Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey Bessies.
Speaker 2: Today on the bright Side, it is the inimitable Juliana Margalize.
Speaker 2: She starred in TV's most iconic shows, including Hello Sunshine's
Speaker 2: very own The Morning Show, and she's making a long
Speaker 2: awaited return to Broadway in the new play Left on Tenth.
Speaker 2: So today she's sharing how luck has played a role
Speaker 2: in her career, plus why she had to scold her
Speaker 2: a longtime friend, George Clooney on one of his life choices.
Speaker 2: It's Monday, January twenty seventh. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Speaker 3: Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2: Okay, Danielle, you know what time it is. It is
Speaker 2: on my mind Monday. Hit me with some food for.
Speaker 3: Thought, please, Okay, Well, I have a question for you
Speaker 3: when it comes to success.
Speaker 1: What's the bigger factor? Luck or hard work? Hard work?
Speaker 3: Reallymm hmmm, it's a just classic debate. You know, the
Speaker 3: best quote I ever heard about luck is that luck
Speaker 3: is like a bus and you have to be at
Speaker 3: the bus stop to catch the bus, but if you
Speaker 3: miss it, another one will come by. So I think
Speaker 3: it's maybe a combination of both for sure, As with
Speaker 3: anything in life, there's a gray area. Yeah, like timing matters. Well,
Speaker 3: it turns out that research may have some answers. There
Speaker 3: was a recent study featured in Forbes that revealed that
Speaker 3: nearly half of employees believe that luck outweighs hard work
Speaker 3: when it comes to building wealth. But here's the kicker.
Speaker 3: Evidence shows that it's not just luck that gets you there,
Speaker 3: it's about what you do with it. So this article
Speaker 3: breaks down how hard work and smart strategies can actually
Speaker 3: turn those lucky breaks into long term success. Forget about
Speaker 3: superstition and lucky charms. This is really about creating your
Speaker 3: own opportunities. So I want to dive into some of
Speaker 3: the key tips that they shared, and this is by
Speaker 3: personal finance strategist Jamie Wall. She outlined four ways to
Speaker 3: turn career luck into success.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm really curious. Let's hear it. What's up first?
Speaker 3: Okay, first up, Build and nurture your network. So you've
Speaker 3: probably heard it before. It's not just what you know,
Speaker 3: it's who you know. It's attending events, it's connecting on LinkedIn,
Speaker 3: it's building relationships that can open doors for you.
Speaker 2: And we've talked about how annoying it is whenever. People
Speaker 2: only reach out when they need something, So don't be
Speaker 2: that person. Okay, stay in touch with people, that's the thing.
Speaker 2: Like it's just like taking a genuine interest in someone's life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny because we just talked about this, we
Speaker 3: were texting.
Speaker 1: Okay. The second tip is stay informed.
Speaker 3: Luck favors the prepared, right, So that's kind of the
Speaker 3: bus stop analogy. Whether it's subscribing to industry newsletters, staying
Speaker 3: on top of trends, or just keeping your skills sharp,
Speaker 3: we all have to position ourselves to seize opportunities when
Speaker 3: they come our way.
Speaker 1: Hmmm, that's interesting. Stay informed, I mean awareness is part
Speaker 1: of the game, right. I think awareness also ties into
Speaker 1: relevance too, Like, if you're aware of what's going on,
Speaker 1: that probably means that you're relevant in your field and
Speaker 1: you probably have a better chance of succeeding.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's really well said. And last, but not least,
Speaker 3: practice financial discipline.
Speaker 1: Ooh, this is hard.
Speaker 3: So even if luck comes knocking, it won't mean much
Speaker 3: if you're not managing your resources wisely. So the writer says,
Speaker 3: build an emergency fund, track your spending, start investing all
Speaker 3: the things.
Speaker 2: Basically, it all adds up over time. That's really smart.
Speaker 2: I'm actually working on that right now, like getting together
Speaker 2: a financial discipline game plan for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: It's huge.
Speaker 2: Well, as you were telling me about this article, something
Speaker 2: struck me. I think the people who are questioned for
Speaker 2: this study is actually the most telling part of this study.
Speaker 2: So you said that Forbes surveyed employees, right, and they
Speaker 2: believe that luck outweighs hard work when it comes to
Speaker 2: building wealth. I actually think that's really indicative of an
Speaker 2: employee mindset, like when you've been working for a certain
Speaker 2: corporation for a long time, or you've been working for
Speaker 2: someone else. I think that when you give entrepreneurship a
Speaker 2: try and you work for yourself, I think you really
Speaker 2: start to see that hard work can outweigh luck.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't always happen.
Speaker 2: That perspective shift doesn't always happen until you're on the
Speaker 2: outside of a corporation doing it on your own.
Speaker 3: That is really interesting. I think that I know this
Speaker 3: sounds woo woo, but hear me out. Yeah, I think
Speaker 3: people who feel lucky get luckier.
Speaker 1: For sure. It's all thoughts. It's all how you perceive yourself, you.
