Speaker 1: And this is like the one thing that I hate
Speaker 1: hearing from a director and you're you're like, oh gosh,
Speaker 1: no is when you're doing the scene that you audition
Speaker 1: with and they hired you for, and they're like, do
Speaker 1: it more like your audition? You know, do it more
Speaker 1: like the original? Hi? I'm Annie Winters and I am
Speaker 1: playing Charlie Burke, the badass navigator on the Morville. Hello,
Speaker 1: dear listeners, and welcome to yet another episode of Off
Speaker 1: the Beat. I am your host, Brian baum Gartner. Now
Speaker 1: you know that I had my friend Jessica'soor on the
Speaker 1: podcast a couple of months back, and one of the
Speaker 1: things we talked about was Seth McFarland's amazing sci fi
Speaker 1: series The Orville. It's a great show with some really
Speaker 1: interesting stories and characters, which is why I am so
Speaker 1: excited to have another or Villian. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's a word, but on the podcast this week is
Speaker 1: Anie Winters. Today we're gonna get into her Texas roots
Speaker 1: and why she considers herself more of an L A
Speaker 1: N than a Texan. Her words, not mine. Annie also
Speaker 1: has some great insights about how The Orville balances comedy
Speaker 1: and drama and how she became Charlie Burke, Everyone's favorite
Speaker 1: navigator who also happens to have some pretty special skills.
Speaker 1: You'll see what I mean here she is Annie Winters. Everyone,
Speaker 1: Bubble and squeak. I love it. Bubble and squeak, Bubble
Speaker 1: and squeaker, cooking at every more left over from the
Speaker 1: nut before. What's happening? Hi? How are you? This is
Speaker 1: my first interview over zoom like this. This is cool.
Speaker 1: Let me just say this, so far it's going great. Okay, nice,
Speaker 1: so far, really well, so far, it's amazing. How are you.
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm good. I'm about to go to New
Speaker 1: York for the Upfronts tomorrow to you know, talk more
Speaker 1: about this show that's coming out soon. So I'm excited. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: I remember my many years at the upfronts. Stay hydrated, okay,
Speaker 1: with water. That's my one piece of advice is stay
Speaker 1: hydrated with water. Yeah, that's a daily goal that I
Speaker 1: try to try to uphold. So we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the Orville launching like now shortly. I wanted to go
Speaker 1: back with you though I understand you're from the great
Speaker 1: state of Texas. Is Dallas, Texas is that right. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am from Texas, but I've been out here for
Speaker 1: about eleven years now, so I don't I consider myself
Speaker 1: more in l A and and l A in Yeah,
Speaker 1: like an alien, I'd like it. I like that. I
Speaker 1: have not heard that. I actually just came up with
Speaker 1: that because of the show and also in l A
Speaker 1: and sounds cool, No, it sounds really cool. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you know this. I spent some time
Speaker 1: in the great State of Texas, in the city of Dallas.
Speaker 1: I went to s m U. I am told that
Speaker 1: you almost went to s m U as well, yes,
Speaker 1: hence the reaction. Yeah, yes, I almost went to s
Speaker 1: m u UM. I had like the bumper sticker and everything.
Speaker 1: And what's funny is I went to audition for their
Speaker 1: acting program because I was like, I just really want
Speaker 1: a scholarship, you know, because SMUs like really it's a
Speaker 1: big school money wise. So I went there and I
Speaker 1: had already been working a little bit too in l A. Like,
Speaker 1: I had done a couple of shows as a kid,
Speaker 1: and I had a resume, you know all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So I went there audition and they kind of looked
Speaker 1: at me like, why are you wanting to come to
Speaker 1: our acting school if you already have an agent manager
Speaker 1: and you've worked in l A. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's just isn't that what we're doing now?
Speaker 1: It's like college, And they're like, this is kind of
Speaker 1: where we want our students to get to. So if
Speaker 1: I were you, and they were just really honest with me,
Speaker 1: they told me that I should differ for a year
Speaker 1: see how it goes in l A. And if I
Speaker 1: ever wanted to come back, I could, you know, come back.
Speaker 1: So I did that and then I never I never
Speaker 1: went back. You never, You never went back. So you started,
Speaker 1: as you just mentioned, you started acting early, so you
Speaker 1: were a child actor. Was that an accurate statement? No?
Speaker 1: Not really. Although my dream was to be on Disney
Speaker 1: and be a child actor, that never really happened, and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of glad that it that my career
Speaker 1: to not the way it did. No. I mean, I
Speaker 1: still I still went to school. I would just take
Speaker 1: off a couple of months here in there for pilot
Speaker 1: season and come out to l A. And I did
Speaker 1: a lot of local things in Dallas to like commercials
Speaker 1: was a big thing. So I kind of thrived on commercials,
Speaker 1: and then I did one Nickelodeon pilot, but it didn't
Speaker 1: really take me out of school for that long and
Speaker 1: it didn't get picked up. It was with Hayley Steinfeld.
