Jenna Ortega & Elle Fanning | Actors on Actors

a lot of our crew members were English and they told me that I had the humor of like a 50 year old taxi driver in Leeds but also people are a lot scarier when they're still and because I think that I I look like a pug or something like I just got like [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello hello Jenna how are you I am good I don't think people I don't know they might think that we know each other but we have never met before never which I'm kind of surprised I know like we tend to be in the same or worked with similar people yeah 100 I know I'm so when I heard that I was getting paired up with you I was so excited yeah I was very excited I have to before I forget because otherwise I'll I'll be remiss yeah but when I was younger I told my mom the only reason why I'm acting is because I said I wanted to be the Puerto Rican Dakota Fanning and so we were obsessed with Dakota's work and we were following we were following and then she said did you know she has a sister and I was like she has a sister so for the longest time I idolized the both of you guys and I would follow your careers because I I wanted to be in your guys's shoes you guys were like this enigmatic super glorious talented you know figures in my head and then it's just really really strange to be here oh my God but just immense respect for everything that you do and all that you've accomplished oh man it's really really special thank you so much WoW wow I gotta tell Dakota she'll love it and I'm so happy to be here with you I know that you've been acting you know for since you were a child actor right so we definitely have that in common and I think and just you are a fetus right I was you were like two years old that's right I was very small I guess it's interesting because there are kind of certain milestones because of course you're getting older in your life but as an actor that like oh I hit a milestone and you feel yourself growing or maybe people start to view you in a in a more grown-up way or do you did you feel like you had that I mean we're both still very young but do you feel like you had that growing out of because people saw you since you were like nine years old you know a little bit and then also I think I naturally appear and sound a bit younger than I am I think I have like a little bit of a baby face so I tend to do younger roles or characters definitely yeah that was a little bit harder than I also did a little time on Disney Channel as well so I was also doing children oriented work which I think breaking out of that is its own you know Challenge and journey in itself but I did a movie a couple of years ago where it was a horror film and I went from like super Conservative Christian girl turned adult film star and I think that that was a little bit of a turning point yeah I saw it Oh no way yeah yeah I loved incredible Thai West the director is just he's one of my favorite directors that I worked with just very very assertive and Brilliant and collaborative but I think that that was a huge turning point for me what about for you gosh yeah mine's kind of similar too because it kind of maybe was a more horror genre um which you're definitely yeah that's you yeah the it girl of horror I don't know how you feel about that I would never call myself you like horror movies I love it Horrors home you know it's really yeah people really like to see me hysterical you have a good scream I wouldn't even say I have a good screen but it's just very instinctive and I think I have a really ugly crying face which people just feed on if you're in a theater and you see someone who looks like atrocious while crying you think oh man she's really in it yeah are you good auditioner I'm a terrible auditioner awful awful awful yeah I'm not a good auditioner at all I fainted and auditioned once how old were you I think I was like 12. yeah it was but I got like Pinkberry and Burger King afterwards so I was like that was great didn't get the job they were like this yeah freaky girl who's like fainting no but they make me so I know they made they make me something it made me really nervous I had really awful experiences with like screaming and things like that well first time I ever had a screen for an audition I was we were driving on the way there and it was like a three hour drive from the Coachella Valley so my mom was saying hey do you want to practice that scream and I told her oh no I got it I got it I went in there did not have it my voice cracked it was awful embarrassing and she looked back at me and she was so frustrated because she was sacrificing so much for me to be out there I felt awful she was like Jenna how are you gonna be an actress if you can't even scream and then it's just weird that that's when it ever since yeah I think I think it's part of it I'm very very stubborn so I think as soon as that was an issue but I've never fainted have you been yelled at by a casting director no never been yelled at I apologize too much they yelled you for saying yeah because I just kept cutting off my monologue by going oh I'm sorry oh I'm sorry I messed it up oh I'm sorry they were like stop apologizing you're good and I said oh I'm sorry and she said stop like you're good don't worry about it yeah you can't apologize I didn't get any job though I don't remember which one it was no not too bad [Music] you've stayed in LA and kind of been a part of that world all your life yeah pretty much I mean I started acting from such a young age and obviously my sister I had her as a role model yeah you know a built-in person did you go to public school did you have what was the normality in it so I was homeschooled up until fourth grade and then yeah like nine years old I was like Mom like I have no friends like I want like I need you know to be around kids and she's like all right let's put you in you know into school so then I got to go to like a private school here in L.A and I got to go to Proms and parties and like have that whole experience which I'm really happy that I that I got to do that so yeah from fourth grade to senior year um I did not go to college but neither did I yeah I really wanted to I tried for a minute I was always told that um you know as soon as the ball is rolling especially in an industry like this that is so up and down yeah you just never know when your job when a job is going to be your last job or when you're in and when you're out and I think I was just working too much it I was too scared to which as I've gotten older I feel like especially trying to you know make a name for yourself in the industry I put a lot of pressure on myself I'm definitely an overthinker but yeah as I've gotten older I've realized that you can create space and time for your personal life and have real experiences and I feel like that's something that I still have to learn do you feel like you're good at balancing I think I'm still learning too yeah especially when you're on these shows I mean we've got to talk about Wednesday because it's like yeah and the great so good it is so good and you are absolute perfection like there is not a single word physicality that's like out of place it's like and it's also so exciting to have a new Wednesday because I always think I think of Christina Ricci yes so do I you know and did she give you any advice or anything like on set like how cool is that no it was almost a bit awkward I I didn't it's a bit strange meeting someone where you're kind of doing cosplay or a version of them 30 years ago right so to be dressed in front of her and obviously I think that she is that the perfect Wednesday it was like the perfect age I'm very very impressed by her 11 year old self and everything that she's continued to do onwards so also just naturally having so much respect and admiration for her as an actress I was very very nervous and I don't think she really wanted to give me too much input and I didn't want to ask for an input because it was really really important to me that I didn't try to knock off her performance because it was already so perfectly done if anything that's kind of embarrassing on my part and I feel like it's kind of my job especially at such a different time that was 30 years ago to kind of integrate more modern ideas or more modern take on a character so that she continues to be timeless and appeal to a new audience yeah yeah but then still weave in nostalgic you know Throwbacks to her role and her character so that I love the snap yay oh that was cool yeah I thought it was cool they integrated that into the story about that boy's family was going to fight did murder Ed riches how would that have looked on your record terrible everyone would know if I have the job done I'm awful with accents I can never be a British queen if you had a good dialect coach which I do yeah she helps me you are so so so funny in your show I was not anticipating I didn't I went into it like completely blind so it was just a lot more violent than I expected but then also the I love comedy that isn't addressed too much and it's almost kind of just chaotic and you're not able to process what's going on which is entirely what your show is about but you yourself are so stoked and strong and just funny for me personally comedic acting is a lot more difficult than something dramatic I know I agree which I don't think I ever realized that because I didn't really do a lot of comedic things before the great um yeah my roles were probably more dramatic and then um through the grade I actually learned really how difficult it was and how kind of unembarrassed you have to feel with yourself to just go there and I think with the cast they're all their their background a lot of it is like they're from theater so they're so gifted dramatically and comedically and but they were all really there to help me along with the rhythm of it and because I don't know also like on Wednesday too or like there are such specific jokes and especially like very deadpan jokes that you have to hit and there's like a punch line there I don't know because that sometimes I would read scripts and the great you're like oh that's a punch line like that's a joke like I want people to laugh at that moment you know I hope they do but it's a real so you know people who are so gifted and talented at that I really I envy it but I think I've gotten a little more comfortable in the comedy world now that we're on season three I don't know what to do about prisoners kill them talk to them let them go surely not in that order your outfits are also ridiculous I would never ever feel have you done period pieces then it well yeah there's a couple of films yeah that's right that was Civil War so it was a little different but still corsets yeah have you ever