Speaker 3: Know, and so it's like, to me, the harder you're working,
Speaker 3: the more you're like, if you're working really hard for something,
Speaker 3: you're really kind of expecting luck or wanting luck to
Speaker 3: hit at some point, and so like, the harder you work,
Speaker 3: the luckier you get. Is that saying? But I think
Speaker 3: there's truth to it because of the mindset.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's power in just believing you're lucky,
Speaker 2: you know, like moving through the world with this mindset
Speaker 2: of I am lucky, things naturally come to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It does sound silly and woo woo, but it really works. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, speaking of career success and luck, our guest today
Speaker 3: credits a lot of the success that she's had in
Speaker 3: both her professional and her personal life to luck and chance.
Speaker 3: Julianna Margalis has been lighting up our screens for decades.
Speaker 3: You've seen her on Er, The Good Wife, and more
Speaker 3: recently The Morning Show, and now, for the first time
Speaker 3: in eighteen years, a chance encounter brought her back to Broadway.
Speaker 3: She's currently starring in the critically acclaimed show Left on Tenth,
Speaker 3: where she stars alongside Peter Gallagher.
Speaker 2: Oh love him too, Oh my gosh, I am so
Speaker 2: excited to hear this conversation. I was at Disney World
Speaker 2: with my kids when you were doing this, and I
Speaker 2: was so bummed to miss it because I just love
Speaker 2: her and love her work, and so I have a
Speaker 2: lot of questions for.
Speaker 1: You about her. Okay, shoot, okay.
Speaker 2: So she always has this really grounded, almost quiet authority
Speaker 2: in her roles, and I was curious if she had
Speaker 2: that same calming presence in person. Oh, that's a great question.
Speaker 2: Yes she did. Her presence is very calming. And you
Speaker 2: know what's interesting. I read her book a few years ago.
Speaker 3: It was called Sunshine Girl, An Unexpected Life, and in
Speaker 3: it she detailed this sort of very chaotic upbringing and
Speaker 3: I always thought it was interesting that that was juxtapose
Speaker 3: against what seemed like her natural calm nature. And also
Speaker 3: like the roles that she chose were so put together,
Speaker 3: and her role on The Good Wife was like this
Speaker 3: very precise person. Yeah, and she seems that way in
Speaker 3: real life.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Does she have a silly side or is she
Speaker 1: more like serious? Yeah?
Speaker 3: She was really fun and she talks about old times
Speaker 3: on set with George Clooney and told some really great
Speaker 3: stories about that time. I can tell she likes to laugh,
Speaker 3: which I really appreciate.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes she's one of us. Then, yes she is.
Speaker 3: You know, there's one thing from her book that we
Speaker 3: didn't actually get to talk about in the interview that
Speaker 3: I think is worth mentioning. She wrote about this story
Speaker 3: that when er was going to be over, she was
Speaker 3: going to leave the show, she was offered twenty seven
Speaker 3: million dollars to stay. And nowadays that seems like a
Speaker 3: huge amount of money, but back then that was even
Speaker 3: more like that was a huge amount of money, and
Speaker 3: she had this instinct to leave still, And so she
Speaker 3: called everybody in her life and asked them what they thought,
Speaker 3: and they all said, I mean, you have to stay.
Speaker 1: That's life changing money, Like you gotta stay.
Speaker 2: I'm staying. I'm right, I'm staying. I'm staying right where
Speaker 2: I'm at.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: So she goes to the Body Tree bookstore and she
Speaker 3: opens up this old Buddhist book and turns to a
Speaker 3: random page and it says learn more, not earn more.
Speaker 3: And she thought, wow, I have my answer. She wanted
Speaker 3: to learn more and not earn more. So she walked
Speaker 3: away from the twenty seven million dollars because of a book,
Speaker 3: because of the Buddhist But and I think her heart.
Speaker 3: She really, I really think I one of the through
Speaker 3: lines of this interview that I found with her is
Speaker 3: that she really follows her heart.
Speaker 1: She knows herself. That's really admirable.
Speaker 2: I think you have to have a few millions in
Speaker 2: order to be able to turn down twenty seven million.
Speaker 3: You know. Yeah, she recognized that she was in the
Speaker 3: position to do so. But I just I think that
Speaker 3: says so much about her. She has a lot of
Speaker 3: a lot of heart and a lot of integrity.
Speaker 1: I like to learn more, earn more.
Speaker 3: Framework Yeah, well, I think let's roll it without further ado.
Speaker 3: Here's my conversation with Juliana. Juliana, welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: I have been wanting to interview you for so long.
Speaker 3: Now I get to because you're currently on Broadway starting
Speaker 3: in Delia Efrin's play Left on tenth and audiences have
Speaker 3: been loving it. Critics have been raving about it. I
Speaker 3: love that the show is an adaptation of Delia's memoir.
Speaker 3: So for those who are not familiar with the show,
Speaker 3: will you tell us a little bit about it?
