# Kelli Giddish

An episode of [Drama Queens](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1571792783), 13 May 2026, 57 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e53aefd3-699f-4685-9a84-aed700f383fa/d403ca02-99a7-4f76-bf41-b44800741f56/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=cf2e6477-1a1d-4442-8b33-ae320005bb63

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" star Kelli Giddish joins Sophia to reminisce about their early SVU-Chicago P.D. crossover days — find out why she still thanks Sophia in her head every time she goes out to dinner! Plus, Kelli opens up about her scrappy NYC beginnings, a meet-cute you can’t script and why she's not making any long-term plans for SVU. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome
[0:16] Speaker 1: back to this week's work in progress. Friends, I am
[0:19] Speaker 1: sitting down with someone I love to watch and that
[0:22] Speaker 1: I love to act with. This week's guest is none
[0:26] Speaker 1: other than the iconic Kelly Giddish. She has spent over
[0:30] Speaker 1: a decade inhabiting one of television's most complex and quietly
[0:34] Speaker 1: evolving characters on Lawn Order SVU. Kelly brings a depth
[0:39] Speaker 1: and grit and vulnerability and kindness to Amanda Rollins in
[0:44] Speaker 1: ways that have resonated so far beyond the screen and
[0:47] Speaker 1: off screen. I've been lucky enough to spend some wonderful
[0:50] Speaker 1: time with her, and let me tell you something, there
[0:52] Speaker 1: is nobody cooler to grab a burger and a beer
[0:55] Speaker 1: with than miss Kelly Giddish. Her journey has been shaped
[0:59] Speaker 1: by her early ambition in the South and the grind
[1:02] Speaker 1: of New York theater and moments of uncertainty that tested
[1:06] Speaker 1: her resolve, And in this conversation, I was just so
[1:11] Speaker 1: inspired to hear about the turning points that have defined
[1:15] Speaker 1: her path and who she's found in herself in the
[1:20] Speaker 1: quiet moments. Kelly has really mastered the art of giving
[1:23] Speaker 1: work her all stepping away to take really considered time
[1:29] Speaker 1: for herself and then diving right back in with her
[1:31] Speaker 1: full heart. Let's figure out how she's figured that out.
[1:35] Speaker 2: Let's dive in with Kelly Kiddish.
[1:48] Speaker 1: Well, gosh, hi, my dear, it's so nice to have
[1:51] Speaker 1: you here today.
[1:52] Speaker 3: Nice to be here.
[1:54] Speaker 1: I've just missed you. I can't believe how long it's been.
[1:57] Speaker 3: I know, I know, I am. It's I think about
[2:02] Speaker 3: I don't know how many times I came over and
[2:04] Speaker 3: get to play on Chicago p d's set when you
[2:06] Speaker 3: were when you were there, but they were so memorable
[2:09] Speaker 3: those times, and like you you showed me Chicago and
[2:13] Speaker 3: the places to eat yeah in a Chibal I don't
[2:18] Speaker 3: know if you remember. And now they did want here
[2:21] Speaker 3: and that's like the only place my husband and I
[2:23] Speaker 3: go out to eat here is abal here. And it's
[2:27] Speaker 3: I'm like, well, we can thank Sophia Bush for this time. Yeah,
[2:31] Speaker 3: it's been a long time. It's been a long time.
[2:34] Speaker 3: I'm so happy to see all of the things you're into,
[2:36] Speaker 3: all of the things you're you're getting to do. It's
[2:40] Speaker 3: really exciting following what you're doing.
[2:43] Speaker 1: Thanks, honey, it's so nice and Yeah, it was. It
[2:45] Speaker 1: was so much fun when you guys came to visit,
[2:47] Speaker 1: and I always had the best time coming to work
[2:50] Speaker 1: on your set. I mean, you just run such a
[2:54] Speaker 1: great ship, all of you over on SVU. Congratulations on it.
[3:00] Speaker 3: I think so too. It's a really it's a really
[3:02] Speaker 3: nice place to work.
[3:03] Speaker 1: Really, oh it's the best.
[3:05] Speaker 3: And especially in this in this environment, this atmosphere, this
[3:09] Speaker 3: this time where they're like, oh, yeah, the show, it's
[3:13] Speaker 3: a it's a great show. You you you read the script.
[3:16] Speaker 3: You're like excited about everyone who's involved. You know, maybe
[3:18] Speaker 3: it's a new possibility. And they're like, and it's going
[3:20] Speaker 3: to be in Dublin and you're.
[3:21] Speaker 4: Like, oh, oh yeah, you know, or just Budapest or
[3:30] Speaker 4: Winnipeg or you know, and you're just like, oh my god,
[3:32] Speaker 4: I've this my fifteenth season of SVU.
[3:35] Speaker 3: So I've I've gotten to be in New York, you know,
[3:39] Speaker 3: and raised my little family here and not have to
[3:43] Speaker 3: worry about about that. And that's that's worked so much
[3:46] Speaker 3: to me, you.
[3:47] Speaker 1: Know, oh totally. I mean it's really interesting. I've always
[3:52] Speaker 1: had to pick up and go for work and it's
[3:55] Speaker 1: so tough. Yeah, and I think to be in a
[3:59] Speaker 1: city that you actually live in, getting to do what
[4:03] Speaker 1: you love to do. It really it's it's kind of
[4:05] Speaker 1: like winning the lottery.
[4:06] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's huge. You don't you don't factor that in
[4:09] Speaker 3: when you're when you're twenty eight years old and you're like, yeah, whatever,
[4:13] Speaker 3: when when when do I come you know, rint for
[4:16] Speaker 3: a month? Yeah, no problem. You know, now you'd be like,
[4:19] Speaker 3: I need a kitchen ittte first of all, like whatever, you.
[4:23] Speaker 1: Know, it's like, also my kids are in school.
[4:25] Speaker 3: Wait what Yeah, it's it's totally totally different from from
[4:30] Speaker 3: the priorities you have in your twenties, as they should be. Yeah,
[4:34] Speaker 3: but that was fun then too, like getting to hop
[4:36] Speaker 3: around on different jobs and you know, you got to
[4:39] Speaker 3: be part of the circus and that was that was
[4:42] Speaker 3: so much fun, you know, And just so many different places,
[4:45] Speaker 3: work with so many different crews, beautiful, awesome cruise. You know.
[4:49] Speaker 3: It's like not everything, you know, not everything revolves around
[4:52] Speaker 3: New York, you know, And sometimes it feels that way.
[4:55] Speaker 3: I think to people when you live here and you
[4:57] Speaker 3: work here, you're like, well, everything here, you know, and
[4:59] Speaker 3: it does. And there's so many there's so many talented
[5:02] Speaker 3: and beautiful, beautiful especially crews and just cast members and
[5:07] Speaker 3: like you know when they do local casting. And when
[5:10] Speaker 3: I worked in Georgia, I was like, God, the hair
[5:11] Speaker 3: and makeup crew there, you know, yeah I'm Georgia and
[5:14] Speaker 3: like getting to getting to walk in first thing in
[5:17] Speaker 3: the morning and hear a Southern accent here, you know,
[5:20] Speaker 3: like they're they're eating the same kind of breakfast I
[5:23] Speaker 3: grew up on, so totally that was always great.
[5:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, I had such a similar experience in North Carolina.
[5:30] Speaker 1: I mean, it's it is really special to get to
[5:34] Speaker 1: go and plug into these other pockets. And I, at
[5:39] Speaker 1: least for me, I feel like it's kind of the
[5:41] Speaker 1: both and it's so great, And it's hard to leave
[5:44] Speaker 1: your family and your home. Yeah, you're so lucky, and
[5:48] Speaker 1: you're trying to navigate something really difficult given the hours
[5:52] Speaker 1: that we work. But yeah, I love that you've been
[5:55] Speaker 1: able to go home a little bit and work. You know,
[5:58] Speaker 1: in your adulthood, when you think about growing up in Georgia,
[6:04] Speaker 1: I'll never forget, you know. Talking with you over burgers,
[6:08] Speaker 1: and you said this thing that really stuck with me
[6:11] Speaker 1: that I think is it's the way you phrase it.
[6:13] Speaker 1: You say that you were a latchkey kid with a
[6:16] Speaker 1: lot of freedom, like running around there. And I just
[6:20] Speaker 1: wonder what was your childhood, Like, what was Georgia like
[6:23] Speaker 1: when you were eight or nine years old? Were you
[6:25] Speaker 1: into performing already? Can you give us a little child peek? Yeah?
[6:30] Speaker 3: I mean I played. I played softball, you know, like
[6:34] Speaker 3: my dad was the coach of my softball team. So
[6:37] Speaker 3: I was the one that had to call every girl
[6:39] Speaker 3: in the roster and say, okay, practice is not canceled today,
[6:43] Speaker 3: even though it's raining. We're all going to meet up,
[6:45] Speaker 3: you know, be there, leave a message. And I had
[6:47] Speaker 3: to make notations you know, I was the coach's daughter there.
