In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast

Gina Rodriguez is an actor, producer, and director, best known for her astonishing work as the titular role in The CW’s “Jane the Virgin.” Jennie Snyder Urman’s telenovela-inspired romantic roller coaster, one of today’s only series featuring a Latina lead, won Rodriguez a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a TV comedy. She’s also known for her film work in “Filly Brown” and “Annihilation,” he...

DeWanda Wise plays the singular Nola Darling in the Netflix hit “She’s Gotta Have It,” adapted for episodic TV by the one and only Spike Lee, whose 1986 film about this sexually woke Brooklynite artist put him on the map as a filmmaker. But Wise, whose approach to art combines studiousness with something more spiritual, wasn’t intimidated during her audition for the part; as she proved to Lee, she...

Kicking off our season of Emmy Award contenders are the leads of network TV’s biggest drama: Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia! When they first auditioned for Dan Fogelman’s “This Is Us,” neither could have predicted that the series would have millions reaching for their tissue boxes weekly. Two heart-tugging seasons in as Rebecca and Jack Pearson, Moore and Ventimiglia have worked to establish a r...

Denise Gough is one of the most exciting up-and-comers working on London and New York stages today. After a sensational breakout performance in Duncan MacMillan’s “People, Places & Things,” the Irish actress booked the role of Harper in the National Theatre’s timely revival of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” directed by Marianne Elliott. She earned Laurence Olivier Awards for both shows—now wit...

Star of the Tony-nominated Broadway revival of “Once on This Island” and emerging LGBTQ pop icon Alex Newell joins Backstage to discuss music and acting, longevity and survival, and gratitude and humility. Newell got his start with a video audition for “The Glee Project,” winding up with both a recording contract and a recurring role on Ryan Murphy’s “Glee” as one of the first trans characters on...

Tony Awards season is upon us! Theater’s highest honors will be handed out June 10, so Backstage has invited onto the podcast some of this Broadway season’s most exciting performers. Up first is Lindsay Mendez, Tony-nominated for her irresistible Carrie Pipperidge in the current revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” directed by Jack O’Brien. Along with her versatility as an actor and sen...

Few actors’ résumés offer as much variety as Willem Dafoe, an on-screen presence who seems unclassifiable—it’s simply not enough to dub him “chameleonic” or “versatile.” Just look at his three Academy Award nominations, a triptych of deeply felt acting: 1986’s “Platoon,” 2000’s “Shadow of a Vampire,” and now this year’s “The Florida Project” from A24. Written and directed by Sean Baker, the critic...

Betty Gabriel is the brilliant star of Universal Pictures’ “Get Out,” the comedy-horror-satire hit from the now Academy Award-nominee Jordan Peele. As the mysterious maid Georgina, she blew audiences away with one particularly disturbing scene involving her repeating the word “no”—and established for the former delivery worker her big break as an actor. The game-changing “Get Out” has won its fair...

Although you are likely aware of Gary Oldman, you may not appreciate his astonishing range. His habit of disappearing completely into onscreen roles is evident in everything from the “Harry Potter” and “Dark Knight” film franchises, to his Oscar-nominated performance in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” to villainous turns in “Léon: The Professional,” “The Fifth Element,” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” N...

Before last summer, Kumail Nanjiani was best known as the hilarious Dinesh on HBO’s “Silicon Valley.” But then his autobiographical comedy feature, Amazon’s “The Big Sick,” became a commercial and critical smash. Co-written alongside his wife Emily Gordon and retelling the story of her medically induced coma amid their early courtship, “The Big Sick” stars Kumail as an earlier version of himself—a...

In addition to being one of the industry’s most powerful and prolific actors, Patrick Stewart has a voice of pure gold. Listen to the Olivier-, Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and SAG Award-nominated knight, best known for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the “X-Men” film franchise—including last year’s 20th Century Fox awards contender “Logan”—chat about audition advice, giving characters life, and the...

All of Tatiana Maslany’s creativity comes from leaning into the unlikeliest or most challenging of circumstances and simply responding, “Yes.” The 2016 Emmy winner for BBC America’s sci-fi thriller “Orphan Black,” in which she portrays around a dozen different clones, often acting and reacting opposite herself, rises to every challenge by turning fear and uncertainty into inspiration. After this s...

Whether you know James Franco from his comedic collaborations with Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, his Oscar-nominated work in “127 Hours,” or even his poems and paintings, chances are your impression is only a piece of the overall puzzle of his artistry. The multi-hyphenate has zipped from Broadway to the director’s chair to the classroom, and it wasn’t until recently he slowed down to focus on a sel...

