February 8, 2021 • 39 mins
Not many people can transition from singing competition shows to a regular role on a sitcom, but Hayley Orrantia has pulled it off!
Wells sits down with Hayley to hear some stories from her time on The Goldbergs and what it was like to compete on The X Factor.
And find out the new project she’s working on in Nashville that’s TOTALLY different from anything she’s done before!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I just ate an entire plate of bacon to myself
and am I ashamed? Yes, it was a delicious Also, yes,
we got an air fryer. So we've made it to
that stage of adulthood. I don't know if I'm proud
of that either. It's kind of admitting that you've given
up on the traditional sense of cooking. You're like, listen,
(00:22):
I just I'm not going to use the oven anymore.
I'm gonna use this toaster situation that's got a fan
in it. And I don't really know how the science works,
nor do I even know if it's any good for me.
Could be throwing gamma rays into my food. I don't know, guys,
but I've given up and I just want everything to
be easy as I slowly devolve into an old person. Also,
(00:43):
I think my air fryer is on steroid Zoe, because
every time I put something in there, it is done
way before like the little cheat sheet says it should
be done, and sometimes we're burning stuff. So I don't know,
but yeah, we're at that stage of our lives where
we were at the stage of our lifer where we
were talking about air fryers a lot, which is depressing.
(01:03):
Then we got said fryer of the air, and now
we're air frying and we're talking about what to air fry,
and we're buying cookbooks on Amazon about what cookbooks would
be the best for Sarah and I to air fry
things with. So Today's Super Bowl Sunday. I know it's
gonna come out. It's gonna come out tomorrow. But um,
do I have some wings marinating ready for the air fryer? Yeah?
(01:25):
I do. Am I excited about it? Yeah? Did I
put some money on the game? Yeah? I did. The
Chief's gonna win, so I think so because Patrick Mahomes
and I was like, Brady is so good. Have you
seen badroom homes? Like there's like no look passes and stuff.
Brady is so old. He's past the air fryer portion
of life. I don't even know what's next. He was
in the air fryer portion of life five years ago
(01:47):
in Boston. Now he's in the Tapi yoca portion of life.
Now he's looking great. You know that guy's never had
coffee before, hasn't had a granule of sugar in like
twelve years. If that's what it takes to win a
Super Bowl, I don't want to ring keep it all right,
I want my coffee, I want my good poop afterwards,
(02:07):
and then I want to donut. Okay, So anyways, hopefully
I was right because I put some money on the Chiefs,
and I could use the electration money because I've been
spending it on air fryer materials. Very excited abou the
Weals cast Today. One of the stars from The Goldbergs
is on the show, a show that I am obsessed with.
Sarah and I watched it all the time. I believe
(02:28):
they used to have the spot after Modern, so we'd
watched Modern Family into the Goldbergs. I think that's how
it worked. Anyways, we watched every week anyways, but such
a great show. And this woman's story is kind of
crazy because yes, she's on this like really long running,
amazingly popular sitcom, but she started through a singing competition.
(02:50):
It's hard to do. It's hard to go from reality
TV singing competition to like starve a TV show. I
can't think of a lot of them. My friend Katie Stevens,
who was on American Aisles, she's now in the Bold Type.
That's one. And then maybe our guest this week. This
is the show you do not want to miss. Coming
up on the Wells Cast. Hayley or Anthea play the intro. Doe,
(03:12):
Let's get an air fryer, guys, let's fry some air.
This is a Wells Cast with Wells Atoms and I
Heart Radio podcast. Hello, Hello, how are you? I'm good.
(03:34):
You've got a cool hat on. Thank you? You got
a cool office. Yeah. Well, when a pandemic hits, you
gotta do it up the right way. I feel you
turn lemons into vodka drinks. How's it going, it's going.
It's been a little bit of a busy morning, but
always exciting. So are you just doing press for Goldberg
(03:57):
stuff today? That's kind of what Well, it's been a
little bit of and seems like a common conversation I'm
having is about um, my home flipping business that I
do in Nashville with my family. So outside of that,
it's kind of just mostly been Goldberg's mid season premiere.
You ready to go? Yeah, alright, We're back in the
(04:18):
Wells Cast. Very excited to half one of the stars
of one of my favorite shows on ABC, The Goldbergs.
It's Hayley or Antia. How are you good. How hurt you?
I'm great. I'm a studio city. But I know that
you live in l A. But then also in Nashville.
So where are you right now? Well, technically I am
also in studio city, sirs. So that's very weird. You
(04:41):
might be down the street from me, But I do
live in Nashville part time. I just haven't been able
to go for a while because a pandemic happened. But otherwise, yeah,
I'm kind of in between both. You know that I
lived in Nashville for twelve years. Yes, and that's not
where you're from, though, is it. No, I'm from California,
but I lived there after college and did radio and stuff.
I'm surprised that I never I guess I ran into
(05:03):
you out there. What where do you live in Nashville? Um?
Do you know the twelveth South area? Yeah, okay, I
have a place there, and I adore it. That part
of town so fun. But Nashville in the last five
years especially has been really fun with all these new
restaurants coming in and bars opening up, and I mean, again,
in a normal non pandemic world, but yeah, I love
(05:25):
it so much, and I secretly might love it a
little more than l A. But you know, it depends
on the day I've held on my house over there
on the East Side. So if I ever can travel again,
I think Sarah and I are going to try to
do half the year in Nashville. That's that's the plan
for tax reasons. Such a good place right right, exactly
(05:45):
for tax purposes, but also because seasons. Um, that's something
I miss and it's kind of nice to be able
to sneak off to there and have a little bit
of that. I want to talk about the Goldberg's season eight,
but first, Yeah, I do some research on you, and
are you like getting in the h G t V game, Like,
are you the next like Joanna Gaines because you're flipping
(06:08):
houses out in Nashville. Look, don't compliment me with a
Joanna Gaines thing, because I adore her, um and I
would die one day to meet her. But we'll talk
about that later. No, my dad, before I was born,
was like flipping houses in his hometown of Great Falls, Montana.
And then I did a little bit in my hometown
of Dallas, Texas. And then once I started going to Nashville,
(06:30):
you know, five or six years ago, and we've seen
this kind of boom in the market, We're like, why
don't we start doing it there? Um, So he started,
you know, inquiring with different properties, and it wasn't until
twenty that I actually signed on to be kind of
a partner in our company. And um, yeah, so one
thing led to another, and these production companies started hitting
us up about the idea because pretty much my entire
(06:52):
family's involved with different jobs. Um my mom, my dad,
my uncle, my cousin, and myself, and so I guess
it kind of writes itself in that way. But no
TV show quite yet, but that would be awesome. What's
your style? What's your aesthetic? Because it ship lap and
subway tile? Is it modern? What are we going for here? Well,
(07:14):
in Nashville, honestly, it depends like on where I am,
because in Nashville, I my house is very like modern farmhouse.
But here in l A it's been an interesting mash
up of like I always have a little bit of
Boho in my life, but um, it's kind of uh,
(07:34):
mid century industrial meats Boh in a weird way. Um.
Lots of plants, so that's a thing good for you
that you can keep them alive. I haven't figured that
part out. Okay, So Pie in the Sky? Where do
you want this show to go? Like, what do you
want it? Netflix? Do you want it? H G t V?
(07:54):
I mean, do you think that Disney and ABC would
pick this up? Because you gotta put this ship out
there in the universe if you want to happen. Definitely.
I also don't want to pigeonhole idea in case one
doesn't like it. Uh No, Honestly, we would love to
have conversations with the Magnolia Network, which is CHIP and
join the Games network, UM, HDTV, Disney plus HBO Max,
(08:19):
just because me and my family have a bit of
a potty mouth, so that might play better in met platform.
Um So, I don't know. We're kind of open to
We also are in the process of developing what it
even look like, so based on how the format works,
it might cater to a different network, So we don't
really know quite yet. That's like my dream job. I
didn't think this is where this interview is going to go,
(08:41):
but like you have to know that I am obsessed
with those shows, Sarah and I literally all we watch
before we go to bed. So I'm excited for you.
This is cool and when it gets going, if you
guys want to do an episode at our house, come on, dude,
I mean collaboration episode. Perhaps I see that in the future.