[6:50] Speaker 3: But then also I guess it was around that time
[6:53] Speaker 3: that like I was in an elementary school that you
[6:58] Speaker 3: know that I don't in my mind. The library was
[7:03] Speaker 3: like the size of Madison Square garden, and like the
[7:06] Speaker 3: roofs were so huge and beautiful, and miss Gatzi was
[7:11] Speaker 3: the librarian, and I just thought she was magical and
[7:14] Speaker 3: just she she curated, you know, so many experiences for
[7:17] Speaker 3: all all different kind kinds of kids, but for me,
[7:21] Speaker 3: like she I think she saw a little bit of
[7:23] Speaker 3: like a performing little thing, and so she kind of
[7:25] Speaker 3: mentioned it to somebody else in the county for Side County,
[7:28] Speaker 3: and then they kind of mentioned it to somebody else
[7:30] Speaker 3: and they go, well, you know, we're doing a community
[7:32] Speaker 3: play the Velveteen Rabbit. She should try out. So my
[7:37] Speaker 3: mom asked me. She was like, hey, they think maybe
[7:40] Speaker 3: you'd like to do this, and I was like yeah,
[7:41] Speaker 3: And I was like what do I have to do?
[7:43] Speaker 3: And you know, they go, you have to audition. I
[7:45] Speaker 3: was like, okay, got mean, you know, so I sang
[7:50] Speaker 3: do your years saying low for my first audition, I think,
[7:54] Speaker 3: and I got the part of the boat. So I
[7:57] Speaker 3: did pretty good on that one. You know, It's like
[8:00] Speaker 3: then I then I ended up doing you know, another
[8:03] Speaker 3: play with with that community group, and I found I
[8:07] Speaker 3: found a person that totally changed my life. And she
[8:11] Speaker 3: was huge in the community. This woman named Yate C.
[8:14] Speaker 3: Harvey who taught at the high school there. And you know,
[8:18] Speaker 3: my mom, my mom was a teacher in the county,
[8:20] Speaker 3: and so I moved over to her high school that
[8:22] Speaker 3: that theater teacher taught there, and so I got to
[8:26] Speaker 3: kind of go night through twelfth with this woman who
[8:29] Speaker 3: was a fireball, just a complete fireball, and I learned
[8:34] Speaker 3: everything I needed to know, I mean that blessed my
[8:38] Speaker 3: my college. But she prepared me for like a life
[8:42] Speaker 3: of performing, like to take it super seriously. You know.
[8:45] Speaker 3: She she she brought us to New York. She you know,
[8:48] Speaker 3: she showed us how to act in a theater as
[8:50] Speaker 3: an audience member. She showed us what it meant to
[8:52] Speaker 3: really care about to you know, and and and that
[8:55] Speaker 3: kind of thing. But like even when I was a
[8:56] Speaker 3: little kid, you know, it's like if I was on
[9:00] Speaker 3: my bike at like five pm, my parents would be like,
[9:03] Speaker 3: what are you doing home? You know, what are you in?
[9:06] Speaker 3: Like my my other friend had a go kart that
[9:08] Speaker 3: we figured out how to how to make the gas
[9:11] Speaker 3: like loosen up so that you could go faster. Yeah,
[9:15] Speaker 3: and we crashed it. I mean it was like we
[9:18] Speaker 3: were always in. There was a creek behind my house
[9:20] Speaker 3: that I got to go and make bridges over, and
[9:23] Speaker 3: you know, it's just like building for It's like that
[9:25] Speaker 3: kind of that kind of thing. So I see my
[9:28] Speaker 3: kids now and I'm like, Okay, piano on Tuesday, ceramics
[9:31] Speaker 3: on Wednesday, you know, and I'm like, I don't know
[9:34] Speaker 3: if I didn't after school like structured activity, I don't
[9:38] Speaker 3: know if I did that until really like I did softball,
[9:41] Speaker 3: but you know, you look at the kids now and
[9:43] Speaker 3: it's like so much of their time as structure, playtime,
[9:45] Speaker 3: you know, and it's it's so different. It's just it's
[9:50] Speaker 3: a different, a different thing. Like I had to call
[9:55] Speaker 3: my dad when I got home from school at like
[9:57] Speaker 3: eight and just be like, Okay, I made it home,
[9:59] Speaker 3: you know, and then I would be like, all right,
[10:00] Speaker 3: what snacks am I going to get into here? That's
[10:03] Speaker 3: that's kind of what it was like growing up. It
[10:05] Speaker 3: was it was absolutely a beautiful place to grow up,
[10:08] Speaker 3: Northern Georgia, picking farms and and cows, and you know,
[10:14] Speaker 3: it's like all kinds of local lore about different different
[10:18] Speaker 3: parts of the county. You could like like go on
[10:21] Speaker 3: and like all these different mystical tales about what had
[10:24] Speaker 3: gone on in different areas. And yeah, so that was
[10:27] Speaker 3: it was. It was really really beautiful, and all of
[10:30] Speaker 3: my immediate family was down there, so I got to
[10:32] Speaker 3: spend a lot of time with my grandmama's you know,
[10:35] Speaker 3: and you know, as my cousins and you know, so
[10:38] Speaker 3: it was it was really kind of idyllic.
[10:41] Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, it's so special, and you're right,
[10:45] Speaker 1: it's a weird thing. I hear you on watching your
[10:49] Speaker 1: kids and seeing how different time is.
[10:53] Speaker 3: You know.
[10:54] Speaker 1: I think about when I was a kid, we did
[10:56] Speaker 1: a stint in central California in a really small town,
[11:00] Speaker 1: and like we'd get our my parents' closest friends and
[11:04] Speaker 1: their kids, and like we'd go to the creek on
[11:07] Speaker 1: Fridays and catch frogs and like sit out and watch
[11:10] Speaker 1: the sunset. And I realize, even for me now, if
[11:15] Speaker 1: I don't structure a break, like if I don't put
[11:19] Speaker 1: take a walk in my calendar, I won't go outside.
[11:24] Speaker 1: And I'm like, wait, Like I'm a nature kid, how
[11:28] Speaker 1: did this happen? Everything is so different in such a
[11:32] Speaker 1: strange way. But yeah, man, the idea that we have
[11:36] Speaker 1: to structure our play is so it's crazy.
[11:39] Speaker 3: It's been It's been a lot of fun at this
[11:42] Speaker 3: stage in my life. Like because I have a tenanist
[11:45] Speaker 3: seven year old, it's not they're not old. But I
[11:49] Speaker 3: also now have a two year old, so it's like
[11:51] Speaker 3: as soon as you learn how to walk, we'd get
[11:53] Speaker 3: up and you know, you don't have to have a
[11:55] Speaker 3: plan with a one or two year old. You just
[11:57] Speaker 3: kind of go and look at rocks or dirty. It's like,
[12:01] Speaker 3: that is one thing I love about New York. You
[12:03] Speaker 3: don't really have to have a plan if you don't
[12:05] Speaker 3: want to, Like, if you're ever feeling down, like even
[12:07] Speaker 3: in your twenties or whatever, Like, if you're ever feeling like, ah, you.
[12:11] Speaker 1: Just go out for just go outside.
[12:14] Speaker 3: It's it's great. It's like it's weird because you'll all
[12:17] Speaker 3: of a sudden you'll meet up with someone that you
[12:19] Speaker 3: were thinking about, like that you had in five years,
[12:22] Speaker 3: and you're like, oh my god, I was just thinking
[12:23] Speaker 3: about you.
[12:24] Speaker 1: Let's go getfe like, what are you doing on the
[12:26] Speaker 1: street here?
[12:27] Speaker 3: Yes, And it's you conjured. You conjure these these things up,
[12:31] Speaker 3: you know.
[12:32] Speaker 1: It's like they have Well that's so interesting.
[12:35] Speaker 3: You know.
[12:35] Speaker 1: You talk about the kind of mystical magical of Northern Georgia,
[12:38] Speaker 1: and there's a mystical magical in New York.
[12:41] Speaker 3: There is so in my brain.
[12:43] Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, was it a crazy
[12:46] Speaker 1: culture shock when you moved to start pursuing acting. But
[12:50] Speaker 1: I actually wonder if, as different as the cities are,
[12:54] Speaker 1: if you felt that kind of similarity in the magic
[12:58] Speaker 1: of the two places.
[13:00] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think I my head, I'm very
[13:04] Speaker 3: you know, like a lot of people, I'm just very
[13:05] Speaker 3: adaptable to new new places. It was like, I remember
[13:13] Speaker 3: my first morning after moving to New York. I woke
[13:16] Speaker 3: up in Chelsea, where I'd rented a food time in
[13:19] Speaker 3: someone's apartment for five that night a month, and I
[13:24] Speaker 3: go down the steps and I'm like, oh, new York,
[13:27] Speaker 3: you know here I am. Let's go and look down
[13:30] Speaker 3: and there's like an eighteen inch black dildo with like
[13:34] Speaker 3: like crack files. I was like, well, okay, you know,
[13:38] Speaker 3: it was just like pooh reality, you know. And I
[13:41] Speaker 3: was like I can deal with that too. You know.
[13:43] Speaker 3: It's like, okay, so someone had a great time here,
[13:46] Speaker 3: or you know, last night, I'm gonna go get my
[13:50] Speaker 3: coffee and bagel. But yeah, I was. I don't culture
[13:55] Speaker 3: shock doesn't really happen to me. Like I've always loved traveling.
