Meet The Fockers may be a sequel but Ben Stiller still couldn't get used to sharing the spotlight with a certain Mr De Niro on set. Ben Stiller is a worried man. The actor starred in no fewer than six films last year and the dreaded expression `over-exposure' is becoming a real possibility for the Hollywood A-lister. Over-exposure would be "horrible", admits the 39-year-old. "Unfortunately I can't control when they release the movies. I made these movies over the last couple of years and you just do what you find funny," he adds, in defence of his multiple appearances. "Hopefully, people will come if they want to come but I have to be aware of not wanting to do too much." There's no doubt we've been seeing plenty of the hard-working and immensely successful comic recently - 2004 alone saw him in the romantic comedy Along Came Polly with Jennifer Aniston, before Starsky And Hutch, Envy, Dodgeball and Anchorman. Next up is the sequel to his 2000 hit Meet The Parents, in which Ben's hapless male nurse Gaylord (aka Greg) Focker bravely attempts to impress his girlfriend's uptight ex-CIA father, played by Robert De Niro, as everything goes catastrophically wrong around him - from spray-painting a cat to starting a fire and covering the whole family in their own sewage. The follow-up, Meet The Fockers, opening today, reunites the cast of the first film and introduces Greg's laid-back, bohemian parents played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. Inevitably, life runs no more smoothly for the hapless beau this time round. Ben says he's still amazed he got to work with such Hollywood heavyweights. "I never got used to being in the same room as Bob (De Niro)," he admits. "It was one of those things where you'd go to work each day and think, `This is unreal'." He is equally amazed Barbra Streisand agreed to be in the comedy: "Nobody thought it would actually happen and it did, which is incredible. She was so cool and funny. "I'm sitting there doing scenes with her and thinking, `I'm doing scenes with Barbra Streisand who hasn't been in a movie for eight years'. She's the quintessential Jewish mother in the film but with a twist. She's this earthy sex therapist for seniors who lets it all hang out." The 62-year-old sports an impressive wig in the film, reminiscent of her classic hit films from the 60s and 70s. The actress herself admits: "Roz (Focker) is so stuck in a 70s time zone, an embarrassing uninhibited hippy throwback." Yet Ben is far from a newcomer among legends - his fee is now a reported $15m for a studio production and his brand of everyman comedy is a hit with critics, audiences and film-makers. But he doesn't let success go to his head: "I get paid much more money now and I get recognised a lot but it's only because the money made money. Not because I'm more talented or better looking. Hollywood is very reactionary and simple-minded. If you do something that makes money, they give you more money." For Ben, comedy comes from an innate sense of insecurity. "People who don't have any sort of insecurities, I think, tend to be less funny. I think humour comes from the fact we can see how ridiculous everything is and how we're all sort of just trying." Admittedly it's hard to see what Ben has to feel insecure about. Apart from his success both onscreen and behind the camera and his financial rewards, he's also happily married. Approaching his fifth wedding anniversary, the actor is settled with his Zoolander and Dodgeball co-star, actress Christine Taylor. The couple, who married in 2000, have a two-year-old daughter, Ella Olivia. "I got down on one knee to propose, then she went down on one knee and said, `Of course'." He's also part of `Frat Pack' which includes frequent co-stars Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell as well as Adam Sandler and Jack Black, and Hollywood has always been part of his life. The son of comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Ben says it was probably inevitable that he'd join the Tinseltown ranks after a showbiz childhood. His first few years were in theatre, then he directed his breakthrough film Reality Bites in 1994, which starred a youthful Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke. "I've seen it in other kids with showbusiness parents. The world you're exposed to is so much more interesting than going to school," he recalls. "You just see the good things and you want to get in there and try it." Not everything worked out for him. Envy, the DreamWorks comedy, didn't set the box-office alight but you're forgiven a lot when you star in a mega-hit like There's Something About Mary. And one flop certainly doesn't mean we've seen the last of the actor, although Ben reveals he hopes he'll get the chance to diversify and tackle more drama down the line. Next is a departure into the world of animated film, voicing Alex the Lion in upcoming movie Madagascar. "I hope people will allow me to diversify, you always hope you're going to be able to do different things." | 