worn a corset in like a film no only in my casual life yeah in my personal life yeah I do love a course that I have to say yeah but never for set and that's the and that's not even just a corset it's every layer actually in in Wednesday there was one outfit that I had to wear that was of course it is prom dress no no I was playing an ancestor or something oh yeah yeah yeah Goodie and she was from Pilgrim times right and that was so annoying to get into and took forever yeah but it was great once it was on because it looked insane yeah I know clothes I think they play such a they're important to me in costume and the design especially I'm sure Tim Burton was very specific with that right did Colleen Atwood do it yes she did yeah Colleen Atwood is incredible that was like definitely one of the highlights of the job in terms of just watching someone that gifted at what they do work was such an honor and I yeah I completely agree with you a good set of wardrobe completely changes the way that you can perceive a character in my opinion I I tend to get a lot more creative or have a lot more ideas when you're working with clothes that you feel comfortable or right for the character and Colleen is a master at that how did you I'm like I'm so curious about your physicality like as Wednesday how did you come up with that because you're very you don't blink much yeah and you also are like there's a real you know which you're you're not like I mean you know it's a character I guess it's a little spidery or something to her that very rigid like was that talked about or did Tim want that or did you like how did that come was it talked about but I'm sure that you run into it a lot oftentimes teenage girls are just brats or for some reason super against the world and just nasty and it's great for Wednesday because that's what she is and it's and it's fun and she's just excited by you know evil things yeah but I I need I needed something that was going to differentiate her from past iterations but then also just from other characters that I do I want everything that I do to kind of stand out or to feel like maybe certain characters that I play wouldn't get along or are different people so I think for me physicality that was something that I had never really played with before and because I never experimented with deadpan humor before anything like that I thought you're so good at it that's crazy I I don't know I feel like their humor is like that in real life my humor in real life is very dead it's very very dry people never know whether I'm being serious or not it's kind of English yeah well a lot of our crew members were English and they told me that I had the humor of like a 50 year old taxi driver and leads but performing it and then also have it take place in a teen drama romantic setting right it was very very foreign and different for Wednesday which is which is the great thing about the characters you could put her in the most absurd situations and it's going to be funny because she just doesn't belong yeah but yeah making that work I I was really really nervous about that but also people are a lot scarier when they're still and because I think that I I look like a pug or something like I just got like a little I just got a little it is I was like oh what could make me more intimidating or more weird and I'm like I just should never move and stare at people really intensely maybe that will work so I used to work walk my dog down the street or just you know at night when people weren't paying attention I would just try different postures and stances and are my hands cleansed or are they free or you know and I'll film myself oh wow that's really oh wow that's cool [Music] when you're talking about kind of the Stillness the neon demon was a film I did I was like 16 which also kind of felt like a film that kind of pulled me out of child star a little bit like I felt like that was a turning point for me and people seeing me um more in a grown-up way because I the film was so kind of polarizing which um I loved like people either hated it or they loved it and it was very out there but it was an amazing experience but there's an opening shot in the movie and I have to I'm like playing dead and I have contacts so I can like I've never lost a staring contest ever because I think it's my something about the contacts holds the moisture in my eye I don't know what it is but when I did that take and Nick refin is the director that of neon demon and he takes really long takes I think it was like 11 minutes or something and my eyes were open the entire time and the lights were so bright and they melted my contacts all over my eye like they burned into my eyes because I kept them open did that hurt it didn't it was odd I think because I got offset and then I was like oh God I can't see I thought that I was blind yeah I thought I went blind because I was like I can't see I can't see and I was like really freaking out and then I think we because I was like where's my contacts I thought that they had like gone away and yeah I couldn't see anymore but then really flushing water and finally like fished it out and it was all melted and crazy but not just an anecdote yeah that's crazy yeah you I would never I don't even come close I feel like wear contacts no no I don't know and the whole staring thing it was just you blink on other people's lines I wasn't