← One Broke Actress
One Broke Actress
success has no age limit with success has no age limit (with actress Danielle Kennedy) * it's hits different*
00:48:27
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- [00:07]
Sam Valentine
What's up guys? Welcome back to another episode of the One Broke Actress podcast. An honest account of actor life plus a few lessons I learned in the process. I am your host Sam Valentine and this is a specialty. It hits different episode and if you already know what that is, go ahead and skip forward 60 seconds and skip this intro. If not, this is the throwback episode, meaning it was previously recorded. So not all the content that is in it might be relevant to this exact moment. But let me tell you something I have noticed about all of these interviews and these conversations. Depending on the time of where you are at in your life and your career, man, it hits different. Also, please keep in mind I've grown and changed as a person and as a host, so I might not agree currently with all of the things I said in this episode. Please be forgiving of my growth as a person and be understanding of its still really vulnerable to put yourself out there, especially a former version of yourself. Our guests themselves also might have changed a lot in the process, so let's be equally loving to them. And my audio setup has gotten a hell of a lot better since I started this. So please take the content, please enjoy it to the best of your abilities and forgive anything that doesn't resonate in your ears as well as it could. So without further ado ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this. It hits different episode.
- [01:29]
Danielle Kennedy
So today's podcast guest is someone I have been trying trying to track down for a while because her story is different than anyone I've ever had on the podcast. Danielle Kennedy spent the formative years of her life raising a family of eight. She now has five grandchildren and now she's back in the acting game in the most fun way possible. She shares with us her entire journey of going back into acting in her later years. Two of the big stories she shares today is how she was doing a play and got pulled into a three episode arc on Grey's Anatomy and her major booking on Narcos that had her living in the the middle of another country for six months. Danielle's energy is really palpable and the the quality she brings to her work is just different than anyone I've ever talked to because she had the full life she wanted to live and now acting is the next step in that life. She tells us when she decided to move outside of LA and when that move felt right. Her lifetime experiences and how they fueled her career. Now the advice she would give to young actors and to her second act actors alike. She's looked at her life as a constant theater project to propel her through her work. And I know we're all gonna learn something and take away a big smile today. So without further ado, please enjoy. Danielle Kennedy, have you had a lot of Zoom auditions?
- [02:54]
I have. I've had a lot of Zoom auditions and pinned for a TV show right now. But of course in the old days that used to mean something wonderful, but now it means me and probably 10 other women that auditioned out of the 50, so. But anyway, it's nice to know that my self tape went in and was recognized by network, so that's a cool thing. And then I'm a care actor. Sam and I do a lot of Zoom work now with the doctors video coaching and we do a lot of improv scenarios of what they're dealing with with not only Covid, but all difficult cases and things that come up. Because so much right now, even with the medical business is or medical field is being done online, even their phone appointments and their, well, checkups and so forth. So yeah, I'm on Zoom constantly.
- [03:46]
Wow, Wait, what is that? You're a care actor. So how do you. How did you get into that?
- [03:52]
Well, it's not easy to get into. It's a 25 year old program put on by Kaiser Permanente. I was doing a play about 15 years ago and a character was in the cast with me and I had never even heard of characters and her boss director came to see the play and so she saw me in the play and she needed someone in my age range, so asked me if I'd be interested in auditioning. And it was a nine month auditioning process where all SAG actors. Oh yeah. Not only do you have to audition and so forth and so on like you would in any other performance activity, but you have to, you know, have be drug tested and go through the Kaiser thing and make sure that you have a clear record to get into their system as well. But we've traveled up until Covid all over to various medical clinics. We put on shows based on whatever are important case studies that are going on now in the Kaiser family's network of doctors. We video coach doctors on areas that maybe they need improvement with their communications, how to improve their patient care. I've played everything from a doctor to a real Chatty Cathy irritating patient. I mean, it's my favorite thing to do. I love being a care actor and I know that we're making a difference.
- [05:18]
Do they give you basically a breakdown of a type of person to be for these type of meetings? That's interesting.