For some, the acting profession is a calling that can’t be avoided. Keala Settle, beloved Broadway star of “Waitress,” “Les Misérables,” and her Tony Award-nominated “Hands on a Hardbody,” is one such performer; ever since a fortuitous road trip to a “Hairspray” tour’s open call, her stunning voice and magnetic presence have illuminated a series of intricately soulful stage roles. Now with a big-s...

There’s a reason Allison Janney has more acting statuettes than she knows what to do with. The seven-time Emmy winner—for “The West Wing,” “Masters of Sex,” and CBS’ current hit comedy “Mom”—possesses a natural intelligence, curiosity, and wicked sense of humor that have lent themselves to a staggering variety of stage and screen roles. Her astonishing career now includes an Oscar-contending perfo...

This week we get to be in the room where it happens. Leslie Odom Jr. helped launch the Broadway production of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s record-breaking musical sensation, winning last year’s Tony Award for Leading Actor in the process. A triple threat with roots that can be traced back to an open call for “Rent” listed in Backstage, Leslie is now a bona fide movie star, appearing in the buz...

Ready for more interviews from the frontlines of Hollywood’s acting races? We kick off Season 2—and an exciting film awards season—with an in-depth chat with Academy Award nominee and Primetime Emmy winner Richard Jenkins. Steadily working his way into audiences’ hearts with decades of fascinating, empathetic performances, the stage and screen legend now utilizes his organic approach to acting in...

On this season finale episode, we are joined by TV comedy royalty. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has just about every conceivable award for her astounding work, including seven acting Emmys for “Seinfeld,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” and of course the hit HBO political comedy “Veep,” in which she stars as the hapless, foul-mouthed Selina Meyer. Anthony Anderson, nominated for this third consecuti...

Up-and-coming actor Brian Tyree Henry is perhaps best known for playing an up-and-coming rapper on Donald Glover’s award-winning FX comedy “Atlanta.” His first Emmy nomination is for his guest role as a Memphis crooner on Dan Fogelman’s NBC hit family drama “This Is Us.” The rising star chats about how to maintain a sense of self, handle loss, and find the joy. Bonus: Emmys trivia! For over 50 yea...

Backstage’s favorite Emmy-winning acting guru, Regina King is one of the greatest on-camera performers working today. She traces her trajectory from child star to actor-director with serious chops, and reveals the intricacies of the techniques that led to her three consecutive Emmy nominations (and two wins) for John Ridley’s ABC anthology drama “American Crime.” For over 50 years, Backstage has b...

In this extra-special, extra-long episode, we are joined by two Emmy-nominated stars from Jill Soloway’s groundbreaking Amazon dramedy “Transparent.” Judith Light, a Tony- and Daytime Emmy-winning legend who keeps breaking our hearts as Shelly Pfefferman, draws inspiration from the LGBTQ community and advises actors to seize the opportunity to serve. Kathryn Hahn, a longtime scene-stealer whose sh...

This interview with Carrie Coon covers both how to act in the present moment and the practicalities of budgeting and cooking. The star of HBO’s “The Leftovers,” now receiving her first (of many!) Emmy nominations for Season 3 of FX’s “Fargo,” shares the techniques and philosophies that launched her from regional repertory theater to Broadway to critical darling. For over 50 years, Backstage has be...

Jeffrey Wright—Emmy and Tony winner for “Angels in America,” currently Emmy-nominated for HBO’s sci-fi western “Westworld,” and guru of stage and screen techniques—stops by the studio to share his wisdom on auditioning, stage fright, the importance of listening, loss, and more. For over 50 years, Backstage has been the most trusted place for actors to find jobs and career advice, and for casting p...

Bob Odenkirk, the renowned writer, producer, comedian, and 12-time Emmy nominee, stars in AMC’s drama “Better Call Saul,” Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan’s sequel to “Breaking Bad.” He joined us to shed light on his many successes, various influences, and how writing inspires his transformation into Saul. For over 50 years, Backstage has been the most trusted place for actors to find jobs and caree...

Jackie Hoffman is a theater and comedy legend (and hilarious interview)! Now TV fans are appreciating her talents too: On FX’s fabulous limited series “Feud: Bette and Joan,” the Emmy nominee plays Mamacita, housekeeper to Jessica Lange’s Joan Crawford. You’ll never guess what inspires her acting.... For over 50 years, Backstage has been the most trusted place for actors to find jobs and career ad...