WEBVTT - Jenna Elfman 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.600 It started in gymnastics when I was like nine or ten. 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:07.880 I was doing what's called giants, where you hang by 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.719 one bar and your full body is hanging in your 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.000 full body rotates around the bar. It's called I used 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:15.800 to do that. I used to do that all the time. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.239 I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, okay, you 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.000 know when you just swing your full body. Yeah, where 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.400 you just swinging around? Of course. Yeah, I was trying 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:34.000 that this morning. Yeah, I know. I am Jenna Elfman 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:47.080 and I am an actress ever growing. Here we go. Hello, Hello, 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:52.360 gentle listeners, and welcome back to my favorite podcast, Off 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.840 the Beat. I am, as always, your host, Brian Baumgartner. Now, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.600 as you know from the introduction, you've just heard, the 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:05.800 incredible Jenna Elfman is joining me on the podcast today. 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.640 She has been in a lot of your favorite shows 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.760 and movies, Fear, the Walking Dead, Big Stone Gap, Friends 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:18.640 with Benefits, but perhaps most famously, she starred as the spunky, 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.320 free spirited Dharma on the groundbreaking sitcom Dharma and Greg. 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.080 Now this is probably clear from Jenna's bright, shining golden 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:32.080 globe that sits on her mantle, but she was truly 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.280 amazing as Dharma. I'm a big fan and I felt very, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.119 very lucky to get to speak with her right here 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:44.400 before your very ears on this podcast. I loved talking 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.640 to her, and I know after listening you are going 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.960 to love her too. Now, in addition to being a 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.920 very talented actress, Jenna was also once a very talented 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.880 ballet dancer. Now I didn't realize this, but she was 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:05.520 so good she almost went professional before she pivoted into acting. 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.400 But I'm gonna leave it to Jenna to tell the 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.960 whole story. So here she is, without further ado, my 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:22.040 new bestie, Jenna Elfman. Bubble and Squeak. I love it. 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:29.440 Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker cookie every month, left 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:44.480 over from the Nat Poole. Hello, Jenna, how are you? 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.960 I'm so good. How are you? I'm good? Well, it's 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:52.400 good to see you. Um you you're rare. Actually, I 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.520 was thinking about this because this this seems anathetical, but 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.360 you grew up and were raised in Los Angeles. I 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.799 feel like this is in our business. Actually, it seems 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:05.440 like everyone I talked to us from Kansas or I 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:12.080 don't know, India, Canada. A lot of funny people from Canada. 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:17.079 Surprisingly exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and my husband Body 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.000 were both native Angelino's. It's amazing you you weren't. Now, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.239 I I mean, I'm skipping ahead a little. I heard 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.440 that you you met on a commercial. Is that right? Yeah? 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:34.240 The callback of a Sprite commercial in Sprite Breeds Love. 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.320 That should be you should be there's new spokesperson, the 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.560 two of you spright. It was well, it was funny 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.520 because the slogan is I like the way you make 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:47.840 me laugh. And frankly, that is the thing with Body 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.120 and I has been humor. That's been the thing that's 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.640 kept us together thirty one years. And there's the whole story. 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:58.040 And I'll let you do your interview, but come on, 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.080 you you you during a spray. I don't know what 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.400 what are you talking about? Tell me? He was the 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.240 story of meeting U. Briefly. So we were at the callback, 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:11.960 you know, we go in there and it's always that 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.920 awkward thing of like tell a joke and you're like, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.600 oh god, and I don't tell jokes. It's like not 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:23.719 my thing. So my Body was being his most charming 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.680 self because I was in the room and this was 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.800 his moment to court me and so he was, you know, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.240 tap dancing and being there, you know, with his humor 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.840 and being very charming. He thought and was telling a 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.159 joke that I my eyes couldn't have rolled back farther 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:42.880 in my head and um, and I just felt awkward. Um. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.599 And then he walked me to my car and said, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:47.320 you look just like my girlfriend. You have a head 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:53.000 shot so I can show her. And I was like, okay, weird, Okay, yeah, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.279 but the weird thing is he I did look just 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:58.159 like a girl he was dating, but she was like 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.760 a year younger than me, but like literally we looked 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:05.480 like we were related. And then he was like teasing 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:07.440 me the whole way walking to me to my car 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.080 because I parked. It was this audition place where like 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.080 there's no parking ever, so I was parked in the 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.760 car board of a random person's apartment and so he 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.000 was giving me hell about like when if they come home. