Alex Borstein recalls Dustin Hoffman scolding her after she called herself ugly: 'He lost his s---'

Borstein and fellow power players Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Claudia Doumit, Kate Mulgrew, and Sheryl Lee Ralph share tales from the industry in EW's Bold School panel at Comic-Con.

Alex Borstein recalled an exchange with Dustin Hoffman that has long stayed with her during a lively discussion with fellow power players Sheryl Lee Ralph, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Kate Mulgrew, and Claudia Doumit during Entertainment Weekly's Bold School panel at 2024 Comic-Con.

When asked about industry pet peeves by moderator and EW senior writer Maureen Lee Lanker, Borstein cited the "wild obsession and focus on youth and beauty," calling it "so boring" and apologizing to "all the beautiful young people" in the packed Hall H before diving into her anecdote about Hoffman, who plays an actor who reinvents himself as an actress in 1982's Tootsie.

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"The movie Tootsie, anybody heard of it?" Borstein asked the crowd. "I once ran into Dustin Hoffman and I said to him, 'God, I'm such a fan. I love you. You showed me that I can still be an ugly woman and get on a movie."

While Hoffman "laughed at first," he soon became really angry, Borstein recalled. "He said, 'Don’t you do that! Stop that! Don’t you do that! You are not ugly! You are beautiful! You are different! You are packaged differently! And he lost his s---," the Family Guy and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star said. "But it really was a moment. . . and lo and behold, and I'm still here."

"So many people are starting to look exactly the same," Borstein said of current beauty standards. "I've been so excited to see that the Emmys of late have been going to people of a certain age [who have] done their time."

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Elsewhere, Mulgrew cited tardiness as her industry pet peeve. "I can’t bear it," the Star Trek: Prodigy star said. "It’s just not right. It's the height of rudeness."

Addai-Robinson listed the "coddling or acceptance of bad behavior." The Rings of Power star noted, "I feel like people are willing to call it out more, but sometimes, I still see someone behave in the craziest way and everyone's pretending like it’s not happening. I don’t like the idea that someone would be awarded for that and be able to get ahead as a result of that when I see people who are quietly working away being gracious, being humble. Those are the people who should be awarded."

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Ralph cited pay inequity for women and declared that it "really must stop," prompting Mulgrew to quip, "Good luck with that, Sheryl."

"I think we’ve got to push it, push it, push it," the Abbott Elementary star said. "By knowing your worth and getting the kind of representation that stands with you. You can fight the good fight. We don’t always win, but we clear the road for the next young women coming behind us so she can get paid properly!"

Ralph brought her signature inspiring Sherylisms to the panel. "Each one of them is sitting in their power," she said of her fellow panelists, telling women that they are "powerful." It prompted Doumit to declare her intention to hire Ralph as her life coach.

The conversation spanned how awards have changed their careers or perspectives ("I felt like the Prince of Bel-Air!" Ralph said of winning her Emmy), the worst piece of advice they've ever received ("my agent, now deceased, told me not to have children," said Mulgrew), and the roles they'd like to play (both Ralph and Borstein said superheroes).

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