okay properly I was like no and they're usually a quad kind of girl but I've been working on that all week birthday yes happy never so your show takes place in Russia do you actually shoot in Russia we do not we shoot um actually in London which is really nice that is so nice yes I've always wanted to shoot there yeah it's like my favorite city I feel like if I don't end up living in La yeah I want to live in London which I get to for like six seven months out of the year so yeah shoot yeah it is yeah how long does your shoot for I think we went seven eight months wow that's what yeah and that was in Romania wow what did you guys take over the town like no you know I don't know it's such a big city and I have a lot of friends there and things but in Romania I'm like did you have a lot of friends there no I didn't know any Romanians going into it so I think honestly I'm so so fortunate because the cast that I was set with are some of my favorite people I've ever met on this planet so I think that we were very supportive and and beneficial to each other during that time I couldn't imagine doing it without them yeah but yeah did not know anyone in Romania I was in the middle of the pandemic it was a Red Zone country so some people weren't allowed to leave because you couldn't travel in and out of the um you know certain regions in Europe yeah everything closed at five six pm because of the pandemic so it was pretty much just set and then home and then if we wanted to hang out with each other on the weekends if we had the time it was we all would go to Georgie Farmer's apartment whenever he plays Ajax on the show and he just had the coolest Airbnb so we just would hang out there and play cards and things there you go yeah do what you can I don't know the hours in the day like it does kind of take over your your life yeah in comparison to film it's absolutely I agree yeah you really build a family in a different aspect and um yeah it does you do have no life for a little bit do you know if um a lot of the same like crew members are going to come back for next season or I know you're a producer next season I am a producer which is yeah what made you want to kind of step into that role this is my first time producing a television series so I'm I was pretty excited about that I think for for us on our show is pretty much a natural progression just because we had already been throwing out so many ideas and I'm somebody who's very Hands-On and I want to know what's going on and I think with the character like Wednesday it was so beloved and and so uh it's such a legend I just really didn't want to get her wrong so I think I try to have as many conversations as possible and really on set with the writers and Tim we just all kind of would get together and decide we'd go through sides in the morning and decide okay what works and what doesn't and yeah it was naturally already very collaborative so I think that you know in preparation for a second season we kind of wanted to get ahead of the curve and make sure that you know we could start the conversations earlier and I'm just so curious I I want to see the outfits new characters that are coming in scripts and yeah they were gracious enough and cool enough to let me put the producer hat on which I'm really well as they should yeah but you on your show the it's your first time producing a television yes as well it was yes when I um gosh because the first season we did the Pilot We filmed it when when I was 20 and now I'm 25 so I'm like this part has been she's formed my whole 20s like she I don't know it's just like this this character is like in such formative years of my life I feel like I've grown up through her and learned so much through playing her as well but also I think the producing side of that just learning the behind the scenes mechanics of it all because I I think I don't know if you felt like this but I think when you're you're you start acting young and maybe not for everyone but for me at least I think you start to realize oh I want to kind of have more agency in this and I want to have more say and I think a lot of um actors that I've talked to as well the advice is always to produce your own work go out there find a book you love find an article you love and you can make that you know you are able to make that instead because I this business like the one thing that I just hate about it is that it's sometimes it's other people telling you who you are and what you can do and it's so unfair it irks me that they want to put people in these boxes you know yeah so I think for myself I'm like I'm gonna produce my own material and have more say and I think even through each season I've grown um so much with my voice and opinions of really saying how I feel because I guess for a long time too I felt like oh gosh I'm I'm young like I should listen to the adults you know but then when you think about it you're like well we've been acting for a very long time and we've been on a lot of sets from a very young age and we're allowed to have those opinions and we do know what we're talking about you know we really we really do um and so I've I've learned to kind of assert myself so I would say don't be afraid to insert yourself something that I'm learning now and I think that that's why someone like Wednesdays is someone who kind of forced me out of my shell in that sense and especially I