netflix

Name: Kelsey Boze

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Current Location: Los Angeles, California

TrunkSpace: When did you know that you wanted to act for a living?
Boze: When I was 15. I chose to drop all other extra curricular activities once I began high school and focused solely on my school’s theater program. Then my senior year I did half days of school and half days at a pre-college program at Pittsburgh Musical Theater.

TrunkSpace: Was there a particular performance or actor/actress from your childhood that you remember being drawn to and inspired by?
Boze: I basically was a Disney princess as a child – always dancing around, singing, loving animals, and trying to get them to dress me. So they were a huge influence on my singing voice and acting style. As I got older I became a major fan of Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts. The most notable performance though was Angelina Jolie in “Girl, Interrupted.” I stayed up late one night with my mom and grandmother to watch that movie and was terrified of her character, Lisa. My mom explained to me that she was an actress just pretending and that stuck with me.

TrunkSpace: How did you decide to approach your career as an actor? Did you formulate a plan of how you wanted to attack what is known for being a hard industry to crack?
Boze: Truthfully my only plan was a choice of LA over NYC. I made the decision to come out here and I had always easily found success in Pittsburgh – getting agents and work – so I figured the same would be true out here. After three years of being out here… I think differently. But my plan is always changing as I step higher and higher in my career. With new successes come new plans of how to continue that rise up.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to move away from your home and pursue acting as a career? How old were you at the time?
Boze: Technically my professional acting career began in college. I moved only 45 minutes away from home that time to attend Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh. I was originally from Peters Township, PA. I was 18. The real move that continued my professional acting career came when I was 22 when I moved to Los Angeles.

TrunkSpace: Was that move an easy transition for you initially? How long did it take you to feel at home and find a good support group of friends and peers?
Boze: The initial transition from east coast to west was extremely difficult. I moved to LA not knowing anyone or anything about the city. I rented an apartment and drove my car cross country with my dad. He set me up for about a week (my uncle from Seattle helped) and then I was on my own. I’ve learned that I would never do that again. I strongly believe you should set up a life for yourself before you move to a new place. But within my first year here I was cast in my first feature film, “A Closer Walk With Thee,” which brought me a good support group and a new boyfriend. That is when LA began to feel like home.

TrunkSpace: What has been been your biggest break in terms of a particular role or project thus far?
Boze: “Stasis,” a feature film I am in, which is available on Netflix in most countries, iTunes and Amazon in the U.S. and comes to Netflix in the U.S. in December. It is the only project I’ve worked on so far that has brought me fan mail and international attention.

TrunkSpace: Is there a specific type of role you’d like to take on or a specific genre that you feel more at home in?
Boze: What I would like to work on for the majority of my career is dramatic features. I have an ear for comedy but I really enjoy taking on a drama. Whether in major motion pictures or plays/musicals on Broadway, I tend to favor drama. Anything with real emotional depth and complexity of character peaks my interest. Two bucket list characters I want to play are Poison Ivy and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

TrunkSpace: What would you say is the greatest strength an actor/actress can have outside of acting ability itself?
Boze: Networking. Knowing what they have to offer as an actor and convincing people of that.

TrunkSpace: What is your ultimate dream when it comes to your acting career? Where would you like your path to lead?
Boze: My ultimate dream is to regularly take on lead or supporting roles in major motion pictures.

TrunkSpace: What advice would you give another young aspiring actor/actress who is considering moving away from home to pursue their dream?
Boze: Have a place to live, at least one person you know who you can explore the city with, and at LEAST job prospects for an income set before you make the move. An income, an agent, and a manager would be ideal things to have beforehand but aren’t essential. If moving to LA, have a car.

TrunkSpace: Where can people (and casting directors) learn more about you?
Boze: The easiest place would be my website: www.kelseyboze.com. And I have profiles on LA Casting, Actors Access, and IMDb. I also have a fan group that I send emails to with career updates; to join that, email [email protected].

Benjamin Papac has the talent, look, and mindset to be a force in the entertainment industry. Only three years into his career, the Georgia-raised actor with the art-friendly eye (check out his Instagram!) is making bold choices with the roles he takes on and the life he breathes into them, which is currently on display in the Netflix drama series “Greenhouse Academy” where he portrays Max Miller.

We recently sat down with Papac to discuss how he turns the lemons of his craft into lemonade, why “Greenhouse Academy” is different from other teen-focused shows, and the reason he has yet to receive any grief over taking a bite out of Bob in “The Walking Dead.”

TrunkSpace: You’re still in midst of a somewhat early portion of your career. What does it mean, at this stage, to be involved with a company like Netflix and a series like “Greenhouse Academy?”
Papac: Netflix is this powerhouse in the entertainment industry. Digital shows is where entertainment is going. To be three years into my career and a series regular on a Netflix show – my jaw dropped when I booked that role, dude. I was overwhelmed by getting to be a part of something so cool, so early. Acting careers are chaotic. You’ll go from feeling like you’re on top of the world one week, to feeling like you’ve got a long road ahead the next. I’m super grateful to have gotten to be a part of something so cool. I know that there’s a lot of work to do. I’m ready to do it.

TrunkSpace: So much of the career of an actor is based on the actions or reactions of other people. So much of it is out of your control.
Papac: Yes, it really is. The one thing that I can always do is work on my art and do the best work I possibly can with whatever role that I’m getting. I’m not the one who decides whether or not I work on a job. There are so many things that don’t have to do with the ability of the actor, that decide whether or not you book. Like, is your hair a shade too dark? Are you an inch too tall or too short? Things like that really do go into the casting process. It’s really frustrating at times. I’ll get really passionate about a role and I’ll be so excited to work on it. The director and I work really well together in the room. Something else out of my control influences whether or not I book.

TrunkSpace: And from what we understand, an actor’s social media following can actually play into that these days?
Papac: Yes, that’s absolutely true. It’s not true for every job. Even as early as my first year in the industry, back in 2014, there were jobs where the breakdowns would come out and they would say, specifically, “Social media influencers.” It’s not every job, but some jobs, yes, your social media following is considered. That’s part of the teaching landscape for actors. I was really resistant towards it for a long time. I was really shy about being active on social media at all. What got me excited about it was a moment when I saw a buddy of mine’s Instagram page. His name is Dallas Hart and he’s also in the cast. I was just going on Instagram one time. I saw a shot that was really cool. Then, I clicked onto his feed. His feed was gorgeous. He had turned his Instagram page into art, at least on a certain level.

TrunkSpace: We actually just saw yours and the cool live action/animation mashups you’re doing.
Papac: Yes, dude! Turning my Instagram page into art came from this moment when I realized, “Oh, I don’t have to make this; ‘Oh, look at me. I’m Benjamin. I’m so cool and I’m an actor.’” I can be, “Let’s make art on Instagram. Let people interact with it. Let my following build from there.” That way, it’s still genuine and it’s something I believe in.

TrunkSpace: It becomes another tool in your toolbox.
Papac: Exactly. Instead of it being something that I’m intimidated by, it’s another way I get to be an artist. That whole mixed media series that I did over the past couple of weeks, that came out of that. My buddy Chris Labadie took the photos. When I told him my idea – I wanted to use bold colors and interesting objects – he said, “Whoa, dude, what if we imagine the objects and we have somebody draw them in?” I got so jacked by that.

We’ve got a couple other ideas for mixed media that we may throw out on Instagram and see where they go. I’m hoping to do more cool projects along those lines.

TrunkSpace: Jumping into “Greenhouse Academy,” we know that Netflix has been promoting it as a “new kind of teen series.” From your perspective, what is the series doing differently that other shows have yet to attempt?
Papac: When the whole cast first booked the show, we were talking to the show creator (Giora Chamizer) and he was telling us how the objective of “Greenhouse Academy” was to bring a higher quality form of storytelling to a younger audience. He felt that in younger audience television there’s a lot of comedy, there’s a lot of fun stuff out there, but that the depth of complex relationships and things not always working out the way you want and having to grow and become more complex as you get older was kind of missing.

TrunkSpace: That’s certainly true. Usually things are very rosy and everything works out in the end.
Papac: Exactly. Giora took a lot of inspiration from Harry Potter and how well that series of stories brought humanity to a young audience. That was what he was trying to do. I think we did a really solid job of that. The way the characters grow in their relationships is really interesting to watch. It draws the audience in. We don’t patronize the audience. What’s cool about that is an 11 year old can watch the show and love every minute of it, and an 18 year old can watch the show and love every minute of it, and a 24 year old can love every minute. Even a parent who is sitting down with their kid to watch the show, they’re like, “All right, here we go. Here’s another kid show my kid’s obsessed with.” Then, they watch a few minutes and suddenly they’re just as invested. That’s what I’m really happy with about the show.