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:19.480 I was like, I don't know. It was going to 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.400 be a fast audition anyway. We end up getting the 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.400 job and we're on set. We keep getting rained out, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.920 so we're just spending day after day together hanging out 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.520 on set and the trailer whatever, getting to know each other, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.279 and we film a bunch of vignettes together and then 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.960 we end up. You know, it takes a while before 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.880 before it starts airing, and it was a national commercial, 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.640 and by this time we're like boyfriend girlfriend. Now it 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.920 starts airing, he gets edited out, I'm in the commercial. 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.520 He then has to procuress and progressively watch every like 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:01.760 sixty dollars worth of residual that that I'm getting, and 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:06.880 the here's the punchline ishes that the vignette that they 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.320 used of me is a quick moment of me go 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.360 falling with laughter, and it was him right off camera 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:21.159 making me laugh. Oh, I can't believe you said together that. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.719 If I were him, I probably would have just been like, God, yeah, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.839 and here we are. That's and you're still to get 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.039 thirty one years thirty one years together? Well, I mean, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.320 you're not really supposed to talk about age, but I 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.679 know thirty one years is a long time. You met 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:47.039 young then, Yeah, I was a nineteen and I'm fifty now. Wow, congratulations, 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.839 thank you? That No, that is amazing. Um, okay, so 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.919 before this, before the sprite commercial you're in, you're in 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.359 Los Angeles. I understand you're your folks are not in 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.640 the business, right, Your your dad is a an aircraft executive, 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.640 Is that right? Yeah? He wrote, like security policy at 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.560 whose aircraft company? Oh? Okay, when did you know that 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.720 acting or or the business? I don't know. I always 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.200 hate that phrase. And I just used it that that 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.400 was something you were interested in? Was it? Was it? 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:25.400 High school? Younger? Younger? I had told my mom I 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.840 had a career in ballet, like before I became an actress, 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.080 because you know, your mom puts you in ballet class 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.600 and that's what you knew. And so I just did 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.080 that while I was in school. But apparently when I 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.800 was like three or four, I told my mom, I'm 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.360 going to be very famous on TV one day, you know, 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.400 And it was like I was a TV kid. I 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:49.880 enjoyed watching things on TV, playing in my playpin. My 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.160 brother was ten years older and my sister was thirteen 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.640 years older. My mom had had some miscarriages between my 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:56.840 brother and I, so there's this like ten year age gap. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.840 So I would be like sitting there and watching them outside, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.200 watching them come home with their friends, and you know, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.040 I would I was watching like Get Smart and Bewitched 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.600 and Brady Bunch and all these things while my mom 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.480 was tending to them. And I don't know, I must 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.160 have just I think I liked. I thought I thought 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.760 it was very interesting what people could make me laugh 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:22.400 or could captivate my attention or make me feel different emotions, 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.840 you know, And I thought, that's that's that's interesting because 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.160 from a very early age I was really troubled by 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:35.600 seeing that people had suffering in them as a young 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.800 toddler and child and just being around in life. I 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.439 love my mom would apologize for me staring at people, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.960 but I was a people watcher. I was very interested 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:51.160 in humanity and human behavior and curious about people. But 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:56.000 I would observe so much suffering and I was like 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.800 it captivated my attention and I was like, how is 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.600 a little child can I make someone feel better? And 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.560 if they were suffering, that means it went bad, which 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.360 means it was good before, you know, there was a 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.320 lot they lost something and became sad, and how do 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.719 you get them back to before they became sad? And 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.360 that was something that like really took a lot of 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.360 my attention as a child. Was this like empathetic concern 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.960 and um and I think that I also remember I 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.079 think Jungle Book was the first movie I ever saw 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.240 in a movie theater, and it moved me to tears 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.360 at this one point, and I felt that sense of 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.840 empathy and emotion, and I thought it was so weird 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.840 how a two dimensional screen could make arouse emotion human 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.480 emotion in me. And I thought, oh, maybe that's a 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:49.640 way you're in people's homes when you're on TV. Maybe 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.240 that's the way I can make people feel better. Right. 