Speaker 1: Actually really yeah, like a long time ago. Nickelodeon Pilot
Speaker 1: didn't get picked up. Yeah, but I mean when I
Speaker 1: think of a child actor, I think of really young
Speaker 1: I guess I really started taking it seriously when I
Speaker 1: moved out here. I mean I had done a couple
Speaker 1: other things in between, but school was kind of my
Speaker 1: main priority because I didn't know what I wanted to do. Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like you had, you had accomplished
Speaker 1: enough that the good folks at my alma mater SMU
Speaker 1: thought that, you know, you should give it, you should
Speaker 1: give it a go. You were, you were going back
Speaker 1: and forth from l A and Dallas, and I know
Speaker 1: Dallas had started to establish quite a good film and
Speaker 1: television A lot of stuff started getting filmed there, and
Speaker 1: a lot of friends who went back there. Actually one
Speaker 1: of our good family friends that we would stay with
Speaker 1: in Valencia, they all were in Dallas for Prison Break.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that that was the show, right,
Speaker 1: every there was like a whole crew of people from
Speaker 1: prison Break that moved to Dallas and we're living there
Speaker 1: for a couple of years, and their kids went to
Speaker 1: my school. We were all friends, and yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of things happening in Dallas. I do want to ask
Speaker 1: you about that. When you were ten, you sang a
Speaker 1: solo at the American Airlines Center, That is correct? Was
Speaker 1: this the national anthem before a game? Or was this that?
Speaker 1: What did you sing? I never sang the national anthem.
Speaker 1: I got asked a couple of times, and I was
Speaker 1: so nervous because I was like, if I screw these
Speaker 1: lyrics up, I will forever be known as like forgetting
Speaker 1: the national anthem in front of everybody. Just I sang
Speaker 1: a solo for our church on Easter and they had
Speaker 1: like all the different churches, which in Dallas are massive things,
Speaker 1: and it could fill the American Airlines Center. So I
Speaker 1: sang a solo with the Veggie Tales as a ten
Speaker 1: year old. It was really it was quite fun. The
Speaker 1: Veggie Tales were there. They were there in real life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the little Tomato and l Larry the Tomato, No Larry,
Speaker 1: No Larry is the cucumber. I don't remember the tomatoes.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't remember what that I but I
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about, the cucumber and the tomato,
Speaker 1: and I don't I think some broccoli was there too. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you decide not to go to s m U. What
Speaker 1: was it about acting or the work in film and television? Like,
Speaker 1: what what was it that made you move to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles at that time? I don't know. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: just always liked performing. I was a competitive cheerleader. I
Speaker 1: like being on stage. I don't know, I just always
Speaker 1: like to challenge myself. And there was something about acting
Speaker 1: that each and every opportunity was different, And it was
Speaker 1: the kind of unknowing of when my next job is
Speaker 1: going to be and knowing that I don't have to
Speaker 1: necessarily have a specific maybe character or thing for the
Speaker 1: rest of my life like a normal kind of job
Speaker 1: just really was exciting to me, Like the unknowing of
Speaker 1: it all. And also just you know, when I do
Speaker 1: a scene and I feel like I can play a
Speaker 1: different character and dive into something and I feel good
Speaker 1: about it and it's completely different than something else I've done,
Speaker 1: It's just really fulfilling to me. Yeah, I noticed early
Speaker 1: on you got quite a bit of work on a
Speaker 1: variety of television shows, guest star stuff. I find as
Speaker 1: an actor nothing more difficult than being a guest star.
Speaker 1: Because The Fosters was your first like recurring. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm talking about before The Fosters. Gosh, I don't
Speaker 1: even I can't even look, you can't even remember. But
Speaker 1: The Fosters is the first time. This is a big
Speaker 1: show was on five years. It was the first time
Speaker 1: that you showed up. You got to recur and come back.
Speaker 1: So that's what I was asking, Like, the difference between
Speaker 1: that sort of coming in and just doing one job
Speaker 1: and leaving that experience of of for the first time
Speaker 1: being on a show, an established show that ran five years,
Speaker 1: and getting to come back, what was that like? I mean,
Speaker 1: that was really fun. That was That show was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite shows to film because it was just
Speaker 1: a bunch of kids. It was my first time being
Speaker 1: in l a and like being surrounded by people kind
Speaker 1: of my age, making friends and getting to work with
Speaker 1: your friends and playing a really fun character. They actually
Speaker 1: wanted me to come back for another season, but that
Speaker 1: was at the same time that I had booked Tyrant
Speaker 1: and I was a serious regular on that, so I
Speaker 1: decided to do that instead. Um, I had no idea
Speaker 1: that that that show would have such a longevity and
Speaker 1: now they have like different spinoffs and everything. Yeah, did
Speaker 1: you know when you were cast on that? Right, so
Speaker 1: you're coming off doing you know, little things and you
Speaker 1: get the Fosters. Did you know right away that it
Speaker 1: would be recurring or did that just begin to evolve
Speaker 1: and you started doing more episodes over time? Do you remember? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I remember being like maybe two episodes and then they
Speaker 1: kind of just would always say, hey, we want her
Speaker 1: back for another one, or we want her back for
Speaker 1: another one. Actually, my first day on set of that,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the director who hired me. It was
Speaker 1: the scene that I had auditioned with. And this is
Speaker 1: like the one thing that I hate hearing from a
Speaker 1: director and you're you're like, oh gosh, know is when
Speaker 1: you're doing the scene that you audition with and they
Speaker 1: hired you for and they're like, do it more like
Speaker 1: your audition, you know, do it more like the original?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, no, I suck. I didn't. I'm
Speaker 1: not doing it right. I'm not doing it right. And
Speaker 1: I was like freaking out, like what did I do
Speaker 1: in the audition? I don't know. I thought I was
Speaker 1: going to get fired. Actually that was my first instinct.