don't know if it's again I'm pretty sure and then pretty young but then also just being a young woman in Industry I feel like sometimes people don't take you as seriously yeah or as open to the conversations before I've had insane conversations with people in terms of you know I just stand my place and I don't know because I'm not this or that or you know I'm just an actor um so I definitely agree with you in terms of you know having experiences or having seen it happen to other people where you kind of become a puppet in some sort of sense but the most beautiful experiences that I've had on a job or the jobs that I'm most proud of have always been the one where everyone's voice is heard everyone pitches in everyone and yeah and yeah with your experience wrong too like that's the thing it's like some ideas land and sometimes they don't but it's great if you know we have the the timer we're in the space now to explore as much as we possibly can yeah but yeah I'm I mean with the whole producing thing it's exciting but nerve-wracking at the same time because first of all it's so nice you know having oh Jenna you have the floor and you have this and you know it's just kind of um I feel like almost like a kid in a candy store in a sense but at the same time I'm in the phase where I'm still sending the wrong email to like three different people yeah what am I supposed to do here so yeah definitely finding your footing but it's a good place to be I love the whole editing process oh I haven't even considered that you'll have to get in there so they send you dailies every day and things like that I've never been some daily it's so fun it is so fun I I I'm like I would love to be an editor I don't know but I at least get to watch yourself I can okay I Can Has it always been that way it's always been that way I think I was such a ham like growing up when I was little like I just loved watching myself like and then it's gotten sometimes I think as I've gotten older it's gotten I judge myself a little bit more than I used to because when you're a kid you're just like oh I want a huge screen and I'm like a little kid it was like a home movie or something but um yeah I start to judge myself a little bit more but I can I can separate weirdly but it's not even just about me I think it's watching you know the first cut of the first episode and watching that and thinking Hmm do we need this thing we can yeah you know look at all the dailies and picking the right lines and yeah I don't find that really fun kind of helps you take you out of your head yeah just because it's a lot more objective in that sense yeah I'm happy that I do get to produce too because I think the show is very challenging and all-consuming in its kind of brain power in a weird way because it's um not even in a weird way it's like extreme memorization because we have to be word perfect we cannot be wrong and the dialogue is not natural it is not natural yes um Tony McNamara our showrunner he's a genius writer and he wrote the favorite as well do you ever see oh yes of course yeah it's kind of like that makes sense so much sense yeah totally but he's like his rhythm is so specific and yeah the memorization is like it's a lot so you do need something to like clear your head I think having the producing side and getting to watch some dailies and put a different Hat on at the end of the day like helps clear it out a little bit well you thought it was me I did well that shakes a man how can we trust each other face annoying answer agreed well yeah for season two I'm so excited I can't wait I'm like what spoilers can you give me oh my God I'm done I don't even know I don't even know we're just we're just kind of throwing I just got a couple of the outlines for the first couple of episodes so it's still very much coming together and things like that but I we've had a lot of conversations and I think we've decided things that we definitely um want to enhance or dive a little bit deeper in and things that you specifically want to kind of bring I definitely I think we want to lean into the horror aspect of the show a little bit more because show like this um they're wolves and yeah superpowers you just you don't want to take yourself too seriously so I think that we're kind of ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday which is really great and then also we have such incredible female leads in the show is coming back oh my God I would die to work with Gwendolyn Christie for the rest of my life I know she's a perfect what I was so shocked when that happened I was like yeah no well also I wasn't sure about her first yeah she's a little after I mean not her like the character I was like yeah I was like I don't know she could be a baddie but then she was like she was so good what is his relationship with Weems is one of my favorite because they're very very different women and they're constantly against each other but simultaneously they they both want to watch each other's successes and support them which is such a fascinating Dynamic and Gwendolyn being as talented as she is is just really really a pleasure to work with so I'm doing everything in my power to throw out the most insane plots that would possibly bring this woman back from the dead yes I'm trying yeah it would be a shame to go on without her but um yeah definitely more I think I think we're just gonna get a lot more