Speaker 1: I Am all in.
Speaker 2: You.
Speaker 3: I Am all In with Scott Patterson, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: I Am Scott Patterson. This is the I Am All
Speaker 1: In Podcast, one on one interview, one of them productions
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. We have a very special guest, Eric Valdez,
Speaker 1: and I am joined by Tara Suit and Tara, I
Speaker 1: understand that you are acquainted with Eric.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not Eric for I don't know, like six
Speaker 4: seven years.
Speaker 3: It's a long time. Yeah, and I met my wife.
Speaker 5: Who's really good friends with their Yeah, Cannie and I
Speaker 5: have been together for almost eleven years.
Speaker 1: It's been a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I worked with Candace when I was working at Radio
Speaker 4: Disney and then met Eric.
Speaker 1: Come there, Well, you're from Lubbock, Texas. You're born there,
Speaker 1: your mom and dad, Miguel and Karen. You're Mexican, Spanish
Speaker 1: and Native American, which tribe.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 5: On my mom's side, her grandmother was full blood Cherokee,
Speaker 5: and my dad's side of the family, my grandmother, it
Speaker 5: depends on how you want to look at it.
Speaker 3: She grew up in a village called Tecolo.
Speaker 5: In New Mexico, but that was Mexico prior to the
Speaker 5: Border movie. So she's both Mexican and Native American, depending
Speaker 5: on how you want.
Speaker 3: To look at it. So that was I want to
Speaker 3: say Peblo tribe.
Speaker 5: I can't remember exactly, but but yeah, so I've I've
Speaker 5: got a little bit of a little bit of a
Speaker 5: lot of things in me.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 1: So you were in theater for years in high school
Speaker 1: and then you pursued acting film in television. You moved
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles in two thousand and four. He debuted
Speaker 1: as Chad in three episodes of Gilmore Girls. You made
Speaker 1: a guest appearance in television shows including CSI, Miami nine
Speaker 1: to two and Zero Numbers and Mistresses, best known for
Speaker 1: his role as Trey Mitchell, and soap opera General Hospital,
Speaker 1: Carlo Carlito Solano Junior in the drama television series Graceland
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen fifteen, Kyle Cushing in the superhero television series
Speaker 1: Superman and Lowist twenty twenty one to present, and your
Speaker 1: bona fides on Gilmore You appeared in three episodes Chad in.
Speaker 3: C three episodes. Yeah, there's a there's some really good
Speaker 3: story to all of that.
Speaker 1: Well, we're here to hear it.
Speaker 5: So, yeah, to your point, it essentially is a glorified
Speaker 5: extra that role. But it all happened thanks to a
Speaker 5: guy by the name of Kenny or tagup Sure who
Speaker 5: you probably remember. So long story short, Yeah, I grew
Speaker 5: up doing theater in Texas and everything knew I wanted
Speaker 5: to come out to LA at some point. It took
Speaker 5: me a while to get out there, and in the
Speaker 5: interim kind of a you know, a daytime job, so
Speaker 5: to speak.
Speaker 3: For about three and a half years, and from ninety
Speaker 3: nine to like two thousand and four there thereabouts, I
Speaker 3: worked for Southwest Airlines.
Speaker 5: I was a flight attendant and that helped me get
Speaker 5: to and from LA when I wasn't living that was
Speaker 5: in Arizona at the time, had a little bit of
Speaker 5: a flexible schedule and allowed me to audition, et cetera.
Speaker 5: And all that ties into this because on a plane
Speaker 5: one day from Vegas to Burbank was after the Billboard
Speaker 5: Music Awards, you know, hype crowd.
Speaker 3: They just got through with an award show.
Speaker 5: Half of them were probably hung over, et cetera, but
Speaker 5: they were all in good moods. And you know, thirty
Speaker 5: minute flight, short flight. You give me a captive audience
Speaker 5: and an aluminum tube and I'm going to entertain people.
Speaker 1: That's what I've always said.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And so all of that is to say that
Speaker 5: as we're deeplaning and burbank, everybody's getting off, this one
Speaker 5: guy's kind of standing there and as everybody leaves, he
Speaker 5: waits at the front of the plane. He's like, I
Speaker 5: just have to ask you a question. He goes, are
Speaker 5: you an actor? I said I am. He's like, I
Speaker 5: should know you. And I had no idea who this
Speaker 5: guy was at the time, and said, yeah, sure, I'm
Speaker 5: friendly to everybody. Was really nice guy and wrote down
Speaker 5: his number on a card and said, if you're in
Speaker 5: LA for an extended period of time, give me a shout.
Speaker 3: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: So did wrote his name down, and I went home
Speaker 5: that night. And this is two thousand and two, two
Speaker 5: thousand and one, I don't know what it was, probably
Speaker 5: two thousand and two, So infancy of Google, all right.
Speaker 5: So I went home and I googled the name Kenny Ortega,
Speaker 5: and the first thing that popped up was a picture
Speaker 5: of him and I think Oprah Winfrey. It was holding
Speaker 5: some Emmy awards he had won for like choreographing the
Speaker 5: opening and closing ceremonies of.
Speaker 3: The Salt Lake City Olympicus. I think it was.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, okay, this is legit because back then,
Speaker 5: if you appeared in a Google search like you were somebody,
Speaker 5: because it was, it was very new.
Speaker 3: And so I did. I ended up reaching out to him.
