Every actorâs path to mainstream success has to start somewhere â it could be a small role on an episode of âQuantum Leapâ circa 1991 or a single line in a CW drama that gets left on the cutting-room floor.
During the recent Envelope Drama Roundtable, actors Maya Erskine, Giancarlo Esposito, Jess Hong, Carrie Preston, Amy Ryan and Morgan Spector flashed back to the twinge of nerves and self-doubt in those early years when the seemingly small roles, approached with total commitment, set their foundation â even if things didnât always go smoothly on set.
âI was cut from it,â Erskine says of her first time on a set. âIt was âHart of Dixieâ on [The] CW. I just had one line that was like, âIs this seat taken?â And I swear to you â have any of you seen âThe Comebackâ where Lisa Kudrow runs her line over and over throughout 24 hours? Thatâs what I did on Photo Booth. All night, [I] was like, âYou gonna take that seat?â I kept doing it, and then on the day [of shooting], I blanked. It was this huge machine that youâre just this tiny part of and I was like, âOh, so thereâs no rehearsal? We donât do this, figure it out together? You just show up?â And they cut it.â
The Emmyâs Drama Roundtable participants were from back left, Morgan Spector, Amy Ryan, Carrie Preston, Maya Erskine, Jess Hong and Giancarlo Esposito.
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Still, the experience can leave a lasting impact, said Ryan, who arrived to the âQuantum Leapâ set bright-eyed with uncertainty.
âI didnât know what I was doing, but I was so excited to be on television,â she said. âIf I could tell my younger self, Iâd say, âItâs OK to ask a question. There are no dumb questions.â I didnât know that. I didnât know what a mark was, I didnât know what a boom was. I didnât know that youâre not supposed to overlap, but this gorgeous woman, she leaned [in] and she whispered, âThatâs your mark.â She gave me all the ropes of the day, and Iâm very grateful to her.â
The conversation on a late April day was as wide-ranging as the roles the actors brought to the screen this season: Erskine, a jaded millennial spy in âMr. & Mrs. Smithâ; Ryan, a former rock singer and the stepmother of a missing young girl on neo-noir drama âSugarâ; Esposito, a desperate man who becomes a driver for the mob in New Orleans in âParish,â as well as the obscenely rich and hyper- articulate drug baron in âThe Gentlemenâ; Hong, a brilliant young physicist in science fiction epic â3 Body Problemâ; Spector, a railroad tycoon who rules 19th century New York City in âThe Gilded Ageâ; and Preston, a quirky lawyer with a knack for sleuthing in âElsbeth.â
âI was like, âAm I gonna get killed in the first episode?ââ Maya Erskine says she asked when Donald Glover first reached out to her about âMr. and Mrs. Smith.â
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Their conversation here has been edited for length and clarity.
Maya, on paper, Jane Smith in âMr. & Mrs. Smithâ is such a dramatic pivot from the work that we know you from. Were you immediately game?
Maya Erskine: Actually, Donald [Glover, who co-created the series] talked to me several times on FaceTime, and I didnât know what it was, because I thought that it was him and Phoebe [Waller-Bridge, who was originally tapped to co-create and co-star in the series]. And so I was like, âAm I gonna get killed in the first episode? Like, what is my role in this?â And I really had no idea. And he was just kind of gauging my interest, gauging if I was the right vibe for this, and then by the third time, he was like, âOh, no, you would play Jane Smith.â And I was like, âOh, OK.â Itâs always scary to jump into any role, it doesnât really matter what it is, but I was excited to try it because I was ready to have a change from âPen15.â I was looking for that.
And the story goes â sorry to put you on the spot â but that you requested or suggested that your character fart in the show?
Itâs such a beautiful story. Well, to be fair, they were describing to me a scene where Donaldâs character would fart. It was all about all the in-between moments in relationships that you donât see a lot on TV. So, the first time someone farts in a relationship â what is that like? And what does that vulnerability do to the relationship? And I was like, âCan my character do that instead? Because I feel like thatâs something I relate to.â I want to see what that would do to us. How would that make him react? How would that make her feel more exposed? And would it help them fall more in love? They were like, âYeah, OK. You can fart.â
Morgan Spector: I feel like that scene where she farts and then he covers for her by going outside and looking as if something dangerous may have happened â that was the scene where I was like, âOh, this showâs the sâ. This show is up to something.â It was so great. It was funny.