Speaker 1: I was like, the director said, I didn't do it right.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get fired on my first job. This
Speaker 1: is so embarrassing. And then I ended up coming back
Speaker 1: a lot. So no, that's awesome. But that's sort of
Speaker 1: what I was talking about before, that experience, like everybody
Speaker 1: knows each other, and now it sounds like eventually, you know,
Speaker 1: became an incredible experience for you and you made friends.
Speaker 1: But you're there, you've auditioned, you don't really know what
Speaker 1: the show is, and you try to do it and they, yeah,
Speaker 1: they say something like that, which is like, do it
Speaker 1: like your audition, which of course is the worst. You
Speaker 1: want to be in the moment and you want to
Speaker 1: be alive and and interacting with your scene partner, and
Speaker 1: it's like no, no, no, go back and do it
Speaker 1: like you did when you were alone on your sofa
Speaker 1: or whatever. I find that so I find that so difficult. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or like just do less, you know, just do less.
Speaker 1: Don't be as prepared. That was another note too. I
Speaker 1: will never forget getting on set. I'm like, just do
Speaker 1: less okay with energy Okay, great, those two I can
Speaker 1: totally bind together and try to do a good job.
Speaker 1: When they tell me to do less, I just do more.
Speaker 1: So just don't worry, just don't just ignore, just ignore
Speaker 1: that they just want something different. Eventually you get cast
Speaker 1: as Lauren in sand Castles. Do you remember the moment
Speaker 1: you found out about that? Yes, that was my first
Speaker 1: indie movie and first booking after moving out here for real.
Speaker 1: And actually I was doing community college, taking a couple
Speaker 1: of classes because I kind of wanted to stay up
Speaker 1: on my school just in case. And um, I booked
Speaker 1: that within like a week, and I asked the school
Speaker 1: if they would work with me on you know, going
Speaker 1: out to Indiana because that's where it filmed, and they
Speaker 1: were like, no, we don't work with actors, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, okay, well then I quit school, so
Speaker 1: then I left. But no, it was I found that
Speaker 1: was actually kind of more of a It wasn't, I
Speaker 1: guess as exciting as like maybe the Fosters and stuff.
Speaker 1: I knew a lot of the people that were doing it,
Speaker 1: and my acting coach still at this time, Saxon Trainer,
Speaker 1: who I love, was going to be playing my mom,
Speaker 1: and so I got basically like a month of acting schooling,
Speaker 1: working with her every single day, with her being kind
Speaker 1: of there on set and being my mom. But that
Speaker 1: was just like that going to Indiana having my first
Speaker 1: film and working with all those people. Really, I think
Speaker 1: was a cool experience for my first thing to do
Speaker 1: out here. You're still working with her, that acting teacher. Yes,
Speaker 1: she is the only acting coach I've ever been, even
Speaker 1: when I came out here for months at a time.
Speaker 1: Do you bring the work from the class into the
Speaker 1: roles that you're doing or do you try to let
Speaker 1: that be on the side, use that as exercise, you
Speaker 1: know what? Good question? I mean, to be honest, I
Speaker 1: once I started kind of working and having so many auditions,
Speaker 1: I didn't really go to her classes. I just have
Speaker 1: private sessions with her on each character. So I kind
Speaker 1: of go in there and talk about each character like
Speaker 1: a therapy session and kind of get to the bottom
Speaker 1: of it, make it a little bit different, and we'll
Speaker 1: kind of like assess a background story for the size
Speaker 1: if we don't have a script and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of we work together character by character.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't have like certain techniques that
Speaker 1: she would have taught, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: outside of an audition. That's interesting that you use another
Speaker 1: person as you're creating, you know, the specific character for
Speaker 1: specific roles. Do you ever think about your characters physically,
Speaker 1: like how they move or behave physically. Yes, I mean
Speaker 1: that's just kind of I would like to say happens
Speaker 1: a little little bit naturally. Like I mean, Charlie on
Speaker 1: the Orville is going to be more structured and like
Speaker 1: headheld high, especially in our costumes. Then maybe you know
Speaker 1: the daughter on Tyrant where I'm like chilling by the point.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just you have a little bit of
Speaker 1: a different mannerisms. But I think it comes just based
Speaker 1: off what you're thinking about as the character naturally, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Yeah, Like I don't think too hard
Speaker 1: about the motions, but I think it kind of comes
Speaker 1: through if you're in tune with the character in general.