bold or a lot more dark which you never really know I but fortunately I didn't know if it was going to be for you younger audiences or older audiences but it's kind of been a seamless transition in terms of different audiences which yeah I'm pleasantly surprised by and excited by and I think we just want to see how far we can take it yeah for sure I think also like The Adams Family I mean it's yeah iconic family and I love Adams Family Values yeah they're the best incredible one of the top like that's my favorite iteration did you watch them to study it or I definitely I had never seen the series before the one from the 60s I don't think I've seen that yeah I went back and I watched The Addams Family series and then I watched the movies 100 times over from the 90s and that was just kind of all I really did I also went back to the original comic strips because I think um I didn't even know they had that yeah the wonderful thing about Christina Ricci is she kind of created Wednesday you know Lisa Loring first iteration absolutely wonderful special and completely different from Christina and much much younger but I think a lot of people associate the deadpan nature um of Wednesday with just the Adams Family and Lisa was very very happy and excited and and just very childlike so it's been interesting to see what has been done so I think with mine I just kind of had to try to blend the two yeah I possibly could but that's what that was I I just was thinking okay what were the most memorable or heartwarming instances from um you know both of these performances and then see see kind of see what I can do OMG you look perfect only thing where are your whiskers ask again and you'll be down to eight lives yours is not a true story right very very clearly is there anything in terms of getting yourself ready for that era or that time that you have to do to make sure things are accurate or yeah I remember starting out I was like okay I'm playing Catherine the Great so I need to do all this research on her and um kind of pull out the books and and read a bit and then Tony was like you don't need to do that like you know of course it's fun to read about her and there are there are things in our show that we do bring in um you know she brought female education and Science and she invented the roller coaster and that is real Captain the great invented the role an incredible invention yeah so I was like that's all I need to know about this woman I'm like she sounds amazing that's that's very fun so like what's a good fact but um I kind of threw out the history books a little bit um I think you know she was reduced to this horse rumor that we all know that she you know they say she had sex with a horse and that's kind of what she's been reduced to which I think it's like the first form of like shaming in a way because she was very very sexually open and had a lot of lovers and loved sex and so you know that's what Society likes to do to women is put them down and they reduce her to this rumor so I think with our show we wanted to show the things that she did do for the country and her period was the Enlightenment period and she brought such amazing things so um those things are true in there but I had to pave my own way and create our own version of Catherine she was very Progressive and very modern woman and also is very kind of messy and um not always right like not the strongest woman in the room I don't know if you feel like this but um like I've been reading scripts it's like they love describing women as like badass strong like and they're always like coming into a room and like very they know everything and it's like oh that's a strong woman it's like I don't want to watch that I'm not like that like I love complicated women and I want to play evil women and you know that that messiness is like that's that's what I feel like I try to bring that into Catherine because she's not always right all the time also when you're watching a project you want to feel like the the characters are um Representatives that you're seeing of of yourself on screen are relatable or attainable and sometimes when yeah when you're constantly walking and there's cars blowing up in the background things like that it's cool and it's awesome it looks beautiful but I don't know anything about her so it's hard to develop some sort of admiration or connection with women when they're yes they're written very two-dimensional and yeah to be a strong woman you have to be this to be you know it's like again putting us into a box again um so I think I'm very grateful for for Tony's writing of getting to kind of show the different sides and for it to be accurate and feel good to you and related totally I mean she I think she has a huge ego like she's very egotistical um which is one of like I love playing that side of her like it's so fun the great of course it seems arrogant it is if you're an old grade if you are just calling things what they are what you have an Instagram I do have an Instagram did it blow up after Wednesday came out it did in a way that I did not wasn't not anticipating any of that at all just like so many followers and comments yeah I think and it was weird I I've had projects come out where people started to recognize me or acknowledge me more on the street and that was manageable and easy but there was like a very obvious shift in my life maybe three days