TrunkSpace: It’s kind of like watching a Pixar movie. Different demographics can take different things from the viewing experience.
Papac: Yes, dude! I’m so happy you said Pixar. I love Pixar. That’s what I love most about the show – that we can do that and that audiences of any age can find something valuable in it.

TrunkSpace: What did the character Max allow you to do on-screen that you have yet to be able to do in a project before?
Papac: From a craft perspective, this was the first opportunity I got to consistently work on the same character for an extended period of time. Before that project, I worked mostly in television and when I shot a guest star, I would get the material, do the audition the next day, book it a couple days down the line. Then, I would work on the show, maybe for a week. There were a couple of exceptions. When I shot Bale for “Into the Badlands,” there was a lot of time involved, but there wasn’t a whole lot of material. Then, when I shot “Saving the Human Race” for CW Seed, I did get to do more, but again, it was like six short episodes. I got to spend a lot of time, but there wasn’t as much material to go over.

“Greenhouse Academy” let me work. We shot Season 1 and 2 at the same time. I did 24 30-minute episodes over three months. I got to work really hard on this one character for a long time. As an actor, that’s pretty challenging. It’s like you have to flesh out a full complete human being who is dynamic from one scene to the next. You’ve got to do that for 100 scenes.

TrunkSpace: 24 episodes over the course of three months sounds intense!
Papac: Oh, it was. It was incredible. It was like a huge growth experience. Super stressful. We were constantly working. To put it into perspective, we did the same number of episodes as a network sitcom or a procedural, but we did it in half the time. That was a huge experience. The next time I’m on a show, it’s going to be so much less stressful for me because I’ll be used to having to handle so much. That was really cool.

TrunkSpace: “Into the Badlands.” “Saving the Human Race.” “The Walking Dead.” That’s some serious post-apocalyptic street cred! Is that a purposeful career direction or something that has just sort of happened by chance?
Papac: (Laughter) No, it just sort of happened. It’s like Sean Bean and all of his death scenes – it’s just how my career has started forming. I made a joke one time that I think my sweet spot genre is going to end up being the Zom-Com. (Laughter) I’m always shooting these post-apocalyptic scenarios. Honestly, I would love for that to continue. I have so much fun. One of my favorite genres to work in is epic-level sci-fi. Post-apocalypse is all over that.

TrunkSpace: All the on-screen experience could lead to real-life knowledge should society ever crumble. You could be one of the only survivors!
Papac: Yes! If ever the apocalypse comes early, I’m ready. (Laughter)

I actually have occasionally considered what I would do in those scenarios. Stay away from the main road, get some simple tools, canned foods, water filter, and a couple other things. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Staying with the idea of post-apocalyptic worlds, has “The Walking Dead” fandom let you live down eating Bob yet?
Papac: (Laughter) I never got any hate for that. I actually get the most fan mail from people about that role on “The Walking Dead.” People love that show so much. I still get letters from my Atlanta agent. Every few months they’ll send me a packet. People are like, “Dude, I’m such a huge fan of ‘The Walking Dead.’ I loved your portrayal of Albert. This was the line you said and it was so cool. Can you please send me a headshot?”

It’s awesome. “The Walking Dead family” is just nothing but love. It’s one of the best fan bases I’ve ever encountered. The cool thing about “The Walking Dead” is it was my first professional job as an actor.

TrunkSpace: Not a bad first job to have!
Papac: I know! I was so jacked. I booked it right when I graduated college. I’m on campus, getting ready to walk into my ceremony, and my agent calls and says, “Congratulations. You just booked a job on ‘The Walking Dead.’ You’re going to be filming in two weeks.” It mostly films in Senoia, Georgia, or did at the time that I was working on it. To put that in perspective, that’s 15 minutes from my hometown. I grew up taking trips to Senoia every now and then to go to the local diners on the main street. It was such a cool job to have as my first job because it was in my hometown and a show that I had thought was so freaking cool. I remember watching the pilot my freshman year. That whole world of acting felt so far away when I watched the pilot. Four years later, that was my first job.

TrunkSpace: And then to go full circle when Rick Grimes puts a bullet in your head!
Papac: (Laughter) Yes! When we were filming, they were originally planning to have me be one of the people they hatcheted. Then, after I booked, they were like, “We can’t do that to the little teenager guy. It’s too brutal.” So, they switched me over to getting shot in the back of the head. But, yes, full circle, all the way.

Season 1 of “Greenhouse Academy” is available now on Netflix. Season 2 arrives in early 2018.

There is a new generation of young actors prepared to take over Hollywood. Standing at the forefront, already having amassed an incredibly-impressive body of work, is 13-year-old Caitlin Carmichael. Currently starring in the gritty crime drama “Wheelman” for Netflix alongside on-screen dad Frank Grillo, the Georgia native’s work can be seen next in the family drama “Epiphany” and then opposite pretty much everybody who is anybody in the upcoming Dan Fogelman film “Life Itself.”

We recently sat down with Carmichael to discuss how her recent character journeys have become more multidimensional, why she hopes to do more of her own stunts in the future, and what she expects her path to be going forward.

TrunkSpace: You’ve been working since you were very young. How has the experience changed for you since those early days and do you enjoy different aspects of acting now more than you did back then?
Carmichael: Well, I started acting when I was three and a half. Growing up I always told my mom that my favorite playground to be on was a set, because it’s always where I wanted to be, and where I wanted to spend my free time. Now that I’m older I’ve started to appreciate the art form of acting in film and television more, and I have a deeper appreciation for it. I see how it takes everyone on the set to really make this project. It takes the crew, and the cameramen or women, it takes the DP, it takes the hair and makeup team, it takes the wardrobe. It takes every single person to come together to make this project, and I’m grateful to see that and I recognize the little things more. I’ve matured in my understanding.

TrunkSpace: Have the roles themselves become more interesting as you’ve gotten older?
Carmichael: I think the older that I get, the roles become more multidimensional, in a sense. I get to show different layers in the sides that I read for my audition, or the scripts that I perform on screen. They require a deeper understanding to get into the headspace and evolve into that character on script.

TrunkSpace: You have a number of high profile projects ahead of you. From your perspective, do you feel like you’re at a turning point in your career?
Carmichael: I definitely hope so. I’ve been working for 10 years. My Netflix original movie “Wheelman” was released at midnight last night, or officially today, and I was able to do all of my own driving stunts in the movie in a 1982 Porsche 911, stick shift. That was very exciting for me. Because we filmed in a parking garage, I was able to do all my own stunts myself. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am today and I really hope that “Wheelman” is opening a door for me to be able to do more of my own stunts in movies in the future.

TrunkSpace: And certainly there’s no better place for a creative person to be right now than with Netflix where so much of the focus is on unique content and character-driven storytelling.
Carmichael: I am so grateful to be a part of the Netflix family now. They have been so fantastic with the entire “Wheelman” journey, and we are just so excited to be a part of the team.

TrunkSpace: For those who haven’t seen the movie yet, can you walk us through a little bit of where your character falls into things?
Carmichael: Yes, so my dad Wheelman, AKA Frank Grillo, is the getaway driver for bank robberies. When he finds out he’s being double-crossed by two handlers, he has to call on me, his daughter Katie, to help save the day in a sense. I don’t want to spoil it, but you will get to see me drive in the movie and that is all of my own stunts. We filmed that in Boston for five weeks – entirely night shoots – so it has a very authentic feel to the setting and that really creates the tone of the movie.

It has a gritty feel, which is very authentic and natural, so that’s why that was a great choice for us, and I loved getting to work with Frank Grillo. He was the best on-screen dad I could have asked for. The way that he just embodies his character is fantastic to watch on screen.

TrunkSpace: If you look at “Wheelman” and then the other projects that you have due up, “Epiphany” and “Life Itself,” they’re all so different. From a diversity in character standpoint, that must be a nice journey to go on personally for you?
Carmichael: I think my favorite thing about acting is how the roles that I audition for, or I get to portray, are constantly changing. I always feel like I’m able to evolve into a new character. I’ve done more research now for my characters before I go on set so that I can really understand the person that I am when I step on the set and when I’m on screen.

TrunkSpace: And certainly the older that you get, the more life you live, which translates into your work.
Carmichael: Exactly. It’s great now being able to draw from my own experiences.

TrunkSpace: I mentioned “Epiphany,” which looks like a very heavy, dramatic film. Do you find yourself drawn more to dramatic roles?
Carmichael: Yes, definitely actually. I’ve worked in dramas and comedies, and all different genres since I was three, but dramatic films are particularly the ones that I’ve worked in the most and it’s just been my path.