Speaker 4: So Delia Efrin, who is Nora Efren's younger sister, there's
Speaker 4: four Efren Girls, all writers. Delia and Noura worked on
Speaker 4: a lot of screenplays together. Delia wrote You've Got Mail,
Speaker 4: they did Sleepless in Seattle. Nora was known as the
Speaker 4: you know reinventor of the romantic comedy, and Delia established
Speaker 4: herself in her own right as a novelist. And Nora,
Speaker 4: in twenty twelve died of something called Milo dysplastics syndrome,
Speaker 4: which is bone marrot cancer basically that can morph into AMML,
Speaker 4: which is leukemia. And Delia happened to be Nora's match
Speaker 4: for a stem cell replacement for a bone train but
Speaker 4: when they took Delia's blood, her marrow was a little,
Speaker 4: as she says in the play wonky, not exactly sick,
Speaker 4: but potentially sick, so she couldn't be Nora's bone marrow
Speaker 4: donor for a bone marrow transplant. There were no other
Speaker 4: matches in the entire world, and Nora died, and so Delia,
Speaker 4: three years later went through another horrible cancer story with
Speaker 4: her husband Jerry of thirty three years, who died of
Speaker 4: prostate cancer. All this time, her own possible disease was
Speaker 4: hanging over her head, so she suffered these two deaths,
Speaker 4: and six months after her husband dies, she writes an
Speaker 4: offbed in The New York Times called Love and Hate
Speaker 4: on Hold with Verizon because when she went to disconnect
Speaker 4: her late husband's landline, Verizon also disconnected her Internet, and
Speaker 4: it was her only conduit to the outside and she
Speaker 4: could not get one human being on the phone. It
Speaker 4: was all prompts anyway, So she wrote an op ed
Speaker 4: in The New York Times when she couldn't get anyone
Speaker 4: to fix her internet, and a long lost a man
Speaker 4: that Nora had set her up with on a date
Speaker 4: when she was eighteen, wrote to her through her website
Speaker 4: to say, I just want you to know I love
Speaker 4: your article in the New York Times. I had the
Speaker 4: same problem with my late wife's phone. And by the way,
Speaker 4: we know each other, or we knew each other, your
Speaker 4: big sister Nora set us up when we were eighteen.
Speaker 4: All of that to say they end up falling in
Speaker 4: love over email. I mean it was to Delia it
Speaker 4: was a joke because she wrote, You've got mail about
Speaker 4: two people falling in love over email. And here she was,
Speaker 4: after all these horrific losses in her life and sort
Speaker 4: of feeling like I'll just live out my days and die.
Speaker 4: She starts falling in love with someone that comes blessed
Speaker 4: by Nora. They fall in love, and pretty soon after
Speaker 4: they fall in love, she finds out she had what
Speaker 4: Nora had and she has full blown leukemia. And there
Speaker 4: are no matches because she knows she's Nora's only match
Speaker 4: and she knows there's no matches for her.
Speaker 1: But I think it was eight years later.
Speaker 4: In the science world is huge because at this point
Speaker 4: she can do a haplochord transplant where you don't need
Speaker 4: a match.
Speaker 1: You can use a.
Speaker 4: Donor and a cord blood that a mother donates after
Speaker 4: giving birth. The baby's cord blood has very strong stem cells,
Speaker 4: but there's not enough of them, so use an adult
Speaker 4: one and then the baby cord ends up taking over
Speaker 4: in the adult one face away, and you end up
Speaker 4: with a baby's bone marrow. Basically, it is a twenty
Speaker 4: percent chance of it working. Wow, and it worked and Delia.
Speaker 4: It's interesting because Peter Rudder, her husband. Now he's a
Speaker 4: union psychotherapist, and he sees life in such a positive
Speaker 4: way because when he was seven years old, he saw
Speaker 4: his mother get hit by a car in front of
Speaker 4: him and die oh wow. And so, as he puts it,
Speaker 4: the worst that happened to me when I was seven.
Speaker 4: So in a magical thinking way, nothing worse could happen.
Speaker 4: And so when Dielia gets sick, he says, we can
Speaker 4: do this, and he never leaves her side for one
Speaker 4: hundred days in the hospital. And this is all true,
Speaker 4: This all happened. I mean, there are emails that Peter Gallagher,
Speaker 4: who plays Peter Rutter, and I say out loud to
Speaker 4: each other that were lifted from their emails. I feel
Speaker 4: so lucky to be a part of such a beautiful story.
Speaker 4: And it's funny and it's also really gut wrenching.
Speaker 3: So you laugh and you cry. That should be the experience.
Speaker 3: That is what theeter's supposed to do. That's what art
Speaker 3: is supposed to do. You know. One of the things
Speaker 3: that stuck out to me was that there is this
Speaker 3: idea of what is it called a confluence of events
Speaker 3: that happens, and like I've heard it called synchronicity as well.
Speaker 1: They call it synchronicity too, yep.