Speaker 5: It's a long story about toll keep it somewhat short,
Speaker 5: and we had dinner. He asked me what I wanted
Speaker 5: to do career wise. I told him and kind of
Speaker 5: talked me in the move in to La earlier than expected.
Speaker 5: It was always in the books, always a plant, and
Speaker 5: at the time I really had nothing else going on.
Speaker 3: I was racing cars as well.
Speaker 5: I was pursuing motorsports and entertainment at the same time,
Speaker 5: and living in Arizona working at the bonder On Schools
Speaker 5: and instructor working at Southwest Airlines, trying to make all
Speaker 5: this stuff work.
Speaker 1: So so you're telling us you're extremely risk averse at
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't like to take chances at all,
Speaker 1: do you? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no.
Speaker 5: It's two really stupid career choices to pursue, but one
Speaker 5: of them worked out, so no, I uh, I ended
Speaker 5: up moving to La. Fast forward a bit in the
Speaker 5: story and Kenny kind of created this little opportunity on
Speaker 5: Gilmore Girls. He was erecting a handful of episodes back
Speaker 5: then and he said, look, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring
Speaker 5: you in on this.
Speaker 3: I said, cool.
Speaker 5: It was my very first time stepping on the Warner
Speaker 5: Brothers a lot doing anything in television.
Speaker 3: It was really cool, And yeah.
Speaker 5: I was technically I think I had one line cumulatively
Speaker 5: over three episodes or something.
Speaker 3: But it got me. They tapped heart lead me, so
Speaker 3: it got me.
Speaker 5: In the union and it just got me around, you know,
Speaker 5: the whole the whole being on set thing, which was
Speaker 5: all new to me, and all that is thanks to
Speaker 5: to Kenny and and it all started it. And you
Speaker 5: know they're in Stars Hollow, which is which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: That is a nice story. That is a nice man
Speaker 1: doing a nice thing for a Yeah, for a for
Speaker 1: a young actor. I love hearing those stories. Kenny is
Speaker 1: a favorite of ours on this show.
Speaker 3: He's a pretty amazing human.
Speaker 1: We love his episodes. They are they really sparkle, you know,
Speaker 1: they really stand out. You can always tell it's a
Speaker 1: Kenny Ortega directed episode. There's something always very special and
Speaker 1: everything jumps out at you when it's supposed to. So
Speaker 1: what do you remember about your first day on set?
Speaker 1: Who did you meet, who'd you interact with.
Speaker 5: I remember vividly walking onto set and seeing the water tow.
Speaker 5: That was, you know, growing up. I think all of
Speaker 5: us have seen that water tower on TV or promos
Speaker 5: or whatever, and it was just kind of a really
Speaker 5: cool moment to see that and be on this, this
Speaker 5: real life.
Speaker 3: Movie set, so to speak.
Speaker 5: Because again, as a kid from Texas, you know, theater
Speaker 5: is cool. I still love theater. I haven't done much
Speaker 5: of that in years. Kind of want to get back
Speaker 5: to that. But you know, I'd never been on a
Speaker 5: movie set. I've never been on a back lit. I've
Speaker 5: never seen any of this, so it was a lot
Speaker 5: to take in.
Speaker 3: It was really cool.
Speaker 5: And then yeah, I just, you know, with Kenny kind
Speaker 5: of being the you know, the friend, et cetera, I
Speaker 5: got to hang with him, and so I wasn't you know,
Speaker 5: in the in the you know, background tint or anything.
Speaker 5: I was kind of sitting in a chair behind him
Speaker 5: watching some of the scenes, and you know, I was
Speaker 5: I was in and out throughout the day the first day,
Speaker 5: but I stayed there all day and just kind of
Speaker 5: visited with him and kind of watched them. I'm a
Speaker 5: big observer. I think as actors we kind of all
Speaker 5: are inherently We're always kind of looking at surroundings and
Speaker 5: take and things. Man, And for me, it was just
Speaker 5: it was a really cool moment. And I can't remember.
Speaker 3: If it was if it was who all was there
Speaker 3: that day.
Speaker 5: I definitely worked alongside you because I had some I
Speaker 5: didn't do any scenes that you were in, but I
Speaker 5: remember might have been day Warner or soon after you
Speaker 5: guys were shooting something in the cafe there and they
Speaker 5: were waiting for some setup, setting up some shots, and
Speaker 5: I remember saying, yeah.
Speaker 3: We got to Scott Patterson flying in blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: And literally as naive as I was like is he
Speaker 5: like coming in on a helicopter?
Speaker 3: Like what does that mean? Flying in?
Speaker 1: As I would come in a helicopter frequently.
Speaker 3: I was like, this dude is a baller. This is awesome.
Speaker 1: And they just sort of tell me to jump out,
Speaker 1: you know, go ahead and jump out, They'll catch you.
Speaker 1: I stopped trusting them after a couple of surgeries.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I remember that, and you know, just kind of
Speaker 5: getting to I stayed back.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to, you know, interfere with.
Speaker 5: The process obviously, but I just I really watched you
Speaker 5: guys and and and you know, everybody who had been
Speaker 5: on the show at this point, Like you said, I
Speaker 5: think it was season five, so y'all kind of had
Speaker 5: this this family, you know, And now fast forward to
Speaker 5: this part of my career, I have experienced that and
Speaker 5: like getting you know, you get to know your crew
Speaker 5: and your cast mates and everybody to a level that's
Speaker 5: in some ways deeper than your own blood family because
Speaker 5: you spend so much time with them. And I remember
Speaker 5: watching that and watching you guys interact and watching this
Speaker 5: this dance that happens in between setups and then you know,
Speaker 5: the stuff that you guys bring to life, you know.