[13:57] Speaker 3: I've always loved being like a stranger in a strange land,
[14:01] Speaker 3: you know, I like even even other countries and that
[14:04] Speaker 3: kind of thing. I never minded like being by myself traveling,
[14:08] Speaker 3: you know, and taking it all in Like it's that's
[14:11] Speaker 3: just I love doing that. I do too.
[14:14] Speaker 1: I love I love knowing that about you. Yeah, I
[14:18] Speaker 1: I find it so exciting to get to a new
[14:20] Speaker 1: place and figure out what it's all about, especially if
[14:23] Speaker 1: it's different than where I've.
[14:24] Speaker 3: Been, same, same, And my dad is still like a
[14:28] Speaker 3: love of maps, you know, So it's just like me
[14:30] Speaker 3: with the map in a new city. It's like it's
[14:34] Speaker 3: heaven to me.
[14:35] Speaker 1: Oh I love that.
[14:36] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[14:37] Speaker 1: Well, when you you know you moved to New York,
[14:40] Speaker 1: obviously you have a pretty wild initial career. Like immediately
[14:46] Speaker 1: you're on stage opposite fair Faucet, then you're working on
[14:50] Speaker 1: All My Children. I mean, you did over one hundred
[14:52] Speaker 1: episodes on that, and then you get onto SVU, Like, ah,
[14:58] Speaker 1: did it just feel like one thing after an or
[15:00] Speaker 1: were there all those days that we know as actors
[15:04] Speaker 1: of like pounding the pavement and chasing the thing that
[15:06] Speaker 1: other people don't see?
[15:07] Speaker 3: Absolutely? Absolutely? I mean like I I remember when I
[15:11] Speaker 3: first moved here, like I got kicked out of the
[15:14] Speaker 3: five hundred dollars a month apartment. She was like, oh, hey,
[15:17] Speaker 3: it's ever you to go and I was like, oh, okay,
[15:21] Speaker 3: yeah huh. And so I and I was working as
[15:24] Speaker 3: a waitress, you know, like at a at a little
[15:26] Speaker 3: restaurant around the corner, making forty dollars a night. I
[15:29] Speaker 3: was like, this is not gonna this is unsustainable. And
[15:32] Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't know what. I don't know what
[15:34] Speaker 3: I'm going to do, and I'm taking I'm like, I'm
[15:37] Speaker 3: in kind of tears because I'm like, I don't know.
[15:40] Speaker 3: In a you know, one of my regulars that you know,
[15:43] Speaker 3: me and old men have always gotten along, he's like,
[15:45] Speaker 3: he's like, what's wrong, And I go, I don't have
[15:47] Speaker 3: any place to live, you know, and she's like, well,
[15:49] Speaker 3: my housekeeper has a place. It's five hundred bucks a
[15:52] Speaker 3: month that's right up the road. And I go, yes,
[15:55] Speaker 3: So like I take that, and you know what. But
[15:59] Speaker 3: in the meantime, I was I was always like, you know,
[16:02] Speaker 3: I waited tables and did all that, but like I
[16:04] Speaker 3: always had friends here from college write, you know, playwrights
[16:07] Speaker 3: and that kind of thing that I would do black
[16:09] Speaker 3: box theater and that stuff my whole hardened mind into,
[16:13] Speaker 3: you know, and like being able to to figure out
[16:16] Speaker 3: how to make that work, you know, make enough money,
[16:18] Speaker 3: like on the weekends, so that I could audition during
[16:20] Speaker 3: the week and go to rehearsals for another thing at
[16:23] Speaker 3: night and and do all that, you know, it's you.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Of course, you don't regret a second of it. It
[16:31] Speaker 3: is the funnest time you know of your life where
[16:33] Speaker 3: you're living in like a crap hole, and just like
[16:37] Speaker 3: just like working working so hard on these plays and
[16:40] Speaker 3: like these new things, like trying to make it work
[16:42] Speaker 3: and figuring out like and I throughout all of it,
[16:47] Speaker 3: I always believed work begets work, no matter what it was,
[16:50] Speaker 3: you know. And at some moment I was like, well,
[16:54] Speaker 3: there's nothing for me to be in right now, I'm
[16:56] Speaker 3: going to write and you know, and I ended up
[16:58] Speaker 3: writing this one woman show and somebody from all my
[17:02] Speaker 3: children had come to see that, and that's how I
[17:05] Speaker 3: got it. Was like, I know, I know that work
[17:08] Speaker 3: begets work. That's all I know. So all I have
[17:11] Speaker 3: to do is keep working in some kind of fashion.
[17:14] Speaker 3: And you know, whether it's whether it's the mindset that
[17:19] Speaker 3: you know, just like just like playing guitar or something,
[17:22] Speaker 3: you have to keep keep that up, you know, you
[17:24] Speaker 3: have to keep up your chops. Whether it's that you
[17:27] Speaker 3: know and you just keep the momentum moving forward, whether
[17:32] Speaker 3: it's just trying to put yourself in places to be seen.
[17:35] Speaker 3: I think it's both of those, you know, because no
[17:38] Speaker 3: one's going to see you if you're not out there,
[17:40] Speaker 3: you know. Of course, So I throughout any hard times,
[17:45] Speaker 3: I always just believed I was like work, but gets work.
[17:47] Speaker 3: So whatever kind of work it is, you know, like
[17:50] Speaker 3: if it's a reading, if it's this, if it's that,
[17:52] Speaker 3: like it's going to lead to something else, you know.
[17:55] Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. It's like the the idea that
[18:00] Speaker 1: the muse has to find you working. Yeah, you know,
[18:04] Speaker 1: I remember there's that. There's a great book called The
[18:07] Speaker 1: War of Art, you know, that was based on the
[18:10] Speaker 1: art of war, and it's like the the idea that
[18:13] Speaker 1: if you just continue making things to make will continue
[18:18] Speaker 1: finding you. I think there's something really powerful.
[18:21] Speaker 3: In that too.
[18:23] Speaker 1: How do you kind of balance though? Then, you know,
[18:27] Speaker 1: always being at work, especially when you've been on a
[18:30] Speaker 1: series for so long, and then the periods where you
[18:34] Speaker 1: do want or need a break, where you do want
[18:37] Speaker 1: to go somewhere with your family or work on something
[18:43] Speaker 1: else for a moment of freshness, Like, how do you
[18:49] Speaker 1: how do you grapple with those things?
[18:51] Speaker 3: It's super hard because I have I have three kids.
[18:54] Speaker 3: So if if if work that isn't paying the bills
[18:58] Speaker 3: is not like if I'm on a break from that.
[19:01] Speaker 3: Then I'm like, okay, bull on, mom, you have me
[19:04] Speaker 3: every second, every every hour, every day, you know, and
[19:08] Speaker 3: I'm trying to get better about that, you know, like
[19:11] Speaker 3: setting some time aside for for just my mind, for
[19:15] Speaker 3: just for just staring off it in the you know,
[19:18] Speaker 3: into space at the wall and and being open for
[19:23] Speaker 3: the muse or whatever. But it is, that's it's really
[19:26] Speaker 3: hard balancing that and like just daydreaming and and then
[19:30] Speaker 3: making making the conversations happen and the meetings happen that
[19:34] Speaker 3: you know, somebody tells you of an idea, like you
[19:37] Speaker 3: come up with something and it won't leave you alone,
[19:40] Speaker 3: and actually you know, honoring that to to go after
[19:43] Speaker 3: it and to keep to keep cultivating it. I definitely
[19:47] Speaker 3: think it's a it's a skill, a learned, a learned
[19:51] Speaker 3: skill that you know, Like I said, I'm trying to
[19:53] Speaker 3: get better at at honoring that because it's it's it's
[19:58] Speaker 3: really easy when you're when you do feel like you
[20:01] Speaker 3: have a job that fulfills you. And I get to
[20:03] Speaker 3: go to work every day and I get to you know,
[20:05] Speaker 3: figure out some kind of puzzle and that's satisfying to me,
[20:08] Speaker 3: you know, and there's there's also a ton of other
[20:13] Speaker 3: stuff I want to do. There's different worlds I want
[20:15] Speaker 3: to you know, different characters I want to inhabit, different
[20:17] Speaker 3: people I want to work with. So but like I said,
[20:20] Speaker 3: work that gets work. And right now I'm doing I'm
[20:23] Speaker 3: doing like it just feels really good where I am
[20:28] Speaker 3: getting to be the mom that I get to be
[20:31] Speaker 3: and all that stuff. At the end of the day,
[20:34] Speaker 3: I fall asleep very well, like my head, my head
[20:37] Speaker 3: lays on the pillow very nicely at night, you know,
[20:39] Speaker 3: like the things that I feel like I'm getting done,
[20:42] Speaker 3: and you know, it's like, you know, you know, you
[20:44] Speaker 3: need to set set some more time aside to to
[20:48] Speaker 3: to just daydream and and you know, and like have
[20:52] Speaker 3: those conversations, follow up on those on those inklings of
[20:54] Speaker 3: things that you're like, that's that's something, you know, And
[20:57] Speaker 3: I have done that, you know, And and it hasn't
[21:00] Speaker 3: gone very far yet, but you know, it's it's going
[21:04] Speaker 3: to and and I'm going to keep working at it.
