To hear Hollywood actor Joe Pantoliano tell it, two days before his best friend committed suicide, there were no obvious signs of a problem.

The veteran actor, an Emmy-award winner for his work on “The Sopranos” and cast member in films like “The Matrix,” was in New Iberia Friday speaking about his goal of removing the stigma attached to mental disease.

Pantoliano said three years ago, around the time hurricanes Katrina and Rita battered Louisiana, his best friend, the man who married him and his wife, committed suicide. Even more startling was the fact no one saw it coming.

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“The last thing my friend said to me was, ‘See you later, have a good day,’ ” Pantoliano said. “He was making me laugh.”

The jarring incident and his own realization that depression had been affecting him his whole life led Pantoliano to start No Kidding, Me Too!, an organization that tries to break down social barriers through brain disease education. Its goal is to empower those with brain disease to admit their illness, seek treatment and become greater members of society.

Information about the cause is accessible at www.nkm2.org.

“In order to get recovery, more than anything else, you have to eliminate the shame,” Pantoliano said. “There is shame in mental illness. There is no shame in diabetes or heart disease. What I want to do with mental illness is what Elizabeth Taylor and Elton John did with AIDS — eliminate the shame.”

Pantoliano was out front and center Thursday in New Orleans when he joined the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in releasing a report on hundreds of mental illnesses medicines being tested in human clinical trials or awaiting FDA approval.

Pantoliano followed the release with a media tour Friday through Acadiana, where he continued to push the idea that there is no shame in mental illness.

“My past will never go away,” he said. “It condemned me to my way of life. I surrendered to my past and my traumas. What I try to do is say, ‘I can control this and I’m going to get over it. I’m not going to feel bad about this anymore.’”

Joining Pantoliano throughout Friday was Ken Johnson, PhRMA senior vice president of communications.

Johnson said New Orleans was picked for Thursday’s announcement because Louisiana, as a whole, suffers greatly from mental illness cases in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“After most catastrophic events, depression, anxiety and mood disorders tend to increase for a five- to eight-month period,” Johnson said. “Then, they begin to decline. Unfortunately, here in Louisiana, those rates have been steadily increasing for the entire three years since Hurricane Katrina. The bottom line is more and more people are facing depression and other mental diseases because of the events that took place and continue to take place for a lot of people.”

Johnson sees hope at the end of the tunnel because there are more than 300 medicines in development to treat mental disorders — 20 of them awaiting FDA approval and 55 in Phase 3 Clinical Trials.

“In other words, they are getting very close to reaching the market,” Johnson said. “By comparison, in 1994 there were only 46 medicines in development to treat mental illness. It shows that America’s pharmaceutical research companies recognize that this is a serious problem and it’s going to take a lot of research and a lot of dedication to help the people who are suffering from it.”

Johnson said 60 million Americans suffer from one form or another of mental disease.

Three years ago, Pantoliano said depression came to a head in all phases of his life because at the time the hurricanes were hitting Louisiana and his friend committed suicide, he was working on the film, Canvas.

Pantoliano said the movie, which stars Marcia Gay Harden, newcomer Devon Gearhart and himself, tells the story of a family stuck in the wake of depression’s onslaught.

“When I see the movie Canvas, I identify with all the characters,” Pantoliano said. “The movie has become a learning tool. Tufts University is using Canvas as a teaching tool. They are using it at Yale University, because it clearly shows a case study. You watch the movie and go, ‘This is an accurate portrayal of what happens to a family.’”

According to its Web site, organizational goals for No Kidding, Me Too! are creating partnerships to ensure a broad-based spectrum of support and input while organizing the creative talents of Hollywood professionals to generate messages for various media and use of celebrity status to ensure the messages are heard.

As founder, Pantoliano said his work with No Kidding, Me Too! has been the most rewarding of his professional career.

“I get healed way more than I can help anybody,” he said.