WEBVTT - Anjelah Johnson-Reyes 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.640 And I see her pull into a seven eleven like 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:05.520 I'm at the stoplight and I see her, and I 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:08.000 was like, oh my god, that's Marta Kaufman. So I 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.160 like pull into seven to eleven and at this point, 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.600 I'm broke. I have no money, but I was like, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:15.600 I need to talk, I need to like say something, 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:17.479 and like, I don't know like what I thought. I 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.360 was about to like get on whatever new show she 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.919 was on, and so I walk into seven to eleven 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.280 and I'm just like eyeballing her. She's with her child, 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.520 for the love of God, and I am walking in 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:29.120 and I'm like, okay, let me just pretend to buy 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.599 something and get in line behind her. Brian, when I 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.919 tell you, I didn't have money to pretend to buy something, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.919 So I just got in line behind her and I go, 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.040 are you Marta Kaufman And she goes, I am, and 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:56.320 I was like hi, and I left. Hey, I'm Angela Johnson. Yes, 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:01.600 I'm an actress, I'm a comedian, I'm an author. I'm pregnant. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:14.440 I have chapped lips right now. I'm very well. Hello there, everybody, 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.240 and welcome back to a brand new episode of Off 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:23.160 the Beat. I hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday or 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.360 whatever day you're listening to this. As always, I'm your host, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.720 Brian Baumgartner. Now, as you just heard today, we are 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.400 bringing on I'm very excited about this my friend, hilarious 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.400 comedian Angela Johnson Reyes. Now you may know her from 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.839 her extensive comedy career, perhaps from her character as bomb 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:51.840 Qui Qui and the nail salon Lady. That's right, Angela 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:56.080 was behind one of the first ever videos to go 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:01.000 viral on YouTube. Yeah. I know it's hard to believe 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.880 that there was a world before going viral was just 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.600 a part of normal life. But look, as someone who 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.600 was there, I can tell you there was, and to 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.000 be one of the four fathers, if you will, of 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.160 the Internet, I mean, it's kind of like being Neil 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.600 Armstrong and going to the moon. And I'm sure that's 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:26.240 exactly how she would describe herself an astronaut. But in 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:31.280 all seriousness, Angela has done so much amazing stuff. She 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.360 took her YouTube fame and she toured the world. She 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.720 found herself on the set of Friends first, and then 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:44.160 she wrote a memoir. She released multiple hit comedy specials. 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.840 She is what I like to call freaking awesome. So 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.720 with that said, I say we just bring her on 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.000 so she can tell us about it, all of it, 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.600 her life on the road as a stand up comedian. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.640 Listeners far and wide, please give a warm I'm welcome 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:15.120 to Angela Johnson Reya's bubb I love it, Bubbalunchquik bubble Unch, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:31.520 Quaker Cookie, every moleft over from the nut Pole. Hi Angela, 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.280 Hi Ryan, Thanks for having me. How are you? Oh, 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:40.400 I'm doing well. I am. I got some sleep last night. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.200 I've been having insomnia, so last night I actually got 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.160 some sleep. Well. I have to say, congratulations, I understand 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.360 what There's a bun in the oven? Is that? Do 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.960 you still say that? Yeah? I meant I am with 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.440 child bun in the oven. Congratulations on that. I want 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.440 to I want to get into that a little bit late. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.560 We're gonna go We're going to go really deep here 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.880 and a little bit existential later on. But I have 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.600 to mention, do you know we have a really good 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:16.400 mutual friend who mister mal Hall. No, yes, he is 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:21.400 a very good friend of ours. In fact, my wife 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:26.560 used to hear his earliest joke pitches in college before 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.240 he was a stand up comedian. Oh my god, I 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.560 love that. That is so special. I have a few 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.360 friends that they'll remind me that I used to practice 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.719 my jokes in front of like in the living room, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.960 in front of the fireplace, like I'm a kid doing 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.040 a show for their parents, and I would full on practice. 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.000 Like my early jokes would be like, okay, you guys 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:51.360 have five minutes at buzz cafe. Let me just do 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.760 this where you really quick, and like practicing for them 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.720 before I go do my five minutes were us? Where 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.640 are they supportive? Oh my god, so supportive. And it's 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.440 funny because I have friends that, you know, just so 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.400 supported from the beginning. And I have two friends who 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.440 particularly I remember one time I was thinking. I was like, 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.160 you know, I think I'm an a beatbox in my 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.960 act because I could beat box a little bit. And 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.080 I remember being in the backseat of their car and 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.160 you know, my two friends driving in the passenger. I 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:20.800 was like, tell me, if you guys think I should 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:22.880 beat by start beatboxing for them, and they were both 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:30.039 like no, you know, but then did you anyway? I did? 