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:57.360 That is so interesting and also so incredibly mature. I 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:01.520 mean the idea, because I was about to say I 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.320 was the same way, like studying human behaviors. But I 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.240 don't think I had at all what you're talking about, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.040 which is actually a journey like that. You were mature 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.440 enough to say, oh, they're they're in a bad place 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.680 right now. Then for you to start to identify that 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:22.319 so early, that's that's amazing. Yeah, I just remember it 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.199 occupying a lot of my attention. I don't know, I 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.600 guess that's how I entertained myself or something. It was 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.559 just that was my hook. You know, there's some kids 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.040 that like to you know, they play with drink and 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:34.719 they like to undo things and try and figure out 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.400 how to put them back together. Certain kids are you know, 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:42.440 they just have these inclinations in areas and human beings 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.440 were kind of mine fascination. Right. So you you went 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.000 to l A County High School for the Arts. Now, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.000 was was that for dance? Yeah? That was for dance 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.400 for dance, okay, yeah, I would go there and then 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.280 then after school we get out at four o'clock and 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.520 then we me and my friend would went to the 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.040 same ballet school in Santa Monica, West Side Ballet, and 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.160 so we take the It was in al Hambro County 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.680 High School for the Arts, which is east of downtown 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:12.760 l A. So then it was like peak traffic time. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.000 You can imagine the ten Freeway at four pm or 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.800 fift thirty going from al Hamber to Santa Monica five 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.800 days a week. But that's how dedicated we were at, 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.520 you know, becoming professional ballerinas, and so that's just what 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:31.720 you do. Right. You had an injury, is that right? Yeah? 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.760 It was. It started in gymnastics when I was like 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:40.160 nine or ten. I was doing what's called giants, where 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.120 you hang by one bar and your full body is 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.120 hanging in your full body rotates around the bar. It's 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.000 called I used to do that. I used to do 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.440 that all the time. I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, okay, 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.120 you know when you just swing your full body you're 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.480 just swinging around of course. Yeah, I was trying that 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:02.000 this morning. Yeah, I know. But I had dismounted, crooked, 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:03.880 landed on the edge of the mat and tour for 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.000 ligaments when I was really young, so that kind of 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.960 set the stage for like just a vulnerable right ankle. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.040 And then I'm going through doing ballet and I go 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.960 do summer programs on full scholarship to Pacific with West 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.520 Ballet and Seattle, Washington, which was really fun, but that 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.320 was a very intensive program, and my ankle would just 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.840 from the stress, stress and everything, it would just activate. 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.839 And then I had a tendants separate from the bone 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.000 that I had to be in a cast. And it 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720 was just like these recurring things, and I at a 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.280 certain year in my later teens it was time to 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.520 either go into a ballet company, which I was considering 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:45.839 doing going into Pacific with West Ballet because I always 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.760 got full scholarship there and I thought that's this is 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.200 the right transitional point. But then it was like this 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.200 ankle injury was so recurring. I went, I'm I'm going 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.840 to spend more time icing and tending to an injury 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.360 than I am creating, and that's not a career. And 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.280 it was mainly being on my toes and doing point 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.839 work that was the triggering factor. So I went, well, 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.240 let me dance and TV and film because it's more 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.920 jazz or lyrical. So that's when I started making that 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.040 transition and got a dance agent and started going on 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.920 auditions for things that had dancers in them and uh, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.720 and that started kind of that transition from dance to 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.680 on camera like acting and all of that. Right, did 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.360 you ever consider acting as a child. I don't know 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:38.320 if I had articulated it as acting, but I knew 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.040 I wanted. I knew I loved Make Believe. I knew 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:45.720 I was obsessed with human behavior and human beings, and 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.200 I knew I wanted to reach far and wide in 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:52.520 terms of whatever it was I was going to create. 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.640 I wanted it to be like hundreds of millions of people, 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.560 like I wanted to reach a lot of people. Um, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.240 But I to know if it was acting per se 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:09.600 more than just effecting affecting affecting, yeah, like and leaving 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.480 them with an effect to create it upon them. You 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.640 know that I could move them to think a new 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.240 thought or move their emotions somehow, and in doing so, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.440 remind them that they're alive and that there's hope. You know. 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.760 That was sort of like my thought process. I think, right, well, 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.600 I read online your at least your first credited job 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.520 is as a dancer in a Depeche Mode music video. 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.160 When when did you start studying acting? When did at 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.960 least that seed start? When I met my husband Um, 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:45.720 I was dancing on the Academy, was one of the 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.960 dancers on the Academy Awards in and that was the 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.360 same month that I met Body on the Sprit commercial. 