[21:07] Speaker 3: And like in working with Marushka and seeing all the
[21:11] Speaker 3: things that she's you know, it took her a long
[21:14] Speaker 3: time to make a movie about her mom, and she
[21:17] Speaker 3: did it but it took her a very very long
[21:20] Speaker 3: time to get to a place where it was possible,
[21:23] Speaker 3: you know, for her heart, for a brain, and and
[21:27] Speaker 3: things come at the right time, you know what I mean.
[21:30] Speaker 3: But it's it's certainly nice working with a good role
[21:33] Speaker 3: model like that, you know, who's years ahead of me
[21:35] Speaker 3: that I'm like, okay, all right, I see you. You know,
[21:38] Speaker 3: like that's when you did that. That's that's the decade
[21:41] Speaker 3: that comes, you know, and that's that's kind of that's
[21:44] Speaker 3: kind of awesome being a woman and just seeing another
[21:47] Speaker 3: powerful woman get after it and and do do the
[21:52] Speaker 3: things that make her happy. So I'm totally so happy
[21:56] Speaker 3: I have her as a role model.
[21:57] Speaker 1: Well, and I think you know, for you certainly at
[22:00] Speaker 1: work and in your friendship. But I would say that
[22:03] Speaker 1: that ripple affects out, you know, also having worked there
[22:08] Speaker 1: and seeing it for your crew. When you have someone
[22:10] Speaker 1: like her in the position of number one on the
[22:13] Speaker 1: call sheet, the world is so vastly different from what
[22:19] Speaker 1: it could be without her. Absolutely, and a person who
[22:24] Speaker 1: leads like that and manages to bring such professionalism and
[22:29] Speaker 1: also such humor into a space where like y'all are
[22:33] Speaker 1: dealing with a lot of really heavy stuff, and you
[22:36] Speaker 1: manage to laugh a lot on that set, and I
[22:38] Speaker 1: think that's really profound.
[22:40] Speaker 3: I do too.
[22:42] Speaker 1: And now for our sponsors, this segment is brought to
[22:46] Speaker 1: you by Miracle Grow. My friends and family know I
[22:50] Speaker 1: am literally obsessed with the great outdoors and obsessed with
[22:54] Speaker 1: my garden. My place at home has almost fifty fruit trees,
[22:58] Speaker 1: lavender plants, or even an apiary with one hundred thousand bees. Yes, friends,
[23:04] Speaker 1: if you've been living under a rock, I am a
[23:06] Speaker 1: beekeeper and it is truly my favorite hobby. I started
[23:10] Speaker 1: building out a garden in a really small way. I'm
[23:13] Speaker 1: talking about a little patch with a couple of herbs,
[23:16] Speaker 1: and then I got a tomato plant. And then I
[23:19] Speaker 1: spent the next five years going crazy, and I built
[23:22] Speaker 1: myself my own little wonderland, and being out there brings
[23:27] Speaker 1: me so much peace, especially when I'm getting down in
[23:30] Speaker 1: the dirt. I think gardening is such a special hobby
[23:35] Speaker 1: because it becomes part of your lifestyle. You get to
[23:38] Speaker 1: grow food, and you get to give it away, and
[23:40] Speaker 1: you get to really be reminded how magical it is
[23:43] Speaker 1: being outside. I love watching the birds and watching my
[23:48] Speaker 1: plants grow and feeling like I'm really in rhythm with nature,
[23:53] Speaker 1: with the seasons, and you know, I get a thrill
[23:56] Speaker 1: every once in a while having to chase a neighborhood
[23:58] Speaker 1: critter out of the yard because, let me tell you what,
[24:00] Speaker 1: they come after my fruit, and they got to go.
[24:04] Speaker 1: But now that I'm spending an awful lot more time
[24:06] Speaker 1: on the East Coast, bless my West Coast roommates for
[24:10] Speaker 1: attending to my garden while I am gone. You know,
[24:13] Speaker 1: I had to start a garden over here. My latest project.
[24:17] Speaker 1: I'm deep in research to figure out I might need
[24:20] Speaker 1: a greenhouse. Guys, it gets cold here and I still
[24:23] Speaker 1: want to grow tomatoes and herbs and other plants all
[24:27] Speaker 1: year round, even in the snow. So in case you're
[24:30] Speaker 1: ever wondering what I'm doing when I can't sleep, I
[24:32] Speaker 1: am in a research rabbit hole learning every single thing
[24:36] Speaker 1: I can about growing in the winter. This is new
[24:40] Speaker 1: for me, so I have been going full dirt nerd
[24:42] Speaker 1: to find out what I can use to set my
[24:44] Speaker 1: plants up for success. I am not an experienced snow grower,
[24:49] Speaker 1: but give me a few years and I think I'm
[24:50] Speaker 1: going to do great. I've really started realizing how important
[24:54] Speaker 1: things are that I didn't think about as much on
[24:58] Speaker 1: the West Coast, like ierration and moisture control and the
[25:01] Speaker 1: quality of my potting mix. I mean, that is so
[25:06] Speaker 1: so important to growing, and it's exponentially more important when
[25:11] Speaker 1: you're dealing with serious variations in temperature. I'm learning a
[25:15] Speaker 1: lot about growing in a more controlled space, and I
[25:17] Speaker 1: will keep you all posted, ever fear. What I do
[25:20] Speaker 1: know is that the littlest things make a huge difference,
[25:24] Speaker 1: which is where Miracle Grow organic outdoor potting mix comes in.
[25:29] Speaker 1: It is the best here. The organic feeding power helps
[25:33] Speaker 1: keep the plants going strong, even when they're just starting
[25:36] Speaker 1: in the garden or in the greenhouse. I'm telling you, fam,
[25:39] Speaker 1: it is the only one I trust. I'm so excited
[25:42] Speaker 1: to experiment and figure out what I need to get
[25:45] Speaker 1: this just right, and I am also trying to decide
[25:47] Speaker 1: which plants I should grow and what lighting sources will
[25:50] Speaker 1: be my best I'm honestly so thrilled that Miracle Grow
[25:53] Speaker 1: is joining the work in progress family because now I
[25:56] Speaker 1: get to ask the experts. Gardening is and always will
[25:59] Speaker 1: be its own work in progress, but that's what makes
[26:01] Speaker 1: it fun. Head to miraclegrow dot com to check out
[26:04] Speaker 1: all of their easy to use products and start your
[26:08] Speaker 1: growth journey today. I'm curious about that for you too,
[26:14] Speaker 1: you know, because you've been playing Amanda Rawlin since two
[26:17] Speaker 1: thousand and seven. You know, you're coming up on twenty
[26:20] Speaker 1: years here, which is so crazy. And in the middle
[26:24] Speaker 1: of that, as you've discussed, you became a mom, you know,
[26:29] Speaker 1: for the first time ten years ago, and I really
[26:33] Speaker 1: wonder I've said it. I think you guys do a
[26:35] Speaker 1: really great job of taking the material very seriously as
[26:39] Speaker 1: it deserves to be. And as a cast you have
[26:44] Speaker 1: such a great group you managed to find such levity.
[26:47] Speaker 1: I mean, I've done some of my favorite acting and
[26:50] Speaker 1: then also like laughed the hardest I've ever laughed on
[26:54] Speaker 1: set with you guys. Yeah, Like, do you think that
[26:59] Speaker 1: being a well to do both at work when you're
[27:03] Speaker 1: playing a character who is immersed in so much hardship,
[27:06] Speaker 1: you know, trauma, heavy stuff. Did the duality you guys
[27:10] Speaker 1: have on set help you keep the light side at
[27:13] Speaker 1: home as a mom?
[27:14] Speaker 3: Absolutely? Yeah? Absolutely? And people people are like, are you
[27:20] Speaker 3: do you parents scared? And I'm like, no, like my no,
[27:24] Speaker 3: like my kids a lot of free They're like, how
[27:26] Speaker 3: can you let him do that working on the show
[27:28] Speaker 3: you work on and I'm like that that doesn't It's
[27:32] Speaker 3: not like, yeah, you can't live scared just because you're
[27:37] Speaker 3: immersed in these horrible stories, you know, on a day
[27:41] Speaker 3: to day basis, and I rarely ever like bring that
[27:44] Speaker 3: that side of my work home. So it definitely helps.
[27:49] Speaker 3: I know, when I've taken breaks from the show. The
[27:51] Speaker 3: biggest thing I I I find that I miss is
[27:54] Speaker 3: the belly laughs that we have on set. Yeah, you know,
[27:58] Speaker 3: but I I like, I certainly didn't have an actor
[28:03] Speaker 3: as a mom, and I don't. It's got to be
[28:05] Speaker 3: annoying at points from like I'm so sorry. I'm like,
[28:11] Speaker 3: I you know, because I'm I give it to them,
[28:15] Speaker 3: you know, and it's they they roll with it, and
[28:19] Speaker 3: you know, we laugh a lot, and there's a lot
[28:21] Speaker 3: of different characters they get to see and a lot
[28:23] Speaker 3: of different funny voices, just like every mom goes out there,
[28:26] Speaker 3: you know. Yeah, like today, I go I was doing
[28:29] Speaker 3: like I was doing, like, oh my gosh, I forgot
[28:32] Speaker 3: my external hard driver at work. Oh And I was like,
[28:36] Speaker 3: I was like, was that good acting? Guys? And they
[28:38] Speaker 3: were like no, I was terrible.