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.320 And yeah. One of my most quoted jokes that people 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.680 always will like quote me or they try to do 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:38.360 the beatbox with me when they see me in a 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.599 meat and greet or something, and I'm like, that's funny. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:48.960 I wonder if that's what my friends heard when I 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:52.679 m all right, well, I want to go back. And 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.320 I mean, I guess the central question I should ask 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.320 you is you wrote a book. Who do I think 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:03.040 I am talking about? Grow up there in San Jose, 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.560 caught between two worlds. Talk to me a little bit 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:12.040 about that. You're growing up. So I am Mexican American, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:17.920 and I grew up wishing I was more Mexican than 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.599 I felt that. I was like, we didn't speak Spanish 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:26.120 growing up, We didn't live like in the hood, and 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.839 I wanted to live in the hood. Like I wanted 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.600 there to be low riders in my neighborhood. I wanted 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.720 there to be cars just primered up on blocks, sitting 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:36.800 on the grass like you know what I mean, Like 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.480 I want there full on to be just stray dogs 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:45.760 roaming around. That's That's where I wanted to live. And 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.960 we lived in a nice, little middle class neighborhood. It 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.600 was very diverse. We had everybody like Portuguese, you know, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:58.240 a few Latinos. It was mostly like older white people, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.560 but we had like Mexican Indians, like, we had a 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.880 lot of different people. It's very diverse. And I wanted 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.000 to be like this tough Chola chick, you know what 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.720 I mean, right, And I was not that, but I 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.600 tried real hard. And my last name was Johnson, and 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.840 I always wish it was like Rodriguez or Sanchez or 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.720 like something with it is like just give me as 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.880 at the end, like that's all I wanted. And so 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.920 that's why I felt like I wanted this thing that 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.960 I felt that I wasn't. But it's really, how can 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.040 you be something more that you already are? You just 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:38.320 innately are I am Latina. That's just who I am 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.160 in my blood. I just look different. I'm just a 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.160 different version of Latina. And it took me years and 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:47.200 years to get to that realization. But I struggled with 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.320 that growing up. Did your parents speak Spanish? No? Oh, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.560 so no one spoke Spanish, just my grandma because my grandma. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.080 We're fourth I'm fourth generation Mexican American. So when my 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.000 grandma was speaking Spanish, she didn't want her kids to 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.600 get made fun of, to get punished for speaking Spanish. 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.680 So she made them all speak English. So my mom 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.520 is a sibling of eight kids and she's the youngest 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.280 of eight. So the young kids don't speak Spanish, but 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:21.280 the older kids do. Okay, the older ones. They still 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.960 my Nina, she's in her eighties, she speaks Spanish. But 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.320 my mom, who's the youngest and she's like sixty, she 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.600 does not speak Spanish. Okay, So this, I mean, we're 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.040 gonna get We're really gonna get into this later, I promise. 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:39.000 But so your early work where you speak a lot 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:43.040 about your family growing up, that's all fictionalized. Fake. It's 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.680 me trying to be who I thought people wanted me 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.760 to be. And I remember I would go on stage 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.800 and I would think to myself, like, I'm at this point, 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.000 I'm new to the game. I just started doing stand 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.400 up and I'm just trying to be funny, and I'm like, 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.360 I know how to do an accent. I'm real good 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:05.360 at accents. Just do a Spanish accent. I'll pretend this 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.040 is my mom and this is my dad, and you know, 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.520 and so I portray them that way. But they did 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:17.400 not speak Spanish. And it wasn't until probably my second 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.320 Hour special, which was I had already been doing stand 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.280 up for maybe like five years that I really started 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.280 to just own who I was and tell more stories 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:31.000 from an authentic place. And like, instead of pretending that 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.080 my parents speak Spanish and they're this person that I 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.719 think people want them to be because they expect that 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.120 from a Latina, let me just be honest about who 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.480 they are and who I am and make fun of 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:48.000 that and talk about my insecurity within that. So when 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.120 I started talking about I don't speak Spanish, you guys, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.880 and all insecurities around it, I felt like I was 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.120 more relatable because you can tell that I was coming 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.199 from an authentic place and I wasn't just trying to 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.560 put him here's a funny joke, and that's what I 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.080 was doing in the beginning. I was like, let me 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.080 just get as many of these little hits that I 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.520 can in there, and then I started getting comfortable with 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.480 myself and then telling people who I really was. Well, 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.679 it's interesting, though, that your name is which you make 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.400 fun of and you just referenced it before Johnson. Yeah, 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.079 like that you made a decision. Now, was this based 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.319 on the way you look or that you thought you 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:37.920 looked that you needed to reference that because like, no 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.240 one is going to put you in that pigeonhole, yet 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.199 you choose, chose in a way to put yourself there. 