- [05:26]
Yes, yes. And the Care Actor troupe has in house writers. We have two wonderful writers, Rod and Maria. And oftentimes Kaiser will say to them, okay, we need a show based on a family who is facing a family member who's very old that's dying and that has to go into hospice or that's facing cancer or. I mean, there's all kinds of different scenarios. And of course with COVID now that there's even more scenarios. And then our writers will go in and they will write a 15 or a 20 minute or an hour show and then they will cast us because there's 30 of us. So they will cast based on age range who they need for this show. And we used to do those. We'd go right out to the medical centers and do them and set up with our props and everything. Now we're doing it all on Microsoft Teams and on Zoom and the doctors attend. We did a big communication skills program in early December and there were over 100 doctors in attendance. Wow. Yeah.
- [06:36]
That's amazing.
- [06:37]
What a cool job it is. And the feedback is wonderful. Doctors sometimes have to really face some very difficult situations. People that are irate at them. It can be a cultural difference. All kinds of issues come up. Racism, I mean, you can't believe what comes up. And we deal with it all. And it really helps them, you know, take a different turn in their communication approaches. Improves their, their patience and their compassion, which they already have. But obviously these people work 10, 12 hour days and they need all the help they can get. So I love it. I love my job. That's so cool.
- [07:21]
And now more than ever, right? I mean, we're living in a bit of a wild time. Where are you located right now?
- [07:27]
I was in LA for years and years, but I'm living out in the desert now in La Quinta. Palm Desert. La Quinta area.
- [07:34]
Okay.
- [07:35]
Yeah, I'm out here with the bighorn sheep right on my golf course.
- [07:38]
That's amazing.
- [07:39]
That's amazing. That's a quick drive to la. It's only two hours and so I'm just set in no time when I get a job, you know.
- [07:45]
That's cool. Okay, so I want to talk about that then. Living outside of like when you chose to live outside of the city, that's really interesting. But I want to go back to kind of the beginning of your career. So will you take us back to the beginning of your career, like perhaps one of your first important auditions and maybe show us what has changed since then?
- [08:07]
I got Back into acting late in life, in my late 50s, because I started out as a drama major in high school and in college. I was in the 60s world and always wanted a big family. I'm one of these people who saw sound of music 20 times before I was 21. I wanted to be. I didn't know if I wanted to be a nun or Maria von Trapp, but Anyway, I had five children by the time I was 27.
- [08:35]
Holy cow. That's amazing. You're a saint.
- [08:39]
I have eight children and five grandchildren, but I pretty much put my acting career on hold until after all of them went to college. So I got back into it in the late 50s. And how I got back into it was my first love, which is theater. One of my very first auditions happened because I was doing a play in la and the casting director for Grey's Anatomy, Linda Loewy, was in the audience. Her very good friend was directing the play. And she saw me and it was right around Christmas time, oh, my Gosh, I guess 15 years ago now. And she asked me to come in that following Monday to meet the director for. I don't know if you remember Grey's Anatomy that far back, but they had the Super 3 episodes when Dr. Gray was in the ferry accident.
- [09:36]
Those were the only ones I watched, was like the first three seasons. So of course.
- [09:40]
And that was season three, I believe, and that was the Super 3. And I got to be in all three of those episodes, but because my husband was on that ferryboat. And so I was in the emergency room with all the doctors being that angry woman trying to find out if her husband was dead or alive. So it was very emotional. I had to cry. But that all happened because a casting director saw me in a play, and it was great.
- [10:09]
What was it like when you decided when you told your family, you know, I've done the family thing, now I'm going to go back into, you know, my original passion. Were they super supportive? Was it a weird transition?
- [10:24]
Yeah, I. They were super supportive, but they were all older. The youngest, because I had my last baby at 40, my sixth child. I have two stepchildren and six of my own because I was a single mom with five. And then I remarried when I was 35, and my husband, who I've been married to for 40 years, he had two children and I had five. And then we had a child together five years later. So she was the only child left at home. Everybody else was in college, and she was a ham from the moment she was born. So she thought whatever mom did was great. But, yeah, I think that. I think they've always been very supportive. But I think one thing any actor would agree with me on is kids first and foremost want their parents to be their parent. You know, I mean, yeah, they're proud of me and, gee, that's great mom and everything, but they love mom behind the stove. They love mom making grandma Grandma Dolce's Italian meatball recipe and, you know, hearing their stories and cheering them on. And I love that. I love being a mom and I love being a grandma. It's the best role I've ever had in my lifetime. But the real passion and the real act and the real support for me has really come from my husband and also from my fellow actors and actresses that are in the business and people like Kristen, our mutual friend, who is writing roles for me, you know, just because we just heard about each other through an acting teacher. And, you know, so it's that family that I've picked up in the last 15 years that has been such a bonus treat. My. My flesh and blood family. I love them with all my heart, but, you know, oh, okay. Mom's on a TV show. Big wow. I mean, they're very. They're very enthusiastic, but a mom is a mom her whole life, and I get that and I understand that. And. And so I, you know, I think I try not to be, you know, chat about it too much. When big stuff came up, when Narcos came up. That's a great story. I'll share with you. Yeah, when Narcos came up, the whole family was pretty excited about that.