(09:02):
I think. So our budget is dollars, but we need
you to do like two dollars of the work, right,
somehow we'll figure the math out and it'll end up
working out. It will be beautiful. Yeah. I'm so curious though,
on those shows if when they style it, if they
actually get to keep that furniture, if it's just for
(09:23):
the sake of the show. Would you know the answer
to that? So, I think because my friend Brandy Cyrus
and her mom did a show that was that was
basically that, and from what I understand, no, you don't
get to keep that staging stuff that sucks. It does
suck because then you can then you know your crap
from like the last house in there, and you're like,
(09:44):
this looks right like a dark brown letter couch because
you've had some nineties six that you're just like, I
guess this will work. It like really disappointing. Yeah, but
it was good luck on that, I'm sure. I mean,
that just sounds like it's gonna sell itself. Speaking the
shows that are very successful. You're in your eighth season
of The Goldbergs. Did you think starting out that this
(10:06):
thing was going to run this long? No, I honestly
landed this show in such a miraculous way. Like I
I've really never worked on anything before this, and so
this was like my first real gig, and then to
have it go this long on a network like this
is pretty insane. You know, you always have hopes that
it will and I loved the writing so much, especially
(10:28):
in that first audition when I got it. I'm like,
there's something to this show that just resonates with me
that you wanted to and you put it out in
the universe. But I don't think any of us knew
that it was definitely gonna happen. But now we've gotten
into a comfortable space. I think people like it, so
hopefully we can keep doing it. I'm trying to get
to Sarah's status. Yeah, you're close. I remember so when
Modern rapped, I was having a conversation with a bunch
(10:51):
of writers and stuff, and I was like, do you
think that there will be a show that will do
this now? Because it's very you know, back in the day,
those single shows could run Forever, Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, and
just like the way that the market has changed with
streaming services and stuff, it just seems like the appetite
for those type of shows are starting to dwindle. But
(11:14):
then I'm like, I don't know, Big Bang went forever,
and you guys are on your eighth season, so I
don't know. I guess my question is I wonder if
this is going to be like one of the last
iterations of this or not. Well, that's what we've been
wondering too, because as we're doing this show and it's
still got a great audience that tunes in every week,
and we're very grateful for that, there's also a part
(11:35):
of us that's like, we're not seeing this format work
out as often, and when I watched shows on my
own time, it's usually through streaming networks and a lot
of the times they're limited series, and it's just a
new phase of entertainment that we're kind of entering. So
it's it's we're kind of all in a little bit
of a middle ground trying to figure out what's next,
but grateful that we've been able to go this long
(11:56):
and honestly wouldn't hate it if we were one of
the last dinosaurs or network television. Is this what I
will take it? Your character, Erica wasn't supposed to be
a girl from what I understand. Did you know that
going into this? So I knew this was about a
real family, but I didn't. I don't think it was
(12:16):
until a little bit later after meeting the creator of
the show, UM, once I booked it, that I was
informed that it was based on his older brother Eric,
And you know, with developing the show, I guess they
realized that turning it into an older sister could appeal
to you know, any younger women that would be watching.
I guess I don't know, UM, And so I'm grateful
(12:37):
for it because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to
book it, I don't think. But it's kind of created
an interesting dynamic because every other actor on our show
has this sort of like booming cloud of like this
is a real person, right, But I kind of get
the excuse to or the writers are able to freely
write for things that maybe weren't applicable to Eric because
(13:00):
I've changed to a girl in the show. So UM,
for example, like my character was never supposed to sing,
and that's something that I do in my off time,
and so I mentioned it to the creator of the
show and then it kind of ended up becoming a
part of the character because they allowed you know, there
was that wiggle room in between all of it. So
it's kind of worked out for the best. It's funny
(13:20):
stuff like that tends to work, I think the best
on shows. One of my favorite examples of that Eric
stone Street from Modern who plays Cam. He was a
clown in his past life, like he like fisbo was
a real thing he did, and so he brought it
to the writers and they were like, holy sh it, Okay,
well we've got to make this thing. And that's the
episode that he wanted. Emmy for all those writers just
(13:45):
going home just like watching their families and just trying
to figure out, like what the next episode is going
to look like and get ideas, and then when actors
come in with you know, already like a bag of tricks,
they are like, hell, yes, this will make my job
so much easier, which I think it's so cool. Definitely,
I know that with storyline ends. Wendy micklen and Covey,
who plays Beverly on the show. She actually came to
set with a storyline that was something that happened to
(14:07):
her that ended up making the show because it's a
very Beverly esque thing where her mom was actually listening
in on her and her friends hanging out in her
bedroom and fell asleep outside of her door, and so
she like opens the door and she's like, what the hell.
It's pretty incredible, Like sometimes actors do have these little
nuggets of things from their personal life that really applied
(14:27):
to what's happening in this show. It's great like going
back to like them writing the show and turning Eric
into Erica because it makes more sense for viewers and
stuff and brings more people in. But there's also a
part of me that's like, if I was writing a
show and my family knew I was writing about my family,
what I would do to my brother is I would
(14:48):
turn him into a girl on the show, just because
that's a siblings due to each other, you know. Honestly, yes,
I think that in a way. And I've actually talked
to the real Eric Goldberg, and at the beginning he
was very okay not being associated in a way with
that with the show, because if anything bad happened to
(15:10):
any of the other where they announced anything that maybe
these people had done in real life. He can hide
behind the fact that it's not really him. But then
I think later on maybe he's like, I kind of
want to be on the show so kind of a
weird middle ground, But your character has gotten like a
big character arc. You got to start as kind of
a dork, and now you get to play the cool person.
(15:34):
Like that seems unfair to me? Was that because you
get the best of both worlds, you know? I it
started out where the character was described in the audition
to be like the cool girl at high school, like
he's always ashamed of her embarrassing younger brothers. And then
they started getting into season one and they're like, let's
do a throwback ninth grade Erica thing where she's got
(15:57):
braces and crazy hair. And I love because it it
allowed me to really step outside of my comfort zone
and do some goofy ship I would have never done before.
I do say it is a little bit of the
best of both worlds. But we haven't seen her in
a long time. I'm kind of wishing they would bring
her back again. Yeah, it's kind of like Monica on Friends.
You know that she was yes, where they had like
(16:19):
the throwback where she was a lot heavier. But sometimes
it's just it's just such good comedy like that. Friends
is one of my all time favorite shows, so she
did so great in that, and it does feel a
little bit like you get to step outside of your
character for just a little while and and be ridiculous, um,
which is a lot of fun. And I also think
it helps for the viewer to understand the character development
(16:43):
of that person, Like I understood Monica so much more
when I found out her neuroses and being such a
neurotic person came from this past life of hers. And
I think that that's a cool way to like continue
to grow the character for the viewer, especially if you
go as many seasons as Modern did, where it's just
like at that point you have to find that sort
(17:04):
of like dynamic in there because it's it's Friends went
ten seasons as well, It's like you want a little
bit of that dynamic in who they are. The cast
of the Goldbergs is just packed and awesome. Who is
your favorite person to do scenes with? Oh, that's so difficult.
There's so for different reasons. Um, I like working with
(17:27):
different people, like Wendy McLennan Covey, who plays but really
she's just so entertaining to watch because she has she
has this great improv background, and she'll just kind of
throw things at you out of nowhere that you don't expect,
and it makes it so much more fun to be
a part of UM. And I can never keep a
straight face with her. So I really enjoy working with Wendy.
(17:49):
But I also love doing scenes with the JT P,
which is like the younger group of guys and Barry's
friends on the show UM, just because we're also close
in age and just the hanging out in between the
scenes that is really fun to UM. I don't know
like it's difficult because it's always been different people that
I have different experiences, even George Siegel, who's eighty four
(18:11):
now I think, who you would think I have no
nothing to relate to on but he also plays music
and he's just like an amazing human being and has
one of the greatest laughs you'll ever hear in your life.
So I love doing scenes with him just because you
never know what he's going to say. He's kind of
got this crotchety old man thing that he'll pull out
every now and then. That's so fun to be around.
(18:34):
Who's taught you the most about the craft of acting
from that cast? I would say just by watching Wendy Um,
I think she she just does so well, Like she's
such a great leader, um for our show. The way
that not only just as an actress and getting to
see how she can you know, throw in something completely
(18:55):
random that uh just works so well. She's not She's
capable and willing to like just be free in the scene. Um.
