Speaker 1: I Am all in.
Speaker 2: You, I Am all in with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: podcast Hey.
Speaker 1: Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all In Podcasts one eleven productions,
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio, iHeartMedia, iHeart Podcast. One on one interview with
Speaker 1: Teresa Gary. Let me tell you a little something about Teresa.
Speaker 1: She was in one episode of Gilmore Girl she portrays
Speaker 1: Richard's nurse Franchette after Richard is home recovering from his
Speaker 1: heart attack, and season seven iHeart Podcasts listen on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app Let me tell you a little bit something
Speaker 1: about Teresa. She is from south central LA and has
Speaker 1: become a well known face on both the big and
Speaker 1: small screens. May have seen her recurring and guest starting
Speaker 1: on popular so such as A League of their Own,
Speaker 1: Physical Silicon Valley, and Cis Gray's Anatomy. She's also an
Speaker 1: acting coach with twenty years experience and Teresa, I also
Speaker 1: understand that you were working at Warner Brothers at one point.
Speaker 1: I was, and that's kind of how you got this gig,
Speaker 1: is that you were well known in amongst your workers
Speaker 1: as having a marvelous sense of humor, and they thought
Speaker 1: they thought that you would do well on this show,
Speaker 1: So tell us about all of that, and then how
Speaker 1: you got the audition or did they just give you
Speaker 1: the part?
Speaker 3: Okay, well, yes, I did start working as a production
Speaker 3: accountant at Telepritures Productions and Jim Perritore was the president
Speaker 3: at the time, and he told me that when I
Speaker 3: started there, all of a sudden, it was lot noisier
Speaker 3: on the floor since I started. So this was like
Speaker 3: my first month working there, and he came over to
Speaker 3: my desk one day and he said to me that
Speaker 3: he thought I should be on the other side of
Speaker 3: the camera and I told him, I don't think so,
Speaker 3: I'm an accountant. And he said, well, I think you
Speaker 3: should be doing something, he said, because I think you're
Speaker 3: too big for this cubicle. And I said, okay, all right,
Speaker 3: Well have your people call my people. And I didn't
Speaker 3: really know what that meant at the time, but it
Speaker 3: was kind of funny. It's funny now, and so he
Speaker 3: did have his people call my people and they asked
Speaker 3: me to say some lines in this promo. And you know,
Speaker 3: at the time, the culture over there was it was
Speaker 3: very fun and free and we could just have a
Speaker 3: good time, and so I just thought we were playing
Speaker 3: around and I did it, and then a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks passed and people started calling me telling me they
Speaker 3: saw me on TV in New York and I was like, no,
Speaker 3: I'm not on TV. You know, I'm shooting Burbank. They
Speaker 3: shoot in Chicago, and so it turns out it was me,
Speaker 3: and it was announced in a staff meeting, and so
Speaker 3: I was like, oh wow, this is crazy. So I
Speaker 3: kind of thought, well, if this guy says that I
Speaker 3: should be doing something like this, then maybe I should
Speaker 3: take some classes. So I started training, and seven years
Speaker 3: later I left the company and I was a working
Speaker 3: actor and so I got this audition by attending a
Speaker 3: workshop and it was mar Casey and she had met
Speaker 3: me on a Saturday and she bought me in on
Speaker 3: a Tuesday for this role. And this would have been
Speaker 3: my very first guest star role audition. And I go
Speaker 3: in and she was like, oh my god, that's so great.
Speaker 3: I was totally against type for this role. They weren't
Speaker 3: looking for a black female, and in fact, the role
Speaker 3: said that she was scrawny and she cowered from from
Speaker 3: missus Gilmore. And I was like, okay, well, I can't
Speaker 3: play it like that because nobody's gonna believe. I'm afraid
Speaker 3: of missus Gilmore. She's so tiny and so and you
Speaker 3: know me, that's kind of not going to work. So
Speaker 3: I just did it my way. And so then she said,
Speaker 3: oh that was great. Why don't you when you come
Speaker 3: into the producer session do this? And I said, oh,
Speaker 3: do you want to see it now? She's like sure.
Speaker 3: So I did it. She's like perfect, see you Thursday.
Speaker 3: I said, great, I come in Thursday. All the women
Speaker 3: that were the type were sitting there and they were
Speaker 3: all looking at me, like why is she here? And
Speaker 3: so I go to the director's door. Happened to be
Speaker 3: Lee Challee Chamelle, and I was like I had worked
Speaker 3: with her before, a five day co star. I knocked
Speaker 3: on her door and I was like, hey, Lee, how
Speaker 3: you doing. She was like Teresa, what are you doing here?