TrunkSpace: Are you someone who can leave that heaviness on set when you wrap at the end of a long day?
Carmichael: I think because I try to do a lot of research, I’m prepared to be in that headspace when I’m on screen. I’m able to leave it on set at the end of the day, and being a part of a cast and crew that’s so supportive of each other, we leave the set on a positive note and I’m able to walk away with my set family at the end of the day.

TrunkSpace: The other film we mentioned is “Life Itself,” which has about as stacked of a cast as we’ve ever seen. When you do a project like that with so many great, talented actors who have been around for such a long time, do you view it just as much as an education as you do a job?
Carmichael: I was so grateful to be a part of that cast. I played young Olivia Wilde in the movie, and I was just ecstatic when I found out that it was a Dan Fogelman movie. I’m a huge “This Is Us” fan by the way. I did a series called “Chosen” where I played Milo Ventimiglia’s daughter for three years. It felt like everything was just coming full circle when I get to work with his director and showrunner Dan Fogelman on a movie. Then getting to film in New York with all of these amazing actors and getting to be a part of that set family was just wonderful. I’m really grateful and blessed for that experience. Milo Ventimiglia encouraged me before I went to set and we were texting back and forth and it was so nice to have his support on this project.

TrunkSpace: All of Dan’s work always has this amazingly rich dialogue that is so real and steeped in emotion. Did you feel that was also the case with “Life Itself?”
Carmichael: Let me tell you, he knows how to tell a story. That is what he does best, and I think it’s gonna be beautifully and exquisitely showcased in “Life Itself.” I’m so excited to see it.

TrunkSpace: You’re still so young and yet you’ve had these incredible opportunities in your career to work on all of these amazing projects. As you look forward in your career, what kind of path do you see yourself on?
Carmichael: Acting has been my path since I was three years old, and I think it’s going to continue to be my path, my trajectory for the rest of my life. I’m so grateful to have found my thing so early and now I can really grow and work on it as I’m growing up, and I can enjoy it. Honestly it doesn’t feel like work to me, it feels like fun because it’s something that I enjoy so much. I love being on set and I always have, and I definitely see that as my path.

“Wheelman” is available now on Netflix.

Nadia Gray is not yet a household name, and although she would prefer to remain somewhat anonymous as she ventures forward in her career, the self-described “hardcore introvert” is going to find it difficult to maintain separation between her professional and personal lives following the release of her upcoming film “Bright.” Directed by David Ayer (“Fury,” “Suicide Squad”) and starring Will Smith (no credits needed), the Netflix original film is not only building a steady fanboy buzz leading up to its December premiere, but it could single-handedly change the way we consume big budget tentpole features.

We recently sat down with Gray to discuss working with one of the most sought after directors in Hollywood, how the film helped to change her professional focus, and why learning an elvish language had her feeling like she had left the planet.

TrunkSpace: “Bright” seems like the kind of movie that could be a real game changer in terms of how the industry operates, particularly at the theatrical level. Did it feel a bit revolutionary while you were filming it?
Gray: Yeah, I think right away I knew. I mean, with David Ayer in general, you’re just like, “Holy shit!” He’s the best at what he does.

TrunkSpace: And that’s just it… the caliber of talent involved should even further define its game changer status.
Gray: Yeah, I think it’ll be really interesting to see how it plays out. I personally can’t speak about what they’ll end up doing ultimately because I don’t even know if they figured it out yet. I just know that they’re really pro consumer choice and they’re totally changing the movie watching experience. It’s happening.

TrunkSpace: What about for you and your career? Does “Bright” feel like a personal game changer?
Gray: Oh yeah, absolutely. When I moved to Los Angeles, I didn’t know anyone, or anything really, about the business. As I kind of learned, I initially thought, “Sitcoms, oh my God, this is where I want to be!” Because you kind of have a little bit of stability at some point and a schedule. And a lot of those actors are able to fly under the radar still. Then I met David Ayer and he totally ruined my life, because now this is all I want to do. (Laughter) I’ve had the best time, so now I feel so spoiled. I just want more of this and that’s it.

TrunkSpace: You mentioned being drawn to sitcoms because of the possibility of being able to fly under the radar. This is a huge, high profile project. Are you worried what that could mean in terms of how the public starts to perceive you?
Gray: Oh yeah, I am terrified, which is why I think I’m so uncomfortable right now even. (Laughter) I’m a hardcore introvert to begin with and I’m super private. Even just the notion of having to be active on social media in a way that matters toward my career is stressful.

TrunkSpace: And in a lot of ways, you’re sort of contractually obligated to be active on social media with a lot of projects these days, right?
Gray: I think. I haven’t been hit with that yet, knock on wood, but I also want to participate in a way that shows that I’m a game player for the production and that I’m supportive of the project that I did. Of course, I want to promote the job that I was lucky enough to be a part of, but as a human, as Nadia, I don’t really.

I also feel like, who cares even? (Laughter) I have a hard time even rationalizing that in my mind, but I of course want to participate, and talk incessantly about this film I’m so excited about. That part is easy, but the personal stuff is…

TrunkSpace: It’s a slippery slope in the social media age. Even if you don’t want to put yourself out there, people will put you out there regardless.
Gray: Isn’t that weird? I feel like the age of the movie star doesn’t really exist anymore because you didn’t know anything about these people. They were these mysterious aliens and you were so consumed by whatever character they did because you knew nothing about them personally. I don’t think that exists anymore sadly.

TrunkSpace: Speaking of character, can you give us a little insight into Larika, your character from the film?
Gray: Yeah, without saying too much, she ends up doing a lot of bad shit that causes trouble for everybody. I know that’s so vague, but yeah. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: So is she the catalyst that kicks off some of the story elements?
Gray: Yeah, totally. Where she fails is what kicks off a lot of the storyline… in terms of the repercussions of that.

TrunkSpace: And you’re playing an elf, which nowadays, people love to play for free at comic conventions, so to get paid for that… epic!
Gray: Right? (Laughter) It is the coolest.

I don’t know that I was attempting to play an elf. I think she is just a complicated person, like anyone else with her motives and her drives. So, I think that was kind of at the forefront, but of course learning Elvish from David Peterson, who created language for “Game of Thrones,” was like, “Holy shit, I am literally on another planet right now.” It was way cool.

TrunkSpace: But like you said, you approached her as a complicated human, which sort of speaks to how grounded in reality it is, right?
Gray: Absolutely. Very grounded, very realistic, and just, really, kind of this warped version of LA… this warped version of the world. It’s the gritty LA streets and the dirty cop world, which David Ayer just nails. He just takes you there and he makes it so authentic for you to be immersed in that.

TrunkSpace: You have mentioned David Ayer a few times now. What did you take from him and his direction that will stay with you and that you’ll apply to your acting and career moving forward?
Gray: Oh wow, so many things. I have to concentrate on just one thing?

Everything. He just is so impressive. Somebody with a name like his, he just is really approachable, cool, calm, a collected guy who treats his crew, his actors, every single person with respect. He just really took his time. Without even going too much into it, he just really cares, and I so appreciate that. He really gives a shit, and he talks to you on your level.

I can’t say enough about him. He’s wonderful. He’s like an evil genius. I’ve never seen anyone with attention to detail like his. Even small detail on my wardrobe… he would personally come and adjust, or give me a note about it. It’s just crazy. I’ve never experienced anything like that on set before.

TrunkSpace: It sounds like future directors you work with are going to have a lot to live up to!
Gray: I swear, I’m totally ruined now. It’s all his fault. (Laughter)

“Bright” premieres December 22 on Netflix.

Featured image by: Julio Duffoo

Welcome to the fourth installment of our LYCAN WEEK ongoing feature!

Opening Friday in select theaters, “Lycan” tells the story of six college kids who revisit an old Georgia legend, the strange and puzzling story of Emily Burt, the Talbot County werewolf. Based upon true historical events, the film stars relative newcomer Rebekah Graf (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Fat Camp”) as a spoiled Southern debutante who is not only unhappy about not getting her way, but we assume, werewolves!

We recently sat down with Graf to discuss showing up early for her audition, Texas ghost stories, and finding inspiration in other creative people.

TrunkSpace: How did “Lycan” and the character Blair first come into your life?
Graf: I got the audition from my manager and he was really excited about it. He loves Dania, so he was a really big fan and he loved the script. I went in and read for the casting director and Bev Land, and I loved Bev right away. I was really able to tap into the character.