[28:39] Speaker 1: Oh my god, Like oh, my god, mom, you're a shract.
[28:43] Speaker 3: I tried it again and they're like, that's terrible, terrible,
[28:46] Speaker 3: and I go, Okay, your turn, and like we're trying
[28:48] Speaker 3: to get out the door to go to school. We're late,
[28:50] Speaker 3: you know what I mean, but we take the moment
[28:52] Speaker 3: to like get the moment the acting down right for
[28:54] Speaker 3: leaving your external charger at work and not being whatever.
[28:59] Speaker 3: So's it's just like it's you know, that's that. Hopefully
[29:03] Speaker 3: it's fun for them, you know, And yeah, it's it
[29:07] Speaker 3: certainly does. Like the level of play that that you
[29:10] Speaker 3: do at work, it definitely carries over when you come home.
[29:13] Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, totally. Oh I have found that especially for
[29:17] Speaker 1: me loving voice work as much as I do, and
[29:20] Speaker 1: you know, having having been lucky enough to play a
[29:23] Speaker 1: character in a Pixar movie, it's like, now I'm lucky
[29:27] Speaker 1: enough to live with these two magical little humans thanks
[29:29] Speaker 1: to my partner, and oh my god, like I turn out,
[29:34] Speaker 1: I do full Pixar movies. When we read books every
[29:37] Speaker 1: night with like voices and characters, I'm a great big girl,
[29:41] Speaker 1: a little witch and there you know, and she's just like,
[29:44] Speaker 1: who are all these people? And I'm like, I don't know,
[29:46] Speaker 1: it's just coming out of me. They love it. Yeah,
[29:49] Speaker 1: and it's like all those years of theater school you
[29:51] Speaker 1: you think you did and left there. Oh they're they're
[29:54] Speaker 1: in us.
[29:55] Speaker 3: Oh they're there, They're there are five.
[29:57] Speaker 1: And three and a half.
[29:58] Speaker 3: Oh perfect.
[29:59] Speaker 1: It's so fun. A Plaza, Oh my god, the funniest,
[30:04] Speaker 1: which is the joy of my life. Aubrey Plaza wrote
[30:07] Speaker 1: this great Halloween book about a little girl on a
[30:10] Speaker 1: block who becomes friends with the witch who lives across
[30:13] Speaker 1: the street. Wonderful and like, oh man, you've got to
[30:17] Speaker 1: read her. That book is a big hit in our house.
[30:22] Speaker 1: And doing all the little voices is so fun.
[30:24] Speaker 3: That's great. Yeah.
[30:26] Speaker 1: I feel like being an actor gives you really great
[30:31] Speaker 1: play skills at home, Like you can just make anything
[30:33] Speaker 1: into an improv game.
[30:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know a lot of times, like
[30:38] Speaker 3: if Oldie the little one, if he's like really upset,
[30:41] Speaker 3: I mean just totally not reachable, you know, Like then
[30:45] Speaker 3: I'll pretend like his voice is knocking me down, you know,
[30:48] Speaker 3: and like all of a sudden, I'm crawling across the kitchen,
[30:50] Speaker 3: you know, and it's just like, yeah, at least I
[30:52] Speaker 3: got that, Like I got that in my tool kid
[30:54] Speaker 3: to make him laugh, you know what I mean? And
[30:56] Speaker 3: that being that parent is you know, I may, I
[31:00] Speaker 3: may mess up a lot of other stuff, but at
[31:03] Speaker 3: least at least I can reach him and make him
[31:05] Speaker 3: laugh when when things are getting hairy inside of his brain.
[31:10] Speaker 1: How is it having such a little one with two
[31:13] Speaker 1: bigger kids, Like do they love having the baby around?
[31:17] Speaker 3: Or they love? Oh it's magic? And like my old
[31:22] Speaker 3: he burst onto the scene and he was like, heard
[31:23] Speaker 3: you needed a baby in the family, So you know
[31:28] Speaker 3: what I mean, He was like, got it, got it,
[31:30] Speaker 3: got it, got it. But also, to be honest, it's
[31:35] Speaker 3: frustrating because we can't ever play the same board game.
[31:39] Speaker 3: So it's like the age difference is I mean, they
[31:41] Speaker 3: dote on him, they take care of him. They're such
[31:43] Speaker 3: good big brothers. He can throw a spiral and dunk
[31:47] Speaker 3: and you know what I mean, like way ahead their
[31:49] Speaker 3: two year old. I've seen so he's advanced and a
[31:52] Speaker 3: lot of that thing and a lot of those things.
[31:54] Speaker 3: But like find a board game, Absolutely.
[31:56] Speaker 1: Not a two year old's gonna swallow the pieces of
[31:59] Speaker 1: the board game. You can't even you can't open those
[32:01] Speaker 1: boxes anymore, exactly.
[32:04] Speaker 3: Find Yeah, I guess that's the first chune find a
[32:07] Speaker 3: board game in my house with all the pieces intact,
[32:09] Speaker 3: right first, Yeah, that's that's not me. Organization is not
[32:13] Speaker 3: my not my strong suit, but it is. It's frustrating.
[32:17] Speaker 3: And so like when you find a show, you know,
[32:20] Speaker 3: or a movie that you can all watch, sit down
[32:23] Speaker 3: and watch for for a while and everyone is like engaged,
[32:26] Speaker 3: it's like it's a win. It's like, oh, my dad,
[32:29] Speaker 3: one's actually doing the same thing all at once, you know.
[32:32] Speaker 3: So that's when the pool, you know, we're like going outside,
[32:36] Speaker 3: you know, like going for walks. That's those things everyone
[32:39] Speaker 3: can do and everyone has a different interest level in
[32:42] Speaker 3: something and we're all doing something together though.
[32:45] Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
[32:46] Speaker 3: So it's those kind of things that you have to find.
[32:49] Speaker 1: Oh that's so fun. Thank god it's finally getting warm
[32:52] Speaker 1: out here too. Right This winter was so tough.
[32:55] Speaker 3: I well, last week, I think it got up to
[32:58] Speaker 3: like seventy for a day, call my husband, I dropped
[33:01] Speaker 3: the two year off at school and I was like,
[33:03] Speaker 3: he didn't answer. He was doing something. So I was like,
[33:05] Speaker 3: I just want to tell you, I'm so grateful for
[33:08] Speaker 3: you and for the boys. Love our life and this
[33:12] Speaker 3: is so great. All right, have a good day. And
[33:15] Speaker 3: like and I'm like, what's going on? I was like, Oh,
[33:19] Speaker 3: the sun is.
[33:19] Speaker 1: Out, the sun's out. Yeah, this seasonal effective depression is
[33:24] Speaker 1: starting to wane.
[33:25] Speaker 3: Yes, it's so crazy how much it affects everyone. But
[33:30] Speaker 3: like for me, I was just like, what is going
[33:32] Speaker 3: Oh that's right, it's it's above three.
[33:34] Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yes, I can walk outside without my snot
[33:39] Speaker 1: freezing in my nose.
[33:40] Speaker 3: That's correct.
[33:41] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[33:42] Speaker 3: But I still love the seasons, you know, like I
[33:45] Speaker 3: still love going through all of it because it really
[33:47] Speaker 3: did to create the crocus and the daffodil is coming up,
[33:50] Speaker 3: and yeah, you know it makes it all special because
[33:53] Speaker 3: you've waited for it for so long.
[33:54] Speaker 1: I love it. Just starting to see, you know where
[33:57] Speaker 1: I am. The birds are all starting to come back.
[34:00] Speaker 1: We just saw our first pack of turkeys, you know,
[34:03] Speaker 1: moving through the property the other day and I was like,
[34:07] Speaker 1: oh my god, they're all home. Everyone's coming home.
[34:10] Speaker 3: You know.
[34:10] Speaker 1: It's really it is really sweet.
[34:13] Speaker 3: The little things are not so little, you know. Yeah,
[34:16] Speaker 3: it makes you make your whole day better.
[34:19] Speaker 1: You mentioned your sweet husband Bo. You guys met while
[34:25] Speaker 1: you were at SVU, like and forgive me. I know
[34:29] Speaker 1: we've talked about this, but I feel like it's probably
[34:31] Speaker 1: been ten years since the last time we had a
[34:34] Speaker 1: beer together. Remind me of your meet cute story.