Speaker 3: And I said, oh, I'm auditioning today. She was like
Speaker 3: for what? And I said for France said, and she
Speaker 3: was like, no, you're not. I was like, yeah, I am.
Speaker 3: She's like okay, let's get started. This is gonna be fun.
Speaker 3: So she brought everybody in and then I came in
Speaker 3: last I did the thing, and everybody stood up afterwards
Speaker 3: and everybody said something really amazing to me, and I
Speaker 3: was about to cry, but I was like, Okay, let
Speaker 3: me get out of here. I gotta go. I booked it,
Speaker 3: and so that was really awesome. It was a great experience,
Speaker 3: that feeling.
Speaker 1: Huh, Yeah, how'd you find out that you got the job?
Speaker 1: Did you have it? Did your agent call you and.
Speaker 3: Say, yeah, yeah, yeah, my agent called.
Speaker 1: Those are good phone calls, aren't they. There's so many
Speaker 1: that aren't good, right, But yeah.
Speaker 3: Shoot, I mean if you just get anything at all, hey,
Speaker 3: you were great.
Speaker 1: Yeah I'll take that too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, yeah, but it's cool.
Speaker 1: Well, so it was a big full circle moment for you.
Speaker 1: And I guess Jim he territory was right, mm hmm
Speaker 1: he was, he was.
Speaker 3: They all started working right away too. It was crazy.
Speaker 3: It was crazy. So it's just I don't know.
Speaker 1: So what was the next job? What was the next job?
Speaker 3: The next job? I think it was two and a
Speaker 3: half Men, Big Bang Theory. Wow, a couple of those
Speaker 3: Seventh Heaven. Yeah. I started getting a lot of a
Speaker 3: lott of stuff.
Speaker 1: Oh look at that. So you're going on those big sets.
Speaker 1: Those are multi camera, some of them are multi camera, right.
Speaker 3: I love multicamp, love multicamp.
Speaker 1: It's a fun.
Speaker 3: They are so much fun. It's not enough of them
Speaker 3: these days.
Speaker 1: I know. And they're so great and when they do
Speaker 1: them right, they're just like and I'm amazed. I'm just
Speaker 1: amazed because they when they hit, like, just the amount
Speaker 1: of money that Friends continues to make for Warner Brothers
Speaker 1: and all its affiliated partners is massive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wish I would have gotten in on that one, right.
Speaker 3: Or Fraser was good too.
Speaker 1: Uh huh o man or Gilmore Girls. That's that was
Speaker 1: good too.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: You have such a great reaction to Emilyzia Crest request
Speaker 1: of doing you know, non medical errands because you played
Speaker 1: Richard's nurse uh oh in the house. It was Was
Speaker 1: it intimidating the film film those scenes with Kelly Bishop
Speaker 1: because you didn't seem like you were intimidated.
Speaker 3: No, I wasn't at all. She was so sweet. She
Speaker 3: was just the nicest lady ever. And they told me
Speaker 3: they wanted me to be, you know, pretty snappy and
Speaker 3: uh and so I was like, okay, cool. And it
Speaker 3: was great because after after a couple of takes, Hilly
Speaker 3: Bishop got excited because she was like nobody ever comes
Speaker 3: back at me, you know. And then there was one
Speaker 3: time she was like, I love Teresa Gary, I love this,
Speaker 3: I love Princeton, I love this, you know, because you know,
Speaker 3: usually she scares everybody away, and she was so excited
Speaker 3: that somebody was actually coming back at her. So that
Speaker 3: was pretty fun. We had a great time. We had
Speaker 3: a great time.
Speaker 1: And you you worked with ed Herman as well, So
Speaker 1: what was that like. I mean, he was great. He
Speaker 1: got agitated at you, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well he did, and you know, it's funny because
Speaker 3: he didn't really like the way he was talking to me,
Speaker 3: and they actually stopped taping and rewrote until it was
Speaker 3: to his liking, and so I thought that was very
Speaker 3: nice of him to, you know, to support me in
Speaker 3: that way. So I thought that was really cool. And
Speaker 3: I actually ended up working with him again on another
Speaker 3: show called Better with You a while after that. So yeah,
Speaker 3: he was a he was a really really sweet guy.