Speaker 3: And it felt to me that this happened to you
Speaker 3: in such a confluence of events or syncratic way, because
Speaker 3: you met Delia on the street because she lives by you,
Speaker 3: and that's kind of how this happened, which is an
Speaker 3: unbelievable moment. But that idea of fate or second chances,
Speaker 3: the unknown even has sort of been a through line
Speaker 3: in your life. I loved your book so much, called
Speaker 3: Sunshine Girl, Oh thank you, but it's the full title
Speaker 3: is A Sunshine Girl an Unexpected Life?
Speaker 1: What is the Unexpected life? Part?
Speaker 4: Never in a million years did I think that the
Speaker 4: life I live now would be true to me, because
Speaker 4: I came from such chaos and not without love. I
Speaker 4: had tremendous love.
Speaker 3: My mother.
Speaker 4: Is a narcissist, she'll admit that to anyone, and her
Speaker 4: needs came before her children. And they were divorced when
Speaker 4: I was a very little girl. I was probably a
Speaker 4: year old when they separated, and we moved all over.
Speaker 4: We moved to England, we moved to France, we moved
Speaker 4: back to New York, we moved back to England. I mean,
Speaker 4: there was never any consistency or I never felt.
Speaker 1: Held where I was.
Speaker 4: I always felt like I had to figure out how
Speaker 4: to hold on and keep going. So the life that
Speaker 4: I have paved for myself through that journey.
Speaker 1: I mean, it makes sense now.
Speaker 4: And when I was writing the book, I learned so
Speaker 4: much more about myself, and so it was obvious to
Speaker 4: me as I was writing the book. Of course, I
Speaker 4: became an actor. I was always putting on someone else's shoes.
Speaker 4: I was always trying to fit in to the right
Speaker 4: culture or the right school, or the right accent or
Speaker 4: the right like. I never felt that I belonged anywhere
Speaker 4: because I was always an outlier. Sort of became my
Speaker 4: superpower because I knew how to assimilate quickly anywhere. Anyhow,
Speaker 4: I always thought once I became an adult, I was like,
Speaker 4: so nothing worse could happen. It was like, you've been
Speaker 4: through a lot worse, kid, you can do this. And
Speaker 4: that's always my record in my head is like, you
Speaker 4: can do this now. I think a lot of it
Speaker 4: is also because no matter where we were, I always
Speaker 4: had love. I was never abused, or we would be
Speaker 4: living in the worst circumstances, and there was so much love.
Speaker 4: It wasn't that I didn't feel wanted by them. It
Speaker 4: was that I didn't feel wanted by my circumstances and
Speaker 4: my school and my friends, and it made me insecure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, We're going to take a quick break, but we'll
Speaker 3: be right back with Julianna Margalize.
Speaker 1: We're back with actor Juliana Margalize.
Speaker 3: Juliana, I want everyone to hear about how you and
Speaker 3: Delia first connected.
Speaker 4: How did you meet? So there I was in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty one Sunshine Girl. An Unexpected Life had just come out,
Speaker 4: but it was pandemic, so I couldn't do a book tour.
Speaker 4: And I was walking my dog down Fifth Avenue and
Speaker 4: I got to tenth Street and another dog was sniffing
Speaker 4: my dog. And this woman saw me and she pulled
Speaker 4: her mask down and she said, I loved your book.
Speaker 4: My name's Deelia Efren. Oh my goodness. It was her
Speaker 4: dog that was sniffing my dog.
Speaker 3: And I heard that you always wanted to be a
Speaker 3: part of an Efrine's sister's work, Yes, which is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I think they're movies.
Speaker 4: Didn't you want to be in every movie of theirs
Speaker 4: that you saw and be in their orbit? And you
Speaker 4: know this idea, it's like it's of another era, because
Speaker 4: romantic comedies they're off the forties and fifties, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't know they were of the nineties.
Speaker 3: Too.
Speaker 1: I grew up with them.
Speaker 4: Well, yes and yes, but the way they made them
Speaker 4: was so beautifully old fashioned, even though it was two
Speaker 4: people emailing each other, well, you know, it was.
Speaker 1: The wrong coms when falling in love was cool? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. Wow, that's such a great point.
Speaker 3: But you're known for these really hyper dramatic, intense roles.
Speaker 1: What kept you from doing a rom com all these years?
Speaker 1: It's interesting, isn't it.
Speaker 4: I think I think you get you get put in
Speaker 4: a box sometimes, especially on a series, and with Carol Hathaway.
Speaker 4: I loved playing her, and to this day, I'm so
Speaker 4: happy that I was part of that group of people.
Speaker 4: But you know, once you play the same character for
Speaker 4: six years, I think people see you that way.
Speaker 1: So when casting a.
Speaker 4: Movie, they go, oh, Julianne would be great for the
Speaker 4: dramatic role. They it would never think of me as
Speaker 4: the funny person. I also think I think drama comes
Speaker 4: easy easy to me because I come from drama.
