WEBVTT - Susan Kelechi Watson 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.000 You and I have worked together Boom nailed It, What 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:06.000 You're Gonna Laugh? 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.719 And Celebrity Jeopardy. 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.680 Rumble I was in Rumble Stop It? 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:13.880 Who did you play in Rumble? 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:20.320 Clonk? I was a wrestler. Wow, Yep, yep, we worked together. 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.720 This is why I don't like when, you know, with 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:24.759 the voice acting, they put you in a room by yourself. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:26.560 You don't put you in a room by yourself. 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.360 I think, especially when it's the middle of a global 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.920 pandemic and they put you in a room by yourself. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.120 You literally don't know, don't know anyone. I really don't 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.120 have anything else to say about that except that we 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.120 did work together. So I'm just I'm just closing the 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.640 loop on that. I'm just closing I'm just closing the 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:44.320 loop on that. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:45.440 It's so good to know. 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:51.560 Hi. 0:00:51.760 --> 0:01:01.520 Hey, I'm Susan Kiletchi Watson and I am happy. 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.240 Welcome dear listeners. You know last week I asked you 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.679 to come back, and so I'm very glad that you did. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.480 Thank you. This is Off the Beat and I am 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.959 your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today this is us, and by us, 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:25.720 of course, I mean me and Susan Colecchi Watson. That's right, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.240 I have the Beth Pearson from one of the most 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:34.880 watch shows in recent memory on television or streaming. This 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.880 is Us. But she is so much more than just 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:44.200 an excellent actor on a highly acclaimed and beloved show. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:49.120 She is also an Oxford trained thespian, a producer who 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:53.560 can call names like Angela Davis and Oprah, and an 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.200 absolutely radiant person that I was so happy to get 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.120 to know today. So let's talk about her childhood in Brooklyn, 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:08.280 her impeccable resume, and her new life in the White House. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:13.480 That's right on the upcoming Shonda Rhime's murder mystery series 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.600 The Residents. Listen up, everybody. I think you're gonna have 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.680 a lot to learn from my well, my new best friend, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.200 the brilliant Susan Colecchi Watson. 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:37.239 Burblon Squeak, I love it, Burblon Squeak, Burble and Squeaker 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.160 Cook get every more lift over. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:57.040 From the night before. Hi, Susan, Hi, how's it going? 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:58.960 Pretty good? How's it going? 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.320 Uh know what, I have no complaints and if I 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.800 did not, many people would care anyway, So I'm just good. 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:11.120 Keep it to myself. Where where am I talking to 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:11.960 you from today? 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.440 I am coming to live from the borough of Brooklyn. 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.480 Coming to you live. Well, that was a question for 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.600 me if you ever made the move over to Los Angeles. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.440 So are you so you're still in uh mainly in 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:25.200 New York. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.200 I'm mainly well, you know, I cannot say mainly. I 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:32.040 could say that I have a home base in New York, Okay, 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:38.280 but I would say I am not here all the time. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.600 I just need I need to have someplace I call home. 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:44.960 So this this is it, you know, you know, you 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.960 know what we call that, Susan, we call that. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.520 I know, I keep your b words to yourself. I'm 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.840 trying to like not do you know what I'm saying, Like, 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.200 I don't know, I don't know, but I think recently, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.240 like I just got back from LA two days ago, 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:05.480 Brian no litter, and like I think for the first time, 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.160 like I shot a whole series for like six years, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.600 and this is the first time I said to myself, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.480 I might be by coastal. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.599 Is uh we're going to talk about uh, your your 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.200 news series. I'm very excited about that. But are you 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.960 uh so you're done with that now? 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.760 I literally Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we just wrapped it after 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.600 probably a year, a year and two months. Oh god, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.640 it was. Yeah, it's about that long for eight episodes, 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.600 I mean mostly due to two strikes mostly why it 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:40.280 took that long. 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.600 Yeah, I read something about I heard. 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:43.520 That that that. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:44.599 Yeah, I heard. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.080 Yeah, it's kind of major. 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:50.520 It was. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.719 It was in the news. Uh, for sure. I'm so 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:54.760 excited to talk to you. 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.040 I'm even more excited after after doing a little research 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:03.479 on you. I've been a fan of yours for quite 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:10.440 a while really not yes now, and just after reading 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.880 about you, I think I'm an even bigger fan. You 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.720 grew up You grew up there in the borough of Brooklyn. 