She's also not afraid of of looking ridiculous for the
sake of comedy, which is something I struggled with when
I first got into it, where I'm like, how do
you just be okay with knowing that you look insane
right now? Like or dancing ridiculously? How are you people
(19:17):
are watching this? But that's just a part of what
the comedy is and and acting and being comfortable in
that space. So I've learned a lot just by watching her,
and she's an incredible leader to our crew. Like I
haven't really gotten the experience to work on too many
other sets, but the way that she um, I don't
know the right word, and manage is not the right word.
But the way she manages like being the number one
(19:39):
on the call sheet and creates these really personal relationships
with every crew member even is really inspiring, and it's
something that I think allows our set to feel as
intimate and fun as it is day in and day
out going into the show. Are you a fan of
Red and I one. I've seen a few episodes, but
I actually constantly get made fun of by my friends
(19:59):
and family because I don't. Actually, I've missed so many
iconic like movies and TV shows, and so I'm now
trying to do the process of going backwards and watching them. Um.
So I haven't seen the whole thing all the way through. Um,
but Bridesmaids, of course it is like iconic for me
and Wendy being in that. Uh. When I first auditioned
(20:20):
for the show, she was the first person who had
signed on, and I was like, I have to work
with her, Like that's just that has to happen. So
it was pretty wild that it ended up happening. And
she's just as amazing as she is, but in front
of the camera shees off, do you need to go
back and watch Reno because she's so good in that show?
And you can and you can tell it's it's got
(20:42):
to be like improv. And it's just those people are
just really funny, you know, like, Yeah, they have such
an ability that I personally feel like I lack too.
Just I don't know where these things come from that
they can find in their brains, that they're so quick
with it. And the one scene that of course goes
viral on the internet almost every year from Marina nine
(21:04):
one is Wendy doing the d u I pulling over
and he does the dance. Oh my god. For like
four years of working on the show with her, I
would see that video comeback up on the Internet and
I'm like, this video is so funny. Literally, like three
or four years into this show, I see it come
up again and I go, wait a minute, is that
Like I didn't even I thought it was just like
(21:26):
a video someone did all the internet, when at first
you think gets real and then I'm like, oh my god,
that's incredible. So that's my favorite thing to talk to
her about. So what's the next thing that's gonna happen
for the Goldberg's. I mean, you guys have done almost
everything your eight seasons in uh doesn't look like you're
stopping anytime soon. What's gonna happen going forward? That's tough
(21:46):
because the writers never really tell me anything. It's kind
of always a mystery to me. But for my character specifically,
Um finally settling in on what she wants to do
with her life and a career, and we see kind
of an interesting dynamic happen this year with her and
her boyfriend Jeff, who have been together for a really
long time. So I don't want to give too much away,
(22:07):
but there's going to be kind of a shift in
the way things happen with them Um, And I don't know,
it's going to be interesting because this year is the
youngest Goldberg Sean jam Bronie plays Adam and he's graduating
high school after this, so I don't know what they
have planned as far as that transition is, because then
the you know, Beverly is going to be an empty nester,
(22:28):
so that will probably cause you know, problems of its own.
You talked earlier about how you know, your love of
music kind of bled into the show, but it is
a real thing that you aren't actual recording artists. What
are you working on in terms of the musical aspect.
It's been hard of this pandemic because I would normally
go to Nashville and be co writing with some friends
(22:50):
of mine, and I would often just rely on the
producers there that I would work with two help me
like shape what the song would look like and actually
do the recording. But since that hasn't been the case
this year, I moved into this house and it does
have a recording studio in the grash, so I've been
kind of challenging myself a little bit to record my
(23:11):
own demos. Um and my boyfriend does really great work
in the studio because he knows what he's doing, so
hoping to collaborate with him a little bit. And i'd
love to produce an album this year. Um. I don't
know if I would do the full production, but I
would love to at least get the groundwork and obviously
right on my own, maybe maybe co writes on Zoom.
But sometimes it's really hard to do. It's just it
(23:33):
feels very different. But the goal is to just keep
releasing music. UM, I do it independently, I always have,
and I kind of just can't help myself. I just
have to keep releasing music. You lean towards like the
country genre or format. Is that always what you gravitated
towards being from Texas? Funny you ask, um, not at all.
I really didn't. I listened to a lot of different
(23:54):
things growing up, a lot of soul and R and
B from my mom and um, big vocalists like Whitney Houston,
Celindian were like very big influences for me. And then
it you know, when I started, I was fourteen or
fifteen and met with labels and was doing more of
like remember Jojo the song set out Leave. She was
(24:16):
like my idol, that's the day, So I like loved
that song. So I wanted to do like a jojo thing,
just that kind of sound, and um, you know, it
just wasn't. I was fourteen and they're like, we have
a jojo, so like you know, And it wasn't until
I was on The X Factor in two thousand eleven
(24:37):
that I was put into a country pop girl group
on the show that I started recognizing like, oh, there's
actually country pop music that I really like and resonate with.
And once I started songwriting, things were just like naturally
coming out with a country twist and so no matter
what I do. There's always going to be a little
bit of that storytelling that country has in my music. Um,
(24:59):
but I do just love singer songwriter stuff, and I
want to try to challenge my sound more this year
than I have before, now that I had the ability
to kind of do that on my own. Um. So
for now, it's been country pop leaning, but I don't
really know where it's going to go the next day. Well,
I was listening to some of it beforehand, and you're
super talented. It's just I mean, it seems a little
(25:21):
unfair that you get to be good at like all
these things. But it's just fine whatever. Um. So The
Goldberg's Wednesdays on ABC. Check local listings eighth season. Um,
is there anything that I didn't ask you about that
you want to talk about or promote before we kind
(25:41):
of transition over to my portion of the show. Oh man?
Um No, I mean, yeah, tune into The Goldbergs and
stay tuned for when music does come out. I don't
have anything quite yet, but I'm gonna and keep your
fingers crossed for me that we can get a show
on television about my craziest family. So we'll see. It's
(26:02):
a lot of We'll see you in a moment. Yes,
tweet to the heads of HBO, Max and Netflix and
hd TV and Mickey Mouse and get this show on TV. Alright,
quick break when we come back, did anyone tell you
what the show is mean? But I'm down for anything.
It's an origin story. I like to find out how
people got to become successful, the road you took, you know,
(26:25):
the sacrifices you had to make to to get to
this point. So when we come back, we're gonna find
out where the hell Haley came from and how the
hell she got here. Stick around back in the wells,
Gast have Haley or Antia on the show. She plays
(26:48):
Erica on The Goldberg's. I mean, you've been in a
bunch of movies as well. Other TV shows been off,
like Schooled. You're now working on flipping houses in Nashville,
which definitely probably will be a reality show unscripted in
the near future. You're an amazing and talented musician. Seems
(27:09):
like you do it all. I'm so excited to find
out how the hell you got here. So, I mean
I touched on it kind of in the first half
of the show. I know you come from Texas, Where
were you born. I was born in a suburb outside
of Dallas, UM in Highland Village, which is like Denton County,
which is more familiar to people who aren't from there.
But yeah, I grew up in in Denton and moved
(27:31):
to l A when I was nineteen to start the Goldbergs.
Highland Village different than Highland Park in Dallas, I assume,
very different. Um. Highland Park is a very wealthy area,
very nice and not that high. The village isn't, but
very different levels. Okay, So you grow up kind of
(27:52):
in the suburbs of Big d Um. Are you the oldest,
the youngest, the middle child, the only child? What's about? Like?
I am the only and I feel like that might
show a little bit, but yeah, I'm the only one.
So were you What were you like as a kid?
Were you were you kind of like always entertaining, entertaining
(28:13):
and singing? Were you quiet? What was that like? Very bossy?
I've heard in my life. Um, I like to talk
a lot. I know what I want and I always
wanted to play teacher and of course be the teacher.
So that was something I had to grow out of.
But I don't think I did because then I just
(28:33):
grew up to be like a girl boss. So you know,
I feel like it ended up kind of working itself out.
I have no way of relating to this because I
am the youngest of five, I like come from this
huge family. I feel like where I come from is
I was the youngest. I was the mistake, so I
(28:54):
was very much like always trying to get attention and
always having to be like the class clown and stuff.