Speaker 5: George Anthony Bell was another you know, friend of mine.
Speaker 5: I think he was a script supervisor at the time,
Speaker 5: really really sweet guy that I got introduced to through
Speaker 5: through Kenny, and I would sit there and watch what
Speaker 5: he did and you know, just kind of observe everything,
Speaker 5: and it was man, it's it's the best, like, you know,
Speaker 5: form of boot camp that that you could ever be
Speaker 5: thrown into.
Speaker 3: Just to get the opportunity to watch something not just a.
Speaker 5: TV show, but at the time like one of the
Speaker 5: most successful TV sho shows out there.
Speaker 3: Uh So, I don't take that lightly. It was a
Speaker 3: huge blessing.
Speaker 1: So what was was there a difficult part to it?
Speaker 1: There was what was the hardest part about being an
Speaker 1: extra in the background.
Speaker 5: That was the only time I did that, and it
Speaker 5: was the hardest part for me. Again, and it wasn't
Speaker 5: even as I wasn't treated. I don't want to say
Speaker 5: extras are treated poorly. You know, they can be, which
Speaker 5: is a really sad thing, but they are you know,
Speaker 5: kind of putting their own little area in their own tents.
Speaker 5: They're told where to go, when to go, et cetera.
Speaker 5: And it is more mechanical than anything. I had a
Speaker 5: different experience obviously, you know, getting to kind of hang
Speaker 5: with Kenny.
Speaker 3: Et cetera.
Speaker 5: But during setups and you know, then during the scenes
Speaker 5: that we would shoot and everything like that, Kenny made
Speaker 5: sure I was on camera and I was, you know,
Speaker 5: hanging with I think technically this chat which was like
Speaker 5: made up name, I guess, I don't even think it
Speaker 5: was really credited, but he was Matt Schuckery at the time,
Speaker 5: was Rory's new love interest on the show, and and
Speaker 5: I was one of his like frat boys, right, So
Speaker 5: it was like this featured frat fraternity brother type things.
Speaker 5: So I would be in some certain scenes with him,
Speaker 5: and I think the hardest part of it for me,
Speaker 5: you know, was not not that I need to be
Speaker 5: the star by any means, but but as an actor,
Speaker 5: like you want to act, you want you know, you
Speaker 5: want to be out there and you want to create,
Speaker 5: and you want to be in these scenes and interact
Speaker 5: with everybody. And as a background actor, you know, oftentimes
Speaker 5: you're you're just you're there for the ambiance and you contribute,
Speaker 5: but it's not as fulfilling as as you kind of
Speaker 5: wanted to be, you know.
Speaker 1: What was So what do you remember the scenes he
Speaker 1: did with Matt.
Speaker 5: There was one, there was one out in the field
Speaker 5: man all this I haven't talked about this in forever,
Speaker 5: and all of it's kind of coming back. I think, Uh,
Speaker 5: what's his name? Eric the stunt who was your stunt
Speaker 5: coordinator at the time.
Speaker 3: Eric. His dad's.
Speaker 1: Super famous too, Eric, Eric the stunt guy?
Speaker 3: He was, he was a stunt coordinator for a while.
Speaker 1: Eric. I don't, I don't.
Speaker 5: Yeah, either way, he he was doing something and I
Speaker 5: kind of got roped into this stunt thing out in
Speaker 5: the field where I think Matt's character jumped from this
Speaker 5: with the umbrella.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's an iconic episode.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 5: And I don't I don't even know if I if
Speaker 5: you can even see me in that scene, to be honest,
Speaker 5: I can't.
Speaker 3: I haven't watched the episode forever.
Speaker 5: But that was like the first time I was kind
Speaker 5: of roped into something beyond the background realm and and
Speaker 5: can he introduce.
Speaker 3: Me to Eric?
Speaker 5: And I ended up doing some pseudo stunt thing. I
Speaker 5: don't even know what it was. It was like carrying
Speaker 5: something and jumping.
Speaker 3: It wasn't anything big, but that that was one interaction
Speaker 3: with him.
Speaker 5: Another one was some scene where there was a bunch
Speaker 5: of roses and we all kind of get on our say,
Speaker 5: picked me, pick me to to I think it was
Speaker 5: a Valentine's Stay thing or something. Almost twenty years ago
Speaker 5: at this point. But yeah, there was a couple of
Speaker 5: those types of scenes with with him. And I did
Speaker 5: get to talk to Matt, and I talked to Jared
Speaker 5: kind of like he you know, a bit, just really
Speaker 5: nice guys, and I really enjoyed I remember watching Matt
Speaker 5: work and I really I really liked what he did
Speaker 5: as a as an actor and with the character.
Speaker 1: And everybody did that stuck out to you?
Speaker 5: His Again, this was like first time being on set
Speaker 5: in a TV show, so it's different than you know,
Speaker 5: theater preparation, et cetera. And watching him kind of it
Speaker 5: wasn't It wasn't like he went into some sort of
Speaker 5: method thing by any means, but like watching him prepare
Speaker 5: while set up was happening, to go into filming a scene,
Speaker 5: you could tell like he put us all into it.