- [12:46]
Take me through your audition process for Narcos, because that's such an epic. It was season. Was that season one.
- [12:52]
Season one. Season one. And the role was written for a man because it's based on the real book, Killing Pablo. And the real deal was the ambassador to us, who I played in Columbia, was a man. But the wonderful casting director, Carbon Cuba, thought there were too many men in the show. So they said, well, fine, bring some women in. And she didn't know me. She surfed the net, watched my demo reel on IMDb, brought me in. I had no idea really what I was going in for. I knew it was some foreign TV show. That's all I knew. I didn't even know, really. It was Netflix at the time, which was probably great because I wasn't all jacked up. I wasn't all, oh, my God, this is a big primetime show. And my nerves didn't go to hell. In a hand basket. So I went in there and I had a ball with it. I had on my suit and I had my lines down and my intention was set and I was the US Ambassador and I did a scene or two and she said, thank you very much, that was wonderful. And off I went. Forgot about it completely. Ten days later, got a call that the executive producer and the writer wanted to meet me at Sunset Gower. They loved my audition, went in there. They told me they still hadn't decided if it was going to be a man or a woman, but they loved my audition and would I be willing to go to Bogota, Colombia, for six months? And I said, you betcha. And that's how that meeting ended. It was a very personable meeting. Ten days later, the offer was on the desk of my agent. I got the deal. One of the most satisfying six months of my life as an actor working with the incredible Pedro Pascal. Wow. Wonder Woman.
- [14:34]
Yeah. That cast is amazing.
- [14:35]
Mandalorian. Oh, he's fabulous. And Robert Holbrook, wonderful actor. They were my two DEA agents and I got to do all my acting with them. And the wonderful writer Chris Brancato. And. And it's just a great troupe of people that made me feel so happy.
- [14:55]
That is so cool. I love that it was the first time you went in for Carmen Cuba, too. Sometimes it takes a while with the same casting director, but that's pretty incredible. When you went in for your second audition, when you were meeting the execs, did you feel like you needed to maintain a power stance to be that strong character, or did you feel like you more acted like yourself?
- [15:22]
I was pretty much myself and I did not have to do an audition with them. It was a sit down, let's just talk. And it was so funny, which I loved, by the way. I just loved. I thought I was a callback. And I said to my agent, send me the new sides. He said, no, there are no new sides. They just want to meet you. And which is a great lesson for actors, because when they are going to hire someone and you're going to be down in a foreign country with a team of actors and executives and directors and crew and everybody for six months, what kind of an individual are you? Are you a team player? Are you a diva? Can you just be one of the gang? And I think the more I've been in this business, that's what they were looking for. They wanted to see was I going to be a pain in the ass, you know?
- [16:17]
Yeah, totally.
- [16:19]
My dad, you know, don't be a pain in the ass. And we hit it off. We had a great conversation. It was so funny. They said, well, have you ever been an ambassador? Because it seemed like you had in the audition. And I said, you know, come to think of it, I have. And they said, what do you mean? And I said, well, I was in the sales field for years, and I was a motivational speaker when my children were growing up and I was raising them. And I was named ambassador of sales in Oklahoma one year at a speaking rally. And they said, wow, that's great. So we can kind of say you were an ambassador. And I said, yeah. And so it was just. No, but it was a very relaxing conversation. We talked about my grandparents, we talked about their children, we talked about my children. And I just left there thinking, gosh, these are nice individuals. And I don't know if I'm going to get this. And even if I don't, it's so nice that they loved my audition and that they even considered me. And. And I think because there was that kind of a feeling, Sam, and I wasn't, like, glommed on. I have to have this. It worked out. It worked out.
