Beloved ‘Spider-Man 2’ Star Alfred Molina Breaks Hearts With Poignant Story About His Father Not Understanding Him

Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures

Two-time BAFTA, three-time Tony Award, and five-time SAG Award-nominated actor Alfred Molina was born in London in 1952 a child of immigrants, with his father being from Spain and his mother coming from Italy.

Molina’s father worked as a waiter, while his mother worked as a cleaner — two true blue-collar jobs. So, as you can imagine, the idea of becoming an actor might have been far-fetched to such hard-working laborers.

During a recent sit-down with Vanity Fair, Molina told a heartbreaking story of disappointing his father with his pursuit of acting.

“My father got me a job as a waiter in the restaurant where he was working. If I say so myself, I was a good waiter to the point where the management offered me the chance to do a two-week management training course. I turned it down because I had got an acting job,” Molina explains.

“So, my father says, ‘What is this acting job, how much are they paying you? I said, ‘Well, I am getting union. You know, unions get 15 pounds a week.’ He said, ‘15? How much do you make here?’ I said, ‘About 30-35.’ My father said, ‘Wait a minute. You are making 30, 35 here, then you go to do making 15.’ I said yeah. And he looked at me and that look on his face that you reserve for the mad and the lost. He just stared at me like he didn’t recognize me,” the veteran actor continued.

“And the only thing I could say to him was: ‘This is what I love, dad.’ And he never quite got it. I did disappoint my dad. Yeah. I think if my dad had lived a little longer, I think he hopefully would’ve realized that I hadn’t wasted my time.”

Molina did anything but waste his time in becoming an actor as, in addition to his famed role as Doctor Octopus in the Spider-Man franchise, he’s also appeared in films such as Raider of the Lost Ark, Boogie Nights, Frida, Magnolia, The Da Vinci Code, and many more, in addition to a prolific career as a stage actor, too.

You can check out Molina’s full sit-down with Vanity Fair in which he breaks down the biggest roles of his career below.