after the show came out wow yeah it was really I had never had to manage that like do you like what's your relationship like with that stuff because I I know like for me it can get toxic like it's ugly yeah it does I feel like it's the comparison culture of like so many images coming at you and you're like just comparing yourself yeah well it's a ball well for you especially because I feel like you were in it right before because you've been acting for so long you were in it kind of right you've seen the gradual shift to yeah we didn't even have Instagram when I was acting I I had like a private Instagram when I was in high school like just for my friends I wasn't allowed a Facebook growing up and that was like the cool thing and so like I never knew about the parties like they'd have to text me like get a Facebook like but I wasn't allowed one um so I had a little private Instagram and like a Snapchat yeah which I don't anymore but yeah then I when I was 18 I got a public Instagram and that was like a huge thing and it was also such a dilemma I'm like should I get one should I not yeah it's difficult I I see when I first started acting it was told to me you know with by my first agency really that I had to have wow a public platform and that that's what I had to be and also when I did television shows when I was younger they would take us to um media training or they would call it you know Disney 101 or something like that where you would go and they would give you a notebook and pens and pencils and paper and they would say okay you're gonna post three times a day this is how you get the most engagement this is how you get people like this is how you build followers download these apps as well engage you know promote our show on so it became a business or you go into some sort of audition or meeting and it was how many followers do you have yeah I didn't get a part once because I didn't have enough followers yeah it's which I was like it was so weird they're like so they were great but your numbers I'm like oh God I was that way a little bit a little bit for a while I was not media trained I'm still like I'm like still just post whatever even after shooting Wednesday when I was auditioning for um certain roles they would ask me uh or they would come to my team uh we like her but we just don't know if she has enough of a platform or enough of a name or enough you know because it's so important it's really really ugly and I think about social media what it does to to to anyone our age is it's such a it's such a comparing game and in such an um I think it almost influences bandwagon mentality where it's so easy to follow what a trend may be or you know as soon as you see a trend especially the way the algorithms are set up it's it's all you're seeing and all you're feeding on and it's just not brainwashing in a sense but just very very manipulative and I get really really nervous to I feel like after the show especially I'm really really nervous to post or really say anything on there or or even be myself because I feel like it could be misinterpreted or some yeah but yeah yeah that's like a whole another world that people don't even prepare you for yeah and I naturally because I'm I tend to be sarcastic or dry I feel like I it's very easy for me to find myself I wish I could be funnier on my Instagram like that I wish I'm like I was like I'm like I could say something really funny I could do and then I'm like oh no but I can't because people are not gonna like we're just it's just gonna yeah it's not gonna land it's not gonna work you're thrown to the dogs and you know I was I was actually just talking about this because my when I first started acting my mom told me that I had to use my platform for good yeah I had to be you know vocal about things that were matter it mattered to me or were important in the world in society whatever and I had to get good grades I couldn't have you know not all straight A's but I remember growing up and when I started creating this platform for myself I just thought I am going to be funny and I am gonna or you know share whatever jokes yeah and I'm gonna be honest and I'm gonna be myself and I'm gonna be vulnerable because I want people to be able to watch movies and also get to know the people behind the camera and feel like they're attainable or realize that you know people should never be put on a pedestal like nobody is more special than another because of of what they do and then the more uh I guess I've I've been exposed to the world in a sense I people pray on that and take advantage of that and and they see your vulnerability and and twist it in a way that twist it in a way that you don't always expect so it's just like a it's so so strange sorry I don't mean to do this I don't know I don't even feel like I was gonna do this but it is like it's like such a hard thing to balance because it's how do you be honest without um jeopardizing your own health and and safety and and feeling like you're um it's very easy to feel like almost out of control of things which is why it's so important I think for people to get off the phone and you know experience and I've been so so grateful and lucky to be with family and friends and things like that who who have been with me since I was a fetus yeah or a child or four or five are real people and know me for who I am but it's definitely been like a it's