Speaker 5: He wasn't, you know, he had fun and everything, but
Speaker 5: but it was it was still when it came time
Speaker 5: to work and came time to film, his work ethic
Speaker 5: was really what stood out to me. And then you know,
Speaker 5: he would bring this character of life in such a
Speaker 5: natural way that.
Speaker 3: I don't know why, but that always kind of stuck
Speaker 3: with me.
Speaker 5: And I haven't talked to him since, so you know,
Speaker 5: you know, I have no interaction beyond those few times
Speaker 5: we quote unquote worked together. But it was just really
Speaker 5: cool to watch him work and kind of watch his
Speaker 5: process and everything.
Speaker 3: As as a young actor not knowing much about things.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's it's amazing what you can
Speaker 1: pick up just by observing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1: It's it's value, very very valuable experience. So when was
Speaker 1: the last time you watched the episode that you're actually
Speaker 1: the episodes that you're in, She's sad, all the all
Speaker 1: the did you did you watch them twenty years ago?
Speaker 5: Of course, at the time, it was like, you know,
Speaker 5: my parents and every and everybody thought it was the
Speaker 5: coolest thing in the world because I appeared for you know,
Speaker 5: two seconds at a time here and there on a
Speaker 5: TV show and again as a kid from Texas, that's
Speaker 5: more than a lot of people ever get.
Speaker 3: To do in television and film.
Speaker 5: And so we watched it at the time and it
Speaker 5: was you know, my parents are very proud still and
Speaker 5: always have been supportive and everything, and I remember that,
Speaker 5: you know, but I don't think I've ever really gone
Speaker 5: back to watch definitely not to like single my episodes out,
Speaker 5: because it wasn't you know, it wasn't anything.
Speaker 3: There's no performance there to kind.
Speaker 1: Of the ones that you were in were the best
Speaker 1: episodes there.
Speaker 3: I mean, I wasn't going to say, let's just agree.
Speaker 1: On that, like holding the keg is not easy. Come on,
Speaker 1: did you come in with the keg?
Speaker 3: I did come in with the Was you.
Speaker 1: Going into the wake into That's right, that's what that was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was awake.
Speaker 4: Do you get people who like do you get people
Speaker 4: who are binging? And then they're like, oh, I saw
Speaker 4: you in an episode? Like do you get that?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 5: Which is which is really strange to me because again,
Speaker 5: the screen time was minimal. But you know, I think
Speaker 5: once you it's like any actor and by no means
Speaker 5: Tom Cruise at this point, but I've been in enough
Speaker 5: thing is where people.
Speaker 1: Have not yet yet not yet, but uh, you.
Speaker 5: Know when you get to the point where people have
Speaker 5: kind of seen some of your body of work and everything,
Speaker 5: and then they go back and revisit, you know, a
Speaker 5: show like this, and I've had people literally hit up
Speaker 5: myself for my wife and be like, wait a minute,
Speaker 5: was was that was that?
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 5: And the like you know have to rewind and like
Speaker 5: send me a little screenshot or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yeah, that's what I did.
Speaker 4: I was like, I was like, I think we made
Speaker 4: it to the episode ericson because we watched we watch
Speaker 4: episode by episode and it's been you know, five seasons now, so,
Speaker 4: but I think this was your first and I think
Speaker 4: the other ones are coming up right after.
Speaker 3: So there's somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's amazing. Yeah, I thought you stole the scene.
Speaker 1: My eye went right to you. That's how I remembered it.
Speaker 1: Keg came in, so I went, yeah, that's the guy.
Speaker 1: That's the guy you did.
Speaker 3: Remember you did remember I did. I was iconic.
Speaker 2: Did you guys already dig into all sort of the
Speaker 2: like nuances of being a background actor on Gilmore?
Speaker 1: I mean we could, we could dig a little more.
Speaker 1: You bring up particular type of spade and shovel.
Speaker 2: I gat question for Eric from back then because obviously
Speaker 2: not now now you're doing much more. But did you
Speaker 2: do background acting on other shows? And was there a
Speaker 2: difference between when you were on Gilmore Girls and other shows.
Speaker 5: No, And I mentioned this a little bit earlier, this
Speaker 5: was the only time I ever did any sort of
Speaker 5: background work. Really, it wasn't something I wanted to do.
Speaker 5: Mind you, it's it's a great you know, it's a
Speaker 5: great way to experience set and everything like that. But
Speaker 5: for me, just uh, I think the kind of what
Speaker 5: I mentioned the Scott a while ago, I think the
Speaker 5: watching everything happen and as kind of an observer, and
Speaker 5: you know, sometimes a glorified prop is not as fulfilling
Speaker 5: as as I wanted it to be. And so for me,
Speaker 5: it wasn't really an avenue I wanted to go around.
Speaker 5: I did value the experience being on set, but you know,
Speaker 5: I kind of mentioned to him it's a great point.
Speaker 2: So for someone listening, how does someone go from Because
Speaker 2: if someone wants to be an actor, right, they don't
Speaker 2: even know where to begin, and background acting does seem
Speaker 2: like the logical thing. So how do you make that jump?
Speaker 2: That's something I've never asked Scott either. It's like, how
Speaker 2: do you make that jump where people take you know,
Speaker 2: know that you have enough experience to have an act,
Speaker 2: you know, five lines or whatever it is. How do
Speaker 2: you Maybe that's a good question for both of you.