- [17:38]
Do you think you would have had this kind of calm collectedness in your earlier years if you would have maintained acting through your 20s and 30s?
- [17:48]
I think it would have been tough. And I'll tell you why. Because I still. I still get nervous. I really do. And, you know, I've worked on it. Worked on it for years, But I think that I would have put so much importance on it in my 20s and 30s that I, with age, have kind of let go of where you put so much weight on something, you make the stakes so high. And what that does is that inhibits your creativity. It really does. You can be the most talented individual in the world, but if you go up on your nerves, it's tough. And I think for me, it was a blessing that I got into it later in life. I really do now. I'm in a really good place with it. I don't have to do this and I don't have to do that. And I'm considering things like who will I be working with? Do I love telling the story? And those things, to me are as important as almost money now. Money, obviously, is still important. I mean, I'm not independently wealthy. I have to work. I want to work, but there isn't this. I gotta, you know, I gotta make this work. I have to make this work. And I think in our 20s and 30s, those have to's. They're there. They're really there. And those are the demons we fight. And those are the things that I recommend young people work on. They just work on staying calm and having other interests. I do a lot of exercise. I'm a dancer from way back.
- [19:33]
Amazing.
- [19:34]
I love to run still. I love to hike. I get outside and I channel some of those nerves exercise. And I highly recommend that.
- [19:44]
Yeah. Do you have any other advice? Because I will tell you, the majority of our listeners are 20s to 30s and they're in an acting career that they are just. Especially after this last year, just so much is tied up in a booking of anything.
- [19:57]
No, I know. Obviously they have to have other work. My second job is my Kaiser work, which is great. And that takes. It kind of keeps the wolf away from the door a little bit. They shouldn't be ashamed of their waiter or waitress job. They shouldn't be ashamed of the extra maybe tech job that they have. Hey, any actor of any renowned will tell you that they all had second jobs. Harrison Ford was a carpenter. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So they should take the weight off of, well, I have to do something else along with acting. That just kind of comes with the territory. As far as the bookings go, the best thing you can do is just constantly, maybe be in class. Now it's on Zoom class. Be listening to other actors and interviews. I remember one of the things that's helped me so much with my own performance anxiety was a wonderful interview that I heard by Bill Hader, I think for Child Mind. I think he did that interview for Child Mind or Mindset, I can't remember, but it's online somewhere talking about the tremendous anxiety he's had, especially when he was on SNL and having to, instead of tell himself that that anxiety and that stage fright wasn't there, he would just kind of befriend the anxiety and say, hey, little fella, I know you're on my shoulder and I know you're kind of nervous today because you're going to be, you know, hosting Saturday Night Live here in five minutes. And it is scary as hell, but I know you're there. But you know what? I'm going to keep going here. I'm going to keep doing this in spite of my nerves. And it sounds dumb, but hearing other actors of such talent share, that's the beautiful thing about the Internet. Now you can get on the Internet and any topic in the world you can Google and get some therapy on. Right? Right.
- [22:07]
Totally, totally.
- [22:09]
But they're not alone. They have to remember they're not alone. It's a crapshoot. And when you take yourself out of the game and you don't show up, you're not at the table, you're not gambling, you got to stay at the table, you got to keep rolling the dice. You never say never. If you love it, you'll keep hanging in there. It's definitely a passion you have to love. If you're not crazy about it and you're not passionate about it, you're not gonna be able to deal with the obstacles. But if you love it, you just roll with the waves.
- [22:40]
Was there a part of you that had any feelings when you came back into acting? Obviously, you know, your first big thing was the Grey's Anatomy, which is an awesome place to restart being around other actors. As you started auditioning again who had maybe not taken timeouts for. Was there any, any internal, like woulda, shoulda, coulda feelings you had looking at other people's resumes who were auditioning around you?
- [23:09]
No. And I know that there should have been.
- [23:12]
Maybe not though.