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.400 I did. I grew up here and Long Island. So 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.400 it was like first eight years I was born in Brooklyn, 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.520 of course, and then raised half of my childhood in 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:29.680 Long Island. Then the second half, sorry half of my 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.960 childhood in Brooklyn. Then second half was in Long Island, 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.120 and then after college I moved back to Brooklyn. So 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.359 I've been in Brooklyn for the majority of my life. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:38.960 That's home. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.760 That's it. Yeah, it's been home. I'm you know, people 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.560 somewhat of a New Yorker, but as I travel more, 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.880 I think that that's shifting a bit. I think, I 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:50.479 just I'm always going to be that in my heart, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:52.920 and I'm always a Brooklyn girl in my heart no 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.039 matter where I roam. I just I think that I'll 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.120 tell you a funny story. I remember we were leaving. 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.599 I grew up in Section in East New York and 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.880 in Start City, right and I remember when we were leaving, 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.640 and I like eight years old. I was the last 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.680 person to walk out of the apartment door and I 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:15.279 was helping my mother sweep okay, yeah, And she walked 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.800 out and I walked out behind her, and as dramatic 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.440 as I was at eight, I turned around and I said, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:27.200 I'll be back, and I want so. I just think, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.120 in my heart, it's just who I be. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.960 Well, I mean, I you know you you gave me 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.080 some news about the strike. I hadn't heard about that. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.120 I don't know if you've heard this or not. Brooklyn's 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.919 changed quite a bit. I don't know, I don't know 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:50.520 if you've noticed. But Brooklyn, I mean when I started going, 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.840 and I am not a New Yorker, but I was 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.680 there quite a lot that was never a place, that 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:58.640 was never a visitor's destination. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.240 Now it's like you have to go there. 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.119 That's where, That's where's where everything everything is now. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:10.239 Yeah, so true. It's like I knew when I saw 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.120 like I was living kind of deep and ben Stye 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:18.400 and Stuyvesant Heights and Bedstye a beautiful area. And I 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:24.000 knew when I started seeing like whole families from like 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:29.320 Europe like wheeling bags behind them and like looking on 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.280 their phone for like an address, I was like, wait, wait, 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:36.360 what's that mean? I was like, this is too far 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.160 to just have missed the stop, you know, off the 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.080 A train, you know what I'm saying. So it really 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.880 did start to to it had shifted. I mean, there 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.200 are some times that I even don't recognize certain areas, 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.920 which is you know, for me, if I'm being honest, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.680 it's there's a lot of heartbreak that comes along with that, 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.160 and also a lot of things that make me think, well, gosh, 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.280 why couldn't it have been like this, you know, why 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.400 couldn't there have been attention paid to you know, the 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.400 streets and keeping up buildings and you know, making sure, 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.840 you know, keeping crime low and just all these things 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.840 that I feel like could have had that same attention 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.920 had the money been invested before that, and so those 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.840 type of things, those are the things that I think about, 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.080 especially as a black woman growing up here and have 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.200 been here all my life and child of immigrants, you know, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:29.520 and so much of that population comes to Brooklyn to 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.679 build lives for themselves, and so many of them are entrepreneurial. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.960 Like if you come into Flatbush and you know, there 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.320 are areas in East New York, you just see such 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:42.240 a thriving Caribbean community. These are people who come and 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.080 they build and make away from themselves, like my parents did. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:51.000 My parents came and they had four kids together, and 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.440 they worked a job and went to school, and they 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.440 made sure they got like their masters so that they 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.480 could go and you know, do the things that they 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.920 wanted to do. And my dad became an engineer, and 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.360 my mom is like a psychiatric nurse, you know. So 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.319 they do all these things to like better than leaves 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:08.719 and better their kids, and they want their kids to 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.360 go to college and all this kind of stuff. So 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.959 there's so many hard working, really great, great people in 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:19.320 this borough that I feel like tried and deserved better 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.520 than what it came. The eighties and nineties but like 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.400 you know what I'm saying, You know, that's that's like 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.400 gentrification for me. I see both sides of it. But 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.400 I also, you know, love New York. I love my city, 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.800 and I know that there are a lot of things 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.480 that we can enjoy now that benefit everybody, right, you know, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.680 And that's impossible not to see as well. 