Speaker 2: How do you do that?
Speaker 1: Well, there's a couple of there's a couple of different paths,
Speaker 1: you know, there's I mean, I was in New York,
Speaker 1: so I did a lot of theater. So my whole
Speaker 1: thing was to be seen, you know, come see the work,
Speaker 1: casting directors or agents or whatever, come see the work.
Speaker 1: And if you're lucky enough to get a good review
Speaker 1: or even be reviewed by any reputable critic in the city.
Speaker 1: You know, that's that's just plus. And then you can
Speaker 1: do it the Eric's way, where you get on sets
Speaker 1: and you start making connections and you see how it
Speaker 1: all works, because then it's just so much easier to
Speaker 1: go in in an audition for your next job, right Eric,
Speaker 1: because now you've been there, you know the lay of
Speaker 1: the land. You're not going to get overwhelmed your first
Speaker 1: day on the set anymore. You see how it is,
Speaker 1: and you know, you saw how great Matt was. You
Speaker 1: saw me drop out of a helicopter and face plant,
Speaker 1: and so you know how it goes. So it's not
Speaker 1: going to be so intimidating for you, so you'll be
Speaker 1: able to relax and do your work. So, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a couple of different paths, or you know, you do
Speaker 1: a student film or something and you get seen by somebody,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing.
Speaker 5: So I think for me, you know again, it was
Speaker 5: it was such a unique opportunity having having Kenny and
Speaker 5: you weren't here for this, but Kenny Ortega is kind
Speaker 5: of how all this happened, and yeah.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 5: He was like my confidant, and he got me, you know,
Speaker 5: taptheart Lee thanks to this gig on Gilmore Girls. And
Speaker 5: then beyond that, you know, part of the reason I
Speaker 5: didn't do any other background work, et cetera is Canny
Speaker 5: also introduced me to several casting directors say hey, keep
Speaker 5: this kid on your radar, blah blah blah, and so
Speaker 5: I could.
Speaker 3: I would get in rooms that.
Speaker 5: Most people don't get in for a while, unless you
Speaker 5: like Scott's point, unless you're doing a you know, a
Speaker 5: play and somebody comes and sees it, or you've done
Speaker 5: a student film where you did your own short film
Speaker 5: and put it out there and whatnot. And so for me,
Speaker 5: I kind of, I don't want to say had it,
Speaker 5: I had it. I was lucky, per se, but there
Speaker 5: is a little element of that, and it was I
Speaker 5: had a little bit of an easier time than most,
Speaker 5: at least getting my foot in the door. And then
Speaker 5: I think that transition for me again, since I didn't
Speaker 5: do very much of the background stuff, I made the
Speaker 5: most of what I had with these few episodes on
Speaker 5: Gilmore Girls and just observed. And that way when I
Speaker 5: did go into a room and you know, audition I
Speaker 5: already kind of knew how a certain scene play out,
Speaker 5: and that would help me, you know, create whatever it was.
Speaker 5: It wasn't because the auditioning for theater is way different
Speaker 5: than than television, and that's all I had really done
Speaker 5: to this point.
Speaker 3: So I had that in the back of my mind.
Speaker 5: And then when I did get my first few gigs
Speaker 5: here and there, where you get a you know, you're
Speaker 5: under fives, and then you start to get a day
Speaker 5: player stuff, and you know, I felt I.
Speaker 3: Felt more confident at least going there.
Speaker 5: Not not cocky by any means, but I didn't feel
Speaker 5: like an outsider stepping on to like in front of
Speaker 5: the camera and exactly so you know, I didn't. I
Speaker 5: wasn't wondering, Okay, where do I need to stand? Or
Speaker 5: why are these guys lighting over here? What are the
Speaker 5: what are the grips doing there?
Speaker 3: What? You know?
Speaker 5: I knew how that that whole dance worked, and so
Speaker 5: for me, I just I went and I did my
Speaker 5: job and I was where I needed to be. And
Speaker 5: I think the other part too, is just you know,
Speaker 5: my work ethic has always been really strong, regardless of
Speaker 5: what I'm doing, whether it be acting, you know, the
Speaker 5: other jobs I've had throughout the years, and I think
Speaker 5: when you do that, you know, this business there's you
Speaker 5: obviously have to have talent to succeed in this business,
Speaker 5: but nobody wants to work with a you know, not
Speaker 5: nice person, right, And I think and or somebody.
Speaker 3: Who's lazy and makes everybody else's day harder.
Speaker 5: The last thing the crew wants when they're working, you know,
Speaker 5: fourteen fifteen, eighteen hours sometimes is for some actor to
Speaker 5: come in and not be prepared or you know, not
Speaker 5: not arrive when they're ready. They set everything up and
Speaker 5: they got to wait another five minutes for you to finish.
Speaker 5: You know, whatever you're doing, nobody wants that. So as
Speaker 5: long as you're not that person and you have some talent,
Speaker 5: that's the magic, you know equation. I think there's still
Speaker 5: some luck and other things that are needed, but I
Speaker 5: think that really helps for career wise.
Speaker 2: That's what Scott always says about Gilmore Girls, that everybody
Speaker 2: from Lauren to the smallest background actor, from the executive
Speaker 2: producer down to the whoever craft services, everybody gave it
Speaker 2: one hundred and ten percent.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think that's you know, the show is
Speaker 5: also one of the best written shows ever. I think
Speaker 5: it's it's still you know, such a well well written,
Speaker 5: well acted, well rounded show, which is why people are
Speaker 5: revisiting again. But you know, for example, now with Superman
Speaker 5: and Lois, we have that, like I've I've never had
Speaker 5: a really bad experience in Hollywood.