[34:38] Speaker 3: So he he was, he was, he was driving me,
[34:43] Speaker 3: and I like, it's we didn't even talk that much
[34:49] Speaker 3: in the car, you know what I mean. And I
[34:51] Speaker 3: I was going through a divorce, butuch when he met me,
[34:56] Speaker 3: and like we didn't really we didn't really even talk
[34:59] Speaker 3: like personal stuff. We just played music in the car
[35:02] Speaker 3: and it was just like a beautiful little oasis of peace,
[35:07] Speaker 3: and and his taste of music was really good, you know,
[35:12] Speaker 3: and like, yeah, I was like, oh my gosh. And
[35:15] Speaker 3: then the then the divorce was happening, and so that
[35:18] Speaker 3: I was leaving that behind, and then he kind of
[35:22] Speaker 3: emerged his It's like, oh, I'm like I I kind
[35:27] Speaker 3: of wanted more of that, you know. It just kind
[35:30] Speaker 3: of it just kind of slowly bloomed into something really
[35:35] Speaker 3: special and really like I'm like, oh, this is my
[35:39] Speaker 3: person I want to rely on and I want him
[35:43] Speaker 3: to rely on me, and I want to be like
[35:46] Speaker 3: I'm going to be a bigger, better person with this
[35:49] Speaker 3: this guy beside me, and that that to me is like,
[35:54] Speaker 3: I mean, the biggest thing you can say for your
[35:56] Speaker 3: relationship is just just wanting one to be better so
[36:00] Speaker 3: that you can make them better. And you know, and
[36:03] Speaker 3: like knowing you go through really hard stuff with someone
[36:07] Speaker 3: and they're just they're going to be right beside you,
[36:10] Speaker 3: and it's who you want rubbing your back. You know,
[36:13] Speaker 3: it's back you want to rub, you know, and it's
[36:16] Speaker 3: I'm so I'm so grateful the sound and shining, but
[36:23] Speaker 3: I am I'm so grateful. So we we had we
[36:26] Speaker 3: had a son together almost three years ago and now
[36:30] Speaker 3: we have this beautiful, little blended family that's just it's
[36:33] Speaker 3: a lot of boys and a lot of balls in
[36:36] Speaker 3: the house and and it's just we're rolling along and
[36:41] Speaker 3: time it's crazy how fast time goes. But you know,
[36:45] Speaker 3: it's like these kids have known him since he was
[36:48] Speaker 3: little and now and as as their stepfather, and you know,
[36:53] Speaker 3: he really embraces that role in a beautiful way. And
[36:57] Speaker 3: he's embraced fatherhood to two oldie and such a beautiful way.
[37:01] Speaker 3: And you know, seeing that, it's I like you, I'm
[37:07] Speaker 3: just still excited for what's to come, even though like
[37:09] Speaker 3: we've done the big milestones of having a baby and
[37:11] Speaker 3: gotten married, Like now it's like okay, now, like the
[37:16] Speaker 3: meat of the relationship starts, you know, it's like the
[37:18] Speaker 3: falling in love and everything like that. That's beautiful. But
[37:22] Speaker 3: it's like I said to him the other day, I
[37:23] Speaker 3: was like, that's that's kind of the easy part, you know,
[37:26] Speaker 3: like now to get to make our relationship what it's
[37:29] Speaker 3: going to be, you know, in ten twenty years, and
[37:33] Speaker 3: that all that work is exciting exciting for me.
[37:37] Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, I yes, yes, yes, yes, I
[37:41] Speaker 1: feel like everything you're saying. I'm like in that part
[37:44] Speaker 1: and that part and that part and that part. I
[37:47] Speaker 1: think there's a really profound thing that can happen when
[37:55] Speaker 1: when you have the courage to say, oh, the checklist
[37:59] Speaker 1: we all get handed, isn't I don't think it's my list,
[38:04] Speaker 1: like I did it, but I don't think it's for me.
[38:08] Speaker 1: And I think when you wind up in community with
[38:10] Speaker 1: people that are having their versions of that experience, magic
[38:15] Speaker 1: can can come out of that. I know that it
[38:18] Speaker 1: did for me, and there is something really special. I
[38:22] Speaker 1: think about recalibrating your life to what brings you joy,
[38:30] Speaker 1: not just falling in line and doing the thing that
[38:33] Speaker 1: everyone told you to do and it yeah, it's like,
[38:37] Speaker 1: it's so I don't know if you feel this, but
[38:40] Speaker 1: I feel like I'm living the most normal version of
[38:44] Speaker 1: my life I've ever lived, and it's also the most exciting.
[38:48] Speaker 3: Yes, same, same, it's crazy that. Yeah, if you had
[38:55] Speaker 3: written it down, I would have been like, wait, what
[38:57] Speaker 3: Then I fell in love with my driver and now
[38:59] Speaker 3: we're we get to work in the same place, and
[39:02] Speaker 3: then we have an I have three children in that library,
[39:06] Speaker 3: Like I'm the mom to three kids. That's crazy, right,
[39:09] Speaker 3: he told me that it Yeah, if you told me
[39:11] Speaker 3: that at twenty five or do you know or whatever,
[39:13] Speaker 3: it's it's And now it's like, I'm I don't know,
[39:19] Speaker 3: I've carved it out and I'm I'm so I don't know.
[39:24] Speaker 3: I'm so happy and like the things that I have
[39:26] Speaker 3: to make decisions on are so wildly so wildly normal,
[39:31] Speaker 3: you know, like you have to make them together with
[39:33] Speaker 3: a partner and and and then you have to you
[39:36] Speaker 3: have to worry about your kids and like all the
[39:40] Speaker 3: all the things you're you're doing good and all the
[39:42] Speaker 3: things you're messing up, and the finite amount of time
[39:45] Speaker 3: you have with them at home, Like I never. I
[39:49] Speaker 3: don't know you just like because when I was when
[39:52] Speaker 3: I got my driver's license at sixteen, my parents like
[39:54] Speaker 3: we were laughing about it the other day. They were like,
[39:56] Speaker 3: we never saw you after that. Yeah bye, yeah, super tight,
[40:00] Speaker 3: like and and I don't remember calling them when I
[40:03] Speaker 3: was in college, Like I like, they were just always
[40:06] Speaker 3: there for me, and I I like, I loved speaking
[40:10] Speaker 3: with them, I loved going back home to visit, but
[40:12] Speaker 3: it was just like they were always just the net
[40:14] Speaker 3: for me, and yeah, you know, hopefully that's how I
[40:17] Speaker 3: can be for my kids. But I'm like, but they
[40:20] Speaker 3: have to call me a lot. And I was thinking't
[40:24] Speaker 3: be like I was, you know, in England and traveling
[40:28] Speaker 3: the world and just not just you know, they have
[40:30] Speaker 3: to email. But it's like we didn't. We didn't even
[40:33] Speaker 3: do any of that. You know. It's like life three
[40:35] Speaker 3: sixty like that didn't that stuff didn't exist.
[40:38] Speaker 1: No way. I was so similar. I went to college
[40:42] Speaker 1: and you know, my mom and I have talked about
[40:44] Speaker 1: this more recently, but you know, I finally was like,
[40:48] Speaker 1: you were really but her that I didn't call anymore,
[40:51] Speaker 1: and she was like, well, you know, we were just
[40:53] Speaker 1: so close and you left and I was like, Mom, like,
[40:57] Speaker 1: you got to reframe that you did a good job.
[41:00] Speaker 1: You raised me to be an independent kid, and then
[41:02] Speaker 1: I was independent, like aren't you glad? I wasn't like
[41:07] Speaker 1: calling you to clean up my messes and asking you
[41:09] Speaker 1: for money.
[41:09] Speaker 3: And then she was kind of like oh.
[41:13] Speaker 1: I was like, that's a sign you did well as
[41:15] Speaker 1: a mom, and she was like, oh, I never thought
[41:18] Speaker 1: about it that way, and we had a really good giggle,
[41:21] Speaker 1: you know, and yeah, you know, serving kind of in
[41:26] Speaker 1: the role in my household that you know bo dozen yours.
[41:30] Speaker 1: Like now my mom knows these kids that are in
[41:34] Speaker 1: my world and she's you know, she's so god, she's
[41:38] Speaker 1: so sweet with them. And then there's these moments where
[41:40] Speaker 1: I'll be talking about like a leap, you know, some
[41:43] Speaker 1: verbal leap or some some streak of independence about something,
[41:47] Speaker 1: and she's like, oh, gee, wonder what that's karma for.
[41:50] Speaker 1: And I'm like, you know, they're like, no, let me
[41:54] Speaker 1: help you. I know you can do it yourself, but
[41:56] Speaker 1: let me help you. I love, I love like doing
[41:59] Speaker 1: things with you, like get ready, where do they get
[42:02] Speaker 1: a driver's license? So it's that I think, for.
[42:05] Speaker 3: Sure, super big karma coming back at us but in
[42:09] Speaker 3: a good way. That means we've done a good job
[42:12] Speaker 3: at that part.
