'New Girl' Star Max Greenfield Opens Up About Life As Married Father

"She's the boss," he says of his wife Tess.

ByABC News

April 22, 2014, 5:12 PM

Max Greenfield and Tess Sanchez attend the "About Alex" Premiere after party during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival at Kutsher's Tribeca, April 17, 2014, in New York City.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images

April 22, 2014  -- On "New Girl," Max Greenfield plays the likable character Schmidt -- a popular role that's earned the actor Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Prepare to like Greenfield, 33, that much more.

No matter how much acclaim or recognition he gets, the funnyman said at home, he knows who's in charge and who's most important -- his wife Tess and daughter Lilly.

"I've been married for so long now, I don't even remember dating," Greenfield, 33, joked about tying the knot in 2008 to Tess Sanchez, a Fox casting executive.

"She's the boss!" he said of his powerful counterpart. "Yeah, she's the boss. She keeps me in the ground, as opposed to grounded," he joked.

Greenfield added that his wife was impressed with his recent work in "About Alex," a film that debuted last week at the Tribeca Film Festival.

"[My wife] did turn to me after seeing this film and said, 'I feel like you gave a strong performance,'" he said. "I thought, 'I must be really good in this! She's never done that!'"

Greenfield called the "heavy" movie a "rewarding" change from his usual comedy.

"You do 'New Girl,' you play a character like Schmidt, you crave as an actor afterwards to just do something different," he said. "Then you look at what material is out there and felt very fortunate to find this and that they would have me."

The versatile actor added that his 4-year-old daughter Lilly is simply "the best."

"She's the best, man. She keeps a lot of it grounded," he said. "You come home, you're like 'Whatever, let's go hang out!'"

He added that she still doesn't fully understand how big of a deal her father is.

"I don't know that she fully gets it," he said. "She knows that I'm on a TV show, she'll be like 'Daddy you play Schmidt' There's a big part of me that's very proud of it and goes 'Daddy's really happy.' but another part, that's like 'Just stay away from that as long as you can.' But she seems unfazed by it."