Speaker 3: He was really sweet.
Speaker 1: And did either one of them offer any advice or
Speaker 1: you really didn't seem to need any.
Speaker 3: No, no real advice. They were just you know, very
Speaker 3: grateful that I was there and thank me for playing
Speaker 3: with them. That was pretty much it.
Speaker 1: So it's season seven of the series. This is when
Speaker 1: you appear. How was it being a guest actor for
Speaker 1: a show that is already well established compared to a
Speaker 1: show that isn't.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, it's it's a very well old machine.
Speaker 3: So everything runs very smoothly, and so you know, that
Speaker 3: was you know what I noticed the most. Everybody knew
Speaker 3: what they were doing, and it was it was just easy.
Speaker 3: It was easy, peasy, you're in, you're out, you know.
Speaker 3: So I had no shoes whatsoever.
Speaker 1: You're so right, you're so new. Shows sometimes take years,
Speaker 1: a couple of years to really get their groove.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they did.
Speaker 1: The first couple of years are just difficult, you know,
Speaker 1: it's difficult to work on shows like that. Yeah organized.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it was very easy for them, and they
Speaker 3: were you know, of course they knew they were they
Speaker 3: were on their way out. So everybody was really relaxed
Speaker 3: and else is doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know when it's gonna be over, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: pressures off.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When was the last time you watched.
Speaker 3: Your episode of Gilmore Girls?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the one you were in. Yeah, have you seen
Speaker 1: it lately?
Speaker 3: It's been a long time now.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you like watching yourself or no, I do.
Speaker 3: I don't mind watching myself. I like to see how
Speaker 3: I fit in, and I'm usually pretty happy with it.
Speaker 3: There's only been one show that I think I wasn't
Speaker 3: happy with the way it fit in.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmmm hmm.
Speaker 3: It wasn't a Warner Brothers Showy.
Speaker 1: So, You've had roles in Apple TV Plus's Physical with
Speaker 1: Rose Rose byrn Rose Byrne and the Amazon series of
Speaker 1: League of Their Own was What was your experience working
Speaker 1: on those shows?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Well, A League of Their Own was
Speaker 3: probably one of the best times I've had, and I
Speaker 3: think that's mostly because we we all we shot in
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh and so we all stayed in a hotel together,
Speaker 3: all the casts, and we just got to know each
Speaker 3: other so well, you know, we we ate together. We
Speaker 3: did everything together. We went to museums and to the movies,
Speaker 3: and you know, we did everything together. And so it
Speaker 3: was the first time I've ever really been able to
Speaker 3: spend that much time with the cast, and we really
Speaker 3: jailed a lot, and a lot of us are very
Speaker 3: close friends. We have lunch here now, so so that
Speaker 3: was a really great time. And then Physical was awesome
Speaker 3: too because that was the second time I was getting
Speaker 3: being able to work with Rose Byrne. I worked with
Speaker 3: her also on the show with her and Seth Rogan.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry the name is escaping me. Don't tell, but
Speaker 3: it was my second time and the first time I
Speaker 3: actually didn't get to necessarily work with her. I got
Speaker 3: to speak with her because it was a telephone conversation,
Speaker 3: but she came over to me and she thanked me
Speaker 3: for being there and you know, and all that good stuff.
Speaker 3: And then when I got on the set of Physical.
Speaker 4: She.
Speaker 3: I reminded her of who I was, and she was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I totally remember you, you know, and
Speaker 3: she was like it came out really good by the way.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh cool, I'm excited about that. And
Speaker 3: so on the set of Physical we were just like
Speaker 3: two buddies, and I was so glad there were so
Speaker 3: many two shots of us, like we really got on
Speaker 3: well and it was a great time. Very grateful for
Speaker 3: that one.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you how you feel Hollywood is representing
Speaker 1: black actors and actresses and writers and directors. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like the representation is still lacking or are you
Speaker 1: happy to see the progress that has being made and
Speaker 1: if not, what would you like to see?