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:47.200 So given that your parents were immigrants, moved there were 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.840 there are things that you feel like you were exposed to, 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:56.199 either culturally or in terms of your extended family. I 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.160 always say extended family slash friend group that gave you 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.520 something there in Brooklyn that you feel like was unique. 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.719 Oh wow, there isn't. I don't know if it's just 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.960 a sort of an organic energy that is here, but 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:15.520 there is this unique sense of cool in Brooklyn, do 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.560 you know what I mean? That's specifically a Brooklyn thing, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.800 you know, And maybe that's the thing that I've always 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.120 It's something that when you experienced it, it's like you 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.560 kind of always want it or long for it or 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:34.199 whatever it is. But it's the sense of being comfortable, 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:40.240 comfortable in your authenticity that is kind of lovely about Brooklyn. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.720 Like I just find that these people are my people 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.240 are so in their skin, you know, in a really 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:52.920 cool way and sort of unafraid of the uniqueness of 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.439 whatever that is, but also kind of very much identified 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.839 with the ones around them that have you know, been 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.640 a part of this culture well. 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:01.680 But grounded and secure. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.199 It feels very grounded. Yeah, it feels very ground Everybody 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:06.880 has their stuff, you know, if we dug in, we 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.280 find some things, you know what I'm saying. But like, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.520 but just overall I think that that's it's very I 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.600 think unique to this borough. I each borough has its 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.679 own thing. Long Island has its own thing that is 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.559 very unique and special about the vibe there as well. 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:28.120 But I found that it's quite identifiable even outside of 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.839 the borough, Like people can kind of sense if you're 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:31.880 from there, you know. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:36.400 That's yeah, no, absolutely. What were you interested in as 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:40.319 a kid? Were you interested in the arts or performing? 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.880 I was from the time I think I was three, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.840 I was interested in performing. I remember my mom took 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.200 me to a modeling agency. You know, Moms was trying 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.760 to help me. She was trying you know what I mean. 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.760 She's you know, just Jamaican woman coming hair and making 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.760 her way. My mom is a very strong, you know, 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:05.160 independent woman, who was fierce in terms of like forging 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.160 a life for herself and very successful at it. And 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.480 so what she saw, you know, her little girl wanted 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.680 to be a part of something. And she took me 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.600 to a modeling agency and I took I remember actually 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.800 taking these pictures. Yeah, these little sad, lonely girl picture. 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.280 I don't know why they maybe looks so sad in 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.240 the day, gonna picture brow but I'm like, my head 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.640 is like leaning on the back of a chair with 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.480 my two hands under knee that just longingly looking up 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.120 into a light. And I remember we came out and 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.679 the guy said to my mom her stomach sticks out 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.560 in her butts to be and I remember it, yeah, yeah, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:47.400 curiously seriously, and my mother the okay, was like, and 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.240 we're done here. Nobody's gonna talk to my kid like that. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:57.480 And but it's sort of like never it never died 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.280 in me. But I appreciated the fact maybe that didn't 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:04.440 start so young, because the way I am in the 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:08.679 business at this stage in my life is different because 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.040 I entered into it, you know, as an adult young adult. 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:13.480 But I entered into it as an adult. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.080 Right were you did you were you seeing? I mean 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.520 obviously New York again spoiler alert. New York has a 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.040 lot of theater and it's a thriving ARTSYE were you 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.840 going and seeing shows at a fairly young age. Was 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.440 that something you were interested in doing? 