Last week, I caught up with Stanley Tucci — as respected a stage and screen actor as anyone out there — backstage at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, where the 49-year-old had just been presented with GIFA’s career tribute award by his “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) and “Julie & Julia” (2009) co-star Meryl Streep. (Click here to watch her introduction and his acceptance speech, both hilarious.)

Since making his big screen debut 24 years ago with a small part in John Huston‘s “Prizzi’s Honor” (1985), Tucci has consistently done standout work in dozens of films, among them: Alan J. Pakula‘s “The Pelican Brief” (1993), Alan Rudolph‘s “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” (1994), Greg Mottola‘s “The Daytrippers” (1996), Campbell Scott‘s “Big Night” (1996, which Tucci co-directed), Woody Allen‘s “Deconstructing Harry” (1997), Joe Roth‘s “America’s Sweethearts” (2001), Sam Mendes‘s “Road to Perdition” (2002), Peter Chelsom‘s “Shall We Dance” (2004, a personal favorite), Steven Spielberg‘s “The Terminal” (2004), Paul McGuigan‘s “Lucky Number Slevin” (2006), Lasse Hallstrom‘s “The Hoax” (2006), and David Frankel‘s aforementioned “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006). He has won two Emmys and two Golden Globes, yet somehow he has never even been nominated for an Academy Award.

That’s a mistake that is likely to be corrected soon, as Tucci gave not one but two great performances in 2009: as Paul Child, the supportive husband of Streep’s Julia Child, in Nora Ephron‘s charming summer rom-com “Julie & Julia” (Columbia, 8/7, trailer); and now, late in the fall, as the creepy serial child rapist/murderer in Peter Jackson‘s “The Lovely Bones” (Paramount, 12/11, trailer).

During our chat, Tucci discussed, among other things, his joy at working with Streep for the second time on the former film (“I’ve been in love with Meryl Streep for many years”), and his reservations about taking on the part in the latter (“Though flattered to be offered it, I didn’t want accept it because I don’t care to read books or see movies in which children are harmed, but I felt the story was so beautiful, and the script was beautifully written, and I trusted Pete as a filmmaker, so I ended up doing it, and I’m glad I did it”).

Before we parted, I asked Tucci if he could explain something that has always confused me, and that he, as someone who is often referred to as “one of our greatest character actors,” might be able to clarify: what does “character actor” actually mean? His response: “I think it’s a redundant term. Like Meryl said tonight — in essence, what she said was you just act.”

Video: Scott Feinberg and Stanley Tucci backstage at the 2009 Gotham Awards. Credit: Rob Perri (video), Dr. Harvey Kliman (post-production).