We all love a good question and Answer Session- So here’s a few insights into what MAKES ME, ME.
Career Idols: Rachel Weisz, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Taylor, Michelle Pfieffer, Florence Pugh, Kate Winslet, Vivien Leigh, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau.
What Movie Made Me Want to Act: Singin’ in the Rain, National Velvet and the original Star Wars trilogy are all tied as being the movies imprinted on me as “I HAVE to do that.” Especially when I found out that there was a connection between all of them, which spurred an interest in Hollywood history.
What Movies Do You Rewatch for Artistic Inspiration? The Whistleblower and Disobedience are two bigs ones I rewatch in pieces for inspiration. Rachel Weisz’s work is so breathtaking and detailed in both of them- so still and specific and everything I aspire to in my own work.
Favorite New York City Movies: The Taking of Pelham 1..2..3 (1974) is hands down the best New York City ever made. Runner-ups: You’ve Got Mail, The Warriors, The Thin Man and Ghost Busters.
Most Rewatched TV Shows: Murder, She Wrote, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation
Most Treasured Possession? Since my dog isn’t really a possession, I would say my grandparents wedding rings. I love looking at the difference in wear in the design, what part of their hands wore away the detail.
Greatest Extravagance : Honestly, at $13 bucks for 12, it’s my Dr.Pepper habit. I think I bleed Dr. Pepper at this point. I love it. I will never give it up. I cherish that first sip every day.
Person You Greatest Admire: Elizabeth Taylor. So many times she could’ve collapsed in on herself and let the media, the studio, her ex husbands! control the narrative of her life, and she didn’t. She fought for those she loved, she fought for injustice, and she was a hell of an actress on top of it all. Most of all, she is remembered for loving and giving, for staying vulnerable and generous when she could’ve become jaded and broken. I admire her business sense, her advocacy, and her art.
Phrase You Overuse: Follow Your Heart. To the point that when someone asks me for advice it is prefaced with “Follow my heart I KNOW but let’s get past that.”
Hero of Fiction: Luce from the book Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. ‘‘We are who we are. Ten or eighty. What we see in the mirror is all that changes. Same fears and hopes running around inside like hamsters on a wheel.”
Describe Yourself using three fictional characters: Janet Van Dyne (The Original Wasp), Evelyn Carnahan, and Princess Leia Organa.
Best Advice Received: Failing isn’t permanent. Refusing to get back up and keep failing until you win is.
Worst Advice Received: Don’t be yourself, be who the casting people want to see.
Favorite Instagram follow: Historic House Dogs. Dogs! In Fancy Settings! I find it very restful.
Current Hobbies: Needlepoint and embroidery! I started with kits and now am making my own patterns. I love being able to create something start to finish, from my mind to tangible cloth. Acting is such a group effort, so influenced by the joy of creating with others, that it’s really nice to have something that is purely my artistic vision at the end.
Likes: Dogs, True Crime (particularly from 1910-1945), Dr. Pepper, Dragons, Crickets, Antiques, Film History, Comic book history, cooking, needlepointing, pottery, the sea, dismantling the Patriciarchy
Favorite writers: Anton Chekhov, Joan Didion, Edna Ferber, Maggie Shipstead, Charles Frazier, John Lé Carré, Stacy Schiff
Favorite Movies: The Mummy (1999), The first six Star Wars movies, The Hidden Fortress, Giant, Mulan (animated) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ant Man and the Wasp, The Brothers Bloom, The Thin Man, Brick, Knives Out, Grumpy Old Men, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Thousand Acres, The Dressmaker, Batman Returns,Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Master, The Witches of Eastwick, Practical Magic, To Die For, Dune, Arrival, Inception, Interstellar, The Favorite, The Lobster, Woman Under the Influence, Umbrellas of Cherbourg.