Speaker 3: You know, we've talked a little bit about chance, but
Speaker 3: you mentioned Carol Hathaway, your iconic character on Er, and
Speaker 3: I was reading that that role kind of came about
Speaker 3: by chance.
Speaker 1: Will you share that story?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I auditioned for a recurring character.
Speaker 4: I blew that audition because I was angry at the
Speaker 4: casting director because they made me wait two hours and
Speaker 4: I had two other auditions to go to and I didn't.
Speaker 4: I hate being late, so I blew the audition and
Speaker 4: I went in kind of snarky in the audition. I
Speaker 4: was twenty five years old, so I would play things
Speaker 4: very differently now. And then he said, you're not right
Speaker 4: for that part, but there's a guest starring role in
Speaker 4: the pilot. We'd love you to come back and audition
Speaker 4: for her. Name's Carol Hathaway. And she dies right, and
Speaker 4: I said fine, and I got the part, and I
Speaker 4: died in the pilot. And then my sweet friend George Clooney,
Speaker 4: I don't know why he did it, but he called
Speaker 4: and left me a message after I flew back to
Speaker 4: New York, and he said, you might not die.
Speaker 1: Your character tested really high. Don't take another job, and
Speaker 1: you had another job lined up? I did. I had
Speaker 1: another job on Homicide Life on the Street.
Speaker 4: They were going to I had guest start on that
Speaker 4: for two episodes, and they were going to bring me
Speaker 4: back as a series regular.
Speaker 1: So I called it.
Speaker 4: Dear friend, of mine, and I said, I don't know
Speaker 4: what to do, and he said, take the new show
Speaker 4: because you never know, and this job will always be
Speaker 4: here if you want it if it doesn't work out,
Speaker 4: and lo and behold it worked out.
Speaker 3: You know, in every single interview you do, whether you're
Speaker 3: hung Kelly or Ellen, like anything that I look back on,
Speaker 3: everybody asks you about George Clooney, and I understand why,
Speaker 3: because he is George Clooney.
Speaker 1: They also ask him about you all the time.
Speaker 3: There's something about your friends show do oh yeah all
Speaker 3: the time?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, thank you for taking that, Danielle, because
Speaker 4: I always wondered about that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, God, I always talk about George. I wonder
Speaker 1: if they ever ask about.
Speaker 3: Me they do well, I'm curious about because sometimes Hollywood
Speaker 3: friendships they don't stand the test of time. Always yeah,
Speaker 3: and yours with George really has. I'm wondering what that
Speaker 3: was at the beginning, that click that because for him
Speaker 3: to call you and leave a voicemail and then for
Speaker 3: you to give up another job when you're kind of
Speaker 3: a new actor who probably needs the money, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of trust there.
Speaker 4: So for me, because I was so new, it it
Speaker 4: all First of all, he was so much fun on
Speaker 4: the set, you know, and I'd never been on a
Speaker 4: set like that. I had done one Law and Order,
Speaker 4: I think, and I was petrified. That was the first
Speaker 4: TV I ever did. I think he had done fourteen pilots,
Speaker 4: and so he kept saying to all of us, you know,
Speaker 4: I've done a lot of pilots, man, but this one
Speaker 4: feels different. And I could tell that he had the experience.
Speaker 4: He was also very warm and kind and friendly, and
Speaker 4: I wasn't afraid to ask him questions, and so I
Speaker 4: knew he was trustworthy.
Speaker 1: And we all got along so well on the.
Speaker 4: Pilot, and all had a big dinner when it ended,
Speaker 4: and I waved literally like I said bye, everybody, ilays
Speaker 4: go heading back to New York, and I said, good
Speaker 4: luck with the pilot.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to watch the show. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I felt like maybe he saw something in me
Speaker 4: and my participation as a human being with the rest
Speaker 4: of the actors that were the series regulars, that was
Speaker 4: something different to maybe the girl who did get the
Speaker 4: recurring role but her part didn't continue in mind did
Speaker 4: so maybe it was a chemistry thing with acting, with
Speaker 4: just liking each other. We liked each other off the bat.
Speaker 4: He loved that I love to drive, and you know
Speaker 4: he he used to be.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't think he has anymore, but I know he
Speaker 4: doesn't ride a motorcycle anymore because I scolded him on
Speaker 4: that one, the last accident. I was like, you have
Speaker 4: a wife and children, now, George, how about no? No
Speaker 4: more a good friend. He's known for all these pranks
Speaker 4: on set, did you pring? I never pranked him. I
Speaker 4: always thought anyone pranks George Clooney is such an idiot,
Speaker 4: because that would scare me to death.
Speaker 1: I never ever pranked him.
Speaker 4: I remember a couple of crew guys, you know, we
Speaker 4: had on the set of The r Everything was real,
Speaker 4: so we had lubricants and we had ivy drips and
Speaker 4: everything was real. And I remember a bunch of crew
Speaker 4: guys looped his trailer door knob and I was walking
Speaker 4: by his trailer and I saw him trying to get
Speaker 4: in and he couldn't grasp the door, and I thought,
Speaker 4: whoever did that, They're going to die. And he waited,
Speaker 4: he could wait a year before getting you back. And
Speaker 4: I knew that about him, So no, I never pranked
Speaker 4: George clooney. Patience is so deadly with a prankster. It's
Speaker 4: such a deadly combination. Yeah, because if you have the
Speaker 4: patience for it, then the person never knows when you're
Speaker 4: going to strike.