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.640 It was after I had done the Academy Awards. I 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.920 was like this big and one of this like an 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.520 inch toll on the s Green and one of thirty 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.800 and I went, this is the best job I can 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.120 get in Ella as a dancer. I didn't have plans 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.400 to go to Broadway cause I didn't really sing. And 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.880 I went, I don't feel like I can make that impact. 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.960 That was what my sort of You know, I hadn't 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.440 articulated it, but I just knew that impression of a 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:19.080 goal I didn't feel like I could do that being 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.160 an inch big and one of thirty and not having 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.040 like my own name identity. So I went, I think 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.640 it's time to start acting. And so that was that transition. 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.880 And I had met body that month and I was like, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.440 where do you I need to study acting, and so 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.080 he's like, well, I study here. I was like, okay, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.440 I'll go there. I had done some improv classes. My 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:42.240 mom put me in like improv comedy classes when I 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.960 was a teenager for commercials, just so that I had 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.760 some tools for like commercial auditions. So I had done 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:50.960 some of that already, but I hadn't done seen study 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.920 or character work. So you were you were going to 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.880 be a professional dancer. Yeah, that was it. Yeah, Like 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.840 I didn't hang out at malls and do all the 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.840 teenage stuff. I was in a dance studio, mastering of 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.080 fine art, you know, like I really was dedicated to that. Yeah, 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.640 I mean, and that's that's such a tremendous Yeah, as 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.160 you say, a tremendous amount of time and number of 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:17.280 hours training. So you're doing commercials and you're you know, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.360 you're on TV, but you're dancing, and then you start 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.000 you start taking classes. And when does it sort of 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.480 click for you that this is something that I can 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.920 that I can do? Was it right away or yeah? 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:34.360 I think so. Actually, this is when it started good 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.600 asking me this question, Brian. Thank you. This just reminded me. Um. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.800 I just remember this when you asked that. Earlier on 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.920 when I was a teenager, my mom had me do 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:51.000 one acting private with an acting coach that was scene study. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.520 It was like a little mini thing. It was just 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.680 he and I, like in a dance studio, just to 0:16:56.240 --> 0:17:02.400 rent the space or whatever. And I remember that moment 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.040 of being in total belief of who I was as 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.600 that character, like being another person with all the thoughts 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:14.720 and emotions in that environment with that story that's going 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.560 on as a human being and that. And I remember 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.359 getting so much sensation out of that, and I felt 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:27.640 so alive, um in that all by myself in this space, 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:32.440 and I was like, this is amazing. This is stimulating 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.440 and fulfilling. And I was like wow. And I think 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.800 that is probably when I went, oh, it's kind of magical, right. 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:46.800 It was like you were truly in this other existence knowingly, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.080 and I just thought, Wow, this is this is special. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:55.240 This isn't something everybody does. This is like really cool. 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:59.639 So that that suspended moment of you know, and for 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.320 me today when the cameras rolling and the director says 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.160 action like that is the safest place ever for me 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.879 because everyone agrees in that moment that that's the story, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.879 and and the cameraman, the focus puller, the sound technician, 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:21.840 the prop man, everybody is in agreement that this is 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.399 the story from each of their jobs. And I just 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.280 think that that is I think we take for granted, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.000 we don't really think about it. But when you really 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:34.080 think about that, that's pretty cool that I will never 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:39.040 forget that, Jenna, No, I'm serious, I will I will 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:46.400 never forget that because you're right. In life, look, everybody 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:52.000 plays a character to one degree or another, right with 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:55.960 with your friends, with your spouse, with your kids, with 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:01.200 your businesses, so whatever. Like everyone's constantly playing a version 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.360 of themselves. That works in this situation. At the same time, 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.640 if you're with a group of people, everybody else has 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.719 their own agendas and are playing their own specific roles 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.120 and at the same time trying to figure out what's 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.760 really going on beneath the surface, and all of those 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.600 things are happening, all of the time. But what you're 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:23.399 saying is so true. In the moment of acting in 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:28.680 a scene, everyone's objectives are set and everyone who's around 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.159 are are helping to support this one moment that everyone 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.560 agrees on. I just literally re said what you said. 