[42:13] Speaker 1: That part and now a word from our sponsors that
[42:16] Speaker 1: I really enjoy and I think you will too. You
[42:26] Speaker 1: know you were mentioning how cool it is. You couldn't
[42:28] Speaker 1: have seen it coming, which, wow, do I understand that
[42:31] Speaker 1: in my bones? But you know, now you you get
[42:34] Speaker 1: to work with your man. You've built this big family,
[42:38] Speaker 1: you know, SVU in its own way, I would imagine
[42:42] Speaker 1: feels like a family. It's your other home, it's your
[42:45] Speaker 1: other world. Sure, and then you know it's also work,
[42:49] Speaker 1: and work can be complicated, like you know, as things are,
[42:55] Speaker 1: you clearly love it and you all love each other,
[42:57] Speaker 1: and you've you've talked about how there were tougher seasons
[43:02] Speaker 1: and there were moments where you were all in in
[43:04] Speaker 1: moments where you were kind of out, not you know,
[43:06] Speaker 1: by choice, like we all know what that's like in
[43:10] Speaker 1: the world of creativity. How did you take a break
[43:16] Speaker 1: that felt weird and figure out how to make it
[43:20] Speaker 1: feel amazing? Like you touched on it a little bit earlier.
[43:25] Speaker 1: I'm curious, do you feel like it gave you the
[43:27] Speaker 1: space to recalibrate priorities? Did it give you the space
[43:31] Speaker 1: to try a creative thing you hadn't tried, like cause
[43:35] Speaker 1: you seemed, at least from the outside from somebody who
[43:38] Speaker 1: likes to cheerlead, you seemed like you made incredible strides
[43:43] Speaker 1: during that time. So in reflection, does it feel.
[43:46] Speaker 3: Like that, Yes, it does. I mean the break that
[43:50] Speaker 3: I took coincided with with the birth of my third
[43:55] Speaker 3: third baby. Now, in the first two I had breastfed
[43:59] Speaker 3: on set. I am like, like for one of them,
[44:03] Speaker 3: I was back doing adr week after giving birth, like
[44:07] Speaker 3: back filming like four weeks after, you know. And I'm
[44:11] Speaker 3: a workhorse, like I love I'm good at I'm good
[44:15] Speaker 3: at showing up, I'm good at long hours, I'm good.
[44:17] Speaker 3: I'm just good at working. I liked it. I like it.
[44:22] Speaker 3: But when I didn't have a call sheet coming to
[44:25] Speaker 3: my inbox every morning and you're like, oh, there's no
[44:29] Speaker 3: plan for me today, I get to make my own plan.
[44:34] Speaker 3: You know, That's when I started lifting weights a lot.
[44:37] Speaker 3: And after I swear it was like I love doing that,
[44:42] Speaker 3: like actually finding that, you know, like like in your
[44:45] Speaker 3: twenties and thirties, you're just like running on the on
[44:48] Speaker 3: the track or like the treadmill you know, like actually
[44:51] Speaker 3: like really making myself strong, like really strong physically, and
[44:56] Speaker 3: like pursuing an opportunity to sell a show, you know,
[44:59] Speaker 3: and go out on pitches for for this show that
[45:02] Speaker 3: I absolutely loved based on this book, and then all
[45:07] Speaker 3: these conversations happened about like starting up this. I did
[45:10] Speaker 3: this show called The Burg, which is like it was
[45:13] Speaker 3: like one of the first Internet shows. Like SAG didn't
[45:16] Speaker 3: even know what to do. They were like, you don't
[45:19] Speaker 3: know what to do?
[45:19] Speaker 1: Like what is this?
[45:21] Speaker 3: Yeah? It was? It was that was really fun. And
[45:24] Speaker 3: I've I've kept those the the creators of that show
[45:28] Speaker 3: close to to me, close to my heart, and then
[45:31] Speaker 3: they're the funniest people I know and like just get
[45:34] Speaker 3: circling back with them and going, hey, what are you
[45:37] Speaker 3: guys up to? Like like what, Yeah, let's let's see
[45:40] Speaker 3: if this has any more life in it, you know,
[45:42] Speaker 3: and like so that's an ongoing thing and like I
[45:45] Speaker 3: think just learning those lessons of of it's it's okay
[45:50] Speaker 3: to make your own schedule, Like you're good at this,
[45:53] Speaker 3: you know, like you you get you get shit done.
[45:55] Speaker 3: It's okay, you know, and like getting to be at
[45:58] Speaker 3: home with a baby, you just at home, yeah, you know,
[46:02] Speaker 3: and like watching a Rick Rubin documentary at twelve o'clock
[46:07] Speaker 3: in the afternoon if I want to with the baby,
[46:09] Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Like that felt I've never
[46:11] Speaker 3: I haven't done that, Like I've been working. Oh, I've
[46:14] Speaker 3: been working for since forever. So to kind of be
[46:19] Speaker 3: able to that was the big thing I learned is
[46:22] Speaker 3: that you can make your own schedule pretty well and
[46:25] Speaker 3: you make good use of your time. It's okay, you know,
[46:30] Speaker 3: it's okay. You don't get a call sheet in your
[46:33] Speaker 3: inbox every morning, do you.
[46:34] Speaker 1: Feel like did you have a kind of template for
[46:39] Speaker 1: your schedule or was it different every day? And the
[46:42] Speaker 1: reason I ask is because I like you am a
[46:46] Speaker 1: great workhorse. I love to show up, tell me where
[46:48] Speaker 1: to be, tell me what to do. I'm all in.
[46:49] Speaker 1: I'll figure out how to make it fun. I'll probably
[46:51] Speaker 1: get a snack truck like that's my vibe. And I
[46:56] Speaker 1: find that unscheduled time is my It's the most exciting
[47:02] Speaker 1: thing to me and also my biggest source of panic
[47:05] Speaker 1: because the list of things like the Rick Rubin documentary
[47:08] Speaker 1: and everything else that I haven't had time to do
[47:10] Speaker 1: that I want to do is so overwhelming that then
[47:12] Speaker 1: I can't decide what to do. Yes, So like how'd
[47:15] Speaker 1: you do it? Did you have certain days you did
[47:18] Speaker 1: certain things on to give it a cadence, or like
[47:22] Speaker 1: what's the inside scoop on how you learned how to
[47:24] Speaker 1: manage your time?
[47:24] Speaker 3: Well, the gym and the sauna were the priority, you know, okay,
[47:28] Speaker 3: that was the priority, and like as long as you know,
[47:31] Speaker 3: and like I would do that during nap time, so
[47:32] Speaker 3: I wasn't missing oldie time, you know what I mean.
[47:35] Speaker 3: So it's like, so I didn't have mom guilt about
[47:37] Speaker 3: going to take care of myself because it was during
[47:39] Speaker 3: the morning nap. He was asleep anyway. So then then
[47:43] Speaker 3: you get to go out to the park and then
[47:45] Speaker 3: you get to schedule a meeting in the afternoon nap, right,
[47:49] Speaker 3: So I never because the mom guilt is crushing for me, Like, yeah,
[47:52] Speaker 3: I don't know what did it. I'm like, it's it's fine, you're.
[47:55] Speaker 1: There, you're there, You're right there.
[47:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't it's it's very hard to like go
[48:00] Speaker 3: of that for me. So I think, you know, it's
[48:03] Speaker 3: like scheduling meetings and knowing, you know, like knowing that
[48:08] Speaker 3: I had to I had to give myself time to
[48:11] Speaker 3: prepare for that meeting the day before or two hours before,
[48:15] Speaker 3: you know, to kind of go off on a tangent
[48:17] Speaker 3: and write some some new ideas, you know, to bring
[48:20] Speaker 3: to that meeting to you know, like yeah, I because
[48:23] Speaker 3: I know I need I need thirty minutes of time
[48:26] Speaker 3: to like settle down, and then I'll work for like
[48:28] Speaker 3: an hour hour and a half and then I'm like, Okay,
[48:31] Speaker 3: who's missing me? You know what I mean? And then
[48:33] Speaker 3: I come back out of it, you know. So it's
[48:35] Speaker 3: like I know my cadence about like about It's like
[48:39] Speaker 3: when you go on vacation, you need like two days
[48:41] Speaker 3: to calm down, to like settle You're like, okay, let's
[48:45] Speaker 3: go do something. Let's not do something. You don't care
[48:47] Speaker 3: at that point because you're already settled in. You're like
[48:49] Speaker 3: we can go on the boat or we cannot really
[48:52] Speaker 3: give a shit less. Yeah, and then like you come
[48:55] Speaker 3: home and you need a data to do it. You know.
[48:57] Speaker 3: It's like it's a tame kind of thing, you know.
[48:59] Speaker 3: So it's like just knowing how much time like it
[49:04] Speaker 3: takes for me to to kind of get in the
[49:06] Speaker 3: headspace like that, that's super important. To me, but yeah,
[49:09] Speaker 3: the g the gym was super important. And then like
[49:12] Speaker 3: scheduling things in the afternoon where I knew, like the
[49:15] Speaker 3: kids were already taken care of, they were already doing
[49:17] Speaker 3: their own thing. They didn't need me, So then i'd
[49:21] Speaker 3: be back for you know, even if I didn't leave
[49:24] Speaker 3: the house, I'd be back, you know in the mix
[49:26] Speaker 3: for yah market and dinner and all of that.
[49:29] Speaker 1: That's so cool. It's like you you figured out how
[49:31] Speaker 1: to take the nap trap and make it work for you.