I actually… funny story… I went the wrong day for the audition. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) Nice!
Graf: (Laughter) I was sitting outside, and it was all guys, and I was really confused. I was there for about an hour and a half, and no one was taking me in, so I went and knocked on the door and asked the casting director. She told me I was supposed to be there the next day. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: At least you were there a day early instead of a day late!
Graf: (Laughter) Yep. It could have been the day after and that would have been way worse.

So, Bev let me audition that day. We got to talk about Blair a lot, and then the next time I came in, he talked about Georgia and told me how excited he was and how wonderful it was. Dania was there and I got to meet her and really work on the character. When I got the phone call that said that I was going to be playing Blair, I was so excited. I’d never been to Georgia and I just loved Bev and Dania right off the bat.

TrunkSpace: And where you shot in Georgia was really set away from any major population centers, right?
Graf: Yes. It was really, really beautiful. I mean, unbelievably beautiful. Just gorgeous green, wide open fields. So it was kind of the perfect setting for a group of people who didn’t know each other to become really close over the course of a couple of days because there was nothing to do but talk to each other.

TrunkSpace: It sounds like even just getting away from the set to get supplies required a journey.
Graf: Yeah, exactly. It was very much a camp setting. There were days where I wasn’t working and I would just go on set and hang out anyway. It was a blast and everyone involved was just really great.

TrunkSpace: So where does Blair fall into things in terms of the story?
Graf: Blair is a very spoiled Southern debutante. She is in college with the rest of the cast, and Blair’s very entitled. I think everything has always come pretty easily to her in life. She’s not getting what she wants when we meet Blair, for probably the first time in her life, and she is not thrilled about that. (Laughter) Dania’s character is taking something away from her, and that’s probably all I can say. She does not handle it very well.

TrunkSpace: And what’s so great about the eerie factor of “Lycan” is that it is actually based upon historical events.
Graf: Yeah, which is so cool. I told people about it and they had no idea that this existed at all. The cast and crew had no idea that this was a true story and that it was something that could actually happen. We were pretty amazed.

TrunkSpace: Did you have any local legends like that of Emily Burt where you grew up?
Graf: Yes! I grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, so it’s somewhat of a small town. Not too small, but there are definitely a lot of legends. There’s a train track in San Antonio, I think, where apparently if you stop, there are children that will push you off of the train track to save you. There’s a ranch that we used to go to, and there is the Lady in the White Dress who would come out at night.

TrunkSpace: Yikes! And that’s what’s so great about the movie is that everyone who grew up in a small town can relate to the local legend angle.
Graf: Definitely. I remember us staying up really late to try to see the Lady in the White Dress. It was a rite of passage. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: What did your journey look like in terms of going from dreaming of being an actress as a child to where you are today starring in “Lycan” and in other projects?
Graf: Well, I started acting when I was probably five or six years old. I had a ton of energy and my parents didn’t know what to do with me, so they put me in local theater and I loved it. I just fell in love with it and I kind of knew from that point on that it was what I wanted to do. But of course, as you grow up you try to reason with yourself. “What can I do?” Your parents try to reason with you because they want you to do well in life. Maybe they suggest being a doctor, which was never going to work out, because I faint when I see blood.

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) Well, good thing you’re an actress then because now you can play a doctor on TV!
Graf: (Laughter) There you go!

So, then I went to the University of Texas where I was a theater major. After that I stayed in Austin for a little while, just kind of trying to do other things, and I finally realized that acting was really all I wanted to do. So I moved out to LA and found representation and kind of never looked back.

TrunkSpace: You went from a creative, hip community in Austin to another creative, hip community in Los Angeles. Does being around other creative people inspire you?
Graf: It definitely does. Austin has changed a lot since I left it. I think that it’s a lot more creative now. I think that there’s a lot more room and respect for artists and actors than when I was there. But yes, it is 100 percent inspiring to be surrounded by actors. My friends are all working actors and it’s incredible.

It was definitely a transition though. I mean, it’s a bigger city, but I think I was pretty lucky when I moved here. I fell into a group of amazing friends, a lot of them from Texas. It felt like home, probably, at the first year mark.

TrunkSpace: As you look forward in your career, what do you hope to achieve? Are there any items that you want to check off of your career bucket list?
Graf: Oh my goodness… I would love to do a comedy series. I really think that’s where my heart is. There are so many people that I would love to work with, I don’t even know where to begin. I just think that I have a long way to go. A lot of things to accomplish.

TrunkSpace: And you have a film called “Riptide” up next, correct?
Graf: I do. I have “Riptide” coming up, and I’m really excited about that. I think that will be a really, really wonderful cast. The director is a blast. The producers are amazing people. Yeah, that will be a really good time!

Then I recently did a Netflix original film called “#REALITYHIGH” playing Lana, a trophy wife. She’s a blast and very, very different than how I actually am in real life.

“Lycan” arrives in theaters this Friday.

 

Kelvin Yu has been making television viewers laugh in two very different ways. As a writer and producer of “Bob’s Burgers,” he has helped bring the animated Belcher family to life by shaping their personalities and giving them each their own distinctly unique point of view. As an actor on the Netflix series “Master of None,” he portrays the affable Brian, bringing fervency and cinematic composure to each scene that he appears in. Separate they would be two impressive career paths, but together, it’s lightening in a bottle with Yu as Zeus, bolt in hand.

We recently sat down with Yu to go full Oprah on his past, to learn why he became a Bob Dylan guy, and to discuss how he went from a Starbucks writer to a television staffer.

TrunkSpace: We know you write, produce, and act, but where did the bug first bite you in terms of your interest in the entertainment business?
Yu: It depends on how Oprah you want to get.

TrunkSpace: Full Oprah!
Yu: (Laughter) A kid pushed me and I was like, “I’m going to win an Emmy someday!” (Laughter)

No. I’ll go 7.5 Oprah, out of 7.6.

My parents are immigrants. They tend to be fairly reticent and very pragmatic. You don’t get here to dillydally. My dad went to Mississippi in 1966. He’s 5’4, 106 pounds, and it was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. You don’t get here without a plan. They’re very pragmatically-minded, upward mobility-oriented people. He ended up getting a PHD in Engineering. They did more than I’ll ever do in terms of trajectory.

We didn’t grow up wealthy or anything, but a solid middle class household. But it wasn’t an artistic household, and on top of that, they spoke Taiwanese all day. My theory is that my brother and I, because of that and because we’re not fluent in Taiwanese and didn’t understand most of what they were talking about, grew up vibrationally. You grew up trying to figure out what the fuck people are saying and what this really means. “Are they going to fight? Are they happy?”

TrunkSpace: So almost listening to the tone as much as the words themselves?
Yu: Yeah. Imagine watching a foreign movie your whole life and just going, “Are these two people about to kiss or fight? How does this scene end? What scene am I in?”

My brother started writing very early, but for me, I might have been looking for a place to express myself and emote… a place where I could access. That’s one angle.

Another angle is that I was a latchkey kid, like a lot of people of my generation, and maybe you were too, who grew up on the television. Kids now grow up on the internet and that’s terrifying, but the TV was my babysitter. Maybe I just wanted in.

Around 14 a teacher tapped me on the shoulder and said to me, “Hey, I think you should audition for the spring musical.” I always credit her because I just think it’s important for people to understand how informative and pivotal they can be in a young person’s life.

TrunkSpace: Did she see something in you that you didn’t even see in yourself?
Yu: Yeah, and maybe it wasn’t good. Maybe I was just a loud asshole. (Laughter) She tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I think you should maybe exorcize some of those demons.” (Laughter) My point is, she was right. And I did. That was the first step in a 1,000 step journey. She had no reason to do that. No incentive. The butterfly flaps its wings and you just don’t know.

So that was that, and outside of athletics and surfing, that became my primary extracurricular activity. My brother was highly academic. He had taken calculus as an 8th grader. He was a math mind. I was not. I was searching, and so I landed in drama and literature. I found theater. I have to say, pretty early on, I just got Shakespeare. Maybe because I wanted to. Do you ever want to be into something so bad that you force yourself into it, and then you get it after even if you don’t get it at first?

TrunkSpace: Absolutely. Especially during adolescence, a time when you’re still trying to discover yourself.
Yu: Exactly. Even if you start with the idea of it at first and then get to the reality of it. I forced myself to like Bob Dylan. I decided I was going to be the kind of guy who liked Bob Dylan at 16. Then I, to be honest, didn’t like Bob Dylan for probably a year and a half. Then one day you’re like, “Okay, I kind of like…” (Laughter) It’s like drinking coffee. “This tastes like shit, but I’m going to keep drinking it.” It didn’t take me that long to like Shakespeare and to like theater, and early, just classical theater. I don’t know why.