But I imagine, and tell me if I'm wrong. If
you are the only child, then the people that you're
surrounded by our adults, so it makes you kind of
like an old soul immediately. Is that right or is
that not right? Thousand and I feel that with my
(29:17):
other friends that are only children as well, where um
you're just always around your parents friends, and there you
just kind of take on this like mindset of I
don't know why, but I've always been more comfortable with
people older than me. Um, I rarely have friends that
are my age. I've always been that way, and I
(29:39):
don't know if it's just because I feel like I
can't relate on a lot of levels. I do think
that that's an inaccurate stereotype. That we kind of have
an old soul a little bit. So were you in
like performing arts classes and stuff and and singing classes
and piano classes. When I was nine, I was singing
in the car with a family friend we had, like
(29:59):
her and her kid. We had gone like roller skating,
and we were on our way back and I was
saying along to the radio and she's like, I got
a great voice, like you should sing for your parents.
And I was nine, so I'm like okay. So I
went home and she was like seeing something. So I
sang amazing grace acapella and they were like, oh, you
have something there, Like do you want to take classes?
So it was then that I started taking lessons in
(30:22):
my hometown. I joined the choir in my elementary school
and I think middle school as well. Um, so I
would like dabbled in just art after that. Yeah, I
can't fathom doing anything else. I'm very unathletic, so I
wish I somehow would have been able to ballop a
little bit of that, but didn't work for me. You're
growing up in Dallas and then you moved to Los
(30:43):
Angeles for what reason? Um, well, there was a lot
that happened in between there, but I ended up um
auditioning for the Goldbergs and uh, it was the week
that I came out of her pilot season. I actually
was driving in a couple of hours outside of l
A when I got the audition and I was told
to put it on tape the second I got into
(31:03):
like our airbnb. Um, And so I did that and
then submitted it, got a call back, and then ended
up booking the show. So I ended up moving out
here like four months after that. Okay, then I jumped
in time. So you said that there's a lot that
happened in between that. What happened in between that? So
between like just singing in my hometown at like festivals
(31:23):
and I'm talking like pumpkin patch festivals, Like my parents
were the only ones of the audience kind of thing.
Um to my mom telling me, like, you should really
audition for The X Factor. It's coming to the US,
and I think, you know, Simon Cawel is a part
of it. I had zero interest because I just watched
a lot of people joined those shows and not really
(31:45):
like anything hit for them afterwards. So I didn't want
that to happen. But when I was seventeen, I did
it and submitted an online audition just to get My
mom was up talking to me about it and I
ended up getting a phone call and they said come
audition in Seattle and front of the judges. Did that
made it all the way through the Hollywood round and
then they put me in a girl group on the show.
(32:06):
It's the same way that Fifth Harmony and One Direction
were put together on X Factor. UM. So I was
put into a country pop girl group and it was
that experience that was like my first on camera with
that kind of audience. UM. Terrifying, slightly messed up just
given the context of competition shows like that. UM. But
(32:28):
then after that I had started auditioning again. I missed
a step because when I was fourteen, before the X Factor,
my manager had introduced me to different record labels and
they were like, you're great, you know, trying to do
the jojo thing, but you know, you might as well
just go do the Disney Channel thing where you get
a TV show and a record deal in one. And
I had zero interest in acting. I always was only
(32:50):
interested in music. So I started I was like, okay,
if I'll do what I gotta do, started taking lessons
in my hometown in Dallas, where people like Selena Gomez
and Demi Lovato went to the same school. They're from
the same area, and I was like, this must be
where you learn how to do that. So I started
taking lessons, never booked anything, didn't really understand acting, and
(33:12):
it wasn't until after the X Factor that I'm like,
I'll just keep auditioning and see if something happens that
I ended up booking the Goldberg's Did you Win X Factor? No,
we made it to ninth place, which is okay because
we literally met each other on the show um and
had like a week to figure out how to just
be a girl group in order to win, and so
(33:34):
it was very hard. The dynamics were very different, but
we're all still friends and yeah, it was just, yeah,
it's an interesting time. Those shows are cringe e a
little bit for me. Was it presented to the audience
that you guys were a group before a couple of
weeks prior. Was it like, this is the girl group
from Dallas that everyone needs to know about. No, we
(33:57):
all auditioned individually and some of us had our our
solo auditions air on the show, and then they put
you together and they kind of like take credit for
being like I found all of these people and put
them together. So that's how we met. Um. And funny enough,
one of the girls who I actually clicked within the
auditions ended up being one of the girls in my
(34:19):
girl group. Out of the thousands of people that had
auditioned and hundreds that were at the Hollywood thing, she
actually is the only one that's doing music, um as
a signed artist. I don't know if you've ever heard
of Fletcher Um, but she's pop artists and she was
in my my girl group at the time and so
pretty wild. But um, we actually ended up connecting ahead
of that, and it was nice to have somebody that,
(34:41):
you know, we knew a little bit before we knew
we were going to be a girl group. Okay, so
you get ninth on X Factor and you go back
to Dallas and then you're like, all right, let's go
to l A and let's see what happens. So yeah,
I was seventeen when I started the X Factor. I
actually said team when we finished it as well. I
(35:02):
think I finished out my high school online, which sucks
because I went to public school in my whole life
and and really loved it, so finished high school and
then I was like, I guess I'll just audition and
figure out. I really didn't want to go to college
because I didn't want to waste money not knowing what
I was going to do. Um and I got very
lucky in that timing when I went out to that
pilot season to book the show, and I did, and
then the rest of history eight seasons later. Yep, at nineteen,
(35:26):
moved l A and been here really ever since. So
that's awesome. Yeah. Thanks, I'm running out of time with you, Haley,
but I wanted to do some rapid fire questions before
you go. Are you ready for this? Yeah? All right,
here we go to have a fire questions with Haley
or Antia Fire Pizza topping. First concert ever went to
Factory Boys. What was your first job? I worked for
(35:48):
my dad's catering company. Do you have a poster hanging
on your bedroom wall as a kid? It was of
the Spice Girls? Yes, h what's your favorite flower? Gerbert Daisy?
It's a weirdest superstition you have. That's a good one,
say walking under a ladder, but that's probably not true.
I don't know what your thoughts on air, fryers don't
know how they work, but delicious outcomes. Who's your first kiss?
(36:14):
Vince from the football team. What would you rather win?
A Grammy or an Oscar? Oh? Wow, maybe an Oscar
because I feel like that would be something I never
expected would happen, So it would be like even more epic.
Not that I expect a Grammy to happen by any means,
but both. All right. When you finally, when you're Grammy,
(36:37):
which is wouna be so easy? Who are you gonna
who are you gonna think? Oh? Definitely my mom and dad.
They sacrificed a lot for me to be able to
get here, So them for sure. Hayley, thanks so much
for being on the show. Your story is crazy and
awesome and you are as well. Everyone go watch The
Goldberg's season eight's on Wednesdays on ABC. Let's cross our
(36:59):
fingers for this, so this flipping Houses show that needs
to find its way on TV. Go listen to your
music and if people want to follow you, where do
they go? You can go really on any social platform,
Hayley rantia um and especially TikTok love me a good TikTok?
All right, dude, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you.
It was great hanging with you. Take care bye. Well.
(37:21):
She was lovely, love her love the Goldbergs. I gotta
get myself on one of the HG TV shows. So right,
that's the dream job. That is the dream job. I'm
gonna go watch the super Bowl, go make some wings
in the air. Frier, what do you guys have any
suggestions on how to do things in the air Frier
tweets me at Wells Adams or Instagram DM me at
Wells Adams. I could use all the help I get. Also,
(37:42):
if you want to make suggestions for like other guests
we should have on the show, whatever, you can tweet
to me there as well. Hey, if you like the show,
please go rate and review. Oh I thought I would
do a new thing. I thought I would read a
nice review at the end of each show to kind
of like entice you guys to go make more reviews,
because then if you do that, then the show gets
more popular, and then I can make more money from
the show. I think. I don't know. This one comes
(38:03):
from Yogi Girl to five one subject line love the podcast,
Thanks five Stars. Here's what she says, so well is
a great interviewer loves that he listens to his guests,
doesn't interrupt them when they're speaking like many other hosts.
Who's she throwing shade at? I agree with you, Yugy girl,
she says, I enjoy a y f T with Brandon too. Okay,
that's my other podcast. Oh thanks, Yogi girl. And this
(38:25):
one comes from Free House. Subject line loves Sadie. That's
referring to the episode I think we had last week
or the week before with Sadie Robertson from like Duck
Dynasty and stuff. I enjoyed your interview with Sadie. You
always seem to get things out of people that one
normally doesn't know. I always learned something from all your interviews.