Speaker 3: Well, I think both of those are true. There has
Speaker 3: been some progress, and I am happy to see that,
Speaker 3: but there's always room for more. And I think the
Speaker 3: reason I say that is because there are still things
Speaker 3: behind the scenes that happened that we will never know about,
Speaker 3: and you know, I get to hear about them from
Speaker 3: sometimes people in the room tell you things because now
Speaker 3: you're close to people and who are able to be
Speaker 3: in these rooms, and you know they share information sometimes,
Speaker 3: and so you do know that these things still they
Speaker 3: still do exist. There are still problems, but you know
Speaker 3: they're moving in a certain way, and you know, hey,
Speaker 3: we don't have a whole lot of control other than
Speaker 3: to keep doing what we do, you know, keep writing,
Speaker 3: keep acting, keep training, keep studying, keep being the best
Speaker 3: that you can be. And you know, eventually, maybe our
Speaker 3: lives will be more representative of you know, of our
Speaker 3: daily lives, because like you know, my friends have my
Speaker 3: white friends have lots of black friends, you know, and
Speaker 3: I have lots of white friends. So it's you know,
Speaker 3: my life is very much more colorful, and I think
Speaker 3: that a lot of other people's lives are too, And
Speaker 3: I think that should be represented more.
Speaker 1: So you teach acting as well or have taught acting?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually coach actors.
Speaker 1: Oh you coach, So you're coach for auditions and things
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, coach, And I created a I created my own
Speaker 3: audition to technique called eight Steps to Working Actor, and
Speaker 3: so I teach people with that and they tend to
Speaker 3: take off. Really yeah, pretty exciting, that's you know.
Speaker 1: I used to coach actors as well before I got GIL.
Speaker 1: More of I was you know, I started out probably
Speaker 1: the same way you did it, just helping friends out,
Speaker 1: and they said, you know, you should charge for this
Speaker 1: because I'm getting callbacks, and I'm like, yeah, So I
Speaker 1: started a whole thing, and I was teaching three classes
Speaker 1: a week and I had private students all day. And
Speaker 1: you know, I undercut the market by not charging much
Speaker 1: because you know, people that people that are trying to
Speaker 1: get acting work don't have a lot of money, you know.
Speaker 3: So that's true at.
Speaker 1: The time, you know, twenty five years ago, twenty six
Speaker 1: years ago, when I was doing it, people at that
Speaker 1: time were charging one hundred and fifty bucks or two
Speaker 1: hundred bucks, yeah, for fifty minutes. And I was like, man, yeah,
Speaker 1: I couldn't pay that at that time.
Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, I feel you. I feel you. I
Speaker 3: was lucky when I was, when I was being coached
Speaker 3: myself because I was in accountant I made a lot
Speaker 3: of money. Yeah, I was able to train with the
Speaker 3: best and just do everything I needed to do. And
Speaker 3: that was a huge blessing. That was a huge blessing,
Speaker 3: And I think that's why I kind of took off
Speaker 3: very quickly. I mean because I know people who started
Speaker 3: when I did, or even they were in it before
Speaker 3: I was, and they still don't have the amount of
Speaker 3: credits that I had. Not to brag or anything.
Speaker 1: What's your secret? What's your secret when you walk into
Speaker 1: the room, what is your secret? Because you know that
Speaker 1: auditioning has a little bit to do with acting and
Speaker 1: everything to do with psychology, So what do you do?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't have a secret necessarily. The truth of
Speaker 3: the matter is is I'm just there to do my job.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm just there to do my job. I've
Speaker 3: done the work and I just come in and do
Speaker 3: that and then have somewhere to go afterwards. That's it.
Speaker 1: You. So you show them, you show producers in the
Speaker 1: room that you know what your job is because every
Speaker 1: character has a job to do, and that's the problem
Speaker 1: with a lot of people that sort of overdo their
Speaker 1: auditions in a large role or small role. It tells
Speaker 1: the producers that they don't know what their job is,
Speaker 1: and we're going to have to direct direct them into
Speaker 1: knowing what their job is. So that's half the battle,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, because they don't necessarily have the time to
Speaker 3: do that on set. You know. They got bigger fish
Speaker 3: to fry on set, you know, and so they need
Speaker 3: people there who know what they're doing already. And I
Speaker 3: think if they can feel that confidence in you, then
Speaker 3: you're probably more likely to get hired.
Speaker 1: Right. Interesting. How do people access your eight steps? Is
Speaker 1: it online?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, I actually teach it in person, one on one.
Speaker 3: It is up on my website Ttersagary dot com. It's
Speaker 3: on the acting page, and uh, you know, just reach
Speaker 3: out to me. That's it. It's very simple. And then
Speaker 3: I actually go to my clients. So I like for
Speaker 3: them to feel special, so I come to them.