Speaker 1: That's so funny to me.
Speaker 3: You know, you mentioned that you would ask him questions,
Speaker 3: And I just saw a video of Jane Fonda on
Speaker 3: stage somewhere speaking and she said, no actor I've ever
Speaker 3: been on set with has ever asked me questions or
Speaker 3: advice except for one person. And Meryl Streep was in
Speaker 3: the audience and she said, Meryl asked me questions about
Speaker 3: our craft. And I've heard you say that you've been
Speaker 3: on set and nobody asks you questions.
Speaker 4: It shocks me. My dad always said to me, there's
Speaker 4: no such thing as a stupid question. Yeah, And I
Speaker 4: think that is the best way to learn. And so
Speaker 4: when you're on a set with people who have been
Speaker 4: doing this for a long time, who know the ropes,
Speaker 4: who are experienced, why wouldn't you ask questions? It's only
Speaker 4: going to make your life richer. Let's just say you
Speaker 4: don't even learn from it. You'll get a great story,
Speaker 4: but you'll always learn from it. I think it's the
Speaker 4: best lesson in life.
Speaker 1: What do you think they're losing by not asking those questions?
Speaker 4: What you're losing is a deeper trust within the relationship
Speaker 4: that you're working on on screen than those characters, right,
Speaker 4: Because if you feel really comfortable with the person you're
Speaker 4: acting with, you're going to do better work because you're
Speaker 4: gonna be braver, be Causon's got your back. And it's
Speaker 4: when I say to Peter Gallagher all the time. I
Speaker 4: love working with him so much because he worked with
Speaker 4: some of the greats. He talks about Jack Lemon and
Speaker 4: James Cagney and how generous they were with him as
Speaker 4: a young, up and coming guy, and the lessons he
Speaker 4: took from that. And I always say to him, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, he's done eleven Broadway shows.
Speaker 1: This is only my second Broadway show. This is his eleventh.
Speaker 1: So I ask him every question under the sun.
Speaker 4: And it makes playing with him on stage every night
Speaker 4: even more fun because he knows I trust him, and
Speaker 4: I know he trusts me to listen, because acting is listening.
Speaker 1: You don't really have to do much. I always equate
Speaker 1: it to tennis.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like if someone hits a really hard and you're
Speaker 4: not as strong or as good as they are. Really,
Speaker 4: all you have to do is put your racket out
Speaker 4: and get it in the right position. Their power will
Speaker 4: give your ball power, and that's acting. That's a great analogy.
Speaker 4: So I think it's a missed opportunity on so many levels.
Speaker 4: To get to know someone, to learn, and to feel safe,
Speaker 4: you have to be brave, and I think brave people
Speaker 4: ask questions, and I see it in their work.
Speaker 3: I always think of a question as an invitation, and
Speaker 3: that's why it feels vulnerable, because somebody could turn down
Speaker 3: your invitation, but most of the time they don't.
Speaker 1: So I completely agree with you. That's a great analogy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree.
Speaker 3: We have another short break, but don't go anywhere. We'll
Speaker 3: be right back with Juliana Margalise. And we're back with
Speaker 3: Juliana Margalise. You have a new move be coming out
Speaker 3: called Miller's in Marriage. It is so good. Your character
Speaker 3: in the film deals with being an empty nester after
Speaker 3: her kids go to college, and your son in real
Speaker 3: life will be going off to college soon. How are
Speaker 3: you feeling and are you considering how you're gonna want
Speaker 3: to spend your time? I know you love to work,
Speaker 3: But are you going to be traveling? Are you going
Speaker 3: to be reading what's on your heart?
Speaker 4: It's so interesting. And maybe it's because I had my
Speaker 4: son later in life. I was forty when I got pregnant,
Speaker 4: So it's not that I'm looking forward to him not
Speaker 4: being here. I'm just looking forward to other doors opening
Speaker 4: because he's not here. So, I mean, we have a
Speaker 4: small family, but we're so interwoven that it will feel,
Speaker 4: I'm sure in the beginning like my arm is missing. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but the amount of work I've turned down over the
Speaker 4: past seventeen years because it was out of the country
Speaker 4: or six months in another state won happen anymore. I
Speaker 4: can now say yes to the play on the West End,
Speaker 4: or to shooting a miniseries in Germany, or my husband's company.
Speaker 4: Every month he's on another trip somewhere and he always says,
Speaker 4: want to come, and I can, of course not, I'm
Speaker 4: not coming. One of us has to be home with
Speaker 4: the kid. I'll go on those trips, you know. I
Speaker 4: look at it as, yes, it's going to be a
Speaker 4: sad time in the beginning, just to get used to it.