Speaker 1: You worked on a bunch of films Past The Light,
Speaker 1: The Bride, He bought online a Mom and Dad, So
Speaker 1: every audition you would get, you would work with your
Speaker 1: acting teacher. Yeah, And every time I would book something,
Speaker 1: we would schedule like different sessions and go through the
Speaker 1: entire script to kind of map out the different things,
Speaker 1: because you know, you don't film things in order. So
Speaker 1: I always wanted to maintain that arc that you may
Speaker 1: not remember on that day of set that you've already
Speaker 1: been through or is going to happen, so that it
Speaker 1: all maps out, like, well, people don't realize that you
Speaker 1: don't film things in order. My favorite story, my weirdest story.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if it's favorite. I did an
Speaker 1: episode of Criminal Minds, which is very bizarre show anyway,
Speaker 1: because the guest star that comes in as like a
Speaker 1: serial killer or whatever, that person becomes the lead of
Speaker 1: the episode, like it's about that person, and all of
Speaker 1: the series regulars are kind of supporting that person. I
Speaker 1: show up and it's like the Docks of Long Beach,
Speaker 1: Day one, the Docks of Long Beach, like a seven
Speaker 1: pm to seven am shoot, and we filmed the scene
Speaker 1: where I eventually get caught or whatever, and I deliver
Speaker 1: what is like a three page monologue about why I'm
Speaker 1: this person that I am, and this is the first
Speaker 1: thing that we shoot, and I I struggled so much
Speaker 1: with that because I was like, well, I don't even
Speaker 1: know who this guy is. We haven't talked, and now
Speaker 1: we're starting at the end in a way have to
Speaker 1: work reverse. We have to now put together all of
Speaker 1: the pieces that add up to what that last scene did.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting and very smart, I think too, to
Speaker 1: have that arc in place before you start filming. Especially,
Speaker 1: I always have, like each scene, I have all my
Speaker 1: notes next to it, so it has the different things
Speaker 1: that I've been in or whatever, so I'm prepared for
Speaker 1: each anything that they throw at me for that day,
Speaker 1: unless it was like supposed to be a month later
Speaker 1: or something, and then they're like, oh, you're doing your
Speaker 1: monologue today. I'm like, Nope, not ready for that. I
Speaker 1: thought that that was next month. But other than that, yeah,
Speaker 1: usually the day is pretty pretty solid. That's all. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know we have some extra time today, can we
Speaker 1: shoot scene forty three? And now then you're and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: my gosh, that's my biggest scene. But unless you're playing,
Speaker 1: like like even on the Fosters, like that's like a
Speaker 1: show that you may not need to do that as
Speaker 1: much because they kind of start setting up different storylines
Speaker 1: and then you kind of fall into that storyline where
Speaker 1: I feel like you can be natural with your best
Speaker 1: friend or the boyfriend, like you already have that backstory
Speaker 1: because it's been going on for a while. So it's
Speaker 1: just kind of playing a little bit more with movies.
Speaker 1: For sure. Mom and Dad was really fun. Nicolas Cage.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to see his new movie. Nicolas Cage
Speaker 1: and Salma Blair were my parents and they were trying
Speaker 1: to kill me the whole time, and that was like
Speaker 1: just the greatest. So that movie and the Bride he
Speaker 1: bought online, they were both thrillers. Is that is that
Speaker 1: fun to do? Yeah, it's thrilling. Yeah, I actually really
Speaker 1: do like thrillers are fun because I like being at
Speaker 1: high stakes as an actor because it just makes for
Speaker 1: a fun day for me. Yeah, and also like the
Speaker 1: act and like the running and the falling down and
Speaker 1: like the screaming and the you know, getting her hands dirty,
Speaker 1: like I don't know, just it's just a little bit
Speaker 1: more kind of a free for all that feels fun
Speaker 1: to me. But I really love, I mean drama, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't want to just be running around
Speaker 1: and screaming all day, so I like intensity. I guess
Speaker 1: speaking of drama, I want to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about your time on Zach and Mia talk about your
Speaker 1: time on that. The process of getting that role. I
Speaker 1: kind of forget how that came about. I didn't audition
Speaker 1: like normally. That was something that they were doing with
Speaker 1: Awesomeness TV at the time, and they had asked me
Speaker 1: if I was interested in reading the book to see
Speaker 1: if I was interested in the character, and I did,
Speaker 1: and I was I was like, Wow, this is great.
Speaker 1: I would love to do this. I really loved just
Speaker 1: the storyline. It was the best thing that I've ever
Speaker 1: FILMD because it was two characters and our director was
Speaker 1: so incredible, um like as an acting director, and I
Speaker 1: felt like we just got all the time and we
Speaker 1: really got to put in our best work for every
Speaker 1: single scene. And there was not like one scene where
Speaker 1: I didn't walk away thinking like, oh we you know,
Speaker 1: didn't have time to get the best thing. It just
Speaker 1: felt like I exceeded my own expectations for myself on
Speaker 1: that whole show that I was really like proud of.
Speaker 1: And the other actor, Keyan Lolly, he's a YouTuber and
Speaker 1: this was kind of his first acting thing, and I was,
Speaker 1: you know, not gonna lie. I didn't know how how
Speaker 1: YouTubers were going to be on set, and he was incredible,
Speaker 1: and our chemistry was great. It was just it was
Speaker 1: a really really fun and beautiful, pretty show. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: There's nothing better than that, right, working with an actor's director,
Speaker 1: having the time to really explore and talk and kind
Speaker 1: of get to the root of it. I assume you mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you weren't spending a ton of time on lighting,
Speaker 1: setups and you know, makeup or getting your like you
Speaker 1: said before, your hands dirty, and it's just about It's
Speaker 1: just about the work and those characters. That is certainly
Speaker 1: for me the most fun as well. Yeah, you and
Speaker 1: I have have another thing in common. For Zach and Mia.
Speaker 1: You were nominated and eventually one a Daytime Emmy Award.