- [23:14]
Yeah, well, but I think for others, I do know others that got in later in life like I did, but they really didn't maybe have the life that I had. Number one, I wanted a big family. That was my first priority. So I had that big family. I wanted to be able to make a good living, be able to buy a home, get them all through college. I was able to do that because even though I wasn't an actor, I chose performance type work that allowed me to be self employed and freelance. First real estate. I sold homes and I worked out of my house. Then secondly, I wrote a book on sales that became a million dollar seller. And I went on the road when the kids got older and I became a motivational speaker. So I was doing things that I was passionate about that did involve a certain amount of acting. I mean, when you're up on stage and you're the guru and you're telling people this is the way to close the sale, or you're in a car with a buyer or seller and you're trying to convince them that you can show them the home of their dreams, that's a role. And as an actor later, I played various roles like that in plays or on television. So I just kept looking at it all as if it were a performance. It wasn't live theater yet. I had to wait for that thrill. But I never felt like I was missing anything. If anything, I felt like I Had made the right choice because I was meeting a lot of actors my age who talked about a huge gap in time, you know, maybe between 45 and 55 or I don't know where they didn't get any work or they didn't. They had a lot of work in their 20s and 30s and the aging process had kind of taken them out of the loop for a while. So they were feeling a little resentment. They were feeling disappointed. I didn't know what that was because I really hadn't had that kind of taste of success that they had maybe in their 20s and 30s. And they didn't realize for a lot of people, they get that early taste of success, then they don't do anything for a long time. You'll hear actors that have come back later in life and become very successful. I mean, look at Betty White. I mean, she became a hit in her 90s and her 80s. You know, she had dry periods. So, no, I really don't have any regrets. Amazing.
- [26:00]
I would love to talk about that aging in Hollywood sentiment because I know a lot of people feel like Hollywood, you know, likes a certain aesthetic they like, like a fresh face, 20s thing. But there's so many roles beyond that and, and there's this, this.
- [26:18]
Oh, yes, this.
- [26:20]
This aging up in Hollywood, that's just like an interesting ladder I'm fascinated by because some people work so much more and the roles.
- [26:29]
Yeah, yeah. Well, no one really knew me when this sounds a little bit self indulgent and I'm saying it with tongue in cheek. Nobody really knew me when I was a beauty. By the time I got into the business, you know, I. I could play somebody's mother, mother in law, Granny Goose. I was perfect for horror. You know, I love horror. I've done lots of horror stuff, you know, did a great horror short that has won absolutely every, every award. You can think, Amy, with a wonderful young actress who you remind me of, Rebecca Kennedy. And I mean, yeah, I played some real ugly creatures. I played a serial killer's mom on the Mentalist and, you know, a 711 owner with a shotgun and Criminal Minds and, you know, they. I never have to worry about going into an audition and just looking like, you know, I just rolled off the plastic surgery table because they don't want that. They want all the wrinkles and I got them all. They're all still here getting deeper by.
- [27:45]
The day, especially right now. Covid.
- [27:48]
So come on, people. Yeah, if you need somebody to haunt your house that's in their 70s, I'm here. For you.
- [27:57]
Oh, that's amazing. So, I mean, the roles really have gotten more interesting for you.
- [28:02]
Oh, God, yes. I love the roles. I love all the. All the roles that I've been able to play. You know, it's funny, I did a. I got a callback on a commercial, which I did not get, but it was for a Joan Collins lookalike. And so here I am in my house because I'm doing my auditions and everything on Zoom now, as we talked about, and they sent a picture, and I had my hair like Joan Collins, and I had on the makeup, and I put on the thick eyelashes, and, you know, I perked up on my British accent, you know, and it was just a ball. And I had on my designer suit from when I was a speaker back in the 80s. And, you know, and I said, gee, this is exciting. I think this is the first time I put on makeup and looked halfway presentable for an audition in years. You know, usually they say, no makeup, don't even brush your hair. You know, you just got robbed and you're gonna get shot. Because I did get killed on csi. I got killed.
- [29:10]
Cool.
- [29:11]
So, you know. Yeah, it's kind of nice when I get a glam role now and then.
- [29:17]
So when did you make the choice to move outside of la?