âI really am the kind of actor who likes to show up and just do what Iâm told,â says Morgan Spector, who stars in âThe Gilded Age.â
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Have you suggested your own kind of details like that in any character youâve played?
Spector: I really am the kind of actor who likes to show up and just do what Iâm told. Iâm very much creatively kind of a bottom, so not really. I think thatâs kind of what Iâm in it for. âPlease tell me what to do and just let me obey.â
Giancarlo Esposito: I like to pay attention to a lot of the details. I feel like it feeds me when Iâve created a bit of a backstory, detail-wise, for the character. Theyâre little clues for me. Those small things oftentimes help me because I play a lot of characters without a lot of words sometimes. So to me, those become really important, they fill in the gap of what the writer has maybe written in the stage direction but hasnât written in the dialogue. On âBreaking Bad,â I had an elevator scene and I realized I had played this character in a formidable way. You never saw a chink in his armor. And I wanted so desperately to show that he was human and not a robot, you know?
[With the] elevator scene, it was quite chilling. My emotion was completely stone-faced and the elevator door closes, and I started to do one little thing, [tapping] my finger. My hands were at my side, just to see if the director would notice. It was for me, because it allowed me, internally, to release some energy that was feeding this idea that, finally, [Gus] was nervous. That something was gonna happen to him, and the director came in and he said, âI see that you are doing something with your hand.â And I said, âOh, you noticed that, did you?â And he said, âYes, I want to go down there [with the camera] and get it.â I said, âYou go down there and you get it, baby.â
Carrie Preston says she had to giver herself âpermission to let the character evolve and not feel like I have to re-create something that I already did,â when her Elsbeth Tascioni got her own series.
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Carrie, Elsbeth Tascioni makes her debut in âThe Good Wifeâ at the end of the first season, in a three-minute scene. And she developed into this fan-favorite character. How has it been leaning into her as a lead character?
Carrie Preston: At first, I got nervous because I was like, âOh, no, wait, wait. Iâm the side dish. Iâm the funny one. Iâm the quirky thing. … Theyâre gonna get tired of me.â That was the fear; itâs like, âItâs gonna be too much.â And then it was, âNo, I just have to show up and try to solve the scene. Each day, thereâs just more scenes.â And then also just giving myself permission to let the character evolve and not feel like I have to re-create something that I already did. Itâs a police procedural, so it is a drama with this circus dropped down into the middle of it, which is my character. Thatâs fun too, because Iâm able to live and breathe in it a little more. I have been able to do a lot more of a dramatic, poignant â just a deeper dive with her that was not what I was being hired to do in those other shows.
So many of you started your careers on the stage. What excites you about each way of acting? Onstage, a character lives for a few hours a night. On TV, you have a character that develops over a season, sometimes multiple seasons.
Spector: I guess the thing about theater that I really love is that you do this whole process, and then at the end, they give it to you and you get to go out and try to, over the course of however many nights you get to play it, you get to just keep digging into it and get to keep trying to perfect it. You can have a down night. I feel like itâs a little bit more like being an athlete in some way; you can have a night where youâre, âOh, I didnât have it tonight.â And the next day, you come back and redeem yourself in some way. With TV and film, you have a down day, youâre like, âOh, there it is. I got to look at that for the rest of my life. I guess I should have gotten more sleep or whatever.â The thing I have learned to love about working on camera is that you really can find these little things that you donât know where they come from, or just a little way of getting through a scene that maybe you couldnât have thought of, but it has this energy, or a thought occurred to you in a moment and you get it. And you couldnât probably do it again if your life depended on it. Thereâs an intuitive thing thatâs happened, and it makes the moment work, it makes a scene work. You canât keep that on the stage in the same way.
Amy Ryan: Thereâs this agreement with 1,000 people, or however big your audience is, these strangers in the dark that happens [onstage], and it does affect you. Once you settle into your own, thereâs this conversation, or how youâre moving them. âDoubtâ had really great comic moments, and then as the actors onstage, we knew, like, âOh, just you wait, here comes this next.â You can feel the silence just wash over. Iâve never experienced that on film or TV.
Esposito: Itâs a shared energy that you feel from the audience. Itâs palpable. Itâs something that canât be stopped. Once the show starts, youâre either on the train or youâre off it.