Then I auditioned for colleges and the one that I chose was UCLA, so I got into the theater program and I was there. That’s the Oprah answer. The IMDb answer is that I got my first job on the WB. It’s Oprah VS. IMDb in this binary. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: So when did it start to become a career pull?
Yu: Somebody came up to me, actually, of all places, at church. I’m not a church-attending Christian at this point in my life, but I was when I was younger. Somebody tapped me and said, “Hey, there’s an audition for a 16-year-old Chinese kid on this new show if you want to go there.” I went in there, just beginners luck, so free and loose that I think, for that reason, I got the role. I hurdled a lot of early firewalls. I never had to search for an agent or I never had to do extra work because I walked into this audition and booked it and it was six episodes on a network show. When you do that, an agent will find you and you don’t have to do the search.

It could be a curse as well as a blessing, because then within a few seconds you realize that it’s not going to go like that forever.

TrunkSpace: At the same time, you probably nailed the audition because your mind was a clean slate and it wasn’t bogged down with so much extra industry “advice” on how you should have approached those types of things?
Yu: I think that’s right. Are you a sports fan?

TrunkSpace: Yes.
Yu: I’ve been pontificating on this recently and it applies to this for some reason. You have somebody like Peyton Manning and you’ve got somebody like Tom Brady. That’s a binary that a lot of people talk about, because Peyton Manning was a number one draft pick and Tom Brady was something like 194. I think that never leaves you. I just don’t think your entrance ever goes away, even though they end up having a lot of parody later on. I think when you’re Steph Curry and nobody thought you would be a star, that chip on your shoulder, even after two championships, it never goes away.

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I had to grind and I had to hustle for a year and a half right out of the gate. I ended up grinding and hustling afterward. I waited tables for seven and a half years. I definitely wasn’t a super star out of the gates, not that I am now. All of that informs who you are in your life.

TrunkSpace: A lot of times we talk to actors about what it’s like playing the same characters for an extended period of time when they’re doing a series. You’ve been writing on “Bob’s Burgers” since 2011. What is that process like in terms of not only writing the same characters for that long, but building out the world for that long and keeping it fresh for yourself, and is it as exciting as it was in year one?
Yu: It is. It actually is. To what we’re talking about with me as an actor, at least my own POV of my last several years as an actor, Bob’s has had, in a way, a similar trajectory, which is that the vast majority of people still don’t know about “Bob’s Burgers.” It’s not like we pierced the culture like “The Simpsons.” I’m not shy about saying that. We talk about that openly here. And yet at the same time, the culture is different than it was in the early 90s when “The Simpsons” was in their heyday and making their mark. Things are different. There was five channels, now there’s… you couldn’t even really put a number on how many channels of entertainment there are that exist.

We’re not really trying to pierce the culture that way. What we have here is, I would say, maybe not the quantity of fans, but the quality of fans of “Bob’s Burgers” is tremendous. The people who love “Bob’s Burgers” is heartwarming. Everybody here feels that. I’m not speaking for the show, I’m speaking for myself, but I think that the access point for that has been the kids. I think there’s a whole legion of girls out there that just met Tina Belcher and she resonated immediately with them. Gene and Louise have a similar following.

During the first season, I had a writing partner at the time. We called ourselves Starbucks writers. We were just two guys with laptops at Starbucks, like there are here in LA everywhere you go. We got some traction on a spec script and we got a meeting off of that script. We went and sat down, and within five or six minutes it became more and more clear that we were getting the gig. At the time, I was just an actor. I was almost, in a sense like, “Is this going to interfere with my ambitions and goals as an actor?” Then I put that aside quickly and thought to myself, “You know what? This is going to be an awesome six months.” That’s really what I thought. It’s going to be a really fun six months. Here we are, eight years later.

What I’m trying to paint for you is that, the first year was a lot of figuring out how to ride a bike while on a bike. To the credit of Loren Bouchard and Jim Dauterive, they actually went out and tried to find a few people like that. Steven Davis and I being two of them. The Molyneux sisters had never staffed. Holly Schlesinger, a writer here, never staffed. You had a nice mixture of “King of the Hill” alum with people straight out of Starbucks. Straight out of their apartments.

TrunkSpace: Who were all unjaded to the process at that point in their careers.
Yu: Totally unjaded. Not that the older writers were jaded, but when you talk to them, people like Garland Testa who had written on “Roseanne” and Greg Thompson who had written on “3rd Rock from the Sun,” I’m endlessly interested in the stories that they have coming from that generation.

The first two or three years, we were trying to find the show. It’s a very small club. You have the Seth MacFarlane shows, Mike Judge shows, and “The Simpsons” and Matt Groening. To try to even get into that room is presumptuous. It takes a lot of bravado. I think the show is pretty humble and the people that work for it are pretty humble, so we were just like, “Just happy to be here everybody,” while in the corner. And low and behold, I think people started to find it mostly on other media… on Netflix and on Hulu. It pairs nicely with the college kids and I think with marijuana, from what I’m told. It’s a nice pairing. So if you are looking for some marijuana to enjoy while binging some Netflix shows, maybe look int something like this Receptra coupon here or similar.

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) Imagine if it was legal across the country, the ratings would be through the roof.
Yu: (Laughter) We’d make so much money if we could just get everybody stoned, watching “Bob’s Burgers.” Or, at least let those who don’t want to smoke have some cbd infused chewing gum. Fun for all the family, maybe?

TrunkSpace: You also star in “Master of None,” which seems like a really important show in the grand scheme of things because it presents all of these characters of different ethnicity and backgrounds, strips away the stereotypes and just presents them as people. Do you think the series is going to help change the way that Hollywood represents people on screen?
Yu: It’s so funny working on both shows because Bob’s is a slow, lazy river… a perfume that slowly invaded the room. And you hear like, “Did somebody spray perfume?” It takes you 20 minutes to realize it’s there. “Master of None” came out and it was in the zeitgeist. It was in the moment. It was totally right now. It was the cool, hip, popular kid in the room. It just was everything opposite of Bob’s. Yet, such a joy in just the opposite way. I’m writing on Bob’s, I’m acting on “Master of None.” One’s in LA, the other one’s in New York. So I was having these really parallel, totally different experiences flying back and forth.

People of color, gay and lesbian people, and people who might feel less than represented over the past several decades or centuries or feel slightly marginalized, it’s interesting because it’s not new to us. I don’t walk around with chopsticks all the time. I’m just living my life. I think the best thing that Aziz and Alan did, the way that they penetrated or permeated that membrane into relevance, was to make it look really, really attractive.

When you think of “Master of None” in your reptilian brain, people are like, “I want to eat all of those episodes tonight. I want to go home and eat all of it tonight.” I think that’s really genius, because what they’re doing is like sushi in the 80s or yoga in the 90s. It’s this thing that might have been incredibly exotic to mainstream America, that’s just found a way into the culture because people were smart enough to say, “Hey, raw fish is delicious, but I’m not going to freak you out. And we’re not going to shame you and make you feel like you don’t understand Indian people or lesbian people or trans people. We’re going to make it all really fun. And you’re going to feel a part of it.” I think that when I take a step back and look at “Master of None” as a viewer and as a fan of Alan and Aziz, I’m actually really grateful. I realized that they were able to do a service for so many different communities and they had a great time doing it.

The new Netflix series “GLOW” may have thrust the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling into the spotlight, but the female-driven ensemble is stacked with members of a group we just now invented called GLOC, or as costars Kimmy Gatewood and Rebekka Johnson are proof to, the Gorgeous Ladies of Comedy.

We recently sat down with the hilariously infectious Gatewood and Johnson to discuss the importance of women working behind the scenes in Hollywood, riffing as The Beatdown Biddies, and how having the other person’s back means never being afraid to pull the Spandex out of their butt.

TrunkSpace: You are both content creators. How important is it that more women pursue creating content?
Gatewood: I think it’s really important. I think it’s important for women to be learning how to direct and edit, in addition to writing and producing. Our show was very proactive. It was probably 80 percent women writers and the creators were women.
Johnson: So were the directors.
Gatewood: Six out of the nine directors were women and there were 14 women in the cast. It’s all about storytelling. You need the storytellers, which are the writers and the directors, to be a part of that.
And also something we noticed, all 14 of our characters were these layered, amazing women and they felt like real people on the page.