- [29:23]
Well, we were in la, obviously, because it. I have family there. My grandchildren are there, and I wanted to be with my grandchildren from the time they were born. And now they're all teenagers almost. They run from 12 to 18, and they live in Los Angeles, and I got to babysit them all when they were tiny and growing up through grade school, and that was an important priority. And then, of course, I'm there for. For the show business. But I've always loved the desert, and I always thought and I always knew a lot of show people that live out here, and they've always said it's probably about the farthest you can go and still be safe to be able to not take yourself out of the. Out of the Hollywood game. And so we sold our condo in LA during COVID if you can believe it. Bought this house during COVID in La Quinta. And from the moment we sold until now, everything's online, all the auditions. So even if I was still living there, it wouldn't really made a difference. I've gone in for a movie. I shot a movie. You know, it took me, like, two hours to get downtown from where I'm at here off the 10 freeways. But I love. I love being down here. It's Absolutely beautiful. It's so peaceful, wide open. I'm an outdoors girl, so I feel like I've got my cake and I'm eating it here.
- [30:56]
That's amazing.
- [30:57]
I really do.
- [30:58]
Sounds really nice. It's not great here right now. Has Zoom auditioning been challenging at all? What have you learned through this process?
- [31:08]
Well, it hasn't been too bad, actually. I think the most challenging thing is I just did a play, a play reading. But a lot of the theaters this is for the Blank Theater in LA are streaming, where they'll use this app called the abs. I think it is. I'm not sure what the app is, but we had six actors involved. We rehearsed for a couple of weeks, then they taped us. And they did a lot of things with green screens or the. The producer who did a great job, Bri Pavy at Blank Theater. If we were supposed to be in a kitchen, she had a kitchen thing, and she'd bring our heads in and out, and we didn't have to worry about, you know, exiting or turning our videos off. She manipulated all that. That was a little trickier, though, because we listened to the actors on audio. Zoom, but video. We were on this ABS app. So that's a whole thing that theaters are doing some kind of live streaming. And, I mean, there's new stuff happening every day. But I think the big thing with Zoom is I got everything I needed here. Well, our listeners can't tell, but you can tell. I've got a black. I've got a blue screen behind me.
- [32:29]
Yeah, it's beautiful.
- [32:30]
Myself, a collapsible. I have a light ring. I have tripods. You know, I face the window. I want to get. I've got earphones on with a mic, but I do want to get a nice yeti mic or something that I can plug into my. Like you have plug into my computer. So I'm trying to keep up with all the tech. Yeah, I've got a closet, you know, I've got a closet all soundproofed for voiceovers and stuff like that. And. But there's. You know, and I took a class. I took a commercial class by two wonderful gals, Kelly and Sid, who are big commercial bookers. And they're also really good teachers on how to book on Zoom and how to book a commercial online. And I learned a lot from them. It was just a how to book commercially or something. And it's Kelly Landry and her partner Sid. I can text you the information. And that's where I heard about a DJ table. Like I've got, instead of having to put all a bunch of boxes to stack up my computer on or my camera on, this DJ table is just this black table that moves up and down movably. Very cool. Yeah, yeah. All kinds of tips on that. And so I feel like a kindergartner as far as this goes. We're learning everything brand new now and this is the way it's going to go. I think Zoom auditions are here to stay.
- [34:10]
Yeah, I think so, too. I think it's saving them a lot of time and money.
- [34:14]
Absolutely. And then of course, when they go to network or callbacks, then you can go in. But it's sure, you know, saves a lot of time and elimination, I think.
- [34:25]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What, when you. When you got back into acting, what audition or what acting classes did you gravitate towards?
- [34:35]
Oh, wow. I've had some great acting teachers. I spent a year, I think, at least at the Howard Fine Studio. I spent a year and a half at BGB with Risa Bramon Garcia and Steve Braun. Richard Syed, he was fantastic. S E Y D. That was quite a ways back. Some great commercial classes and also a great audition class with G Charles Wright. He had John Keating. They have a wonderful, wonderful how to book auditions. G Charles was just, just terrific. God, who am I forgetting? And of course, the Groundlings. I go there and I take the improv classes. Improv A and B. And that's sort of like a gym if I. If I did a lot of live theater in la. So in between, theater is usually when I went back to class, because that's like exercising your muscle.
- [35:37]
Right, Right. So you always kept. You always kept yourself busy.
- [35:41]
Yes, and I will continue to. I just, like I said, I just did a class with Kelly and Sid and. Oh, and the Alexander Technique. Those two gentlemen are just wonderful. And I took, you know, the Alexander technique classes are wonderful for breathing and especially helping with the nerves, all that kind of stuff. Philbin is a wonderful coach. She's been a wonderful acting coach for me.