Speaker 1: I am the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a fun thing. You were there at
Speaker 1: the ceremony. How was that experience for you? I mean
Speaker 1: that still goes down in the books. That is probably
Speaker 1: greatest moment of my life. You know, that's to even
Speaker 1: be working a working actress in l a is. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful and to be nominated, have your work even
Speaker 1: noticed by other people as really great is like another thing,
Speaker 1: and to win was just like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 1: I freaking did it. You know, like I am on
Speaker 1: the right track of knowing that this is like where
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be in life. And I did a
Speaker 1: really good job and people noticed, and that was like,
Speaker 1: that's the part that I love. You know, when your
Speaker 1: work gets admired by other people, that's awesome. It's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite nights as well. I think for me
Speaker 1: it was a it was a little bit different, but
Speaker 1: it was an opportunity. Angela Ckenzie and Oscar nun Yez
Speaker 1: and I wait, I didn't know that The Office would
Speaker 1: be a daytime. We won for The Accountants, which was
Speaker 1: the first web series, so it was it was streaming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that. You talked a little bit about Tyrant
Speaker 1: also Wicked City. I mean, such a variety of work
Speaker 1: that you've done already. Talked to me a little bit
Speaker 1: about those shows and their similarities or their differences. Tyrant
Speaker 1: is it was maybe not the most challenging or goes
Speaker 1: down in the books as my favorite character to play,
Speaker 1: but it definitely goes down in the books of completely
Speaker 1: changed my life. I mean, I lived in Israel filming
Speaker 1: that show for six months and lived alone for the
Speaker 1: first time in my life at eighteen, and I was
Speaker 1: playing the daughter. Didn't realize that that meant only filming
Speaker 1: like once every twelve days. So I had a really
Speaker 1: just make a life in Israel and it was very challenging.
Speaker 1: But it definitely, like, you know, grew me up real fast.
Speaker 1: But that character was really fun. I loved how it ended.
Speaker 1: I mean, the last season was my favorite. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to tell you. I don't know if that's like
Speaker 1: a I mean, it's not really a spoiler, but now
Speaker 1: with streaming, everything is a spoiler. I guess because if
Speaker 1: I'm going to watch that one next week, I guess
Speaker 1: that's true. I guess. I guess you're right. I guess
Speaker 1: you're right. Okay, so I won't say, but that was fun.
Speaker 1: Wicked City was completely different. That was really fun. And
Speaker 1: who John Kassar, who who did um Orville, was the
Speaker 1: director on that as well, so we had already previously
Speaker 1: worked together um and Ed Westwick. At the time, I
Speaker 1: was obsessed with Gossip Girls, so I got to work
Speaker 1: with him and was fan girling at every table read.
Speaker 1: I mean, those two were both daughters, but you know,
Speaker 1: in in my mind, I just tried to make them
Speaker 1: very like different, and like you said, I have a
Speaker 1: variety of different characters, and that's kind of what I
Speaker 1: thrive on, is like like I don't want to have
Speaker 1: little jobs, but I do like the sense of kind
Speaker 1: of moving on to something and like playing something completely
Speaker 1: different than I have. And I'm always looking for something
Speaker 1: that I haven't done before, Like I would love to
Speaker 1: be a killer instead of getting killed. All right, we'll
Speaker 1: see if we can make that happen or like some
Speaker 1: like crazy person, like I don't know, intense intensity in
Speaker 1: a different way than anything I've done before. I don't
Speaker 1: know a killer just like got brought to my mind
Speaker 1: dark something dark, something dark. Yeah, well you don't shy
Speaker 1: away from drama for sure. I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about thirteen reasons why I am told you
Speaker 1: auditioned for season one of the show. I did too, Really,
Speaker 1: I did too. What character? I think Stephen Webber's part.
Speaker 1: I think it was the principle. Okay, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the office was still going. It was right around that time.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so you auditioned for season one, you didn't
Speaker 1: get it? Spoiler alert. I'm sorry to be the ones
Speaker 1: to tell you that again all these years later. Yes,
Speaker 1: but I did. I did go to New York and
Speaker 1: meet Brian Yorkie, which, you know, an actor world, it's
Speaker 1: always like, you know, the people that get to meet
Speaker 1: the creators and stuff or get far enough on a project,
Speaker 1: they kind of remember you a little bit for future
Speaker 1: roles that they're gonna do. Is that what happened? I'm
Speaker 1: guessing so okay, I don't know. Okay, Yeah, Well, we
Speaker 1: had a lot of people in the office right that
Speaker 1: eventually came back, you know, they auditioned for Pam or
Speaker 1: Jim or whatever and then didn't get it and then
Speaker 1: eventually came back for other roles. Did you audition in
Speaker 1: season two or were you asked to do it because
Speaker 1: of that meeting. No, I definitely auditioned, and they were complete,
Speaker 1: like bogus sides. I had no idea what character I
Speaker 1: was going to be even interacting with or anything even
Speaker 1: until I got on set that day, which is when
Speaker 1: you're talking about that before, like I don't know where
Speaker 1: the bathroom is even on on this show. I showed
Speaker 1: up the first day and had no idea like who
Speaker 1: I was even interacting with that day. Yeah, it was weird,
Speaker 1: but I knew like my story, you know, that's all
Speaker 1: I auditioned, you know, a couple of times in person. Gosh,
Speaker 1: I remember those days. Miss it so much better, so
Speaker 1: much better. What were some of the most difficult scenes
Speaker 1: or storylines that you had on that show. I mean, definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, the intimate scenes that I had with my
Speaker 1: boyfriend on the show bryce his character. Those were pretty intense,
Speaker 1: and that was kind of the first time that I
Speaker 1: had ever gotten to play something that deep on camera
Speaker 1: or like kind of be that vulnerable on camera. So
Speaker 1: it really did push me. That was kind of difficult
Speaker 1: to film. But I will say that the director and
Speaker 1: um Justin Prentice who plays who plays the character, it
Speaker 1: was just so calming. I mean, it really didn't feel
Speaker 1: like it felt very safe and everyone was there to
Speaker 1: make something great and it's just felt very homey, I
Speaker 1: guess as much as it could in those uncomfortable moments.
