Tobey Maguire Opens Up About Fame & Family

In a new interview with Parade magazine, devoted dad-of-two Tobey Maguire says that he's a family man first. The 34-year-old actor, who has kids Ruby, 3, and Otis, 6 months, with his wife Jennifer Meyer, took time out to talk about the challenges of fame and fatherhood.

On making his kids a priority: "A lot of times I'll work out of home. But, it can get in the way of being a dad. The kids pop in and I'm in the middle of things so I stop, but I'm not as present as I want to be. Now, I'm thinking I've got to put everything away, the computers, phones, BlackBerrys, people bothering you about whatever, and just be like, 'OK, I'm just a daddy right now. I'm going to eat breakfast with my children, I'm going to play with blocks or toys whatever and just totally be with them.'"

On finding time for everything: "It's just all a time issue. Recently, I've been putting my life down on paper, listing what I spend my time doing because I'm trying to edit some things out in order to make more time for the things that are important to me. It's kind of a process of self-reflection on how I'm living and spending time with my wife and children, which is a number one priority. But, I love my work as well, so that's very important too."

On his character in the new film, Brothers: "My character is a lot more at home with his military family than he is with his wife and kids, which is not the way I try to be. It was really heartbreaking to think about how people take things out on the ones they love, especially children who are so full of love and so fragile. That resonated with me as a father. I had some scenes where I did things to create havoc in the lives of my wife and children that I could never imagine doing."

On celebrity: "I think I have about the right idea of how cool I am. I'm not trying to be a celebrity. Some people who get famous make bad choices - it depends on what you want out of life and who you want to be as a person. I like feeling good about myself as a human being, so if I make a choice that doesn't support that, I stop pretty quickly. It's really self-correcting."

On growing older: "I'm always amazed at how, like when I was a kid, I definitely thought I was fairly intelligent about things and then you get a few years out and you look back and I'm always amazed at how little I knew. You go, 'Wow, I had no clue.' Now, it's finally caught up to me, the point where I realize I just don't know much at all, period."

On mistaken identity: "I've been mistaken for so many different actors, it's just wild. I've gotten Jake Gyllenhaal a few times like, 'Loved you in Brokeback Mountain.' I've had that. I can't remember all of them, but Wes Bentley, tons of times, and Elijah Wood. When people ask me for my autograph and say, 'Oh, you were so great in such and such,' which I wasn't in, then I usually just sign the other actor's name and say, 'Thank you very much.'"