- [36:12]
That's amazing.
- [36:13]
Auburn. Just, just. Yeah, terrific. And then one of my best friends in the whole world is Miley Flanagan, who is a wonderful actress, but she's also a wonderful acting teacher. She has helped me so much. My oldest daughter, Beth, Beth Kennedy is a wonderful actress. She's done tons of television and film and theater. She's part of the Troubadour Theater Company. She often reads lines on Zoom for me for auditions.
- [36:44]
Oh, that's so fun.
- [36:46]
Yeah. She's given Me so much support over the years and helped her mama out. So that's a good thing.
- [36:54]
It's a full family brigade. I love is.
- [36:58]
It is. Family's been great. All been great.
- [37:01]
What, what would you say to our actors who are the second act actors, you know, who are. Who have had the regular life? You know, we have a lot of actors who, who have had full time jobs, full time families, and they realize that their heart is still in this game. How would you give them advice to transition back into the world of acting when they've had, you know, 20 years as a salesforce executive?
- [37:33]
Sure. Oh, it's absolutely possible. Absolutely doable. Some of the best actors I've ever met transition back again. A lot of it is attitude. Never say die if this is something you want to do. But maybe you can't go full bore right off the bat. Hey, start with a class. I'm a big believer in class. Live theater, when it comes back, you know, right now it's, it's a sad state of affairs. But when live theater comes back, and it will come back, that's another wonderful place to start. You know, just do things that give you the opportunity to be with people in the entertainment field. And sometimes that's a class because in the class are working actors. Casting directors are friends of friends. You know, you just, you kind of put one foot in front of the other. And if you like to act, there's all kinds of ways you can do it. I mean, you can even mount your own little production if you want. I mean, look what's going on on YouTube now. And, and you know, with the Internet, there's so many things that you can do that you couldn't do before. I know someone who's going to mount their one woman show again. They had it out 25 years ago. They're going to mount it again now. There's a captive audience now during COVID because what else are we going to do? We're on the Internet.
- [39:07]
Yeah.
- [39:08]
But I would say if they're thinking, oh, I'm going to bust into acting, you know, I want to be a big star. That's a whole nother state of affairs. Sam, do you want to be an actor, do you want to be an artist, or do you want to get famous? There's two different deals there. This is not about fame. If it's strictly about acting and the process. There's a lot of ways you can start. And you know, some people, they'll go back and get a master's degree. They'll do it very slowly. You can do it online, one class at a time, but that gives them the opportunity to act within a professional environment. You know, I've seen people go to Juilliard. I've seen people go back to Yale School of Drama. I've seen them do all kinds of stuff after the fact. You can't listen to a lot of people, though, that don't support you because. Because there's a lot of naysayers out there. So if there are people around telling you, oh, you know, give it a break. Stay away from that mentality. You got to stay around people that really believe in you and support you, and you do. You have to be very disciplined about that, because people can bring you down. Yeah.
- [40:29]
Mindset is everything, right?
- [40:33]
It is everything. Everything. I have a lot of faith, you know, I always have. I've always had a lot of faith. You have to really believe in the unknown. If you're. If you're trying to hook your dream on something that's right in front of you, that you can see and taste and smell, that's tough. You need to use your imagination. You need to prepare. Prepare. Prepare for when that moment of opportunity comes up, because they come out of nowhere. Almost everything I can think of, including this thing that I can't talk to you about that's coming out next summer, came out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. I can't wait to come back on your show next year when it comes out so I can tell you this story.
- [41:25]
You can tell you all about it.
- [41:27]
Yeah. I mean, narcos came out of nowhere. Grey's Anatomy came out of nowhere. United We Fall with Jane Curtin, one of my idols. You know, you go on these auditions, and you're so used to, hey, did a great audition, you forget about it. You forget about it within 24 hours. And then five days later, you get a call and they go, hey, you booked it. And you're, like, shocked. You want to stay in that frame of reference. That's the frame of reference you want to stay in, where prep and process is 99% of the. Of the deal. And the shock of it is the 1%. Best advice I can give you on that.
- [42:09]
I love that.
- [42:10]
Yeah, that's like, wow, that came out of left field.