Speaker 1: And the abortion, I guess my yeah, my abortion scene.
Speaker 1: That was like one of my favorite things to film,
Speaker 1: which is kind of I know it sounds bad, but
Speaker 1: like anything that I haven't really done or have to
Speaker 1: kind of put myself in a different mindset and let
Speaker 1: go in a way is fun to me. That's why
Speaker 1: I said the intensity and like, you know, but that
Speaker 1: abortion scene was very intense and that to me was
Speaker 1: really challenging and fun to do as an actress and
Speaker 1: kind of sad. You know, I'm glad, I'm happy how
Speaker 1: it turned out. Yeah. Are you proud of that show? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it really was the first show to pave
Speaker 1: a way for this kind of new teen drama. Um
Speaker 1: that we were saying like euphoria and I mean not
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, we are the reasons why euphoria
Speaker 1: is euphoria, but I think we were kind of one
Speaker 1: of the first shows on TV to show something dark
Speaker 1: that was very controversial, and since then it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's made it's made away. I agree. I mean there's
Speaker 1: always been quote unquote teen drama, but I thought that
Speaker 1: the complexity and depth with which thirteen reasons why, how
Speaker 1: it dealt with real issues. I mean, you mentioned you
Speaker 1: for you, I think that's spot on. It's sort of
Speaker 1: said okay, we're okay, we can go this deep and
Speaker 1: actually potentially change people and give you know, the young
Speaker 1: people who are watching the show like, Oh, okay, that's
Speaker 1: actually really like the experiences that I have. Oh, that's
Speaker 1: really some of the challenges that we're going through. I
Speaker 1: give that show a tremendous amount of credit for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it did. It did start a lot of
Speaker 1: conversations and made people more open to talk with their
Speaker 1: parents or friends about different things that they thought they
Speaker 1: were alone in. You know, yeah, I think so. I
Speaker 1: mean bringing up conversations you said, I mean, to me,
Speaker 1: what great art does is about asking questions, right. It's
Speaker 1: not about preaching or telling people what you should do
Speaker 1: or what you shouldn't do, which I think, quite frankly,
Speaker 1: to be honest, most drama does that, right, Like the
Speaker 1: After School Special is the obvious example of that. But
Speaker 1: like really bringing up difficult topics that tortured people are
Speaker 1: dealing with, and to give a voice to that and
Speaker 1: to ask those questions I think is really valuable and
Speaker 1: important too. I also but I also still think that
Speaker 1: the comedy and the lightness of things is still very important.
Speaker 1: And that's actually with the Orville, I think it kind
Speaker 1: of does both. It has like those questions that you
Speaker 1: can kind of talk about in a way that you
Speaker 1: don't really like you know you have. These aliens are
Speaker 1: different kind of species and different worlds and galaxies, but
Speaker 1: it still brings up important questions based on your takeaway
Speaker 1: from it. But it also is very uplifting in light
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of funny moments as well. We
Speaker 1: all love comedy too, you know. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: want every if every show was you know, dark sad.
Speaker 1: We need the office, we need, we need to last too.
Speaker 1: I'm with you there. Let's talk about the Orville seth
Speaker 1: McFarland's gigantic production season three. It's coming right now, moved
Speaker 1: to Hulu. You've joined the cast in season three. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't want any spoilers for myself or anybody listening,
Speaker 1: but tell me a little bit about Charlie Burke and
Speaker 1: how she she fits into the show or is introduced
Speaker 1: in the show in this new season. Right. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, in the previous season they had that big
Speaker 1: blow up with the Kalon and basically Charlie is coming
Speaker 1: onto the Orville as a new navigator. That was the
Speaker 1: one person who survived one of their their ships and
Speaker 1: got away and she lost her best friend and she
Speaker 1: has a vengeance for she basically hates the Kalon, and
Speaker 1: since Isaac is on our ship, we have a lot
Speaker 1: of interaction. But I'm a badass navigator when it really
Speaker 1: comes down to it and simple, in simple terms, that's
Speaker 1: what we're looking for. Badass navigator, badass navigator. That's the
Speaker 1: sound clip right there. Somebody marked that one to put
Speaker 1: it simply. That is me, yes, and me and Gordon
Speaker 1: sitting at the front. We had a blastphelming together. He's hilarious.
Speaker 1: I also have a gift in this world too, um
Speaker 1: see things four dimensionally or multidimensionally. And I still, after
Speaker 1: even all the YouTube videos that I've watched to just
Speaker 1: kind of grasp it doesn't really make sense. But basically
Speaker 1: I can see what's coming ten steps this way if
Speaker 1: we do this, or ten steps this way if we
Speaker 1: do this. So I'm the one that is always in
Speaker 1: the front that it's you know, because I'm smart. This
Speaker 1: is this is where we don't have similarities. I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure I see things two dimensionally. Actually, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: I wasn't even given the third dimension. So this is interesting.
Speaker 1: Did you watch the Rville before, Like, were you a
Speaker 1: fan of it or were you aware of it or
Speaker 1: absolutely not. No, when I know I did not. Then
Speaker 1: when I got called into an audition and then a meeting,
Speaker 1: I binge watched it all in like two days. Of course, okay, research,
Speaker 1: I'm very big into research. But no, I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't really watch the show before. And after watching it,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is hilarious, and it's like now
Speaker 1: my parents favorite show, Like they rewatched the first three
Speaker 1: seasons multiple times. They love it. So yeah, I'm glad
Speaker 1: I got introduced to it my good, good old friend Jess's.