Speaker 3: I've been pretty lucky to work on you know, work
Speaker 3: with good people, et cetera.
Speaker 5: But we've now you know, we started this show in
Speaker 5: the middle of the pandemic where we just finished filming
Speaker 5: season three, and it's you know, it could have gone
Speaker 5: really bad, especially when everybody was in that bubble of
Speaker 5: you know, the COVID bubble, trying to get things going
Speaker 5: in the middle of the pandemic, and like Warner Brothers
Speaker 5: didn't want us interacting with anybody outside of they didn't
Speaker 5: even want us cast members early on to interact with
Speaker 5: each other outside of being on set.
Speaker 3: And you know, we as humans, you need interact.
Speaker 5: And so shortly after we started filming and we had
Speaker 5: this rapport with each other, we we became a family.
Speaker 5: And then as things warmed up a bit more, you know,
Speaker 5: our crew are just phenomenal and like you don't always
Speaker 5: get that good of a scenario and so it's when
Speaker 5: you do have it, I think, A it makes going
Speaker 5: to work better and B it's part of making good television.
Speaker 5: You know, if regardless of how strong the writing is
Speaker 5: or how strong a performance is, stuff comes through. Like
Speaker 5: if the vibes on set are not good and people
Speaker 5: are not happy and the directors and the producers are
Speaker 5: the rating to crew members or actors, it's going to
Speaker 5: show up and it's going to manifest itself in weird ways.
Speaker 3: So that's what I love, the collaboration. That is what
Speaker 3: we do.
Speaker 1: Well, where are you? Where are you Europe? In Vancouver?
Speaker 3: Uh, that's where we film right now. I'm out in Texas.
Speaker 3: We have a little lake house out here.
Speaker 1: But where you shoot where you shoot the lowest and
Speaker 1: Vancouver and lowest, Yeah, you're Vancouver.
Speaker 2: I have one last question before you guys go, and
Speaker 2: then you guys can ask whatever. But is there We
Speaker 2: always talk about the one that brung you. It's like,
Speaker 2: what was your the part where you realized obviously it
Speaker 2: wasn't Caring the King, but the one where you realize like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I actually am going to be able to do this
Speaker 2: as a career, Like was there after Gilmore Girls? Was
Speaker 2: there under five or five more where you were like,
Speaker 2: this is actually gonna happen for me?
Speaker 5: I think For me, that's kind of a two part answer.
Speaker 5: I think I always, I always. I'm a big risk taker,
Speaker 5: and I'm a big believer in putting in the work
Speaker 5: and putting in the work myself. And I never really
Speaker 5: doubted myself. And that's not a cocky statement by any means.
Speaker 5: I'm not saying I'm the most talented person in the world,
Speaker 5: But I never doubted my abilities as an actor or
Speaker 5: as a human being in terms of ease to work with,
Speaker 5: et cetera. So for me, it was it was never
Speaker 5: a matter of is this going to happen. It was
Speaker 5: just a matter of, okay, you got to ride ride
Speaker 5: this out, you know, literally the waves that come. And
Speaker 5: for me, like I remember two thousand and eight, it
Speaker 5: was a combination of eerily similar to what we're about
Speaker 5: to go through.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 5: You have the writers' strike, you know, the nomy crashed,
Speaker 5: all sorts of stuff happened, and at that point I
Speaker 5: had done a few under fives. This and that that had,
Speaker 5: you know, kept me in the game. I was I
Speaker 5: wasn't ready to throw in the towel because I still
Speaker 5: knew that something was going to happen for me. Right
Speaker 5: then we get to two thousand and eight, I'm about
Speaker 5: thirty grand in debt and I have about five hundred
Speaker 5: dollars to my name, and I ended up sleeping in
Speaker 5: my Mini Cooper for like two weeks because I couldn't
Speaker 5: afford rent. And my parents, you know, were like, hey,
Speaker 5: you can come back home. You know that that option
Speaker 5: is always here, come back to Texas. And I was like,
Speaker 5: I'm not done. I'm just this isn't this isn't over
Speaker 5: for me. And I think, call that stubbornness, call that drive,
Speaker 5: whatever you want to call it. That kept me in
Speaker 5: the game. And then shortly after I came out of
Speaker 5: that funk, I ended up doing a couple of commercials
Speaker 5: which got me out of debt at least. And then
Speaker 5: like the big break, so to speak, was General Hospital.
Speaker 5: I'd never thought I would do a soap opera. Nothing
Speaker 5: against it, it just wasn't creatively where I wanted to go.
Speaker 5: And then I had this opportunity through a relationship I'd
Speaker 5: made with Mark Teshner over the years, casting director there.
Speaker 5: He called me up one day and then he said
Speaker 5: I got this role for you. I want you to
Speaker 5: come in.
Speaker 3: You know, you still opt auditioned for it, but I
Speaker 3: am really pushing for you. I said, cool, go in.
Speaker 3: I do that and next you know, I do one
Speaker 3: hundred episodes or song over two and a half years.