Oh thank you. Anyways, go out leave a review like
(38:48):
that or at least something funny whatever. I'll read it
on the air. Yeah, all right, go Chiefs, go air friars,
go Goldberg's Apple Podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It's guys,
I just ate an entire plate of bacon to myself
and am I ashamed? Yes, it was a delicious Also, yes,
we got an air fryer. So we've made it to
that stage of adulthood. I don't know if I'm proud
of that either. It's kind of admitting that you've given
up on the traditional sense of cooking. You're like, listen,
(00:22):
I just I'm not going to use the oven anymore.
I'm gonna use this toaster situation that's got a fan
in it. And I don't really know how the science works,
nor do I even know if it's any good for me.
Could be throwing gamma rays into my food. I don't know, guys,
but I've given up and I just want everything to
be easy as I slowly devolve into an old person. Also,
(00:43):
I think my air fryer is on steroid Zoe, because
every time I put something in there, it is done
way before like the little cheat sheet says it should
be done, and sometimes we're burning stuff. So I don't know,
but yeah, we're at that stage of our lives where
we were at the stage of our lifer where we
were talking about air fryers a lot, which is depressing.
(01:03):
Then we got said fryer of the air, and now
we're air frying and we're talking about what to air fry,
and we're buying cookbooks on Amazon about what cookbooks would
be the best for Sarah and I to air fry
things with. So Today's Super Bowl Sunday. I know it's
gonna come out. It's gonna come out tomorrow. But um,
do I have some wings marinating ready for the air fryer? Yeah?
(01:25):
I do. Am I excited about it? Yeah? Did I
put some money on the game? Yeah? I did. The
Chief's gonna win, so I think so because Patrick Mahomes
and I was like, Brady is so good. Have you
seen badroom homes? Like there's like no look passes and stuff.
Brady is so old. He's past the air fryer portion
of life. I don't even know what's next. He was
in the air fryer portion of life five years ago
(01:47):
in Boston. Now he's in the Tapi yoca portion of life.
Now he's looking great. You know that guy's never had
coffee before, hasn't had a granule of sugar in like
twelve years. If that's what it takes to win a
Super Bowl, I don't want to ring keep it all right,
I want my coffee, I want my good poop afterwards,
(02:07):
and then I want to donut. Okay, So anyways, hopefully
I was right because I put some money on the Chiefs,
and I could use the electration money because I've been
spending it on air fryer materials. Very excited abou the
Weals cast Today. One of the stars from The Goldbergs
is on the show, a show that I am obsessed with.
Sarah and I watched it all the time. I believe
(02:28):
they used to have the spot after Modern, so we'd
watched Modern Family into the Goldbergs. I think that's how
it worked. Anyways, we watched every week anyways, but such
a great show. And this woman's story is kind of
crazy because yes, she's on this like really long running,
amazingly popular sitcom, but she started through a singing competition.
(02:50):
It's hard to do. It's hard to go from reality
TV singing competition to like starve a TV show. I
can't think of a lot of them. My friend Katie Stevens,
who was on American Aisles, she's now in the Bold Type.
That's one. And then maybe our guest this week. This
is the show you do not want to miss. Coming
up on the Wells Cast. Hayley or Anthea play the intro. Doe,
(03:12):
Let's get an air fryer, guys, let's fry some air.
This is a Wells Cast with Wells Atoms and I
Heart Radio podcast. Hello, Hello, how are you? I'm good.
(03:34):
You've got a cool hat on. Thank you? You got
a cool office. Yeah. Well, when a pandemic hits, you
gotta do it up the right way. I feel you
turn lemons into vodka drinks. How's it going, it's going.
It's been a little bit of a busy morning, but
always exciting. So are you just doing press for Goldberg
(03:57):
stuff today? That's kind of what Well, it's been a
little bit of and seems like a common conversation I'm
having is about um, my home flipping business that I
do in Nashville with my family. So outside of that,
it's kind of just mostly been Goldberg's mid season premiere.
You ready to go? Yeah, alright, We're back in the
(04:18):
Wells Cast. Very excited to half one of the stars
of one of my favorite shows on ABC, The Goldbergs.
It's Hayley or Antia. How are you good. How hurt you?
I'm great. I'm a studio city. But I know that
you live in l A. But then also in Nashville.
So where are you right now? Well, technically I am
also in studio city, sirs. So that's very weird. You
(04:41):
might be down the street from me, But I do
live in Nashville part time. I just haven't been able
to go for a while because a pandemic happened. But otherwise, yeah,
I'm kind of in between both. You know that I
lived in Nashville for twelve years. Yes, and that's not
where you're from, though, is it. No, I'm from California,
but I lived there after college and did radio and stuff.
I'm surprised that I never I guess I ran into
(05:03):
you out there. What where do you live in Nashville? Um?
Do you know the twelveth South area? Yeah, okay, I
have a place there, and I adore it. That part
of town so fun. But Nashville in the last five
years especially has been really fun with all these new
restaurants coming in and bars opening up, and I mean, again,
in a normal non pandemic world, but yeah, I love
(05:25):
it so much, and I secretly might love it a
little more than l A. But you know, it depends
on the day I've held on my house over there
on the East Side. So if I ever can travel again,
I think Sarah and I are going to try to
do half the year in Nashville. That's that's the plan
for tax reasons. Such a good place right right, exactly
(05:45):
for tax purposes, but also because seasons. Um, that's something
I miss and it's kind of nice to be able
to sneak off to there and have a little bit
of that. I want to talk about the Goldberg's season eight,
but first, Yeah, I do some research on you, and
are you like getting in the h G t V game, Like,
are you the next like Joanna Gaines because you're flipping
(06:08):
houses out in Nashville. Look, don't compliment me with a
Joanna Gaines thing, because I adore her, um and I
would die one day to meet her. But we'll talk
about that later. No, my dad, before I was born,
was like flipping houses in his hometown of Great Falls, Montana.
And then I did a little bit in my hometown
of Dallas, Texas. And then once I started going to Nashville,
(06:30):
you know, five or six years ago, and we've seen
this kind of boom in the market, We're like, why
don't we start doing it there? Um, So he started,
you know, inquiring with different properties, and it wasn't until
twenty that I actually signed on to be kind of
a partner in our company. And um, yeah, so one
thing led to another, and these production companies started hitting
us up about the idea because pretty much my entire
(06:52):
family's involved with different jobs. Um my mom, my dad,
my uncle, my cousin, and myself, and so I guess
it kind of writes itself in that way. But no
TV show quite yet, but that would be awesome. What's
your style? What's your aesthetic? Because it ship lap and
subway tile? Is it modern? What are we going for here? Well,
(07:14):
in Nashville, honestly, it depends like on where I am,
because in Nashville, I my house is very like modern farmhouse.
But here in l A it's been an interesting mash
up of like I always have a little bit of
Boho in my life, but um, it's kind of uh,
(07:34):
mid century industrial meats Boh in a weird way. Um.
Lots of plants, so that's a thing good for you
that you can keep them alive. I haven't figured that
part out. Okay, So Pie in the Sky? Where do
you want this show to go? Like, what do you
want it? Netflix? Do you want it? H G t V?
(07:54):
I mean, do you think that Disney and ABC would
pick this up? Because you gotta put this ship out
there in the universe if you want to happen. Definitely.
I also don't want to pigeonhole idea in case one
doesn't like it. Uh No, Honestly, we would love to
have conversations with the Magnolia Network, which is CHIP and
join the Games network, UM, HDTV, Disney plus HBO Max,
(08:19):
just because me and my family have a bit of
a potty mouth, so that might play better in met platform.
Um So, I don't know. We're kind of open to
We also are in the process of developing what it
even look like, so based on how the format works,
it might cater to a different network, So we don't
really know quite yet. That's like my dream job. I
didn't think this is where this interview is going to go,
(08:41):
but like you have to know that I am obsessed
with those shows, Sarah and I literally all we watch
before we go to bed. So I'm excited for you.
This is cool and when it gets going, if you
guys want to do an episode at our house, come on, dude,
I mean collaboration episode. Perhaps I see that in the future.