Speaker 4: But I'm also really good at adapting to change and
Speaker 4: I'm really excited for him. I'm excited for him to
Speaker 4: find his lane and discover who he is as a
Speaker 4: man in the world, you know, And I always say
Speaker 4: to him, nothing is more important than finding what brings
Speaker 4: you joy, you know, like part of the Unexpected Life.
Speaker 4: The subtitle of my book is that I never thought
Speaker 4: I could make a living doing what I love. Few
Speaker 4: people do, I know, And how luxurious is that to
Speaker 4: be able to get up and go to work every
Speaker 4: day and love what you do.
Speaker 3: I think that is the element of your story that
Speaker 3: keeps coming up for me when I was researching or
Speaker 3: reading about you. Do you think about how much of
Speaker 3: your life was like happened by chance or how much
Speaker 3: was in your control?
Speaker 4: How much was your perspective on it? I think a
Speaker 4: lot of it is how the stars align. Er happened
Speaker 4: when it did and how it did and with all
Speaker 4: the other shows around it, right, you have to like,
Speaker 4: it's hard to remember that fart back, but it's thirty
Speaker 4: years ago that Er and Friends and Seinfeld and Cheers
Speaker 4: were all on NBC on Thursday nights. It was the
Speaker 4: Thursday night lineup. We've had so many golden eras of television,
Speaker 4: but that was the golden era of television. That was like,
Speaker 4: no one was out on a Thursday night.
Speaker 3: Weren't like forty million people tuning in every week for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, our pilot was a two hour pilot and it
Speaker 4: had a forty four million viewership on his opening night.
Speaker 1: It's like the suit a million.
Speaker 4: That's yeah, that's Super Bowl numbers. So and that was
Speaker 4: before you know, Cable was just starting. HBO hadn't quite
Speaker 4: started yet. So that's luck, right, And also the way
Speaker 4: the stars aligned with all of these actors mostly unknowns
Speaker 4: except Anthony Edwards, who was known in the film world
Speaker 4: but not in the TV world at all, and he
Speaker 4: had never done television before. So all of those elements
Speaker 4: that came into this one giant Petri dish and then
Speaker 4: blossomed into this show that was such a mega hit worldwide.
Speaker 4: And that my character that I was only supposed to
Speaker 4: be on as a guest star in the pilot and die.
Speaker 4: Anything could have happened to me if I hadn't gotten
Speaker 4: that call from George who knows. And then even with
Speaker 4: The Good Wife, the only reason I knew about The
Speaker 4: Good Wife is because my agent at the time represented
Speaker 4: an actress who turned it down, and she called me
Speaker 4: and said, I have a script here that I think
Speaker 4: is fantastic and I think you should read it. And
Speaker 4: I read it and I said, oh my god, I
Speaker 4: love it. Are they interested in me? And she said yes,
Speaker 4: her client had turned it down. And I said, well,
Speaker 4: I don't want to be sloppy seconds and she said
Speaker 4: the best thing to me, she said, when you're up
Speaker 4: on screen as Alicia Florik, no one's going to know
Speaker 4: that anyone else.
Speaker 1: Was supposed to play her, but you.
Speaker 4: So again, I went in through the back door in
Speaker 4: a certain way because I certainly wasn't their first choice.
Speaker 1: And that's okay. I'm okay with that you were the
Speaker 1: best choice, though, well you know, it worked out. And so.
Speaker 4: I think for actors especially, it's hard not to walk
Speaker 4: into the room with your ego. And I think the
Speaker 4: most important thing you can do as an actor is
Speaker 4: less go of ego.
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful, Juliana, And I think the ego element
Speaker 3: is so resonant, not just for actors, although I do
Speaker 3: think that great acting is sort of like magic, because
Speaker 3: you're you're having this like double life, almost your your
Speaker 3: most vulnerable self, and at the same time a totally
Speaker 3: different person. It's like an astonishing double act almost. I
Speaker 3: love your love for the story and for the written word.
Speaker 1: And I know your dad was a writer, and so
Speaker 1: you have so much respect for the written word.
Speaker 3: Your dad gave you a book of Mark Schighal art
Speaker 3: and you said you love his work because his paintings
Speaker 3: are joyful. And I've noticed in your interviews that word
Speaker 3: joyful comes up a lot in different ways. Why do
Speaker 3: you think you're seeking joy? Why does that come up?
Speaker 3: So that's a great question. I didn't realize I used
Speaker 3: it so much. So when I look at something, I
Speaker 3: want to feel good. When I see art, or listen
Speaker 3: to music, or watch film or theater, clothing, anything, I
Speaker 3: think we're all really seeking joy. You know, we live
Speaker 3: in a world where we have to seek out the joy.
Speaker 3: Joy doesn't seem to be the most natural element of
Speaker 3: social media.