TrunkSpace: Absolutely. Each of the “GLOW” characters were interesting, dynamic, and as you said, layered.
Johnson: I had an audition for something after “GLOW” and the women were main characters in this show but didn’t have any character description. The only characters that had the character descriptions were the men.
Gatewood: The character descriptions were their age and that they’re “beautiful.” So it’s nice when you can be in a show where the descriptions are within the dialogue or it actually explains what kind of person they are and not just how they look.
Johnson: Yeah, in fact that, for “GLOW” there was nothing about our physical appearance at all in the breakdown. It was just such a cool thing to be a part of. I hope it inspires and encourages more women to tell female-driven stories and to tell their own stories.
Gatewood: When Rebekka and I first started comedy, we were the only women on the improv teams and you can imagine how daunting that was.

TrunkSpace: That’s a lot of pressure.
Gatewood: And it was almost an unwritten rule that there was one woman allowed on the team. It’s so weird. I am very happy to see that these days at the UCB, at The PIT, and everywhere else, that there are definitely a lot more women. And now it’s time to push even further and get them inside the writers’ room. We take particular care to encourage young women to be writing for themselves.
Johnson: Yeah, and we’ve been writing for ourselves and trying to create stuff for us. We’ve been working in comedy with our comedy group The Apple Sisters, which is three gals. You know, we’re just three gals, trying to make it in Hollywood.
Gatewood: We’re so progressive.
Johnson: Yeah. (Laughter)
Gatewood: Ahead of our time! (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Who better to know your voice than yourself, right?
Gatewood: Yeah, in fact, for the show, when we were doing The Beatdown Biddies, the writer looked at us and said, “This is why we hired you guys, so you don’t have to stick to what’s on the page at all.” And that was just such a vote of confidence. Obviously we’ve been working together for so long and we know each other’s voices, so we know what will make each other look the funniest.
Johnson: Yeah, and when you come from an improv and sketch background, you end up doing everything for yourself.
Gatewood: From writing to producing…
Johnson: To cleaning up. (Laughter)
Gatewood: Yeah.

TrunkSpace: Is it difficult at times to turn off the improv switch and just focus on the story as presented in the script?
Gatewood: Sometimes, yes. (Laughter) We’re always thinking about what’s not on the page and oftentimes that helps you as an actor… to kind of know what’s happening before or after. That’s a pretty common thing, I guess, in acting school. It is hard to turn off our brains because we pitch jokes constantly. And it was only when they were like, “Yeah, yeah, we don’t have time…” (Laughter)
Johnson: Yeah, like in episode 5 when we did the prank calling scene. That was all totally scripted. Everything we said was scripted.
Gatewood: But episode 10…
Johnson: We are able to do it. (Laughter)
Gatewood: In episode 10 as The Beatdown Biddies, they just let us go hog wild.
Johnson: Yeah, and we will not stop talking unless you make us. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Getting to improv in “GLOW” is kind of perfect for that world because so much of professional wrestling, at least in terms of character work, is unscripted.
Gatewood: I have to say, I was very surprised how much sketch comedy was a like wrestling. You’re doing a lot of improv, a lot of comedy, and wearing stupid costumes most of the time. (Laughter)
Johnson: You’re committing really hard to a character and that’s what makes the best kind of sketch comedy, when you’re really committed to whatever it is that you’re doing character-wise.
Gatewood: And trying to make each other look good. The cool thing about wrestling, which I think I learned over time, is that it’s unlike regular sports where you don’t know what’s going on. With wrestling, it’s always guaranteed to be an awesome match because they’re going to hit certain beats and I think that’s the same thing with sketch comedy.
Johnson: Yeah.
Gatewood: If you don’t get a laugh per minute, you’re not doing your job. And I think if you’re not wowing the audience per minute with wrestling, you’re not doing your job.
Johnson: It’s another art form for storytelling. It’s a cool, athletic art form and a way to tell stories in this physical way, which is just so fun. I could wrestle right now if you’d let me.

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) One of the cool things for you two must have been the idea that you were actually getting to play multiple characters in “GLOW.” You were your real-life series personas Dawn and Stacey, but then also your wrestling personas.
Johnson: Yeah, I feel really lucky that we got to do that because we do come from this sketch background and we love playing all different kinds of characters. Even in episode 3 when we had to do the Kuntar play, it was just so much fun to stretch and do all different kinds of voices.
Gatewood: To play good guys and bad guys.
Johnson: Yeah.

TrunkSpace: Speaking of bad guys, at one point your characters are tasked with wrestling under the guise of a couple of members of the KKK. From what we read, you had no idea that was going to happen, right?
Johnson: Yeah, it was just for that one episode. We go back to the Biddies too. (Laughter)
Gatewood: We were really nervous. When we saw that, we had no idea what we were doing. They held that information from us until the last minute when the scripts came out.
Johnson: We started working on the match and we thought we were gonna be the Biddies. It’s just like what happened in the show.
Gatewood: (Laugher)
Johnson: We were like, “So we’re gonna be the Biddies,” and then they were like, “Well, actually you’re the bad guys.”
Gatewood: “You’re gonna be wearing, you know, some things that might make your wrestling weird.”

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) Surprise!
Johnson: Yeah, and Kimmy looked over the shoulder of our wrestling coach and read his script. Her face turned white and she was like, “Um… it’s the KKK.” And we were both freaking out.
Gatewood: “We’re bad. We’re bad guys. We’re really bad guys.”
Johnson: Yeah, we didn’t know how it was gonna be handled, but it ended up being such an important and cool thing to do.
Gatewood: And surprisingly funny too.
Johnson: Yeah.

TrunkSpace: Do you each have your own favorite moment from a performance standpoint?
Johnson: Well, I’ll say it was when I saw episode 3, at the end when we first play The Beatdown Biddies, and we’re doing the promo for it. Kim and I had crafted those jokes and when I saw they were in, honestly, I cried so hard. And it’s so ridiculous, because I say, “I’m like a good fiber cereal, I’ll make you shit your pants!”
Gatewood: (Laughter)
Johnson: And I cried. I was like, “It’s in, man! That made it in there!” Which is a ridiculous thing to cry about, but I’ve been doing comedy for so long that it just meant so much to me. (Laughter)
Gatewood: I think the scene in episode 7, right before we put on our hoods, was a really awesome moment. It was the first scene where you saw Dawn and Stacey by themselves and you got to see just a little glimpse of them not being total clowns.
Johnson: Right. They were not “on.” We weren’t putting on a show for anybody.

TrunkSpace: We get the impression that you guys really have each other to rely on, not only in performance but in life.
Johnson: Yeah, we have each other. That’s been really lucky.
Gatewood: It is the benefit of being in a duo that you can constantly watch each other’s back, whether it’s finding a good joke or if it’s that your spandex is caught up in your butt.
Johnson: Yeah, she had to button my jeans for me one day because I couldn’t button them. I had to lay down flat and she had to button them. We had each other’s back. (Laughter)

Season 1 of “GLOW” is available now on Netflix.
For more information on The Apple Sister, click here.

With the sheer volume of content flooding our brains on a daily basis, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep tabs on what new television series are launching, at what time, and on what platforms. That being said, it’s hard not to get excited for the ones that are being spearheaded by the best and brightest talent both behind and in front of the camera. That is certainly the case with the new Netflix series “Friends From College,” an ensemble comedy with a stacked cast (Cobie Smulders, Keegan-Michael Key, etc) and a creator/writer/producer (Nicholas Stoller) known for bringing the laughs with films like “Neighbors” and “The Muppets.”

We recently sat down with “Friends From College” star Jae Suh Park to discuss her expectations for the series, being the weirdo at the bus stop, and the perks of being married to a superhero.

TrunkSpace: Your new show “Friends From College” is a high profile series, stacked with a high profile cast, set to premiere on Netflix, a high profile platform. It is it difficult not to view it all as a career changer?
Jae Suh Park: Well, I feel like I’ve been in the business long enough to know that not one thing is a career changer. I don’t think you can point to that one thing. I mean, I hope it does well and I hope for a season two. It definitely had people wanting to talk to me, like you. So I guess it’s a little bit more high profile than… well, a lot more high profile than things I’ve done in the past, so… I hope so.

TrunkSpace: Have you had to emotionally disconnect from it since you wrapped shooting or is it something you can’t help but get excited about as it gears up for release?
Jae Suh Park: Well, we shot it last fall in New York for about three months and right after it, I did kind of forget about it. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot more now because we were just in New York for the premiere last week, and then I’ve just been hearing stuff about it and seeing stuff, so I’m thinking a lot more about it now. But I didn’t for a long time, because you just kind of move forward.