(09:02):
I think. So our budget is dollars, but we need
you to do like two dollars of the work, right,
somehow we'll figure the math out and it'll end up
working out. It will be beautiful. Yeah. I'm so curious though,
on those shows if when they style it, if they
actually get to keep that furniture, if it's just for
(09:23):
the sake of the show. Would you know the answer
to that? So, I think because my friend Brandy Cyrus
and her mom did a show that was that was
basically that, and from what I understand, no, you don't
get to keep that staging stuff that sucks. It does
suck because then you can then you know your crap
from like the last house in there, and you're like,
(09:44):
this looks right like a dark brown letter couch because
you've had some nineties six that you're just like, I
guess this will work. It like really disappointing. Yeah, but
it was good luck on that, I'm sure. I mean,
that just sounds like it's gonna sell itself. Speaking the
shows that are very successful. You're in your eighth season
of The Goldbergs. Did you think starting out that this
(10:06):
thing was going to run this long? No, I honestly
landed this show in such a miraculous way. Like I
I've really never worked on anything before this, and so
this was like my first real gig, and then to
have it go this long on a network like this
is pretty insane. You know, you always have hopes that
it will and I loved the writing so much, especially
(10:28):
in that first audition when I got it. I'm like,
there's something to this show that just resonates with me
that you wanted to and you put it out in
the universe. But I don't think any of us knew
that it was definitely gonna happen. But now we've gotten
into a comfortable space. I think people like it, so
hopefully we can keep doing it. I'm trying to get
to Sarah's status. Yeah, you're close. I remember so when
Modern rapped, I was having a conversation with a bunch
(10:51):
of writers and stuff, and I was like, do you
think that there will be a show that will do
this now? Because it's very you know, back in the day,
those single shows could run Forever, Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, and
just like the way that the market has changed with
streaming services and stuff, it just seems like the appetite
for those type of shows are starting to dwindle. But
(11:14):
then I'm like, I don't know, Big Bang went forever,
and you guys are on your eighth season, so I
don't know. I guess my question is I wonder if
this is going to be like one of the last
iterations of this or not. Well, that's what we've been
wondering too, because as we're doing this show and it's
still got a great audience that tunes in every week,
and we're very grateful for that, there's also a part
(11:35):
of us that's like, we're not seeing this format work
out as often, and when I watched shows on my
own time, it's usually through streaming networks and a lot
of the times they're limited series, and it's just a
new phase of entertainment that we're kind of entering. So
it's it's we're kind of all in a little bit
of a middle ground trying to figure out what's next,
but grateful that we've been able to go this long
(11:56):
and honestly wouldn't hate it if we were one of
the last dinosaurs or network television. Is this what I
will take it? Your character, Erica wasn't supposed to be
a girl from what I understand. Did you know that
going into this? So I knew this was about a
real family, but I didn't. I don't think it was
(12:16):
until a little bit later after meeting the creator of
the show, UM, once I booked it, that I was
informed that it was based on his older brother Eric,
And you know, with developing the show, I guess they
realized that turning it into an older sister could appeal
to you know, any younger women that would be watching.
I guess I don't know, UM, And so I'm grateful
(12:37):
for it because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to
book it, I don't think. But it's kind of created
an interesting dynamic because every other actor on our show
has this sort of like booming cloud of like this
is a real person, right, But I kind of get
the excuse to or the writers are able to freely
write for things that maybe weren't applicable to Eric because
(13:00):
I've changed to a girl in the show. So UM,
for example, like my character was never supposed to sing,
and that's something that I do in my off time,
and so I mentioned it to the creator of the
show and then it kind of ended up becoming a
part of the character because they allowed you know, there
was that wiggle room in between all of it. So
it's kind of worked out for the best. It's funny
(13:20):
stuff like that tends to work, I think the best
on shows. One of my favorite examples of that Eric
stone Street from Modern who plays Cam. He was a
clown in his past life, like he like fisbo was
a real thing he did, and so he brought it
to the writers and they were like, holy sh it, Okay,
well we've got to make this thing. And that's the
episode that he wanted. Emmy for all those writers just
(13:45):
going home just like watching their families and just trying
to figure out, like what the next episode is going
to look like and get ideas, and then when actors
come in with you know, already like a bag of tricks,
they are like, hell, yes, this will make my job
so much easier, which I think it's so cool. Definitely,
I know that with storyline ends. Wendy micklen and Covey,
who plays Beverly on the show. She actually came to
set with a storyline that was something that happened to
(14:07):
her that ended up making the show because it's a
very Beverly esque thing where her mom was actually listening
in on her and her friends hanging out in her
bedroom and fell asleep outside of her door, and so
she like opens the door and she's like, what the hell.
It's pretty incredible, Like sometimes actors do have these little
nuggets of things from their personal life that really applied
(14:27):
to what's happening in this show. It's great like going
back to like them writing the show and turning Eric
into Erica because it makes more sense for viewers and
stuff and brings more people in. But there's also a
part of me that's like, if I was writing a
show and my family knew I was writing about my family,
what I would do to my brother is I would
(14:48):
turn him into a girl on the show, just because
that's a siblings due to each other, you know. Honestly, yes,
I think that in a way. And I've actually talked
to the real Eric Goldberg, and at the beginning he
was very okay not being associated in a way with
that with the show, because if anything bad happened to
(15:10):
any of the other where they announced anything that maybe
these people had done in real life. He can hide
behind the fact that it's not really him. But then
I think later on maybe he's like, I kind of
want to be on the show so kind of a
weird middle ground, But your character has gotten like a
big character arc. You got to start as kind of
a dork, and now you get to play the cool person.
(15:34):
Like that seems unfair to me? Was that because you
get the best of both worlds, you know? I it
started out where the character was described in the audition
to be like the cool girl at high school, like
he's always ashamed of her embarrassing younger brothers. And then
they started getting into season one and they're like, let's
do a throwback ninth grade Erica thing where she's got
(15:57):
braces and crazy hair. And I love because it it
allowed me to really step outside of my comfort zone
and do some goofy ship I would have never done before.
I do say it is a little bit of the
best of both worlds. But we haven't seen her in
a long time. I'm kind of wishing they would bring
her back again. Yeah, it's kind of like Monica on Friends.
You know that she was yes, where they had like
(16:19):
the throwback where she was a lot heavier. But sometimes
it's just it's just such good comedy like that. Friends
is one of my all time favorite shows, so she
did so great in that, and it does feel a
little bit like you get to step outside of your
character for just a little while and and be ridiculous, um,
which is a lot of fun. And I also think
it helps for the viewer to understand the character development
(16:43):
of that person, Like I understood Monica so much more
when I found out her neuroses and being such a
neurotic person came from this past life of hers. And
I think that that's a cool way to like continue
to grow the character for the viewer, especially if you
go as many seasons as Modern did, where it's just
like at that point you have to find that sort
(17:04):
of like dynamic in there because it's it's Friends went
ten seasons as well, It's like you want a little
bit of that dynamic in who they are. The cast
of the Goldbergs is just packed and awesome. Who is
your favorite person to do scenes with? Oh, that's so difficult.
There's so for different reasons. Um, I like working with
(17:27):
different people, like Wendy McLennan Covey, who plays but really
she's just so entertaining to watch because she has she
has this great improv background, and she'll just kind of
throw things at you out of nowhere that you don't expect,
and it makes it so much more fun to be
a part of UM. And I can never keep a
straight face with her. So I really enjoy working with Wendy.
(17:49):
But I also love doing scenes with the JT P,
which is like the younger group of guys and Barry's
friends on the show UM, just because we're also close
in age and just the hanging out in between the
scenes that is really fun to UM. I don't know
like it's difficult because it's always been different people that
I have different experiences, even George Siegel, who's eighty four
(18:11):
now I think, who you would think I have no
nothing to relate to on but he also plays music
and he's just like an amazing human being and has
one of the greatest laughs you'll ever hear in your life.
So I love doing scenes with him just because you
never know what he's going to say. He's kind of
got this crotchety old man thing that he'll pull out
every now and then. That's so fun to be around.
(18:34):
Who's taught you the most about the craft of acting
from that cast? I would say just by watching Wendy Um,
I think she she just does so well, Like she's
such a great leader, um for our show. The way
that not only just as an actress and getting to
see how she can you know, throw in something completely
(18:55):
random that uh just works so well. She's not She's
capable and willing to like just be free in the scene. Um.
She's also not afraid of of looking ridiculous for the
sake of comedy, which is something I struggled with when
I first got into it, where I'm like, how do
you just be okay with knowing that you look insane
right now? Like or dancing ridiculously? How are you people
(19:17):
are watching this? But that's just a part of what
the comedy is and and acting and being comfortable in
that space. So I've learned a lot just by watching her,
and she's an incredible leader to our crew. Like I
haven't really gotten the experience to work on too many
other sets, but the way that she um, I don't
know the right word, and manage is not the right word.