Speaker 4: Joy doesn't get headlines, right, Tragedy gets headlines, gossip gets headlines,
Speaker 4: maliciousness gets headlines. Joy doesn't. And yet most people, I
Speaker 4: can pretty much guarantee if you ask them, would they
Speaker 4: rather be sad or joyful? We'll tell you joyful. What's
Speaker 4: bringing you joy?
Speaker 1: Right now?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: My God, well, so many things.
Speaker 4: I really get pleasure out of the littlest things in life.
Speaker 1: That's a gift.
Speaker 4: It's gonna sound so corny, but I love waking up
Speaker 4: in the morning because I look forward to that first
Speaker 4: sip of coffee in the morning. It brings me so
Speaker 4: much joy. And my husband and happens to be a
Speaker 4: much better coffee maker than I am, and he makes
Speaker 4: the coffee in the morning and I smell it as
Speaker 4: I'm waking up, and I just think everything is good
Speaker 4: when I'd smell that coffee. And I have this I'm
Speaker 4: addicted to word games and I play wordle with a
Speaker 4: bunch of people. But it just brings me so much
Speaker 4: joy in the morning because we're all connected, and I
Speaker 4: like to start my day. I like to wake up
Speaker 4: sort of just finding all the little things that bring
Speaker 4: me joy before I have to go in and attack
Speaker 4: the day and get to the lists of things I
Speaker 4: have to do. And my family brings me tremendous joy.
Speaker 4: Just walking my dog in the morning brings me joy
Speaker 4: because you could be in the worst mood and go
Speaker 4: and walk your dog and they do one thing and
Speaker 4: they just make you smile. I always say, any person
Speaker 4: who suffers from sadness should get a dog because they're
Speaker 4: so they bring you joy. And then, honestly, no matter
Speaker 4: how tired I am and eight shows, we can be
Speaker 4: a grind.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to get to work.
Speaker 4: Wow, I love it so much. I always go backstage
Speaker 4: when they yell five minutes before places. I like to
Speaker 4: go because I have to tap dance in this I
Speaker 4: had to learn how to tap dance.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 3: You get to add that to your resume and like
Speaker 3: random skills, you know, like when you had to put
Speaker 3: random skills when you're starting out and everyone lies and says,
Speaker 3: I know how to ice skate.
Speaker 1: She can do a soft shoe. Yes, yes.
Speaker 4: I once did a mini series one of my favorite jobs. Actually,
Speaker 4: it was called The Mists of Avalon, based on Marion
Speaker 4: Zimmerman's book, and Uli Adele was our director, and he
Speaker 4: had asked every single actor could they ride horses because
Speaker 4: it was the only mode of transportation at that point
Speaker 4: in time. He wanted to have these big, sweeping scenes
Speaker 4: of galloping on horses with our silk robes. And I
Speaker 4: was so excited because of course I was a horseback
Speaker 4: rider yet.
Speaker 1: But when we got to progue. Where we shot the show.
Speaker 4: There were quite a few actors who did not know
Speaker 4: how to ride horses, and that track he couldn't use
Speaker 4: them in the scenes. He even and he was like
Speaker 4: he was He's German. I love him so much, but
Speaker 4: it says, I was a resume. You ride a horse,
Speaker 4: but you look like you're bumping around. And Jelaicae Houston
Speaker 4: and I were in that together, and of course she's
Speaker 4: a very accomplished question and so he loved that she
Speaker 4: and I can really ride, so he could just send
Speaker 4: us out with second unit and he was like, oh, gallop.
Speaker 4: But I always say, like, don't write anything you can't do,
Speaker 4: because you will be asked to do it.
Speaker 1: And still everyone does. Still everyone does because they want
Speaker 1: the job.
Speaker 3: One of the coolest things about being an actor is
Speaker 3: I think when you get to the end of your life,
Speaker 3: you are one of the most interesting people in the world.
Speaker 3: Like you understand you have all these hobbies, you understand
Speaker 3: things about almost every culture, and like you you have
Speaker 3: all these skills.
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. You have to dive in.
Speaker 4: You have to learn about the person you're playing, so
Speaker 4: you have to learn all those things, and it is
Speaker 4: You're right. I'm always amazed that I get paid.
Speaker 1: To learn new things every day. You're amazing.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for joining us on the bright
Speaker 3: Side today. Juliana Oh, I loved it, Danielle, it was
Speaker 3: so fun. Juliana Margalize is an actor and author. Her
Speaker 3: Broadway show Left on Tenth is playing in New York
Speaker 3: and will wrap its limited run on February second. You
Speaker 3: can catch her film Miller's in Marriage in theaters and
Speaker 3: on digital on Friday, February twenty first.
Speaker 2: That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're learning how to
Speaker 2: Pause your career with power. Naha Rush is here to
Speaker 2: talk about her new book, The Power Pause. Join the
Speaker 2: conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect with us
Speaker 2: on social media at hellos Unshine on Instagram and at
Speaker 2: the bright Side Pod on TikTok oh, and feel free
Speaker 2: to tag us at Simone Boyce and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3: Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.