[49:35] Speaker 3: Yeah, and now this little guy is like he's barely
[49:38] Speaker 3: taking naps. So now I'm just like, ah, okay, all right,
[49:42] Speaker 3: we've got preschool in the morning, that's what. We've got
[49:44] Speaker 3: three and a half hours go and get it done.
[49:46] Speaker 3: But I do feel that pressure of like, okay, you've
[49:48] Speaker 3: got three and a half hours preschool, last three and
[49:50] Speaker 3: a half what what do you what do you want
[49:51] Speaker 3: to accomplish? You know, And you're just like it's okay, guys,
[49:56] Speaker 3: Like behind me, it's like there's maybe nothing. Maybe I
[49:59] Speaker 3: just want to read.
[50:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe maybe I want to go for a walk.
[50:04] Speaker 3: Unscheduled free time, unstructured playtime for Kelly, who could imagine it.
[50:10] Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah, I've got a friend who twice
[50:14] Speaker 1: a week blocks unmovable meeting do not overlap in her calendar,
[50:21] Speaker 1: and it's just unstructured time. And she said to me,
[50:27] Speaker 1: if I do not save the time, I'll fill it.
[50:30] Speaker 1: And I just thought that.
[50:31] Speaker 3: Was pretty genius. That's that is smart. Yeah, very smart.
[50:35] Speaker 1: Well, you got in your groove and then you showed
[50:39] Speaker 1: back up for season twenty seven. What was that like?
[50:44] Speaker 3: Like?
[50:44] Speaker 1: What felt like a homecoming? What felt new? I know
[50:47] Speaker 1: the show has its first ever female showrunner now, which
[50:50] Speaker 1: is so cool.
[50:51] Speaker 3: Huge, So what like, what's it like? Right? And we
[50:54] Speaker 3: got Brenna molloy who is the producing director. I don't
[50:58] Speaker 3: know if we've ever had a female producing director her
[51:00] Speaker 3: and I am. I'm so I'm so in love with
[51:03] Speaker 3: her and how she directs and how she runs the set. Yeah,
[51:08] Speaker 3: and like she calls you like on your poop, you
[51:12] Speaker 3: know what I mean, She's like, you know how you
[51:15] Speaker 3: were doing it, Let's get back to that. And you're like, wow,
[51:18] Speaker 3: some awesome, you know what I mean. So it's just
[51:21] Speaker 3: like you have to be present in the moment every take,
[51:25] Speaker 3: and that's exciting for me. Whenever she gets to direct.
[51:28] Speaker 3: I'm I'm like thrilled. I'm like, oh God, his friend's episode,
[51:31] Speaker 3: you know what I mean, because you know it's you're
[51:33] Speaker 3: you're in for a treat and you know you're going
[51:35] Speaker 3: to do this work, and like so much of it
[51:39] Speaker 3: was just like being back with the crew. I I
[51:42] Speaker 3: love that crew. I love it. I love them, I
[51:45] Speaker 3: love it. I love our camera, I love our sound apart,
[51:48] Speaker 3: I love wardrobe, I love makeup, I love it. I
[51:50] Speaker 3: love every love props I love It's just like I
[51:54] Speaker 3: have so much love for all those people, all the
[51:57] Speaker 3: hours we've been with them, and all the things that
[51:59] Speaker 3: we've all gone through over all of these years that
[52:02] Speaker 3: we've all worked together. You know. I mean like I
[52:06] Speaker 3: wonder about films, you know, because like they set up
[52:08] Speaker 3: a circus for three months, six months, and then it
[52:11] Speaker 3: blooms and it grows, and then it just gone. You know,
[52:15] Speaker 3: you never see those people again. You know. It's like,
[52:18] Speaker 3: I'm going to take it for what, for what I
[52:21] Speaker 3: can find that I love about it, which is just
[52:23] Speaker 3: I get to see these people year after year, and
[52:25] Speaker 3: their kids have graduated middle school, in high school and
[52:29] Speaker 3: then college and gotten married, you know what I mean.
[52:31] Speaker 3: And it's there's so few friendships I think that we
[52:36] Speaker 3: all have from from when we were little like this,
[52:39] Speaker 3: I have that with these people. So that's a lot
[52:42] Speaker 3: of it felt like really really really good. I haven't
[52:46] Speaker 3: done one single thing to my dressing room. There's still
[52:49] Speaker 3: stock stock paintings up there. There's still an ugly rug,
[52:52] Speaker 3: and just like, I refuse to do anything that that
[52:56] Speaker 3: stakes my claim in this particular place because it could
[53:00] Speaker 3: be very very temporary, and I'm okay with that. Yeah,
[53:03] Speaker 3: I'm okay with it. It is what it is, and
[53:07] Speaker 3: I I the nature of the beast, I totally understand,
[53:10] Speaker 3: and the way the business is changing and moving and
[53:17] Speaker 3: it's it's it's absolutely insane. All the things that I
[53:20] Speaker 3: think that all the suits are having to juggle. I
[53:23] Speaker 3: do think it's it's crazy, you know, and their numbers
[53:26] Speaker 3: look look probably a lot different. And so I'm okay
[53:31] Speaker 3: with it just being what it is right now, this month,
[53:34] Speaker 3: this season, you know, and we'll see about next season,
[53:36] Speaker 3: but who knows, you know, I'm grateful for this year.
[53:41] Speaker 1: I think when you're in such a good place in
[53:42] Speaker 1: your life and your workplace feels so healthy and everything
[53:47] Speaker 1: feels like it's rooted in something good. It's so I
[53:52] Speaker 1: don't want to say it's easy. I think it's easier
[53:54] Speaker 1: to hold all that goodness with an open hand.
[53:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, not clenching at all.
[54:01] Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And it's I don't know, it's just so
[54:04] Speaker 1: nice to see you so happy.
[54:06] Speaker 3: Oh, thanks you too. I'm really I'm really happy to
[54:09] Speaker 3: see how successful this has been. I think it's such
[54:12] Speaker 3: a perfect thing for you because you you've always asked
[54:15] Speaker 3: such great questions and coquisitive and been such a good host.
[54:20] Speaker 3: I think you're the best, and you you shall be
[54:22] Speaker 3: such a nice time every time I've seen you, and
[54:25] Speaker 3: so I'm really really happy to see you me too.
[54:28] Speaker 1: We'll have to we'll have to plan a non zoom
[54:32] Speaker 1: hang soon. And so I'm on your coast.
[54:34] Speaker 3: Sounds good.
[54:35] Speaker 1: Well, I have to ask you my very favorite question
[54:38] Speaker 1: to ask everyone. Yes, you know, things feel so good
[54:43] Speaker 1: for you and so in the right place. And I'm
[54:47] Speaker 1: curious from this moment, you know, as you look around
[54:50] Speaker 1: at your life, as you look at the rest of
[54:53] Speaker 1: the year ahead, what feels like your work in progress
[54:56] Speaker 1: right now?
[54:57] Speaker 3: My work in progress is to really to carve out
[55:02] Speaker 3: more time where you are you're just you can be
[55:09] Speaker 3: an island for a little while, you know, and all
[55:13] Speaker 3: that all that space and all that stuff happening inside
[55:17] Speaker 3: my head, you know, and because I love my mind,
[55:20] Speaker 3: you know what I mean, And and just to just
[55:22] Speaker 3: to get some some time to access that and and
[55:27] Speaker 3: not have to be any you know, at the at
[55:31] Speaker 3: the school door at seven forty five and the other
[55:33] Speaker 3: school door at eight twenty. And then make sure that
[55:35] Speaker 3: he had a half of sandwich and make sure that
[55:37] Speaker 3: there's out and oh my gosh, there's no goldfish for
[55:41] Speaker 3: his lunch. And I can't believe I forgot the cucumbers
[55:43] Speaker 3: and they really want send them in rolls tomorrow morning.
[55:45] Speaker 3: Like to just leave leave some of that and know
[55:51] Speaker 3: that these are really good boys. My husband's really happy,
[55:55] Speaker 3: like everybody's in a good place, and I can go, okay,
[55:58] Speaker 3: I think that there's some there's some there's some stuff
[56:01] Speaker 3: to carve out of me now, you know, and and
[56:04] Speaker 3: it'll happen like it's the work in progress, but it's there.
[56:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, well, congrats on everything.
[56:13] Speaker 3: And to play piano, I need that to work in progress.
[56:16] Speaker 3: I'm taking lessons, so that's a big work progress.
[56:18] Speaker 1: That's on my list too, and I still haven't done it.
[56:21] Speaker 3: So you do it. It's so fun. It's so fun.
[56:26] Speaker 3: I play the same thing over and over and over
[56:28] Speaker 3: and my my family is like, oh, that's great, that's
[56:31] Speaker 3: really good.
[56:32] Speaker 1: Congratulations, you did it.
[56:35] Speaker 3: I nailed it again.
[56:39] Speaker 1: Look at me. I'm an artist.
[56:42] Speaker 3: Oh.
[56:43] Speaker 1: I love it. I love it well, congrats on everything.
[56:47] Speaker 1: Just so so happy for you.
[56:49] Speaker 3: Thank you for you too. It's nice to see your face.
[56:52] Speaker 1: You too.
[57:01] Speaker 3: Oh.

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