Naomi Pfefferman: As to why he plays losers, the actor, who is half Jewish and part Filipino, said he relates to the underdog. "I love how directors used Jimmy Stewart as an Everyman, so I like to play a guy who's slightly less than the Everyman," the self-described "Filipino Jew" added.
Even Schneider's forbears experienced Deuce-worthy humiliation. His maternal grandfather, an Army private, was unceremoniously shipped off to the Philippines after bedding his captain's wife. There, he married a native woman. Their daughter, Pilar, eventually moved to San Francisco; as president of a club for single parents in 1961, she snatched up and wed the group's only male member, Marvin Schneider, a real estate broker.
Because Marvin was a secular Jew who loved comedy, the Judaism in Rob's childhood home focused primarily on humor, Mel Brooks' comedy albums and joke-telling at Uncle Norm's. The Jewish humor provided a survival tool for Rob, an anxious child with a stammer that made the girls snicker. "One day the kids were laughing at me, and I told a stupid joke but it killed, and I've been the funny guy ever since," he said.