But the way she manages like being the number one
(19:39):
on the call sheet and creates these really personal relationships
with every crew member even is really inspiring, and it's
something that I think allows our set to feel as
intimate and fun as it is day in and day
out going into the show. Are you a fan of
Red and I one. I've seen a few episodes, but
I actually constantly get made fun of by my friends
(19:59):
and family because I don't. Actually, I've missed so many
iconic like movies and TV shows, and so I'm now
trying to do the process of going backwards and watching them. Um.
So I haven't seen the whole thing all the way through. Um,
but Bridesmaids, of course it is like iconic for me
and Wendy being in that. Uh. When I first auditioned
(20:20):
for the show, she was the first person who had
signed on, and I was like, I have to work
with her, Like that's just that has to happen. So
it was pretty wild that it ended up happening. And
she's just as amazing as she is, but in front
of the camera shees off, do you need to go
back and watch Reno because she's so good in that show?
And you can and you can tell it's it's got
(20:42):
to be like improv. And it's just those people are
just really funny, you know, like, Yeah, they have such
an ability that I personally feel like I lack too.
Just I don't know where these things come from that
they can find in their brains, that they're so quick
with it. And the one scene that of course goes
viral on the internet almost every year from Marina nine
(21:04):
one is Wendy doing the d u I pulling over
and he does the dance. Oh my god. For like
four years of working on the show with her, I
would see that video comeback up on the Internet and
I'm like, this video is so funny. Literally, like three
or four years into this show, I see it come
up again and I go, wait a minute, is that
Like I didn't even I thought it was just like
(21:26):
a video someone did all the internet, when at first
you think gets real and then I'm like, oh my god,
that's incredible. So that's my favorite thing to talk to
her about. So what's the next thing that's gonna happen
for the Goldberg's. I mean, you guys have done almost
everything your eight seasons in uh doesn't look like you're
stopping anytime soon. What's gonna happen going forward? That's tough
(21:46):
because the writers never really tell me anything. It's kind
of always a mystery to me. But for my character specifically,
Um finally settling in on what she wants to do
with her life and a career, and we see kind
of an interesting dynamic happen this year with her and
her boyfriend Jeff, who have been together for a really
long time. So I don't want to give too much away,
(22:07):
but there's going to be kind of a shift in
the way things happen with them Um, And I don't know,
it's going to be interesting because this year is the
youngest Goldberg Sean jam Bronie plays Adam and he's graduating
high school after this, so I don't know what they
have planned as far as that transition is, because then
the you know, Beverly is going to be an empty nester,
(22:28):
so that will probably cause you know, problems of its own.
You talked earlier about how you know, your love of
music kind of bled into the show, but it is
a real thing that you aren't actual recording artists. What
are you working on in terms of the musical aspect.
It's been hard of this pandemic because I would normally
go to Nashville and be co writing with some friends
(22:50):
of mine, and I would often just rely on the
producers there that I would work with two help me
like shape what the song would look like and actually
do the recording. But since that hasn't been the case
this year, I moved into this house and it does
have a recording studio in the grash, so I've been
kind of challenging myself a little bit to record my
(23:11):
own demos. Um and my boyfriend does really great work
in the studio because he knows what he's doing, so
hoping to collaborate with him a little bit. And i'd
love to produce an album this year. Um. I don't
know if I would do the full production, but I
would love to at least get the groundwork and obviously
right on my own, maybe maybe co writes on Zoom.
But sometimes it's really hard to do. It's just it
(23:33):
feels very different. But the goal is to just keep
releasing music. UM, I do it independently, I always have,
and I kind of just can't help myself. I just
have to keep releasing music. You lean towards like the
country genre or format. Is that always what you gravitated
towards being from Texas? Funny you ask, um, not at all.
I really didn't. I listened to a lot of different
(23:54):
things growing up, a lot of soul and R and
B from my mom and um, big vocalists like Whitney Houston,
Celindian were like very big influences for me. And then
it you know, when I started, I was fourteen or
fifteen and met with labels and was doing more of
like remember Jojo the song set out Leave. She was
(24:16):
like my idol, that's the day, So I like loved
that song. So I wanted to do like a jojo thing,
just that kind of sound, and um, you know, it
just wasn't. I was fourteen and they're like, we have
a jojo, so like you know, And it wasn't until
I was on The X Factor in two thousand eleven
(24:37):
that I was put into a country pop girl group
on the show that I started recognizing like, oh, there's
actually country pop music that I really like and resonate with.
And once I started songwriting, things were just like naturally
coming out with a country twist and so no matter
what I do. There's always going to be a little
bit of that storytelling that country has in my music. Um,
(24:59):
but I do just love singer songwriter stuff, and I
want to try to challenge my sound more this year
than I have before, now that I had the ability
to kind of do that on my own. Um. So
for now, it's been country pop leaning, but I don't
really know where it's going to go the next day. Well,
I was listening to some of it beforehand, and you're
super talented. It's just I mean, it seems a little
(25:21):
unfair that you get to be good at like all
these things. But it's just fine whatever. Um. So The
Goldberg's Wednesdays on ABC. Check local listings eighth season. Um,
is there anything that I didn't ask you about that
you want to talk about or promote before we kind
(25:41):
of transition over to my portion of the show. Oh man?
Um No, I mean, yeah, tune into The Goldbergs and
stay tuned for when music does come out. I don't
have anything quite yet, but I'm gonna and keep your
fingers crossed for me that we can get a show
on television about my craziest family. So we'll see. It's
(26:02):
a lot of We'll see you in a moment. Yes,
tweet to the heads of HBO, Max and Netflix and
hd TV and Mickey Mouse and get this show on TV. Alright,
quick break when we come back, did anyone tell you
what the show is mean? But I'm down for anything.
It's an origin story. I like to find out how
people got to become successful, the road you took, you know,
(26:25):
the sacrifices you had to make to to get to
this point. So when we come back, we're gonna find
out where the hell Haley came from and how the
hell she got here. Stick around back in the wells,
Gast have Haley or Antia on the show. She plays
(26:48):
Erica on The Goldberg's. I mean, you've been in a
bunch of movies as well. Other TV shows been off,
like Schooled. You're now working on flipping houses in Nashville,
which definitely probably will be a reality show unscripted in
the near future. You're an amazing and talented musician. Seems
(27:09):
like you do it all. I'm so excited to find
out how the hell you got here. So, I mean
I touched on it kind of in the first half
of the show. I know you come from Texas, Where
were you born. I was born in a suburb outside
of Dallas, UM in Highland Village, which is like Denton County,
which is more familiar to people who aren't from there.
But yeah, I grew up in in Denton and moved
(27:31):
to l A when I was nineteen to start the Goldbergs.
Highland Village different than Highland Park in Dallas, I assume,
very different. Um. Highland Park is a very wealthy area,
very nice and not that high. The village isn't, but
very different levels. Okay, So you grow up kind of
(27:52):
in the suburbs of Big d Um. Are you the oldest,
the youngest, the middle child, the only child? What's about? Like?
I am the only and I feel like that might
show a little bit, but yeah, I'm the only one.
So were you What were you like as a kid?
Were you were you kind of like always entertaining, entertaining
(28:13):
and singing? Were you quiet? What was that like? Very bossy?
I've heard in my life. Um, I like to talk
a lot. I know what I want and I always
wanted to play teacher and of course be the teacher.
So that was something I had to grow out of.
But I don't think I did because then I just
(28:33):
grew up to be like a girl boss. So you know,
I feel like it ended up kind of working itself out.
I have no way of relating to this because I
am the youngest of five, I like come from this
huge family. I feel like where I come from is
I was the youngest. I was the mistake, so I
(28:54):
was very much like always trying to get attention and
always having to be like the class clown and stuff.
But I imagine, and tell me if I'm wrong. If
you are the only child, then the people that you're
surrounded by our adults, so it makes you kind of
like an old soul immediately. Is that right or is
that not right? Thousand and I feel that with my
(29:17):
other friends that are only children as well, where um
you're just always around your parents friends, and there you
just kind of take on this like mindset of I
don't know why, but I've always been more comfortable with
people older than me. Um, I rarely have friends that
are my age. I've always been that way, and I
(29:39):
don't know if it's just because I feel like I
can't relate on a lot of levels. I do think
that that's an inaccurate stereotype. That we kind of have
an old soul a little bit. So were you in
like performing arts classes and stuff and and singing classes
and piano classes. When I was nine, I was singing
in the car with a family friend we had, like
(29:59):
her and her kid. We had gone like roller skating,
and we were on our way back and I was
saying along to the radio and she's like, I got
a great voice, like you should sing for your parents.