Speaker 3: And that was kind of the the launching pad, so
Speaker 3: to speak.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and so yeah, it's it's it's been a it's
Speaker 5: been a ride, but it's I wouldn't I wouldn't change
Speaker 5: much of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what it takes.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: My son is a it's just got his purple belt
Speaker 1: and in tang sudo and and he you know, and
Speaker 1: now now all of my analogies are karate related. So
Speaker 1: it's like auditioning is like, you know, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: beat up. It's like sparring. You're gonna get beat up,
Speaker 1: and but you're gonna that's the only way to learn,
Speaker 1: you know. And you're gonna walk in there as a
Speaker 1: white belt or a yellow belt or even a purple belt,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna face a red belt, going to face
Speaker 1: a green belt, and they're going to beat you up
Speaker 1: pretty bad. And you just got to hang in and
Speaker 1: keep working, keep studying, and then one day you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna start winning those sparring sessions one day, and
Speaker 1: it might it might not happen for a while, but
Speaker 1: you can't be discouraged, you know. And that's what auditioning
Speaker 1: is like, because you have to do it for a
Speaker 1: long time.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: Some people, some people everything just falls into place earlier
Speaker 5: than others. Everybody's timeline is different. But kind of back
Speaker 5: to what am that's kind of it is for those
Speaker 5: that they do watch the podcast and listen to it
Speaker 5: that are, you know, at the background level or still
Speaker 5: trying to figure out a way into the industry.
Speaker 3: Like I get that question all the time, you know,
Speaker 3: how can I? How can I do what you do?
Speaker 5: And it all comes down to putting in the work
Speaker 5: and determination and getting back up and you know, and
Speaker 5: realizing the time it's it's if you don't end up
Speaker 5: booking something, even if you think nailed the audition or
Speaker 5: whatever has nothing to do with you or your performance.
Speaker 5: There's so many other factors that go into this that
Speaker 5: people don't realize. And in as long as you're doing
Speaker 5: your job, it will happen. It's just may take a
Speaker 5: little bit longer than you hope it will. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the takeaway is always it's not personal. If
Speaker 1: you don't get the offer, it's not personal. It's just
Speaker 1: there's a million reasons why people don't get jobs, and
Speaker 1: often times it has nothing to do with how great
Speaker 1: their audition was. Because you could give the best audition
Speaker 1: that anyone has ever seen and you're still slightly not
Speaker 1: right for the part for some reason and you don't
Speaker 1: know what that is, and you'll never know what that is.
Speaker 1: But you've made a fan with the casting people, you've
Speaker 1: made a fan with the director. You've you know, and
Speaker 1: they'll they remember those great auditions and they'll bring you
Speaker 1: back in for other things. So you've got to keep
Speaker 1: your head up.
Speaker 3: That's key.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I remember, you know, there's there's several
Speaker 5: roles that I auditioned for that I thought I was
Speaker 5: picked for and I thought I nailed and didn't didn't
Speaker 5: get the job, but the casting directors remembered. And I
Speaker 5: think if you're getting called back for certain roles and
Speaker 5: then you're getting called in for other ones, you're.
Speaker 3: Already doing your job.
Speaker 5: And then on the flip side, there's certain things that
Speaker 5: I'd get the script and I get the you know,
Speaker 5: the breakdown and be like this is this is not
Speaker 5: me at all, but cool, I'm still gonna do what
Speaker 5: I do. And you know, one of those roles was
Speaker 5: was Carlito on Graceland, which is one of my favorite
Speaker 5: characters I've I've played the guys like this, bisexual, like
Speaker 5: psychotic drug lorder, right, and and it was just you
Speaker 5: look at the breakdown how they initially described him, and
Speaker 5: I'm like, well, I can I can play this. I
Speaker 5: don't know if it's I don't know what this is
Speaker 5: gonna how this is gonna go, but I'm gonna do
Speaker 5: what I do. And I think that's the other part
Speaker 5: is never trying to figure out what you think somebody
Speaker 5: else wants. Like, as an actor, you bring to the
Speaker 5: table what whatever it is inside you and your interpretation
Speaker 5: of these these words on a page and this breakdown
Speaker 5: and you do what you do.
Speaker 1: And in that case, that's the uniqueiness that you can offer.
Speaker 3: It is you.
Speaker 5: And in that particular case, that was one where I
Speaker 5: was like, well, I'm gonna do what I do and
Speaker 5: then walk away because I don't think this is going
Speaker 5: my way. There was no callback, there was nothing on
Speaker 5: that one. It was immediately like you're our guy, and
Speaker 5: I'm flying to Florida to go film. It was supposed
Speaker 5: to be I think three episodes and I ended up
Speaker 5: doing two seasons. So it's you know, you never know.
Speaker 5: You just you have to to That's that's why you
Speaker 5: have to be really passionate about anything you do. I
Speaker 5: tell people that all the time. You don't go into
Speaker 5: this business to become famous or to make a lot
Speaker 5: of money. It's like you wouldn't go into anything without
Speaker 5: some sort of passion. And so it doesn't matter if
Speaker 5: you want to own a hot dog cart in Times Square,
Speaker 5: you want to you know, become a billionaire CEO, you
Speaker 5: put the same amount of work into it and the
Speaker 5: same amount of passion.
Speaker 3: And that's you know, that's that's what gets you where
Speaker 3: you want to go.