- [42:15]
That's the fun, right? That's half the reason we're in this business is because that. That chance that today something could be different is so horrible and so fun.
- [42:27]
Oh, yeah, it is. It's so horrible, but it's more fun because how many people do you know, in any other business, could be walking down the street, minding their own business, and five days later they're on a set with, you know, the likes of a Jane Curtis, the likes of a Patrick Dempsey, the. I mean, the likes of Bruce Willis. I played his mom. And True west on Showtime. You know, you're just walking along and. Oh, yeah, yeah, I was at the crap table. You know, I, I shot some craps seven or eight days ago. I never thought much about it. And now I've got a flipping job that's going to be paying me residuals till the day I die and then on to my children. Wow. If you just think about how cool the chances are when you don't think about it, that alone will keep you going. It's awesome.
- [43:29]
That's so cool. It's so fun to say it like that, too. Okay, my last question. You can either prove or disprove this sentence. I've been saying a lot lately to my friends who have been like, down about their acting careers or down about something else in the acting field. I've been saying, listen, the problems we're signing up to have today, the problems getting a good agent, a manager, an audition, trying to meet this casting director. I'm willing to have these same problems when I'm in my 60s and 70s, so I'm in it for the long game. Do you feel like that's an accurate statement?
- [44:06]
I think it's a great statement.
- [44:08]
I think that's a great statement.
- [44:10]
Yep. If you say to yourself, I can do this, I want to keep doing it because the payoff could be tremendous. The price is high, but the payoff could be tremendous. And plus, it's exciting. It's like believing in Santa Claus till the day you die. Right, right, right. Yeah. I believe in Santa Claus, he's going to show up. Or she'll show up somewhere under my tree in some shape or form. Only if you're an actor. Santa Claus could appear 52 weeks out of the year. Look at it that way. Right, right.
- [44:49]
And it's. And it's the. You know, I think we like to think that once we have the one agent or that one job, that everything's going to be smooth sailing. But I feel like you're here to prove that. It's just you're, you're still. It's a constant work in progress with reps, with auditions, with jobs, Constant work in process.
- [45:07]
Absolutely, absolutely. And very quickly. I've known very successful people who had series regulars jobs and they were on a show for five or 10 years. And then when that wrapped, they didn't get another job for five or 10 years with maybe with the exception of a guest star here, costar there, or whatever. And then it was another 10 years before they landed something that could really pay the bills. And so they had to do other things. They didn't give up. They didn't give up. I know of a very dear friend of mine, I'm not going to name names, who had that huge dry spell and who is now on a very big show, very successfully on a big show. And so she knows the good times and she knows the bad times. And the beautiful thing about being an actor is when you know the lows, the highs are so frickin high. So frickin high. It's so cool.
- [46:10]
Oh, it's so fun to talk to someone who's just so exciting about their job too. Like, I just. Your energy is just amazing. It's so lovely to talk to you.
- [46:18]
Oh, thank you, Sam. And you're so lovely. And I can't wait to listen to some of your other podcasts as well.
- [46:26]
Well, thank you so, so much for taking the time to do this.
- [46:29]
Well, listen, you have a, have a wonderful, wonderful year and let's stay in touch.
- [46:36]
And that brings us to the end of today's podcast. Danielle, thank you for all of your insight and all of your wisdom. Guys, how badass is that you can have a full family and then pop back in your acting career and have that kind of traction?
- [46:48]
What a win.
- [46:49]
I think this episode speaks to all parts of us that are afraid of, you know, aging in the industry and running out of time and all that shit that's fed into our brains. Danielle is debunking all of it. So thank you so, so much. Thank you guys for listening to this podcast. Thank you. Double time. For those of you who've taken a second to drop a rate and review, if you have not, I would really, really appreciate it. Please just, you know, go to Apple Podcasts, click those five stars and write a sentence or two. It really, really does a world of good for everyone involved. Thank you to our sponsor, Put Me on self tape their new program, the new Triple Threat. Check out all the info in the show notes and reach out to me on Instagram if you have any questions about what they are doing. Special thanks to Helena Santos for production help on this podcast. And thank you so much to Maggie Szabo for your consistently amazing for the past five years theme song. I love you so much, Maggie. Guys, thank you so much for listening. And I will talk to you next week.
- [48:11]
My heart on the line. Nothing stop me this time.