Speaker 1: Or speaking of Gossip Girl before, do you have a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of makeup? Are you in the
Speaker 1: chair for seventy two hours a day or whatever? No?
Speaker 1: Thank god. I I feel for the people that have
Speaker 1: to sit in that makeup chair so long for makeup.
Speaker 1: I mean it looks incredible, but I am so grateful. No.
Speaker 1: I was maybe in the makeup and hair chair for
Speaker 1: like an hour total natural, just hair and a pony's hail. Easy. Same.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was the same look the whole time.
Speaker 1: You know, we're in uniform, no changes to anything. It
Speaker 1: was very simple for me at least right now. Was
Speaker 1: that difficult for you? I mean, I know you have
Speaker 1: done it now a couple of times, joining sort of
Speaker 1: midway through. How how was your relationship with Seth and
Speaker 1: and the gang as you started filming. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: a good example of that. I was definitely kind of
Speaker 1: nervous because they had been together for a long time
Speaker 1: and they were very close. But I don't know, I
Speaker 1: just kind of really focused on my character, who was
Speaker 1: had kind of a chip on our shoulder anyway, for
Speaker 1: the first couple of weeks and then um, so before
Speaker 1: we went on set, No, Seth had a dinner with
Speaker 1: the whole cast, and I got to meet everyone and
Speaker 1: got to know everyone really well. So by the time
Speaker 1: we got to set, it was I felt like we
Speaker 1: had already kind of hung out a couple of times. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's cool, But I to be honest, I am one
Speaker 1: of those actors who likes to be behind the cameras.
Speaker 1: So I'll usually be in the room where you know
Speaker 1: the director is watching and everything and kind of be
Speaker 1: silent and watch what's happening and here the direction and
Speaker 1: see where it's going, because I want to do that eventually.
Speaker 1: So when you're not when you're not on screen, you
Speaker 1: prefer to not just go to your trailer. But watch, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's cool. Why do you think that helps you or
Speaker 1: how do you think it helps you? Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: it's for an actor. You you get to see kind
Speaker 1: of what they were trying to say, especially when you're
Speaker 1: working with a certain director whatever, When you see them
Speaker 1: say something too an actor and what they actually are
Speaker 1: wanting to get them to do, it just brings more clarity.
Speaker 1: I don't know. And also you just learn about the cameras.
Speaker 1: You learn about really how long a lightning setup is
Speaker 1: going to take from behind from behind the scene when
Speaker 1: they're saying it's gonna be two minutes, the different shots
Speaker 1: and stuff. I don't know. It's just more interesting. It's
Speaker 1: more interesting than getting behind Cameron reading a book to me, right,
Speaker 1: So I try to take advantage of the opportunity of
Speaker 1: like being able to be behind the camera and see. Well,
Speaker 1: it's truly you know. I get asked all the time,
Speaker 1: either by young actors or students or or whatever, like
Speaker 1: you know, what should we do? How can we learn?
Speaker 1: And in this brief conversation with you, you have said
Speaker 1: two of the things that I always say, which is
Speaker 1: one in terms of the Orville and you were going
Speaker 1: to have a meeting one. Watch television. Watch as much
Speaker 1: television as you can if you have an opportunity. The
Speaker 1: only way you're going to truly succeed is if you
Speaker 1: understand what the aesthetic of that show is, how the
Speaker 1: actors behave on that show, how big it is, how
Speaker 1: small it is. I think that's vitally important, and not
Speaker 1: just for a particular show, but as you have opportunities
Speaker 1: to go out for a multitude of shows, having that
Speaker 1: wide base of experience is so important. And the second
Speaker 1: thing is is that you know what you're saying. It
Speaker 1: makes so much sense every director and in television right
Speaker 1: for those of you who don't know, you almost have
Speaker 1: a new director every week, or you often have a
Speaker 1: new director every week who has their own vocabulary and
Speaker 1: way of speaking and way that they're trying to get
Speaker 1: the actors, and so watching that when you're not on
Speaker 1: screen and understanding what his or her particular culture is
Speaker 1: to create this episode, this story, within this world, even
Speaker 1: if you understand the world is really really important. So
Speaker 1: good for you. Yes, yes, great, that's exactly exactly right.
Speaker 1: Although in the or vote they switched off only between
Speaker 1: Seth and John Kassar they would take turns directing, so
Speaker 1: that was nice, but it is challenging when it changes
Speaker 1: every single week. Yeah, I remember that being challenging on
Speaker 1: Grand Hotel on ABC, they changed every very single week.
Speaker 1: That was hard. Yeah, well the office was, I mean
Speaker 1: we had we had directors that would come back, but
Speaker 1: rarely was there any uniformity or regularity. So but even
Speaker 1: with two different directors, I'm sure their vocabulary was slightly different.
Speaker 1: And you being introduced to the show watching, I just
Speaker 1: think that is is so important. I mean, I'm also
Speaker 1: I'm also wanting to produce too. I just optioned a
Speaker 1: book and I'm going to be producing and acting in that.
Speaker 1: So I figured that, you know, before getting really started
Speaker 1: in that too. Just the more knowledge you have, the
Speaker 1: more experience, like you said, is the best class you
Speaker 1: can put yourself in the Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes you're
Speaker 1: referring to you optioned the book. Why this book? What?