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.600 No, But I remember my parents like if somebody came 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.360 up to visit, if somebody came up from Jamaica to visit, 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.240 or something like that. I remember them getting all just 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.360 stuff and going to Broadway, right, you know, and it 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.679 was a big deal. They had gotten these tickets and 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.120 I mean, honey, the first came out. I mean, it 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.320 was like a thing to go to Broadway. So I 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.920 had this imagination of Manhattan and what it would be 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.080 like to go to school in Manhattan and you know, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.680 go be on stage. I mean I just had this 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.240 imagine the nation about it. But I did not go 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.400 until and it was my mom who took me and 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:11.360 my younger brother to see Five Guys named Mo. I 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:13.880 think it was that it was on Broadway, and I 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.439 remember there it was like a review type of show, 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.240 and I remember watching it and there was a moment 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.800 where they say they invited the audience of one stay. 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.040 Anybody who wanted to be up on stage could come 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.840 up for this for this for the song, and I 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:35.360 think it was called pus Okay, all right, it's fine, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.680 it's foe. And I remember I was like ooh me 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.120 and I jumped up and I was one of the 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.000 people who got to like dance across the stage. And 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.240 that was sort of me. Like any opportunity I got, 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.360 I took it. If the opportunity was there, or I 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:57.000 was at home kind of creating dances and singing and 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.640 waiting for an opportunity to like do it at a 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.360 talent show, and you know, I went a little money 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.560 here and there, you know what I mean, and that 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.400 type of thing. And I grew up dancing, so there 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.280 was performance with dancing and competitions with dancing, so there 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.040 was there was that I kept it as a part 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:15.960 of my of my life, and I think there was 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.360 like the tiny little secret within myself that that's what 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:22.760 I wanted to do. But I think to sound realistic 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.000 in any way, I came up with like, oh, I 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.240 want to be you know, when I was young, I 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.600 wanted to be a waitress, and when I was older, 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.720 I wanted to be a lawyer or maybe a writer. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.320 You know, it's these things, but deep down underneath, I 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.440 was like, I really want to do this. I just don't. 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:41.880 I don't know if that's the thing to say, or 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.800 or maybe I didn't fully know how to do that, 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:47.440 you know. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.120 Yeah, I mean I think in a way and I 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:52.400 don't want to put words in your mouth. 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.000 I mean that I was the same like I will. 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:59.200 I've defined it now for myself, like that was an 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.920 activity that I did, you know, like theater and in 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.600 school and stuff like that. But I never, like my 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.240 brain never went to, oh, that's what I want to 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.800 do when I grow up. I think, right, yeah, and 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:13.480 a lawyer. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:14.440 That's a funny thing. 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.200 And I think, you know, my parents will say now like, 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.960 well that was because that was another way to perform. 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.520 And I don't know if they're thinking about lawyer like 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:24.240 like on TV. 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:25.440 I don't know. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:27.920 My sister's a lawyer. I don't know how much performing 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.440 she actually does. It seems like she pushes a lot 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:34.000 of paper. But for me, it was more of an activity. Now, 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.640 you you went to Howard, I read and got a BFA. 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.600 At that point were you were you studying theater? 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.920 Yeah? So that I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.160 and I started off writing so I started off as 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.680 like an English major, okay, and I'd never been more 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:58.040 depressed in my life. Everything I couldn't, you know. I 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.240 saw so many ces. It was terrible, and so I 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.480 just like go back to my dorm and just curl 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.280 them in my bed. I just wasn't enjoying it. And 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.800 then one day I just walked across the yard, which 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.080 is like the middle of Howard. It's sort of this 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.640 iconic space at Howard where all students gather, and at 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:19.919 the top of the yard at one end is like 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:24.239 our huge library, I believe it's moreland spring guard at 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.359 the top of the yard, and then at the other 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.520 end it's the College of Fine Arts, which is now 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.879 the CHAT was in the College of Fine Arts, and 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.080 I remember I was in. I was I was sort 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.840 of on the right side of the yard, and I 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.040 was in this building. I don't even know what it's called, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.240 because that's how much I committed that to memory. And 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.119 I walked out of the class one day and I 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.840 just literally walked diagonally across the yard to the College 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.439 of Fine Arts. And I just walked in and I 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:58.320 was like, can I just do this? And they were like, yeah, 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.080 you want to change you major. Yeah, you know what 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:08.199 I'm saying. And I remember Miss Janet, Miss Janet, who 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.520 might still be there. I love you, Miss Janet. She 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.360 was just like, yeah, yeah, you can do that. And 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.119 I think I may have said in my classes whatever, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.240 but I changed my major and I did not tell 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:23.440 my parents. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. The padres were not 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:27.240 necessarily feeling me being an acting major, so I didn't 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.639 tell them. I just did it. And then I don't know, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.080 it was a while before I told them, but I 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:35.919 invited them to come see a show that I was 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.000 in and they came down and they saw it and 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.840 they were like, okay, you know, and I told them 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:44.560 that I had switched my major and they're like, okay, 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.639 as long as you have English as your minor, so 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.840 you have a backup. And I said, yes, great, I'll 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.440 be fine. And then I started taking so many dance 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:58.040 classes that I had an acting major and a dance miner. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:06.720 So good luck parents. The Immigrant dream. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.639 It's so funny. I can't even believe this is coming up. 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.680 This was not This is gonna sound like a weird 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.360 humble brag, but I will tell you this, Okay that 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.280 because you're talking about writing. And I right now, at 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.120 this moment, it'll be by the time this airs, it'll 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.640 be over, so I won't get in trouble with anybody. 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.280 I am delivering the commencement address at my college. 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.040 Wow, in just a couple of days. 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.200 I'm very proud of you, and let. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:33.720 Me well, no, but let me say this. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:40.800 It's it doesn't that doesn't involve performing that that involves writing. Yeah, 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:45.520 and so it's me now like I feel like I'm 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.800 back in college. I'm back in college with a deadline 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.800 to finish this paper that I then am going to 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:54.760 read in front of my class. 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:56.760 Oh my gosh, I. 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:58.359 Don't remember being more. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.600 And I've written books by in the way Susan, I've 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:06.200 written books. But there's something about this that has transported 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.720 me back to those days. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:09.320 And I took some. 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:14.440 English courses as well. But yeah, trans has transported me back. 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.280 And I'm not I'm not feeling overly comforted. I'm wishing 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.119 that I could change my major or what you like 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.160 an interpretive dance of somebody else's words right now? 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:26.440 What what college are you doing this at? 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.600 S m U Southern Methodist University there in Dallas, Texas. 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:35.479 Okay, fantastic. Listen, here you go. All you need I 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.520 think is like once you find I don't know if 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:38.400 you've written this yet. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.959 Yeah right, I'm in it. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:46.439 Yeah, okay, I feel like once you find your theme 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:51.560 or like your little thesis. 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:50.880 Whatever, there you go. 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.959 That's college. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.000 That's what I'm talking about. That's yeah. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.840 Okay. Something they didn't have we're in college was chat dpts. 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.160 Oh, I can't use that. 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:10.080 I wouldn't want you to, but yeah, it is. That 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:12.320 isn't it. It's crazy and they're all you know, all 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.160 the teachers, they're going to be just in you. 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.840 Oh of course are you kidding me? Especially me? Like 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.000 there is there is? Why is this guy here? And 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:22.439 what is you talking about? 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.920 So you obviously dove in once you changed your majors. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.760 So at what point there did you say like this 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:52.520 is what I'm going to do, this is this. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:53.200 Is my path. 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:55.120 Yeah, I got you, and I. 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.560 Know eventually you went back, you went got your master's 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.840 at Tish, So by then I know he had decided. 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.159 Decided for well, I never I never even wanted to 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.440 do that. I thought I was done with school until 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:09.000 I found out that I just it was Ron van 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:10.560 Lou who kind of showed me I could be a 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.560 way better actor than I actually thought I was. But 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.639 I I decided that. I think that was when I 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:24.600 just everything in me at that point turned on and 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.679 you just know, we know that feeling of when you 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.280 just know there's no other way around that. You know, 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:36.359 you just know, like everything that was dead a minute 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:38.959 ago came to life and you're like, and this is it. 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:41.679 And so that's what happened to me. And it was 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:44.199 probably in that way. I mean, I it's like the 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.920