Actor David Paymer

AVETERAN of stage, screen and television, David Paymer has appeared in more than 90 films in his career. This reliable character actor may be best known for playing smarmy businessmen and wretched criminals in “Quiz Show” and “Get Shorty.” In 1993 he received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor in “Mr. Saturday Night.”

He’s hot off a monthlong run of David Mamet’s “Two Unrelated Plays” at the Kirk Douglas Theater. It was his first return to the stage since his big Broadway break as Sonny in “Grease” more than 30 years ago. Up next: the Sam Raimi horror flick, “Drag Me to Hell.”

The native New Yorker is the father of two girls who keep him on top of the newest in pop culture. He recently discussed some of their (his) favorites with Liesl Bradner.

Soundtrack for the commute

I’m usually chauffeuring my 13-year-old daughter to school, beach or Third Street Promenade, so we listen to her iPod together. I like Coldplay’s “The Scientist”; Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Snow”; the Fray; “9 in the Afternoon” by Panic at the Disco has a nice Beatles influence. My contributions to her iPod playlist: “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, “Eleanor Rigby” and the soundtrack to “West Side Story.”

TV picks

“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Medium,” shows that I’ve directed and “The Unit,” which David Mamet asked me to direct. My wife is obsessed with HBO’s “In Treatment”; Gabriel Byrne is terrific.

What video he’s watching

I’m hooked on the “Evil Dead” series. “Drag Me to Hell” is a throwback to those earlier films [of Sam Raimi].

Top Internet destinations

huffingtonpost.com, msnbc.com and hardball.com. I’m a political junkie.

YouTube picks?

Any of the laughing baby or talking-dogs ones. And any of the movie parodies starring animals: “Casabarka,” “Dogfather” and “When Harry Met Shaggy.”

Guilty pleasure

I love old movies. There’s this gangster collection Warner Bros. put out of remastered prints from the 1930s, like “Public Enemy” with James Cagney and “Petrified Forest” with Humphrey Bogart. It has these blooper reels, and it’s so great to see these acting greats blowing their lines.

On your bedstand library

My 8-year-old daughter reads to me and right now we’re reading Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” “The Ramona Books” by Beverly Cleary and the “American Girl” books. We just finished “Kirsten.” I’m supposed to be putting her to bed, and I usually end up falling asleep.