Speaker 1: And that's the work. It's about the work. It's got
Speaker 1: to be about the work, the passion for the work
Speaker 1: and making it great hundred percent, and that's all. That's what.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: You couldn't have said it better. I mean, I've said
Speaker 1: this many times. If you're in the business for fame
Speaker 1: or money, get out of the business because you're not
Speaker 1: gonna You're not going to succeed. You're in it for
Speaker 1: the wrong reasons right away.
Speaker 3: Wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you know it's got to be it's got
Speaker 1: to be a positive. It's got to be a respect
Speaker 1: for the work and pursuing that knowledge and being a
Speaker 1: great craftsman. Well this has been uh, and you know,
Speaker 1: I I did the whole two weeks and a sleeping
Speaker 1: in a car routine myself, So I know I've been there, buddy.
Speaker 1: You know's and you gotta it's that self belief. It's like,
Speaker 1: nothing's gonna stop me. Just keep going. It's going to
Speaker 1: take time. It's for me. It was always a marathon,
Speaker 1: it was never a sprint. Uh. There were highs and lows.
Speaker 1: I would get really frustrated sometimes because I'd been auditioning
Speaker 1: and killing auditions for a year, two years in a row,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't getting anything. And you just got to
Speaker 1: keep your the grindstent. You just kind of keep going
Speaker 1: at it. And you're a testament to that. So thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on, Sharon. You're very very fascinating, an inspiring story.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and good luck with everything. I hope the
Speaker 1: writer's strike doesn't affect you guys. Will it affect you guys,
Speaker 1: will you shut down if there's a writer strike.
Speaker 3: We it depends on how long it goes. Our room,
Speaker 3: you know, our room will come back or.
Speaker 5: Scheduled to come back in July typically, so it depends
Speaker 5: on how long it goes. And it also, you know,
Speaker 5: as you know, with this industry where the show's doing
Speaker 5: really well. But we haven't officially been picked up yet anyway,
Speaker 5: so who knows what all is going to happen.
Speaker 1: So listen, I'm going to invite you to the next segment.
Speaker 1: It's called rapid Fire. Would you like to participate? You
Speaker 1: really don't have a choice, just say yes, sure, let's
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 3: You ready, let's go.
Speaker 1: How many cups of coffee do you have in a day?
Speaker 3: I do a quad shot of espresso every morning.
Speaker 1: Nice quad shot.
Speaker 3: I like that. Uh, a little bit of oat milk?
Speaker 1: Are you team Logan, Team Jess or Team Dean?
Speaker 3: Ooh Logan?
Speaker 1: Oh there you go? Who is your favorite Gilmore girl's character?
Speaker 3: If I if I don't say Luke, am I gonna
Speaker 3: get in trouble here? No?
Speaker 1: No, no, no, you need to be honest?
Speaker 3: Uh you No?
Speaker 5: I I really, I mean Rory was just always such
Speaker 5: a fascinating young woman and watching her journey it was incredible, So.
Speaker 3: It has to be.
Speaker 1: Is she a terrific actress? Just so so natural?
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's she's from Texas to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jared, and uh and and and Alexis Yeah born Brett.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: What would you order it? Lukes dinner even though you
Speaker 1: don't think Luke's your favorite character? Unbelievable.
Speaker 5: Well, it'd probably be something like a croissant and a
Speaker 5: quad shot of espresso with a little bit oat milk.
Speaker 3: Was oat milk even a thing back then? I don't
Speaker 3: think it was.
Speaker 1: I don't know that he carried it.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: And if you said quad shot to him, man, he'd
Speaker 1: probably toss you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'd probably have to be a drip coffee. That's
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 1: Go on, would you rather go on a road trip
Speaker 1: with Taylor or Michelle?
Speaker 3: It's a tough one, Michelle. Why.
Speaker 5: There's no real reason. I just that was the first
Speaker 5: thing that came to mind. Either one would be interesting,
Speaker 5: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Tell you you need a baseball bet to show to
Speaker 1: either of them up about ten hours into the trip anyway,
Speaker 1: So it's all the same. Uh, finish the lyric and
Speaker 1: where you lead I will follow dot dot dot.
Speaker 3: Blinking, I will follow.
Speaker 1: I'm on that anywhere.
Speaker 3: That you you go. Tell me to Why am I
Speaker 3: blinking on this?
Speaker 1: You just you don't know, that's all right, Jackson's Vegetables
Speaker 1: or Suki's Baked Goods.
Speaker 3: Dookie's Baked Goods.
Speaker 1: Would you rather listen to Drella's Harp or The Troubadours
Speaker 1: cover Songs, Discover Songs, Chilton Prep or Stars Hollow High,
Speaker 1: Stars Hollow High.
Speaker 3: Eric.
Speaker 1: It has been an insanely great pleasure. Good luck, continued
Speaker 1: success on your journey. Thank you, and hope to have
Speaker 1: you back on telling us more tales of you slaying
Speaker 1: Hollywood dragons left and right.
Speaker 3: So anytime, man, thank you for having.
Speaker 1: Me all the best you enjoy your downtime in beautiful Texas,
Speaker 1: will and we'll hopefully talk soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, take care, all right, take care all right. Hi guys, Hey.
Speaker 1: Everybody, and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I
Speaker 1: Am All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. Oh you're Gilmore friends. If you're looking
Speaker 1: for the best cup of coffee in the world, go
Speaker 1: to my website from my company Scottip dot com. S
Speaker 1: C O T T y P dot com, scottip dot
Speaker 1: com Grade one Specialty Coffee,