TrunkSpace: There must be a bit of a defense mechanism aspect to it because you ultimately have no control over things once your job is done?
Jae Suh Park: Well yeah, and you just never know how long it’s gonna take. Sometimes you shoot something and it comes out right away, and other times it can take years. Especially cable shows. I guess it’s partly a defense mechanism, because you never know. As far as movies go, or even TV, maybe you got cut out. Maybe your part is not as big as you thought it was. I definitely had experiences like that in the past. (Laughter) So you can’t just go ahead and tell everybody that you’re going to be in this big show, or be in a big movie, and then have all your things cut out. So yeah, I did some of that for sure.

TrunkSpace: We saw the poster for “Friends From College” and there you are, front and center with the rest of the cast. Did that help it all feel more real for you?
Jae Suh Park: Oh yeah, definitely. And then we have separate posters… each of us has a separate poster. It says what we are and I’m “The weirdo.” The friend who’s a weirdo. And it’s been on all the bus stops here in LA. So I’ve had friends text me and I saw two of them by where I live, and I was like, I worked a really long time and very hard to be a weirdo at a bus stop. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: (Laughter) In order to be the weirdo at a bus stop you really have to stand out.
Jae Suh Park: (Laughter) Especially in LA.

TrunkSpace: The series creator is Nicholas Stoller and he has become synonymous with quality comedy, especially on the feature side. From a performance standpoint, comedy must be very fun to explore in a series because you sort of get to see the funny spread out over the course of what is usually multiple arcs, not just one arc.
Jae Suh Park: Yeah, that’s what’s so exciting is that you can explore the character in so many different situations and they just kind of take twists and turns. But I know Nick really wanted to make this kind of like a very long movie. It definitely ends open-ended. It’s not like the complete series. It’s not like “Big Little Lies” or something where it’s just kind of one movie. So going back to what you said, it’s very exciting to be able to explore so many different sides of the character.

TrunkSpace: When you look beyond the series itself and at the current TV landscape as a whole, what’s the most exciting part for you as an actress in what a lot of people are calling “The Golden Age of Television” and what that means in terms of roles and characters available?
Jae Suh Park: I get to play a weirdo, which I don’t know if I would have been able to five years ago. (Laughter)

There’s definitely a lot more opportunities for everyone involved in the business. So that’s exciting, but as a viewer, I don’t get to watch as much as I want to just because it’s so much… and I think also the good thing and the bad thing is that you can kind of watch what you want and not at all know anything about anything else. If you’re a very huge fan of “Westworld” you may know all of the actors on the show, but if you’ve never seen the show, you would be like, “I have no idea who that person is.” It’s good and bad because you can definitely have anonymity that stars in the past didn’t have as much.

TrunkSpace: You actually worked with your “Friends From College” costar Cobie Smulders on an episode of “How I Met Your Mother” a few years back, correct?
Jae Suh Park: Yeah, it’s so funny because that’s how I met Cobie for the very first time and my husband is actually really good friends with her husband and they had worked together. I had met him just briefly and when I got the part I went up to her and I said, “My boyfriend knows your boyfriend!” And this is before we were even married or had kids, and now we’re both married and we both have kids. But that was the first time that I met her and worked with her, and that was forever ago.

TrunkSpace: And that was a very memorable episode of “How I Met Your Mother” because it introduced the woo girls… and a quotable “woo” has been echoed ever since.
Jae Suh Park: Yeah, I think I said, “woo” maybe… I don’t know how many times. Let’s just say the script was very easy to memorize. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: What’s great about “Friends From College” is that you guys really have this amazing on-screen chemistry together, as if you actually are a group of old friends.
Jae Suh Park: Yeah, that was one of the very first things that a lot of people noticed because I had only worked with Cobie that one time eons ago and I knew Keegan just socially. And then I’d never worked with the others or any of the guest stars and it was just immediate. We all had so much fun off-screen and on-screen. Even at our very first wardrobe call everybody was like, “Do you guys know each other or have you guys worked together?” All of us except for Keegan have kids and we’re married, so I think that definitely bonds us with Nick. I’m grateful for it because that doesn’t always happen.

TrunkSpace: We know that your husband (Randall Park) was just cast in “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and we’re curious, has he been introducing himself as your “superhero husband” now because that’s totally what we would do with our wives?
Jae Suh Park: (Laughter) No, he’s not. He’s not introducing himself as my superhero husband, but he’s been working out quite a bit because he says he’s gotta look good. I think he’s just in suits. But I will note, I’m not that familiar with the comic, but he did show me some art… some old issues, and the character is buff. I’m not complaining at all. I feel like that’s a perk of being married to a superhero.

“Friends From College” premieres tomorrow on Netflix.

Fans of “Orange is the New Black” were recently introduced to Gerard Lobo in the latest season of the Netflix prison dramedy when it premiered earlier this month. Playing a nurse named Adarsh, the New Jersey native slipped into the scrubs of a good guy in a world mostly populated by individuals operating somewhere in the gray. Prior to joining the streaming powerhouse, Lobo also appeared on “The Blacklist,” “Powerless,” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

We recently sat down with Lobo to discuss how his “Orange is the New Black” role grew into more than he expected, why a letter he wrote to himself inspired his acting career, and how a turn in “Master of None” altered his path as a performer.

TrunkSpace: You did a seven episode run on one of the hottest series going in “Orange is the New Black.” Did you view the role as what could be a career changing moment for you?
Lobo: Honestly, I don’t know. I hope so. Anything that begets work is great. I’m just happy that I had the experience to work on that show. I’ve been lucky enough to work with the different actors that have their own stories… the leads… and they were amazing. It was a very, very welcoming set. Everyone from production to the talent were amazing. I really can’t say anything bad about the show. They were awesome.

TrunkSpace: For those who have yet to binge the new season, where does your character fall into things?
Lobo: I don’t believe I can allude to too much, but I can say that he is involved with things…

God, what can I even say? I’m not even sure.

TrunkSpace: Is he a nefarious fellow?
Lobo: No. (Laughter) He is not a nefarious fellow. I’m not a bad guy. I can say that.

TrunkSpace: Being an actor and coming into a show that has that amazing storytelling pedigree that other series are striving for must have been pretty exciting?
Lobo: Absolutely. When I first booked the role, it was only supposed to be two or three episodes and then they just kept calling me back. Just being thrown into situations like that, and for the most part it was with three or four different characters that had different storylines, it was kind of cool in that respect. I’ve watched the show and I’m a fan so being on set and seeing someone who you’ve been a fan of and have been tracking their story and then being thrown into a scene with them was kind of unrealistic.

TrunkSpace: It must have a bit rattling coming onto a set that has its established relationships and tone and essentially being the new kid in school.
Lobo: Oh yeah. Are you kidding? When I booked it I was like, “Oh my God!” It was only supposed to be a few episodes and they kept calling me back and my agents would be like… and I can’t really tell them necessarily what the story is and I don’t even know. It’s not like they said they were going to call me back in two weeks and that I’d be playing something. It was just, “We want him back and here are his scenes.” And I was like, “Oh my God… this is happening!” (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: So as the character moved forward, was it bringing you to places from a performance standpoint that you didn’t expect when you landed the job?
Lobo: Yeah. I think I started realizing that this guy is going to have an arc. A lot of times with supporting actors, you go in, you do the best you can and you leave because there’s not a lot of time in regards to the nature of production where you have the time to be like, “What’s the background on the character and what’s his motivation?” You have to kind of do it on the fly. You have to make it up. And if it works it works and if it doesn’t it doesn’t. You really just have to serve the scene. So I think what helped with all of the nerves was that every time I got a scene I was like, “What if they’re going one way with this or what if they’re going another way?” and then I was like, “I just have to do my job.”

TrunkSpace: You’ve worked on network TV series like “The Blacklist.” Obviously you’ve worked with Netflix given “Orange is the New Black.” As an actor, is it an interesting time given all of the content that is being produced, especially knowing that so much of it is so character-driven now?
Lobo: Definitely. For someone like me, I’m very lucky. I got into acting about eight years ago and I think that just with the nature of Netflix and different online providers that have now become household names, there are a lot more opportunities. I’ve never necessarily had to play very stereotypical roles. As much as I think there’s more work to do overall in the industry, I think it’s heading in the right direction where you’re going to see much more specific stuff for my background. It won’t just be something that’s ethnically ambiguous. It will be like a Bangladeshi person, which is good.

TrunkSpace: So many actors nowadays are not just relying on acting alone. They’re developing and producing material that they believe in and essentially creating work for themselves thanks in large part to those various platforms that are now available. We know that you’re a writer so is developing and producing something you anticipate doing as your career moves forward?
Lobo: I think down the line. Right now my major focus is really just training, auditioning, and booking roles. The more I learn about the industry in tandem with doing my own writing, eventually something can come to fruition.

