Hollywood never quite knew what to do with John Turturro. That suited him fine

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred John Turturro has appeared in some classic L.A.movies during his 40-plus-year career, from the showbiz fever dream “Barton Fink” to the shaggy stoner noir “The Big Lebowski.” But he’s never been what you’d call a Hollywood guy.It’s a blazingly hot October afternoon at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, the storied rock-star haunt where suntanned guests are lounging around the pool and being seen.

Turturro, 69, has been staying at the hotel for decades and is on familiar terms with the waiters.Over a Cobb salad, he remembers how the staff used to give him a hard time about his car in the early 1990s, when he was breaking through with roles like the racist pizzeria worker in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”“They were like, ‘You should be seen in a better car,’ ” Turturro recalls, still seemingly baffled by the suggestion.

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about? It gets me where I’ve got to go.It’s a Toyota.

What’s the big deal?’ ”Turturro often visits L.A., where his younger brother, actor Nicholas Turturro, lives and his daughter Arianna works as an editor at DC Comics.But New York has always been home.

Raised in Queens, the son of a builder and a dressmaker, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife of 41 years, Katherine, and still takes the subway to watch his beloved Knicks.“I love being around the people who keep the city humming,” he says.“I don’t want to live in a bubble.

I don’t think it’s healthy.”His latest film, “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” in theaters Friday, brings Turturro back to the streets he knows so well and offers him something surprisingly rare in his long career: a movie built entirely around him.And with the performance drawing some of the strongest reviews of his career, it could finally earn him the Oscar no...