Tony Shalhoub’s love of bread balanced out the challenges of being himself in his new CNN series ‘Breaking Bread’

Tony Shalhoub in a scene from "Breaking Bread." CNN

Give Tony Shalhoub a role playing a character and he’s going to feast on it, but when it comes to showing up as himself, it’s a little bit trickier.

“It’s the most difficult thing. That was one of the most startling things about it, was that unscripted is just much harder for me personally,” he told CNN in a recent interview. “It just came to me that maybe that’s why I became an actor to begin with, is that people just tell me what to do. Just to say this, stand here, make this face.”

The “Monk” star is hosting a new CNN docuseries, “Breaking Bread,” which will see him embark on “a mouthwatering journey around the world, with bread serving as the conduit into a variety of international cuisines and cultures,” a synopsis described.