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.040 Does that make sense? I don't know what I'm saying. No, 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.880 So I like I said, I always wanted to be 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:54.280 super Latina. So I just okay, I knew that even 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.880 though my name on paper was Angela Johnson. I know 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.480 once I walk on stage. I have brown hair, I 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.160 have brown eyes. I have these like super thin nineteen 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.880 nineties eyebrows that I didn't recover from. Like it's just 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.679 I know what I look like. And I also know 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.440 my stories that I'm I'm gonna tell right, I'm still Mexican. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.080 I still have stories of like, oh my big, huge family, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.720 Like there's my Grandma's got eight kids, she was a 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.160 sibling of twenty five. Like I still have like my 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.760 Mexican roots. So I'm still going to be talking about that. 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.079 I would just put extra on it, you know what 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:36.800 I mean. Yeah, your first performing, as I understand, was 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:43.120 as a Pop Warner cheerleader. Yeah, now you still like 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.600 to dance. I mean this dancing is seems very much 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.720 a part of you, both publicly and privately, based on 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.720 what I've seen what made you want to do that? 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:54.640 Was that something that all of your friends did or 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:58.280 was there something specifically that drew you to being a cheerleader. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:02.560 Early on, my sister and my older cousins were all cheerleaders. 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.880 And when I first started cheerleading, I was eight years old. 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.839 I had no rhythm, Like I couldn't step clap at all, 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:15.480 Like it was embarrassing, But I had rhythm inside of me. 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.200 I think I just didn't know how to do choreography. 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.520 I didn't know how to like how do you do 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.600 step and a clap at the same Like I couldn't 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.959 do it, but I wanted to be like my sister 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.600 and my cousins. And so that's how it all started. 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:31.400 And then I went from Popcorner all the way up 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.360 to college All Stars to professionally for the Oakland Raiders 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.360 and yeah, and then even when I moved to LA 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.640 that's how I started. Like it was like get in 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.840 where you fit in, you know, Like I didn't have 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.080 a resume to go audition for acting parts, but I 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.200 did have a resume for dance just because of the 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.440 Oakland Raiders, And so I would use my Oakland Raider 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:57.640 at headshot and I would submit it to dance agencies 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.280 and that immediately just got me in right away because 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.439 they were like, oh, she's a trained dancer. She was 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.719 a professional, but I'm not a trained dancer. I just 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.480 I faked it and I got on the squad, is 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.360 what it was. And they just saw my head shone. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.000 They're like, okay, cuckoo, cool, we'll take her. And so 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.240 I would go to these dance auditions and a lot 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.480 of times I was again just trying to fake it 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.680 till I make it. But I ended up booking like 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.720 an ice cream commercial because they needed dancers, and so 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.239 my dance agent would send me out on this audition 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.320 for you know, Dryer's ice cream because we're doing like 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.000 five eight counts. We jump off off the couch and 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.680 we just do a quick five, six, seven and eight 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:41.199 and that's it. I'm like I could do that, And 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.079 so then I started booking like little acting roles as 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:50.000 a dancer. Okay, you try out, you get it. You 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.079 are rookie of the Year of the Raider Rats and 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.199 the Raiders go to the super Bowl. This is a 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.760 hell of a year for you. I mean, was this 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.040 did you love this? Was this a dream come true. 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.480 I meant you left after one year, so I guess 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:10.640 you didn't see it as a full time career. But no. 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.400 I when I first auditioned for the raider As, it 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.280 was really because I wanted to be an actress and 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:22.520 I didn't know how to be an actress. I lived 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.680 in San Jose, but I did have a friend who 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.360 was from San Jose. She moved to LA and she 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.080 started acting and she was in a Ross commercial, she 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.920 was in an in sync music video, and I was like, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.160 oh my god, I know somebody famous, like hey, And 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.520 I remember telling her one day like hey, I would 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.920 love to do what you're doing. And she was like, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.200 all right, well, if you ever moved to LA, I'll 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:50.320 help you. I'll help you get started. And I was 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.600 like WHOA, Like now this like far fetched fantasy actually 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.120 looks like an attainable dream that I can actually go 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.880 for it because before that I knew nothing like I was. 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.400 This is early in internet days, like dial up, AOL days, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.040 and I remember I would go online and I was 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.400 trying to find like how do you make a resume 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:17.160 for acting? And at my first resume, I just put 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:22.200 like random things on there that I don't know what 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.400 I was thinking, but I put like all my accents 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.440 that I knew, I put like in an acting class. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.440 If I even read like two lines of a play 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.240 just in class, I was like, I was in this play. 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.800 I did it always lies. I remember my resume was 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.880 in purple ink and it was there was no format 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:50.560 to my resume. I just like put things places, and 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.480 I remember I printed it out and I looked up, like, okay, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.040 where's a talent agency in San Francisco because I was 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:02.480 from SAMAS And I mailed off my purple located resume 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.840 and mailed it to anybody who I could find, and 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:08.560 of course nobody calls him back, like they were like, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:14.120 oh my gosh, this special needs person, she is adorable. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.920 You should really really just bless her. And nobody calls me. 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.280 And then so my friend tells me this that she'd 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.200 help me if I moved out there, and I was like, whoa, Okay, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.840 that would be awesome, but that requires me leaving my 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.760 mom's house because at this point, I've only lived with 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.720 my mom in my room my whole life, and this 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.160 means moving to Hollywood, and I'm like, whoa, that's like 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.880 big girl stuff. And around the same time, I had 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.480 another friend who was a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.560 and she was like, you should come try out and 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:47.680 I was like, well, it's not my jam. But then 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.480 I was like, you know what, I prayed about it, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.440 and I was like, God, what do I do with 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.880 my life? Like I'm at this point, like twenty years old, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.040 and I'm like, I don't know what I want to 0:16:58.080 --> 0:16:59.480 I want to be an actress on how to be 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.920 an actress? And by the end of this conversation that 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.560 I had with God, I was like, you know, I'm 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.000 going to go try out for the Oakland Raiders, and 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.280 if I make the squad, I'm going to do it 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.120 for one year, and I'm going to use this as 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.760 my sign to pursue the entertainment industry. And if I 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.560 don't make the squad, then I'm going to use this 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.040 as my sign that the entertainment industry is not for me. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:20.560 And then I'm just going to block it out of 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:23.080 my mind and tuck it away in my heart and 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:24.679 just be like, well, that was just a little fantasy 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:26.159 that I had, And I'm going to go be a 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.080 massage therapist because that's the only other thing that I'm 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.000 good at, and I end up going to the audition. 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.840 I make the squad. As soon as they call my 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.240 number that I made it, my first thought was, oh 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.800 my god, I'm going to be an actress. Like it 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.040 was not even about the Raiders at that point, it 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.919 was just about acting. Yeah. So I did it that 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.760 one year and came home from the Super Bowl, packed 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.080 up my bags and drove to LA and started from 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.080 the ground up as an extra. Now what was it? 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.359 What was it about being an actor? Why did you 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.240 think that's what you wanted to do. So I would 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.720 go to the movies and I would be sitting there 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.320 mad that I wasn't in it. Like I remember again, 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.000 I wanted to be a Chola real bad. I remember 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.600 going to the movie theater watching Training Day, and you know, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.840 there's a lot of gangsters in that movie. There would 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:23.200 be scenes where there's like these cholos and there's neighborhood 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.280 and there's all the extras in the background, and I 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.680 remember seeing these Cholas and I was like, I could 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:33.840 do that. I can totally stand by that car I 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.000 just before that cars parked. Somebody needs to tell me 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.399 how to stand by that car, Like I would just 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:41.840 see these movies and I'd be like, I can do that. 