And I was nine, so I'm like okay. So I
went home and she was like seeing something. So I
sang amazing grace acapella and they were like, oh, you
have something there, Like do you want to take classes?
So it was then that I started taking lessons in
(30:22):
my hometown. I joined the choir in my elementary school
and I think middle school as well. Um, so I
would like dabbled in just art after that. Yeah, I
can't fathom doing anything else. I'm very unathletic, so I
wish I somehow would have been able to ballop a
little bit of that, but didn't work for me. You're
growing up in Dallas and then you moved to Los
(30:43):
Angeles for what reason? Um, well, there was a lot
that happened in between there, but I ended up um
auditioning for the Goldbergs and uh, it was the week
that I came out of her pilot season. I actually
was driving in a couple of hours outside of l
A when I got the audition and I was told
to put it on tape the second I got into
(31:03):
like our airbnb. Um, And so I did that and
then submitted it, got a call back, and then ended
up booking the show. So I ended up moving out
here like four months after that. Okay, then I jumped
in time. So you said that there's a lot that
happened in between that. What happened in between that? So
between like just singing in my hometown at like festivals
(31:23):
and I'm talking like pumpkin patch festivals, Like my parents
were the only ones of the audience kind of thing.
Um to my mom telling me, like, you should really
audition for The X Factor. It's coming to the US,
and I think, you know, Simon Cawel is a part
of it. I had zero interest because I just watched
a lot of people joined those shows and not really
(31:45):
like anything hit for them afterwards. So I didn't want
that to happen. But when I was seventeen, I did
it and submitted an online audition just to get My
mom was up talking to me about it and I
ended up getting a phone call and they said come
audition in Seattle and front of the judges. Did that
made it all the way through the Hollywood round and
then they put me in a girl group on the show.
(32:06):
It's the same way that Fifth Harmony and One Direction
were put together on X Factor. UM. So I was
put into a country pop girl group and it was
that experience that was like my first on camera with
that kind of audience. UM. Terrifying, slightly messed up just
given the context of competition shows like that. UM. But
(32:28):
then after that I had started auditioning again. I missed
a step because when I was fourteen, before the X Factor,
my manager had introduced me to different record labels and
they were like, you're great, you know, trying to do
the jojo thing, but you know, you might as well
just go do the Disney Channel thing where you get
a TV show and a record deal in one. And
I had zero interest in acting. I always was only
(32:50):
interested in music. So I started I was like, okay,
if I'll do what I gotta do, started taking lessons
in my hometown in Dallas, where people like Selena Gomez
and Demi Lovato went to the same school. They're from
the same area, and I was like, this must be
where you learn how to do that. So I started
taking lessons, never booked anything, didn't really understand acting, and
(33:12):
it wasn't until after the X Factor that I'm like,
I'll just keep auditioning and see if something happens that
I ended up booking the Goldberg's Did you Win X Factor? No,
we made it to ninth place, which is okay because
we literally met each other on the show um and
had like a week to figure out how to just
be a girl group in order to win, and so
(33:34):
it was very hard. The dynamics were very different, but
we're all still friends and yeah, it was just, yeah,
it's an interesting time. Those shows are cringe e a
little bit for me. Was it presented to the audience
that you guys were a group before a couple of
weeks prior. Was it like, this is the girl group
from Dallas that everyone needs to know about. No, we
(33:57):
all auditioned individually and some of us had our our
solo auditions air on the show, and then they put
you together and they kind of like take credit for
being like I found all of these people and put
them together. So that's how we met. Um. And funny enough,
one of the girls who I actually clicked within the
auditions ended up being one of the girls in my
(34:19):
girl group. Out of the thousands of people that had
auditioned and hundreds that were at the Hollywood thing, she
actually is the only one that's doing music, um as
a signed artist. I don't know if you've ever heard
of Fletcher Um, but she's pop artists and she was
in my my girl group at the time and so
pretty wild. But um, we actually ended up connecting ahead
of that, and it was nice to have somebody that,
(34:41):
you know, we knew a little bit before we knew
we were going to be a girl group. Okay, so
you get ninth on X Factor and you go back
to Dallas and then you're like, all right, let's go
to l A and let's see what happens. So yeah,
I was seventeen when I started the X Factor. I
actually said team when we finished it as well. I
(35:02):
think I finished out my high school online, which sucks
because I went to public school in my whole life
and and really loved it, so finished high school and
then I was like, I guess I'll just audition and
figure out. I really didn't want to go to college
because I didn't want to waste money not knowing what
I was going to do. Um and I got very
lucky in that timing when I went out to that
pilot season to book the show, and I did, and
then the rest of history eight seasons later. Yep, at nineteen,
(35:26):
moved l A and been here really ever since. So
that's awesome. Yeah. Thanks, I'm running out of time with you, Haley,
but I wanted to do some rapid fire questions before
you go. Are you ready for this? Yeah? All right,
here we go to have a fire questions with Haley
or Antia Fire Pizza topping. First concert ever went to
Factory Boys. What was your first job? I worked for
(35:48):
my dad's catering company. Do you have a poster hanging
on your bedroom wall as a kid? It was of
the Spice Girls? Yes, h what's your favorite flower? Gerbert Daisy?
It's a weirdest superstition you have. That's a good one,
say walking under a ladder, but that's probably not true.
I don't know what your thoughts on air, fryers don't
know how they work, but delicious outcomes. Who's your first kiss?
(36:14):
Vince from the football team. What would you rather win?
A Grammy or an Oscar? Oh? Wow, maybe an Oscar
because I feel like that would be something I never
expected would happen, So it would be like even more epic.
Not that I expect a Grammy to happen by any means,
but both. All right. When you finally, when you're Grammy,
(36:37):
which is wouna be so easy? Who are you gonna
who are you gonna think? Oh? Definitely my mom and dad.
They sacrificed a lot for me to be able to
get here, So them for sure. Hayley, thanks so much
for being on the show. Your story is crazy and
awesome and you are as well. Everyone go watch The
Goldberg's season eight's on Wednesdays on ABC. Let's cross our
(36:59):
fingers for this, so this flipping Houses show that needs
to find its way on TV. Go listen to your
music and if people want to follow you, where do
they go? You can go really on any social platform,
Hayley rantia um and especially TikTok love me a good TikTok?
All right, dude, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you.
It was great hanging with you. Take care bye. Well.
(37:21):
She was lovely, love her love the Goldbergs. I gotta
get myself on one of the HG TV shows. So right,
that's the dream job. That is the dream job. I'm
gonna go watch the super Bowl, go make some wings
in the air. Frier, what do you guys have any
suggestions on how to do things in the air Frier
tweets me at Wells Adams or Instagram DM me at
Wells Adams. I could use all the help I get. Also,
(37:42):
if you want to make suggestions for like other guests
we should have on the show, whatever, you can tweet
to me there as well. Hey, if you like the show,
please go rate and review. Oh I thought I would
do a new thing. I thought I would read a
nice review at the end of each show to kind
of like entice you guys to go make more reviews,
because then if you do that, then the show gets
more popular, and then I can make more money from
the show. I think. I don't know. This one comes
(38:03):
from Yogi Girl to five one subject line love the podcast,
Thanks five Stars. Here's what she says, so well is
a great interviewer loves that he listens to his guests,
doesn't interrupt them when they're speaking like many other hosts.
Who's she throwing shade at? I agree with you, Yugy girl,
she says, I enjoy a y f T with Brandon too. Okay,
that's my other podcast. Oh thanks, Yogi girl. And this
(38:25):
one comes from Free House. Subject line loves Sadie. That's
referring to the episode I think we had last week
or the week before with Sadie Robertson from like Duck
Dynasty and stuff. I enjoyed your interview with Sadie. You
always seem to get things out of people that one
normally doesn't know. I always learned something from all your interviews.
Oh thank you. Anyways, go out leave a review like
(38:48):
that or at least something funny whatever. I'll read it
on the air. Yeah, all right, go Chiefs, go air friars,
go Goldberg's Apple Podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It's guys,
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