TrunkSpace: You mentioned getting into acting about eight years ago. What has that journey been like for you in terms of where you started to where you are today?
Lobo: You know, I was always afraid to pursue acting. When I was going through some life changes, I had to ask myself, “What is it that I really want to do?” I always wanted to pursue acting so I started taking classes at night. I remember my first teacher, JoAnna Beckson, she did a 10 month Meisner course and she had us write a letter… the eight of us who were in the class. People were taking 10 or 15 minutes to write their letter and I just wrote two things. I wrote:

To see whether acting is something I want to do for the rest of my life and to book work as an actor.

(Laughter) Those are the two things that I wrote and then I kept on looking back on that every year. Predominantly I think the first focus was just on training, to be able to jump in and do things. I started with theater and loved that and then started booking some student films and enjoyed that. Then some roles here and there on commercials and it snowballed into bigger roles now.

TrunkSpace: So as your career started to come into focus and you started landing those bigger roles, what was the one that changed the landscape for you and started opening additional doors?
Lobo: I would say “Master of None.” I saw the breakdown and it was, “In-shape Indian guy who is down to Earth and loves working out.” I was like, “If I don’t book this, I don’t know what the hell I can do.” (Laughter) So, I went in and it was such a fun audition. And again, I don’t know if it’s something with Netflix but it was one of the most welcoming sets. Aziz and Alan Yang were amazing. They were so funny. That was a great experience. I was just so happy that I got to do it and then when it got the reception that it did… it could not have gone any better.

TrunkSpace: And you appeared on yet ANOTHER Netflix show in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” where you played a character with possibly the best/worst credit name ever… “Douchebag.”
Lobo: (Laughter) That was a lot of fun. And again, I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but an awesome crew and awesome cast. My scene was with Titus and he was great.

TrunkSpace: Looking over your acting resume to date there’s a nice mix of both comedy and drama. Do you find yourself being pulled to one genre more than the other? Is there a certain type of actor you want to be?
Lobo: Honestly, I’m still figuring it out. Every single role that I get is new, whether it’s comedic or the same character in different episodes. I’m just happy to work on it every single time I get the opportunity. To say that I really gravitate towards comedy or that I really gravitate towards drama… and this is going to sound kind of like an actory answer, but there’s really those things in everything. Look at the second season of “Master of None.” There’s a lot of dramatic scenes and Aziz crushes them. He’s also one of the funniest guys out there.

As star of the Netflix series “Dear White People,” Nia Jervier is paving a mile wide path towards a bright and shining future. Her performance as Kelsey Phillips in the timely dramedy is a comedic coming out party for the Brooklyn native who also appeared in the film that inspired the series.

We recently sat down with Jervier to talk about her relationship with television shows, how the most popular series perfectly blend genres, and why Kelsey is a super magnified version of herself.

TrunkSpace: How has “Dear White People” changed your career thus far? Has it had an impact in terms of opening additional doors?
Jervier: It definitely has opened things up a bit more, especially with agents and casting directors who may have had interest before. I think that the show solidified my work. Work begets work, so now that “Dear White People” is buzzing, people that had interest feel justified in saying, “We really want to bring that girl in. She is great because Netflix said so.” (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: That was actually one of our questions. Is part of the buzz not only the show but the platform itself?
Jervier: Certainly. The platform does help. And it’s also a very smart show and it’s witty and it’s very stylish and sophisticated. I think that people love all of those things. It’s something very special to be a part of.

TrunkSpace: The show is all of these things… smart, witty, stylish… and they’re blended together in a way that you would not have seen on a television platform a decade or two ago. No longer is a show just one genre. In fact, it seems like shows are better served when they’re blending as many different elements as possible.
Jervier: Absolutely. I think that definitely is a new thing. I also think that it’s something that’s necessary. We’re sort of in this zone with millennials where there has to be a multifaceted aspect to it, sort of like an artistic octopus. (Laughter) That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s like Lena Dunham or the girl who created “The OA” for Netflix. She’s the creator. She’s one of the writers. She’s also starring on it. Or how Lena Dunham created “Girls” and she’s also starring on the show and producing it. Donald Glover from “Community” created “Atlanta” and he’s writing and producing it. There’s also this great British sitcom on Netflix called “Chewing Gum” and it’s the same thing where Michaela Cole is just doing everything. I think that we’re just in a time where that’s okay when it’s executed with excellence and it’s something that is revered by audiences and by your peers as an artist. I think that is being reflected in the work because if someone believes that they can be the producer and the creator and star in the show, then they will also have a similar belief in the fact that the show can be many things at one time.

TrunkSpace: So as you look forward in your career, is that something you’re interested in doing as well?
Jervier: I would love to develop and create as a creator/producer. I’m not much of a writer and I believe you should lead out with what you’re excellent at. I was just brought up that way. So I would probably partner with someone who is a close friend or a writer that I respect to carry out that writing aspect of it, but I definitely have some ideas up my sleeve. I think that it’s important to create your own content, especially as a woman.

TrunkSpace: And it does seem like that it in this day and age, wearing multiple hats on a project and creating content enables actors and actresses to fully monetize their involvement in a project.
Jervier: I think the actors matter in a different way now and I think that your opinion as an artist or as a producer matters because there’s proof in the pudding that the method of applying it to the work… it works! It just does.

But I must also emphasize that I definitely believe that people should stick to things that they’re excellent in doing. If you marry it with excellence and you follow through with that and know that it’s actually good, that’s when the magic happens and it works.

TrunkSpace: So as you look back over your time working on “Dear White People,” where do you feel like you got to stretch your acting muscles the most?
Jervier: I guess the last scene that closes out the show. My character Kelsey, she’s very crazy and neurotic. (Laughter) I’m a theater baby so transitioning into film and TV, it’s a different vehicle, so your work is a lot smaller and detailed because the camera comes to you. I think that I gave myself a bit of permission to tell her truthfully and allow my work to be a bit bigger than I normally would for film and TV work. Especially for film work… it’s even smaller than TV stuff.

I was really happy about the fact that I leaned in and allowed her to go there… allowed myself to go there FOR her… because I think the part really called for it.

TrunkSpace: So did finding who Kelsey was come easy to you?
Jervier: I read the sides for the audition and had to do a double take. I was sort of like, “This could not have been more perfectly written for me. I need to have this part.” I desperately wanted it and fell in love with her immediately. I understand who this girl is. She is an amplified version of myself in certain ways. Definitely super magnified. She’s many levels above. If I’m at a two, Kelsey is at like a 59 out of 10! (Laughter) But I definitely identify with so many aspects and layers of her life and I just turned everything up a notch and sprinkled cayenne on it. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: Did it kind of feel like “Dear White People” was more of a movie than a television show in how it was rolled out?
Jervier: That’s a really good question. I guess it did. I am an avid binge watcher. I have relationships with shows. (Laughter) And I feel like I know the characters. Before the binging culture began, I don’t think that I had the same relationship with TV. It was a little different. I loved it, but it’s a big difference and getting to be a part of that with a show that I was on, there was something very special and unique about that. I guess it did feel like a film.

There was a little bit more of an excitement attached to it because you knew that you could get it all in one fell swoop. You got to get a taste of the beginning and the end in one dose. Yeah, I enjoyed that.

TrunkSpace: And in a social media age, it must make for a different type of fan interaction when they can just gulp it down all in one evening.
Jervier: Yes. I think there is a gift in that as well. People took to Twitter and to Instagram and to social media immediately. Because of the binge culture, they fall in love with the characters. And not only fall in love with the characters, they KNOW these people in the same way that I do when I’m part of the audience or I’m the viewer. I really enjoyed that part of it. I enjoyed knowing that people would get all of this show at one time. I think it gives the show more of a chance to live and for people to have a relationship with the show and the characters because you’re getting it all at one time. Sometimes I think that some shows might have a disadvantage in people maybe not having enough time this week to catch it or from missing it. There’s more of a chance of someone falling off the wagon. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: It’s true. We’re guilty as changed for putting stuff on the DVR and then never getting to it, and yet, if you start something on Netflix or another streaming platform, you just plow through it.
Jervier: Yes! It’s addictive. And there’s a commitment. You’re like, “I’m five episodes in… I’ve got to find out!” You’re already stuck. There’s a commitment and an addiction to it. It’s a commitment that’s fun and enjoyable and it’s an addiction that’s legal and people will still like you after! (Laughter) It’s perfect!

“Dear White People” is available now on Netflix.