Speaker 1: What was it about this book that got you so
Speaker 1: excited and interested? Well, during quarantine, I read a lot
Speaker 1: and I was kind of searching for for something that
Speaker 1: I wanted to do in acting because I actually, like
Speaker 1: my first couple of weeks working on the Oraville Seth
Speaker 1: and Fuzzy Door were really impressed by me, and they
Speaker 1: had me come into their office and said, you know,
Speaker 1: down the line Orville or not, you know, we would
Speaker 1: love to work with you. So if you ever find anything,
Speaker 1: bring it to us kind of thing. So I was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 1: So that pushed me a little bit to be aware
Speaker 1: of different things. Anyway, I was reading this book and
Speaker 1: it kind of just reminded me of that perfect in between,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about of the drama, the real
Speaker 1: questions and topics and a little bit dark, but also
Speaker 1: the fun and it's funny. And the genre is in
Speaker 1: the nineties, which is my favorite era. Now we're seeing
Speaker 1: it all over, I mean, this era is popping up
Speaker 1: all over with new shows. It just really hit me
Speaker 1: as like, you know, I would love to be in this.
Speaker 1: This is something I would watch and it's something I
Speaker 1: would love to act in. And it's like a dream role.
Speaker 1: Like if I got the script, I would be like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I hope to god I get this.
Speaker 1: So to be able to create that on my own
Speaker 1: is very you know for tonight, that's awesome. Where are
Speaker 1: you at right now in the process. So we have
Speaker 1: a show runner. Her name is Karen and she was
Speaker 1: actually in the girl band that did you g l
Speaker 1: y You ain't yeh, I mean you can't. You can't
Speaker 1: remember that song. Well, I'm not going to discuss my
Speaker 1: age because I'm over eighteen and I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: it that way wherever me too. By the way, I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all you need. That is all you need to say. Yep,
Speaker 1: we're basically the same. But she's our show runner, which
Speaker 1: I'm really excited about because it's kind of in that
Speaker 1: era and she's dealt with a lot of the things
Speaker 1: that we talked about in the book. We have a pitch,
Speaker 1: we've we have everything ready, we're waiting on a couple.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the first time that I'm not in
Speaker 1: control of like the other parts of that go into
Speaker 1: play with this. So it's like you do all this stuff,
Speaker 1: you get everything ready, and then you have to kind
Speaker 1: of wait on a couple other people to do other things,
Speaker 1: and then you're going to get really busy. Right So
Speaker 1: I'm in a little waiting waiting phase right now. We'll
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that because I think that's
Speaker 1: interesting to people. So what what are the things that happened.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was really shocked at getting a show
Speaker 1: runner was my biggest learning lesson because I have optioned
Speaker 1: the book and then it was I had to read
Speaker 1: a bunch of spec scripts, which I didn't know is
Speaker 1: basically writers auditions. It was so interesting to see how
Speaker 1: that process was. You're reading a ton of different scripts
Speaker 1: that have nothing to do with your vision of what
Speaker 1: your book is about, but you have to kind of
Speaker 1: judge a writer based off of just their story and
Speaker 1: in just general. That was pretty tough. I was reading, like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, five six scripts a day and like
Speaker 1: taking notes and I'm like, this has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with what I'm seeing in for my show. So how
Speaker 1: am I supposed to judge this? You know? Right? Well
Speaker 1: I am. I'm so excited for you that you found
Speaker 1: something that you're interested in and that you're going through
Speaker 1: this new creative process with Fuzzy Door. By the way,
Speaker 1: he's doing Orville, which I'm excited about. Oh, Fuzzy Door
Speaker 1: is a part of it. Yes. Oh, so this wasn't
Speaker 1: so seth. This wasn't an empty promise. When he said
Speaker 1: bring me something, you brought him something and you're doing
Speaker 1: it with them. Well, good for you. That's awesome. Congratulations
Speaker 1: on that. Thank you to take ownership of material and
Speaker 1: to be able to guide something that's awesome. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited for you for season three of The Orville. I
Speaker 1: know you guys worked so hard on that show and
Speaker 1: to finally have it come out for other people to
Speaker 1: be able to see that's uh. Check it out on
Speaker 1: Hulu The Orville season three. It has been such a
Speaker 1: pleasure getting to know you a little bit. Thank you,
Speaker 1: my Dallas, Texas compadre. And uh, listen, if this doesn't
Speaker 1: work out, okay, I mean The Orville is gonna be huge.
Speaker 1: If it's terrible and then your book doesn't, then go
Speaker 1: back to s m U. Yeah, I'm not begging on that. No,
Speaker 1: will not happen. Will not happen. Congratulations on all of
Speaker 1: your success. I'm so happy for you, and uh, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to watch The Orville. I'm excited. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Thank you for having me. I don't know, Annie,
Speaker 1: don't count out s m you two fast. It's a
Speaker 1: magical place some of my best times. But no, I
Speaker 1: don't think that's going to be happening. You are thriving
Speaker 1: on the Orville. Obviously, it is going to be huge.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me today, and listeners,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me. Make sure to
Speaker 1: follow us on the end stuff. I think that's what
Speaker 1: people call it, and uh like subscribe, you know the drill.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna catch you next week for another episode, a
Speaker 1: very special episode of Off the Beat. We'll see you then.
Speaker 1: Off the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our producers
Speaker 1: are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris.
Speaker 1: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski