WEBVTT - Sinclair Daniel 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.280 Once I got the role, I did chemistry reads with 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.440 all the Owens, all the Malaikahs. So I was on 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.600 the phone with these people a lot. Okay, I don't 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:12.000 even remember at what point I had the job. I 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:13.800 was just like, I hope there's a lab at the 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.120 end of this. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:21.840 Hi. 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.680 I'm Sinclair Daniel and I play Nella and the other 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:26.280 Black Girls streaming on Hulu. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.239 Hello everybody, and welcome back to Off the Beat. I 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.880 have got some pep in my step today, of course. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.280 I'm your host, Brian Baumgartner and Ding Dong. The Witch 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.200 is dead. Maybe you've heard the news, maybe you haven't. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:53.239 The Screen Actors Guild strike is over. One hundred and 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:58.120 eighteen days later, sag Aftra has reached a deal with 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:03.280 the studios who that was a long time. We have 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.840 a new contract now that hopefully we'll make all this 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.440 time off worth it. It's been such a long road, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.679 but I am so happy that we can all get 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:18.440 back to work now, which includes talking about shows, particularly 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.920 talking about new shows. Yes, now you may have noticed 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:26.039 there was a dearth of actors joining me on the 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.760 podcast here. Well, there's a very very good reason for that, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.760 because nobody was allowed to talk about any shows or 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:38.560 movies that we're currently streaming on any platform. So I 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.160 have been chomping at the bit to tell you about 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.720 a recent project I did. As some of you know 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.400 from my conversations last year, I had the absolute pleasure 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.800 to work on the show The Other Black Girl, and 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:59.840 my guest today is the star of our show, Sinclair Daniel. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.360 Sinclair plays Nella, who works at a publishing company. I 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:08.720 played Colin, one of the authors that said publishing company represents. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:15.240 The show focuses on how Nella navigates office dynamics, race relations, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.680 and well otherness as a black woman in a white 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:26.000 dominated space. Sinclair does an absolutely beautiful job as Nella, 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:30.400 dealing with all of the complexity and humor and darkness 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:35.440 that comes with She is so good everybody, and it 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.720 is so good for me to finally be able to 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:44.080 talk to another actor about well acting, especially new, recent, 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.240 important and great work. So I am so excited to 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.960 dive right back in to let you get to know 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:56.240 the funny, the brilliant, and the so so so talented 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:06.880 Sinclair Daniel. Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:25.160 Bubble and Squeak, cooking every move over from the night. People. Hey, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.480 how are you? I'm good? How are you? 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:30.440 I'm good. 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.200 It's been so long now. 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.920 I know, it's been a couple of like lifetimes. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:40.080 How are you doing. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.840 I'm good. You know. It's just now starting to get 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.840 like wintery cold. So drinking a lot of tea, wearing 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:49.680 a lot of scarves, having a good time. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:55.040 Okay, you're in New York, right, yeah, I am yeah, 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.800 and it's getting it's getting cold. You're feeling fall. 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.280 I'm feeling fall. We usually skip fall and skip spring 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.440 and just go straight to the extremes. So I'm really 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.880 trying to revel in the niceness that is happening outside 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:09.280 right now. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.960 Well, you and I, Oh my gosh, we last. It's 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:19.520 been almost a year before if you could believe that, Uh, 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.240 it's been almost a year. I want to tell everybody 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.240 about how we got to know each other. But I 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.480 want but I want I want to start. I want 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.880 to start just with you. I want to I want to. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.080 I wanta this is your life. This is okay, this 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:39.120 is s Claire Daniel's life. You grew up in New York? 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:39.680 Is that right? 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.440 No? I didn't. Actually, I grew up in d C. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.240 So not super far. But I was born in d 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.599 C and then lived around that DC Maryland, Virginia area 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.960 for a little bit, and then in high school and moved. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:05:00.479 To California, California. Where in California, Pasadena? Oh there, Da, 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.839 it's actually very nice and it's a really nice place. 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.520 So you went to high school out here? 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.679 I did? Yeah, I went to LaSalle High School shout 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:18.840 out for two years. Shout out LaSalle in Pasadena. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:24.000 Yeah. Yeah, what was your So why did you move 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.640 to California? Was this? Was this a parental thing? 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:32.719 Yeah? So my mom's parents were living in California and 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.400 she was looking for a little bit of a change 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:37.839 and they were getting older, so it just made sense 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.080 to go out there. We would go a couple of 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.800 times a year anyway. So you just hit the bullet. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.080 He bit the bullet and moved out. What what were 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.040 you interested in as a as a kid? What were 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:52.120 you what were you focused on? What were you interested in? 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.080 I was really I was a theater kid through and through. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.480 I was. Yes, I was just having this conversation with 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.239 my cousin the other night and she was like, wait, 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.640 how did you get into this again? I mean the 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.160 The answer is I had a lot of allergies as 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.360 a kid, and both my parents worked full time jobs, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.240 so I needed something to do from three to six 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:19.400 pm that was indoors, okay, because I couldn't do the 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:25.440 sports without having an athletsack or an allergy episode. So yeah, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.800 theater was kind of the answer for me, and I 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:30.160 just liked it, so I stayed with it. 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.320 Yeah, so this is like you're talking about like even 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.680 elementary school or was this like in high school? 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:42.520 Okay, probably starting around fifth grade, and so I was 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.279 really into that. I was really I also liked winter 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.719 activity sports, so I also because no pollen, I liked 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:54.200 to ski and ice skate what you can also do 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.920 in California, which was very exciting to learn, right, surf 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:58.920 and ski in the same day. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.080 And we're are you doing Were you doing like school 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.000 plays or were you branching out from that children's theater 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:07.320 or Yeah. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.960 I was doing the school plays. We would do like 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.000 one play in one musical year, and then I would 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.840 also do some summer programs. I started to do those. 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:24.840 I did like community Christmas time, theater productions, pretty much 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.480 anything that would allow like a kid to just come 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.920 and participate. I was. I was pretty into that. 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.200 And when you moved to Pasadena, did you get into 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.240 the I mean, I find it so lame, like to 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:43.120 call it Hollywood, but for lack of a better, more 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.239 accurate phrase, like did you start doing an agent thing 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.840 or were you doing commercials or were you still pretty 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.280 much just strictly doing theater in school and stuff. 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.720 Yeah, I was not doing all that stuff. I was 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.440 really of all the kids who were. I wanted to 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.000 be the kid who had to leave school early because 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.360 I had an audition and sorry, I can't come. I'm 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.200 going on the Disney Channel next week. But I was 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.840 very much not that. My mom was like, you're gonna 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.920 stay in school and if you do the play in school, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.640 that's fine. I think I went to like one quote 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:30.320 unquote Hollywood audition and they required that we emancipated ourselves, 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.240 and so my mother said absolutely not and we went home. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.400 Really yeah, I think I was. 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.040 I could not even tell you what it was. I 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.000 went in. I was so excited I got to do 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.840 this one audition. It went really well. They called my 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.480 mom and they're like, okay, so how do you guys 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:55.079 feel about emancipation from your parent and I didn't know 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:56.720 if that was so I was like, yeah, let's do it, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:02.520 and she said no, no, no, no, Wow. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.640 I didn't even know that was a real And what's 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.760 the what's the point of that so they can better 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:09.480 control you? 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:10.880 Yeah, I think it's so they can screw you over. 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:12.960 I think it's just like so they can have a 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.720 fourteen year old sign on the dotted line and they 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.160 don't need like a co uh, a co signer, no 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.440 guardian or anything. You speak for yourself essentially, or you 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:28.160 temporarily turn over your rights to somebody else. Like kind 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.400 of interesting dark when I got into it. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.600 Wow, so that is that. That is not a good 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.440 that's not a good start. I'm surprised you are where 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:42.200 you are now, that's crazy, all right, So you you 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:47.680 continue to do the theater stuff, and then what makes 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:52.240 you decide now, okay, so you're doing theater because you 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.120 have allergies. You need an activity to do, right, But 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.920 when when is the moment for you that it changes 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.400 and you decide, no, no, this is not an activity. 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:08.199 Because everybody sort of has these moments right where it 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.160 turns from an activity to like, oh no, I can 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.160 this is what I want to do, Yeah, what what 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:15.800 was that? What was that for you? 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:22.640 I think it was less of a like Eureka moment 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.400 and more of, you know, the span of a couple 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:29.480 of years. And when I got to the age where 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:34.920 the school play was no longer kind of a requirement 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.160 or like you know, most kids didn't have to be 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.960 in it, I kept doing it because I thought it 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.720 was really fun. And I think that's really what has 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.040 always been the motivating factor to me, is that it's 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.319 just so much fun. And then in high school, when 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:54.560 I moved to California, they had a pretty good arts department, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.200 and I joined their arts department. And really what it 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.200 came down to is college application. Because for whatever reason, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.160 we ask seventeen year olds what they want to do 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:05.200 for the rest of their lives. 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:07.319 It's crazy. I charge them. 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.679 Hundreds of thousands of dollars to follow through on that. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.760 So I had to really sit with myself and just say, 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.480 what do I want to do for the rest of 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.680 my life? And the only thing that came up for 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.600 me really that I thought I was any good at 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.840 or that made me happy, or that I could in 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.480 reality see myself doing for a long time was acting 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:37.760 and performing. So I applied to college with that. That's 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:39.800 what I ended up majoring in. And luckily I had 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.199 parents who are very supportive of that dream and saw 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.680 it as a valid degree choice kind of path. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.880 Yeah, me too. You know, I think that we're rare. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.240 I mean, you make the joke, but you know it 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.839 is true. It's it's insane that people are asked at 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.000 that age like, so what do you want to study? 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:08.920 What's your focus for work? Ever? But I think most 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:15.000 people change like three or four, absolutely five times. But 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.720 it sounds like you and myself, like once I got 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.160 on the train and it was a similar time for 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:23.959 me in high school. It was like, oh no, this 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.520 is this is actually what I want to do. You 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.640 went for it. Now you ended up going to the 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:37.240 prestigious Tish School of the Arts. They're back in now 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:43.880 your hometown of New York. Was this an audition process you, Yeah, 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:45.480 you auditioned to get in there. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:50.079 Yes, this was probably. College auditions were probably the most 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.640 stressful audition I've ever had in my life. And I'm 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:58.840 including TV movies, Broadway like college auditions, you know, states 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:04.320 were high and yes, so most schools require you to 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:11.400 do a contemporary monologue and a contrasting classical monologue, if 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.360 not more. And n Yu didn't ask for a classical monologue. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.000 They just wanted to contemporary monologues. And they sent a 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.040 representative out to Los Angeles, which was nice, so I 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.240 didn't have to fly across the country. It was in 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.960 some hotel downtown where I think I later had prom 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.840 It was weird, but we go in there. I was 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.440 first of the day, first in line. I was like, 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.079 I need to get this over with so I can 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.240 start reading again. I go in there, I do my thing, 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:40.600 and then they ask for I do both my monologue, 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.960 and they ask for a classical monologue Shakespeare, and that 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.800 was not something on their requirements, and I had not 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.080 done it yet for my other auditions. I was keeping 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.959 that in my back pocket because the time hadn't come yet. 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.400 So I was panicking, and I remember taking my shoes off. 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.480 I just to like ground myself, and I took my 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.440 shoes off and I was in my socks and I 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:09.760 did my Shakespeare and then I left and it was 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.760 it was good. It ended up being working out. I 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.199 really didn't expect it to happen. I think it was 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.839 the only non California school I applied to It was 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:23.440 a pipe dream, but yeah it was. You know, you're 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:30.920 just sitting there in a hallway with other nervous, scared teenagers. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:36.120 Just imagine what was Tish where you wanted to go? 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:38.680 Yeah, I mean I had, I had, I had a 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.680 top three and Tish was on the top three. But 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.480 really I did not even think I would get in. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.760 It just seemed like such a a dream reach, you know, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:56.440 going to study acting in New York City. That's that 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:01.040 could never happen to somebody like me. But it did, 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:05.080 and I'm so glad I made that choice to apply 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:06.280 to try and then. 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.680 Also to go What did give you. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.720 A lot? And I also gave them a lot and 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:19.720 I'm still giving them some every month. But I did 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.400 get a lot out of that experience. I mean, I 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.280 still live in New York and going to college here. 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.440 My circle hasn't. I mean, I've met more people, but 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.400 my college circle is now my professional circle. These are 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.320 now people that hire me and I work with and 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.160 we just see each other all the time and it's amazing. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:48.120 So it gave me a really amazing foundational community. You know, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.000 I moved here as a teenager and I was hanging 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.800 out with other teenagers. And now these teenagers are associate 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.920 directors on Broadway. They are in the casting office at 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:03.320 CBS like we are, and we're friends. It gave me that, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:05.480 It gave me a great sense of independence. There's not 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.280 much of a campus here. Our famous tedious slogan is 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:16.520 the city is your campus. So and yeah, that's what 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.840 they tell you. Give us all your money and we 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:26.600 won't even give you a quad. But it did. I mean, 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.320 I was going. I got an internship my freshman year 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.160 that was in Lincoln Center. I was seeing art shows 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.000 for free. I was taking advantage of all of the 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:41.600 student discounts for museums and outings and all these wonderful things. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:49.920 So I felt like I grew up at my own speed, 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.280 at my own pace, but in a place that was 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.840 really built for me. I really felt a deep connection 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:58.240 to New York. I still do. I love it here 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.600 so much, and coming here through college was a really 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:10.040 fortunate transition. Wasn't just here had to figure stuff out? 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.959 Yeah, I mean you bring up a couple of super 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:19.120 interesting points in terms of you know, you're in this 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:24.080 school and as you say, there's no quad, the city's 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.119 your campus, But it sounds like you really took advantage 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:33.720 of that and having though that variety of experience. It's 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:38.600 sort of the opposite of most college experiences, right, because 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:44.200 I feel like, almost intentionally, most colleges are we are 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:50.160 a bubble to help protect you and help you to 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.480 become who you're going to become. Right, I mean it's 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.480 like we're it's insular in a way, whereas it sounds 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:03.239 to me like for you, you had because you went 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.720 to NYU and you have these discounts. You didn't have 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.080 money or whatever, and but you were able to go 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.240 out and have those experiences in the city, which, right, 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.600 I mean, let's be honest, that's an that's a part 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.160 of the education I think of itself. 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.840 Right, Probably the best sell NYU can make is where 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:27.080 it is. It is New York University, so you get 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:32.439 New York that is promised. Yeah. I felt like a 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:37.840 baby bird being shoved out of the nest. But yeah, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.080 we the adjustment period was brief because the city ways 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.200 for no one and then you just get on board 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:45.440 and it's been amazing. 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:54.280 Yeah, do you feel like you like there's an experience 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.040 from when you're in high school and you're working on 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.680 shows and you have accomplished have you know, you've had 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:06.520 a various degree of success or whatever. You go to NYU, 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.040 which is an actor training program, which is the same 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.520 type of school that I went to. Do you feel 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.960 like you were I always felt like I was sort 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:19.920 of punched in the face very quickly about like, oh, no, son, 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.800 you don't know, you don't know anything. Yeah, right, like 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.879 you have you know, instincts, you have stage presence, but no, 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.240 this is do you feel like was that your experience 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.320 as well? Like here we're now going to tell you 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:35.560 how this actually works. 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.800 Yeah, we had a lot of uh that going on 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:42.879 in those first couple of weeks we had We had 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.840 people drop out in the first couple of weeks. It's 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:50.640 it's it's stark, and it's sudden. It's like, you know, ice, 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.159 cold water just being thrown on your face, right, And 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.440 a lot of kids who were previously big fishes in 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:02.679 little ponds, right and now diny minnows in the Pacific Ocean. 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.440 So I knew that going in, though I wanted that. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:10.720 I wanted kind of to be punched in the face 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:14.080 a little because to me, that makes it real. I 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.160 wanted the hard work. I didn't want to fall into 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.359 any type of misconception that I'm going to move to 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.800 New York and like walk straight onto a set the 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:27.400 day I graduate. I wanted it to feel like I 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.320 was working hard so that when I accomplished things, I 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:37.720 wouldn't be afraid of them. But we yeah, we had. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:43.480 I think probably what like a third didn't come back 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:49.040 for second year, switched majors or switched schools, switch cities. 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:53.800 You know, it's not for everybody, but it did happen. 