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.520 I don't know how to get in it, but I 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.560 know I could do it. And then there wasn't a 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.720 lot of Latinos on TV and movies that you could 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.240 like just look up the screen and be like, see 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.200 she's doing it, I can do it. So my person 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.400 that I saw in movie these that I was like, hmm, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.240 I could do that with Sandra Bullock because she looked 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.920 like me, Like she's fair skin but she had brown hair, 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:11.720 and she was like the closest to Latina that I 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.840 could find. And so I'd watch her in Speed, and 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:16.720 I remember I had it on VHS tape and I 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.119 would just watch it every single day. That was my 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.760 favorite movie, like all summer long, and we would just 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.600 watch Speed all the time, and I would just look 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:26.920 to Sandra Bullock and be like, yeah, I can do that. 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:29.800 And it was just I didn't know how. It was 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:31.280 so far I was like I might as well say 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:32.960 I want to be a princess. That's how far fetched 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:34.719 it was. It was like, how do you even do this? 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:36.240 I don't even know how to do this, but I 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:40.719 know I could. Early on, I understand was it. In 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:46.240 high school, you played an alcoholic from London with the accent. 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.639 This is my question. I want you to tell me 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.440 that it's just a god given gift, because I don't 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.520 have it. If I have to do an accent, I 0:19:53.600 --> 0:20:00.919 need months with a special linguistic trainer. Where where did you? 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.240 Where did you? Where did you get that? Was that 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.280 just something you were born with? I think it's definitely 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:10.840 something I was born with. But also I do mean 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.600 there's a few accents that I got. I could do this, this, 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.560 and this the second you asked me to do this 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.960 other accent for the love of God, like, there's something 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:24.040 about the Australian accent that I cannot do. It always 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.760 turns into something else, Like I'll start and one of 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.880 my closest friends is from Australia and I hear her 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:33.800 talk all the time and I can't do it. And 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:38.360 I start like I can copy what she says, And 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.959 the next thing you know, I'm I'm from London all 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.240 of a sudden, and she's like, no, now you're British, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.760 and I'm like, damn it, And I'll try it again, 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.320 and she'd be like, now you're in New Zealand now 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:53.080 and I'm like, oh yeash. So it's like there's certain 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.600 accents that I really have a hard time with for 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.080 some reason, but I just have an ear for sounds, 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.160 and so like, I like to sing because I can 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.600 copy what I hear, but I can't harmonize because harmonize 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.000 means that this girl doing a note and this girl 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:11.960 is doing a different note, and then I'm supposed to 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:13.439 do a different note. And I'm like, this is not 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.320 gonna happen because I'm going to do whatever you guys 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:17.359 are doing because that's what I do. I just copy 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:38.560 what I hear. You start in Los Angeles, you move, 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:42.440 your friend is helping you, and fairly quickly you get 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.440 to do that thing, which is stand by a car 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.720 and you're on friends. Is this right as a regular 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:53.440 extra for a couple of seasons. Yes, I don't remember you, 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.920 but I believe you were there. Listen. I people will 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:01.680 screenshot me and tag me on social media. Sometimes they'll 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:03.440 be like is this you? And I'm like, yeah, girl, 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:06.240 believe it. And my hair was so long it was 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.960 like down to my waist, like I was like young 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:14.680 and vibrant. But yes, I remember, I thought I had 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:18.080 made it. I was like, this is it. I'm here 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.959 and living in my dreams and even the story of 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.960 how that happened. I remember going to Central Casting, where 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:27.560 you know, they cast all the extras for TV shows 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:30.800 and movies, and my friend who said she was going 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.040 to help me get started, she kept her word and 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:35.000 she told me exactly what to do. She was like, 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:35.959 this is what I want you to do. I want 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:37.880 to go to Central Casting. There's gonna be a line 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.119 of people waiting out the door, but don't wait in line. 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:42.960 I want you to come with a tray of cookies 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:45.560 and your raider at head shot, and I want you 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.280 to just go to the front window and ask for 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:51.399 Sam and then give him your head shot and the cookies. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:53.000 Tell him you're new to town and you want to 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.400 be an extra. And I was like, this sounds real sleazy. 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:02.160 It's just I don't know what cookies mean in Hollywood, 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:07.040 but you listen. And so I show up to Central 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.600 Casting and sure enough, there's a line of people outside 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:12.800 waiting to sign up to me an extra on TV. 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:15.560 And I'm like passing all these people with my sleezy cookies. 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.199