: What, you thought you were in New York?

RM: It was the only way I knew to get around. I could only grub so many rides from so many people, so many times.

UD: I was happy to take you anywhere.

RM: Yeah-yeah-yeah...

UD: Tell about that time you were at the bus stop -

RM: And Ron Howard picked me up?

UD: Uh-huh.

RM: That was the event.

UD: Yeah, but the thing about it is, what are the chances of you sitting at a bus stop in North Hollywood in the early morning, and having Ron Howard - who directed you in The Paper - suddenly appear and offer you a lift?

RM: Actually I was standing at the bus stop -

UD: Oh, that explains everything.

RM: and the chances are next to none.

UD: How was working with Ron Howard?

RM: Terrific. It was unbelievable, it was great, it was, um...

UD: I love your specificity here.

RM: You're turning on me,

UD: No, but what are the details? It was your first major Hollywood movie, wasn't it?

RM: Well, I had worked on Married to the Mob, so -

UD: But that was a much smaller part. This was the real thing. And as our friend Nan put it, you really popped right off the screen in this one.

RM: I know it sounds corny, but it was a present.

UD: You mean like a gift?

RM: Yes.

UD: Okay, but by the time you landed your really big role, it wasn't just luck - all modesty aside - it was about talent. How did Disclosure happen?

RM: Don Lee, the 2nd A.D. on The Paper gave my name to Ellen Chenowith, and she auditioned me.

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