âI never ask to leave,â Giancarlo Esposito of âParishâ says about shooting coverage for a scene partner, âbecause there will be an imbalance on each side. Itâs weird when that does happen because I try to say, âWell, by you not being there, that affects my performance and will eventually, in turn, reflect on yours.â
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Ryan: I feel like the closest [to that experience] on film â I love when they put up two cameras and do coverage [of both actors] at the same time. Because then Iâm like, âOK, weâre in this together, right?â
Erskine: Can I ask a question? Has anyone ever had an actor â not to call out anyone â but had an actor, once it wasnât their coverage, totally turn off?
Esposito: Iâve had an actor leave.
Spector: Iâve had actors put their stand-ins in.
Esposito: Yeah, just say, âIâm gonna see you.â And I was there for their side, and they just leave on my side. And at that time, I was a less established actor and didnât feel like I could ask. Iâve since learned that really respectful actors, truly respectful actors say, âWould you like me to stay?â I never ask to leave because there will be an imbalance on each side. Itâs weird when that does happen because I try to say, âWell, by you not being there, that affects my performance and will eventually, in turn, reflect on yours.â
Maya, it feels like you asked becauseâ
Erskine: Because I have a famous story in my head of someone having a stand-in once, and I think it was a big actor, and the stand-in would just go, âPeas and carrots, peas and carrots, peas and carrots.â And wouldnât say the line even.
Jess Hong: I didnât have peas and carrots, but I did have someone [stand] in for the emotional closeup. This actor was tired and went away for a nap, so the third assistant director, who was lovely but a totally different vibe, [stepped in]. Sheâs like, northern English and is just reading out these lines that are supposed to be really tender. It was sweet. She did try.
âNothing can really prepare you for walking onto a soundstage. Iâve never worked on a soundstage before,â says Jess Hong of shooting the science fiction series â3 Body Problem.â
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Jess, before â3 Body Problem,â you were doing kidsâ theater in New Zealand. Tell me about getting that call, âYouâre gonna be on the show from the creators of âGame of Thrones.ââ How did that prep you for doing work in front of a blue screen?
Hong: Nothing can prepare me for that. They donât have that class in drama school. Yeah, so I was on this yearlong tour with this charity, Duffy Books in Homes, and we went to underprivileged schools around the country. So I went to some of the most beautiful parts of New Zealand. I got to see places that I never would have seen, very spiritually fulfilling. Age 5 to 12-year-old kids. For some of them, theyâve never seen theater, they have no idea.
What was great was that having that job, which was incredibly nourishing for my soul and a great distraction from that call, meant that I wasnât so caught up in, âOh, I really hope this happens. I really want this.â I wasnât thinking so intensely about that. Then I go into cold London [to shoot â3 Body Problemâ]. I donât see sun for 10 months, I go straight into studio stuff. Nothing can really prepare you for walking onto a soundstage. Iâve never worked on a soundstage before.
Walking into a giant warehouse, and thereâs hundreds of people there, and they all know my name. âHey, Jess. Morning, Jess.â And Iâm like, âI havenât met any of you. OK, cool.â All eyes [are] on you, so you do feel that pressure spike up: âI have to do well, but I canât just do well, I canât just do the perfect thing, I have to be free. How do I be free inside this very structured space?â That was a real learning curve, trying to figure out how to find spontaneity and that spark even though you have to match the exact same thing and move your hand like this [demonstrates] at that time because thatâs what matches the wide shot.
âAI scares the bejeezus out of me, and I know itâs probably too late in so many ways, but when that happens, Iâm like, âIâm out,ââ says Amy Ryan, who stars in âSugar.â
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Last year will be remembered as a critical turning point in Hollywood because of the dual strikes we saw from writers and actors. How will you remember that period of time?
Ryan: AI scares the bejeezus out of me, and I know itâs probably too late in so many ways, but when that happens, Iâm like, âIâm out.â Iâm gonna find something else to do. I donât want to be replaced by [a digital double]. But too many people were hurt.
Did it make you more conscious of the business particulars or the fine print? So often you just want to focus on the creative, but it feels like now more than ever we need to pay close attention to the business side of things.
Spector: I am sort of interested in the business stuff anyway, just because I feel like it drives a lot of what ends up happening with us. Like you were saying, [Amy, people think], âOh, precious actors, what are they whining about?â But I feel like we had public support really solidly throughout, partly because I think unions are more popular than theyâve ever been. Everybodyâs realizing how unequal and unfair our economic moment is. And that if they donât have the power to negotiate collectively, if they donât have solidarity, theyâre going to get screwed, and I think everybody kind of saw the actorsâ and writersâ strikes, really, as a kind of inspiring thing.