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.960 But this is gonna stick with me forever. So you 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.760 think it's something you just never think about. Ti you 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:43.680 think about it and then you gee zs how magical 0:19:43.760 --> 0:20:06.399 and special it is. Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. Okay, 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:10.199 So people, I'm not I'm trying to make this about me. 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.280 People give me shipped all the time, right, because when 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:17.080 I moved to Los Angeles, I met the folks on 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.640 the office like three months later, right, And so people 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.280 are like, oh, come on, how are you you know? 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:25.240 But I'm like, no, guys, listen, I had this whole 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.920 career that happened before this. But you, I mean, this 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.560 is this is amazing. I did not know that. Like, 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.439 you were so focused on being a dancer, and this 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.200 transition happened for you really quickly. I mean it sounds 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.879 like you had this experience that was sort of transformative 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.399 early on. But you meet your husband and you start 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:50.000 you start taking classes, and you immediately respond to the 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:54.280 work it sounds like. And then not much later you 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.320 find yourself as a series regular on your first show, Townies. 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.520 What was that experience like for you your your first 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.920 show after you know, doing commercials and guest star stuff. Yeah, 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:06.720 I had. It was a lot of work to get 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.520 an agent, like not a pertial but a theatrical agent. 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:11.800 So I had to navigate and all the things I 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.320 did to make that happen. Um. So I finally got 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.200 an agent in the summer of and then immediately started 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:21.679 getting guest star roles. So I was just getting my 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:25.040 feet wet and you know, doing a series of guest 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:29.199 star roles both comedy and drama, and then pilot season 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.399 in the January February of n and so I went 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:38.520 on start going on those auditions, immediately went to network 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:42.520 on one of them, didn't get it, and then going 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.320 to network on Townies came up. I went I was 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:51.040 the first actress cast in that, and it just felt 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.280 it felt right, you know, I felt like I've been 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.280 working so hard. I was like very happy it happened 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:00.480 so fast, but in my own experience didn't feel like 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.360 it happened fast because I've just been putting in four 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.640 years of study and working my ass off and dreaming 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:08.960 about trying to get an agent, trying to make this happen. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:13.680 So everything felt appropriate. You know. I never felt undeserving 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:17.040 of it, or I never felt doubtful of myself because 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.879 I had legitimately busted my ass to put in the 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.400 work and worked really hard to get it. So I 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.800 was enjoying having achieved it and learning that next chat, 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:30.280 you know, like now you have the job, but now 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.080 this is a whole new learning curve. And ham Freyman, 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:36.040 she directed every episode of Townies, and she taught me 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:40.040 everything about four camera and everything I needed to learn. 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:42.399 And I certainly did not know, you know, down to 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:45.040 even like what wait to put on which foot so 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.119 you're not block blocking the light of your fellows for 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:52.000 that camera, you know, and you know, those first press 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:55.440 interviews and all of the whole all the whole package 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:58.160 of things that comes with that that's brand new and thrilling. 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.000 And then learning about the politics of co stars, you know, 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.879 and how to be in that group. It's not just 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:07.159 your journey, and for me, I was a little on 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.600 my journey, and then I had to learn throughout these 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:14.000 next jobs about everyone's collective process and you grow up 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.040 a bit. So that was interesting and cool. And then 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:22.159 the last day of filming, because it so then it 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.560 was like at thirteen million viewers, it wasn't enough and 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:33.159 we were getting canceled. Oh those were the days. Oh gosh. 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:36.679 And but I had gotten noticed from my work on 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:39.040 the show. It was sort of like, who's this new 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:41.920 funny girl. And frankly, I didn't know I had any 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:45.320 ability at comedy that was special or unique or anything. 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:47.320 I just studied as an actor, so I was just 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:50.760 doing the character in my point of view, and I 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:54.479 twenty Century Fox called me for a general interview. So 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:58.240 I went to that meeting and then drove to work 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:01.920 at Radford to film the last day of Townies. And 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.360 after the meeting, by the time I pulled up at Radford, 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:09.120 they had called and offered me a million dollar development deal. Wow, 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:14.119 So that was nice. That was That was also I 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:17.440 would say that, yes, you made an impression on Townies. 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:21.320 I mean, that's incredible. Okay, keep going, so you know 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:23.720 you have that, you know this show is ending, yet 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:26.520 you know that that you have this. Yeah, And then 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:28.600 it was a bit of a journey of like ABC 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:31.119