Interview: Castle’s Tamala Jones on her career, the show and one line auditions!
February 1, 2011 by Lance Carter
Filed under Interviews
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:05 — 14.5MB)
Despite having a résumé of starring roles in both films and television, Tamala Jones (Daddy Day Camp, The Tracey Morgan Show) still went into her audition for a new ABC pilot.
That audition called for her to say one line (one line!) in a show called, Castle.
She took that one line, booked the show, quickly became a series regular and is now an integral part of the show as Dr. Lanie Parish. How cool is that?
I talked to Tamala about how she got her start, that one line audition and how she gets that medical dialog memorized.
For the full interview, click the audio link above or download from iTunes
Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC
You started out as a model. How did you transition into acting? Did you always wanna pursue it?
Tamala Jones: I always wanted to act so while I was doing the modeling stuff, I was always going to an acting class or an acting workshop and the one I ended up staying in the longest was this workshop that that everybody was in Brittany Murphy, Seth Green, Jamie Pressly. I mean we were all there and it was Ernie Lively’s acting class who is Blake Lively’s father.
They became managers and started managing most of us in that class and got as great agents and we started to just going to work. Doing little guest stars here and there once I started acting, I kinda like put the modeling the down little bit and focused more on acting and I just kept going, kept going and I kept working and I’m here.
So, it sounds like they helped you out a lot?
Tamala Jones: Yes they did. Do you remember them show The Wonder Years?
Oh yeah.
Tamala Jones: Jason Hervey, who played the older brother, his mom and Scott Grimes mom, they were managers and they were also friends of Ernie Lively. So when they became agents, Ernie took over the management and they became our agents. And it worked out for the best because those two mothers really had a lot of connections in this business because of their sons. They’re still working and are great agents. I send people starting off over there all the time. And they work, they work. These women are powerful and they’re fantastic and if it weren’t for them and Ernie Lively, I don’t think my career would have shot off as smoothly as it did? Because it was like one, two, three, four and then I was on my way. It was really weird. But great. (laughing)
Q & A: House’s Lisa Edelstein talks Cuddy, acting advice and more!
February 1, 2011 by Lance Carter
Filed under Interviews
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.3MB)
Lisa Edelstein has played Dr. Cuddy on House for 7 seasons. The show is a huge hit and part of it lie’s in the chemistry that she and Hugh Laurie have together on-screen.
I talked to Lisa in a conference call where she talked about House, her advice to actors and if she thinks her character has changed over the years.
For the full interview, click the audio link above or download from iTunes
House airs Mondays at 8/7c on FOX
Given the dynamics between House and Cuddy, can you talk about the challenges that you and Hugh have with keeping pace with the emotional side of the character.
Lisa Edelstein: Challenges, we know each other quite well now, we’ve been working together for seven years, which in our line of work that’s like dog years, that’s like 49 years. So, I really feel like as our friendship as people, as we got to know each other better this kind of intimacy between the characters was an easier thing to do than if it had started from day one, where you have to kind of just jump in and pretend to know each other. So, it’s been great, I really appreciate if there was anybody that I would have to be intimate with on camera, to have it be somebody that I knew and trusted as much as I do Hugh.
Regarding the season opener; the thing about that episode was the dialogue between the characters was so natural and so real. I was wondering if you could elaborate on the shoot. How was it different?
Lisa Edelstein: Well, it was more like a play. It felt more like a play. It felt very intimate and the writers felt, and I certainly agreed that you couldn’t just get these two characters together and go on as normal right away. You had to just kind of take a moment, experience these two people together, and then get back to the normal hospital stuff and House stuff. They really thought about it long and hard. They went down several different roads trying to figure out how to handle it and that was where they ended up to have this very intimate play-like episode where you just kind of were with these two people alone and experiencing intimacy and friendship.