Speaker 1: You might be hearing from me. I might need to
Speaker 1: brush up on some of my techniques.
Speaker 3: Not a problem at all.
Speaker 1: All right, We're going to play a little game called
Speaker 1: rapid fire. Okay, this does not mean you have to
Speaker 1: answer quickly. Okay, and it'll test a little bit your
Speaker 1: knowledge of ki More Girls. But here we go.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I'm gonna lose. I'm gonna lose.
Speaker 1: No, no, the first question. If you get by the
Speaker 1: first question, you're okay. And this is a tough question,
Speaker 1: and I apologize in advance. Ready, h how do you
Speaker 1: like your coffee?
Speaker 3: Black?
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 3: I don't even drink coffee.
Speaker 1: Are your team Logan, Team Jess or Team Dean?
Speaker 3: I don't know any of those people.
Speaker 1: Who is your favorite Gilmore Girls couple Luke and Lorelei
Speaker 1: or Emily and Richard.
Speaker 3: Oh it's got to be Emily and Richard. I just
Speaker 3: love too grumpy people together. It's great, right right?
Speaker 1: And uh? Would you rather work with Michelle or Kirk? Mmmm? Kirk? Why?
Speaker 3: M He's a man.
Speaker 1: Kirk's a man?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, all right? Hey, what would you order at Luke's diner? Oh?
Speaker 3: Probably burger and fries.
Speaker 1: That's the right order. Who would you rather hang out with?
Speaker 1: Paris or Lane?
Speaker 3: I don't know Paris or Lane, you know, I only
Speaker 3: know the people I was in my theme.
Speaker 1: With Okay, all right, that was all the leads. The
Speaker 1: answer is Lane by the way.
Speaker 3: Oh that's the answer.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's the correct answer. Harvard or Yale or drop
Speaker 1: out and live in the poolhouse.
Speaker 3: Well I think when I was younger, I might have
Speaker 3: said Harvard, but I think now I'd live in that poolhouse.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Would you rather attend to da our event with
Speaker 1: Emily or a town meeting with Taylor?
Speaker 3: I go for the town meeting. That might be pretty interesting.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, Gilmore. Girl's character that you would want as
Speaker 1: a roommate, I'd.
Speaker 3: Have to say Richard Richard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, why Richard? Why Richard?
Speaker 3: Because he's so laid back, and he's he's you know,
Speaker 3: he's so big, like he's he's tall, and he's strong.
Speaker 3: He's like an oak tree, you know, right, And I
Speaker 3: think I would need somebody like that close to to
Speaker 3: be able to talk to.
Speaker 1: Frankly, Okay, something in your life you are all in on.
Speaker 3: I am all in on. I don't want to be corny,
Speaker 3: but I'm all into all in on retreats. I love
Speaker 3: spiritual retreats.
Speaker 1: Oh wonderful, wonderful. Yeah, So you go, you go on
Speaker 1: a lot of those I do.
Speaker 3: I go on a lot and uh, I'm starting to
Speaker 3: host them also, and uh, you know I'm a sound
Speaker 3: bowl player. Things like that. I love all that interesting.
Speaker 1: That is so interesting. Where do you Where are these
Speaker 1: retreat treats stake? Were they up in Ohio or Santa
Speaker 1: Barbara places?
Speaker 3: Different places? We go everywhere. I just got back from
Speaker 3: Bali actually, oh my goodness. And then before that I
Speaker 3: was in Joshua Tree. I'm planning to do one next
Speaker 3: year and to Loom So yeah, we go everywhere.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. Well, yeah, it sounds very very interesting. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure talking to you, getting to know
Speaker 1: you a little bit. Congratulations on any success. I hope from
Speaker 1: continued success. Yes, you're certainly a force to be reckoned
Speaker 1: with because you stole the scenes that you were in
Speaker 1: and Gilmore girls, and that's saying a lot. Actually, thank
Speaker 1: you so much when you're working with like three I
Speaker 1: cons in the room and yeah, to take their eyes
Speaker 1: off you.
Speaker 3: So I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Anyway, all the best to you, and thank you so
Speaker 1: much to Reesa Carrie for your time and good luck
Speaker 1: with everything.
Speaker 3: Okay, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: It was awesome, our pleasure.
Speaker 4: Thank you all right, bye bye, hey everybody
Speaker 1: And also again follow us on Instagram at i Am
Speaker 1: All In Podcast and email us at Gilmour at iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: dot com