scary out there you just want to protect yourself exactly and also just know when to put it away I know it doesn't matter yeah that's not the real world you know I will say like the last couple of years I've gotten much better about not being on my phone or not reading comments yeah because I know that that's such an ugly cycle that that people go through but it's definitely like yeah I was so nervous to even do this interview because I was like oh man I never do long they'll probably say we said something who knows yeah but but not even that it's just uh what do I talk about for so long or or how do I because again I still have this like really really intense urge to be human and honest and just authentic I I another thing about this industry is you know you get in front of the camera and people want you to be something else like you were saying it's the puppet thing where it's uh have more energy or could you smile a bit more or could you sell this more and it's it just feels so gross and I don't want to feel gross no I would rather you know people see me cry and do whatever than yeah you know be something that I'm not which I don't I don't know if you found that you've you've got a couple years on me so it's like no I mean I think I I hear you it's and it's so beautiful that you are so open and honest about your feelings because I think not a lot of people are and I think it's such a it's so courageous for you to put that out there and to say that and I think it also can help so many people as well it doesn't matter if we're in the public eye or not we're all like human beings and we all this is it is a feeling um and I think like you also you said like you getting just surrounding yourself with um people that know you and um you know your family and your friends that you know are going to be truthful and honest with you and love you for you is really important I feel like that's something that I've learned it's like my friends aren't really in the industry or anything like they're just just so nice yeah and like my family and I think that's what's really been important and um it's you know it's a real Saving Grace for me because they're my unit and I have them and they know the real me you know which is important to have that and I think a little like it's not even mystery but it's like keeping your like something's private and for yourself yeah to protect that side you know of of you yeah that's definitely what a lot of it is is yeah keeping your own your own pieces yes it I think it's good to be private in a sense you want to share a bit but I think there's a part of you that also it's like important to to keep to yourself that you know you know I've felt more private than ever I think recently which is you feel you like that I feel so so grateful to have the job that we have because to be consistently passionate about and excited about something every day that I go to work regardless of the hours regardless of the time regardless of um you know the stress that that it could bring it's um really such a pleasure and it's something that I I see myself always doing and that's why it's yeah the social media and and having to carry yourself in another lighter yeah or how do you even represent yourself in photos and things like that it's insane like oh yeah this is this is me yeah all done up yeah yeah I'm just gonna consistently post photos of myself so like you guys know what I look like yeah but it's all that's changed I got a new haircut yeah guess what yeah because you care yeah um no but it it is funny to kind of coming to the realization that something like that is completely worth it for the opportunity to do what we do and to even be consistently working it's yeah and I think like you said to use it as a space that you can highlight things that you care about and also show a little bit of your personality too because I think like before social media I don't know before that it's like you didn't really have a platform for yourself do I guess that's the good side of it that you can kind of speak you know to to what you believe in and are people across the world can communicate and what I will say about my generation because I think it's very easy for us to be talked about as as the you know screens lazy unmotivated whatever the difficult yeah things that people are going to talk we are also having conversations that haven't always been accessible to anybody and and I feel like um there's a lot of uh well it's well it's hard I mean generalizations and assumptions are dangerous and we should stay away from those so I can't speak about it in a grand yeah since but I do feel that we have opened a lot of um space online for you know communities and people being able to resonate with people and and maybe sometimes make people feel less alone and knowing that there's someone on the other side of the world without feeling the same exact way or we're able to amplify and support other people's voices that maybe wouldn't be getting as much recognition or support um you know on a global sense which I think has been really really fascinating to watch and I just hope that that we continue to use that and use use our our platforms to just kind of uplift one another and and make sure that everyone is is heard and equal because it's it is very easy to get lost in there as well [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music]