Alex Borstein Recalls Dustin Hoffman Getting 'Really Angry' After Actress Called Herself 'Ugly'

Dustin Hoffman refused to let Alex Borstein belittle herself because of unrealistic beauty standards in Hollywood.

During a recent appearance held at Entertainment Weekly ’s Bold School Panel at San Diego Comic-Con, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star recalled the time Hoffman became enraged after Borstein referred to herself an "ugly" actress.

Borstein, 53, was reminded of the memorable moment after admitting her " pet peeve is the wild obsession and focus on youth and beauty."

"It’s so boring," the Family Guy voice actress declared. "It's just so many people just starting to look exactly the same. Every girl is getting a nose job and filters and lip s---. And it's madness. And the obsession with it."

Kate Mulgrew , the 69-year-old Star Trek actress who sat beside Borstein during the panel, asked the comedian if she thought any progress was being made by society in terms of unrealistic beauty expectations.

"I was on-screen for five years, it must be," Borstein responded, sparking her memory of Hoffman’s previous words of encouragement after once again disparaging herself.

"I always joke that the movie Tootsie — anybody heard of it?" Borstein asked the audience in reference to the 1982 film starring Hoffman, who portrays a character who is overlooked for every male role in Hollywood because of his physical appearance.

During the movie, Hoffman’s character reinvents himself as an actress named Dorothy Michaels before scoring a role in a soap opera.

"I once ran into Dustin Hoffman and I said to him, I said, ‘God. I’m such a fan. I love you.' I said, ‘You showed me I can still be an ugly woman and get in a movie,'" the Mad TV star shared.

Borstein explained of the 86-year-old actor: "He laughed at first and then he said, ‘Don’t you do that.' And got really angry. ‘Stop that. Don’t you do that. You are not ugly, you are beautiful. You are different. You are packaged differently.'"

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"And he like lost his s---," Borstein revealed. "But it really was a moment that like made me realize, 'Well, maybe I can' and ‘Maybe I’ll just see what happens.' And low and behold, I'm still here."

Other actresses have also spoken out about Hoffman's guidance as a friendly face in Hollywood .

In a 2022 interview, Geena Davis recalled the time Hoffman offered her advice on how to respond to other men in the industry interested in her flawless physique while filming Tootsie together.

"Say, 'Well, you’re very attractive. I would love to, but it would ruin the sexual tension between us,'" Davis said of what Hoffman told her. "And I saved that advice away."

"After Tootsie , my modeling agent took me and a couple of other actor-slash-models to Hollywood to meet casting directors. He happened to know Jack Nicholson , and every single night Jack Nicholson had dinner with us," the Thelma & Louis actress detailed. "Then one day there was a note under the door that said, 'Please call Jack Nicholson at this number.' I was, like, I can’t believe it!"

As it turns out, Nicholson was interested in Davis romantically.

"I was, like, Oh, no — why didn’t I realize this is what it was going to be about? But it immediately came into my head what to say: 'Uh, Jack, I would love to. You’re very attractive. But I have a feeling we’re going to work together at some point in the future, and I would hate to have ruined the sexual tension between us ," Davis quipped.