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.879 I had a teacher on one of my first acting classes. 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.200 She just walks in the door and she goes, how 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.880 many of you have divorced parents? And you're like, oh, 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.720 that's kind of personal. But I raised my hand and 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:08.600 said it a couple of other people and she said, 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:10.920 I don't really know why the rest of you are 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:16.720 even here. And I was thinking to myself, what thing 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:22.800 to say looking around at all the happily married, a 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:28.000 couple of parent children in the room, well the tables 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:28.600 and turns. 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.320 Did you want to do theater? You wanted to be 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.600 an actor? You went you, you got in as an actor. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:54.800 Did you want to do theater? What? Where? Where was 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.800 your brain? I mean you're still young, so I mean 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.480 you transition pretty quickly. But were did you want to 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:06.000 be an actor in anything? Did you have a particular 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:08.520 view in mind for what your future held. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.359 I think I went in like everybody else, wanting to 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:18.600 be in movies and on a hit television show with 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:23.080 many seasons and spin offs and reboots. And then I 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.560 got to New York and I really fell in love 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.920 with theater. I'd already been doing it, but to see 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.800 it done at a professional level consistently everywhere I went 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:39.119 was so inspiring, and I really wanted to do that. 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.080 So my junior year I actually opted to go study 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.919 abroad in London and study at RADA because I wanted 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.639 classical training. I wanted to go see West End shows, 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:56.680 fringe shows. I wanted to be in it. And then 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.840 I came back in my senior year, I went to 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:02.200 the film and television studio to just kind of go 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:04.879 the other way, and I was like, oh, yeah, I 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.520 really do like this stuff, so ultimately I'm all, I 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:10.440 like all of it. I want to do all of it. 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:14.440 I just did a play and it was the first 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.240 play I'd done in a while, and it felt so good, 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.679 you know, I was exhausted. I made no money, and 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.200 I couldn't have been happier I was. It just felt, 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.200 you know, your whole body gets engaged, and it's a 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.800 nice reminder for why I got into this. 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:38.199 Yeah, it's funny, I I think. I think that's the 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:45.840 difference between NYU and most other actor conservatory training programs. 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.200 I think because you said you entered of course wanting 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:55.480 TV series like that was never in my consciousness early on, 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.000 Like I just wanted to be an actor in the 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:03.560 theater like that was like that was the only thing 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:05.280 that I wanted and the only thing that I thought 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:07.320 that I would ever do, And I didn't even really 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:12.680 think about that. NYU has great actor training. How much 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.600 training are you getting? I mean you said, and I 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:18.480 don't know exactly what this means when you went back 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:21.399 your senior year film and television, Are you getting film 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:25.480 and television acting training as well, or training in the 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:29.960 business at all, or how does that work there? 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:33.080 Yeah? They have so at ny you have to do 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:37.000 primary training first, so when you go you get sorted 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:39.359 into a studio. I always compare it to the Harry 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.719 Potter sorting hat. It's all the same school, but different 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:45.800 acting techniques, right, you don't get to choose, and you 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:48.080 have to stay there for two years. And then after 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:51.120 your two years you can go abroad, you can try 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:54.000 a different acting studio, or you can go do your 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:55.960 film and TV stuff, but you're not allowed to do 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:59.840 until you finish your theater training. So there's a school 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:04.159 NYU called Stone Street Studios, and that's the film and 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:06.720 TV side of things, and they really try and make 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:10.360 it all of those all of those things that you're 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:13.720 talking about. So it's you know, you work on camera 0:25:14.119 --> 0:25:18.679 with scene work, scene study, but you also have classes 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:23.040 on how to read a call sheet and what a 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:26.360 typical contract might look like. And we have guest speakers 0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:30.560 come in and then we have to role plaze the 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:33.399 first eighty, the second eighty, the boom op, the gaffer, 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:37.919 like you learn those things, which I actually found to 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:41.600 be the most valuable part of the whole education at 0:25:41.640 --> 0:25:45.800 Stone Street was just learning how a set actually runs. 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:48.800 I don't know, nobody's gonna slow it down and explain 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:49.640 it to you want to get there. 0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:54.520 I know that, and I was when I started in 0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:57.560 film and television. I was much older and knew not 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:01.280