Contrary to the name of his latest movie, "The Perfect Host" (arriving Friday), David Hyde Pierce does not often invite large groups of friends over to his upper West Side apartment.
"My partner and I are much more low-key," says the 52-year-old actor, best known for his role as Dr. Niles Crane in the sitcom "Frasier." "Sure, we'll have a friend over sometimes, but I wouldn't call those dinner parties. They are not fancy."
On the other hand, Warwick Wilson, Pierce's squirrelly character in his latest film, is the consummate host. In anticipation of his guests' arrival, he sets an immaculate table and expertly chops vegetables, something that Pierce had to practice.
"I'm not a good cook, so I had to really work on my knife work," he says. "But that's why I liked this character. He goes in so many different directions, and complicated is always more fun to play."
Of course, Pierce has had bad luck with New York dinner parties in the past.
When he first moved to the city in 1981, he was invited to a friend's apartment in Morningside Heights for an evening get-together, but took the wrong train and exited at 125th St. and Malcom X Blvd.
"When I got off the train, there was literally a car on fire in the street and I was just so impressed that my friends would live in this type of neighborhood," he recalls. "A gang of kids pushed me down a stairwell and took my wallet and the bottle of wine that I was carrying.
"But what they really wanted was the drugs because that was the only conceivable reason that a guy like me would be in that neighborhood."
After nearly three decades splitting time between Los Angeles and New York City, Pierce does not make such geographical mistakes anymore. Not that he would have the same problems if he did.
According to the actor, "When I first moved here, the city was a disgusting mess, but I loved it. There was crap all over the streets and Times Square was full of hookers and degenerates and drug addicts, but there was opportunity.
"Now the city has been cleaned up. You can walk to the theater district from the upper West Side and it is clean and beautiful."
These days, Pierce, who has won four Emmys and a Tony Award, is very busy.
Not only does he star in "The Perfect Host," which allows him to show off his chops as a complex character actor, but he is making his directorial debut in October with the musical comedy "It Shoulda Been You" at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J.
Pierce is the first to admit that not all actors make good directors, but he believes his case is unique.
"One reason I might be okay at directing is that as an actor I tend to be very aware of the entire picture, the context of everything that everyone is doing and how every role fits in," he says. "Of course, I'm not far enough along yet to realize my mistakes."
Needless to say, Pierce has come a long way since his days as a young actor and seasonal necktie salesman for Bloomingdale's.
"When I first arrived in New York in 1981, I decided that I would stay as long as the pleasure of being an actor outweighed the pain," he says. "So far, so good."
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