February 27, 2023 • 51 mins
Melissa Ponzio joins Holland and it’s an emotional rollercoaster. From her crazy audition story to personal tragedies that Melissa had to endure while they were filming. It’s a raw and heartfelt conversation you can’t miss.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is holler Back Now with me Holland Rowden and
I Hunt Radio podcast. Hey guys, and welcome to haller
Back Now. Today on the show, we have drum roll
Melissa Ponzio. Melissa Ponzio is a warrior on an off
screen that's your sister. I had no idea. I knew
(00:26):
you had a New York feel, but I didn't know
you were born in New York. M Yeah, I'm born
in New York Lower East Side at Israel Hospital, fourteenth
Street in First Avenue. And do you not, like, when
did you move away? Do you miss New York? How
did that transition happen from there to Atlanta? I know
there's a mini steps in between, obviously. Yeah. So my
parents actually lived in New York when I was born there.
(00:47):
They separated young, but my pop, my biological father, always
lived up there, and my whole family's up there, and
so I go up there quite often. In fact, I
was just up there last week right after the premiere
I left and I spent a week up there. That's
why you're in New York, Okay, yeah, yeah, So it's
in my veins, you know all. I love the city.
It's something that's always been very constant for me, and
(01:09):
you know, it's home. And how did you transition? I
know you lived in LA for a long time. Yeah, so, um,
my parents divorced when I was young, and my mom
remarried into the restaurant business to my stepdad, and so
then we were transferred around like almost like the army.
I mean we were we were Atlanta to Ohio, down
to West Palm Beach, Florida, back to Atlanta. And you know,
(01:32):
so I actually went to college here in Atlanta and
then was in news for a while. I was an
assignment editor for the CBS. I didn't know that, Yeah,
we have, We not had this conversation. No, I was
just passing. I really didn't know what I was doing.
Do you have footage of this? I mean, I'm sure
I have, like my audition tape, because I thought I
was going to be Maria Shriver. But I was still,
(01:52):
you know, I was gigging it. I was still I
was taking acting classes. I was getting my feet wet,
and at one point it kind of leveled out to
where I had to, you know, make choice, and I
made the choice and it was the right one. I mean,
you know, it was definitely the right one. But you
have which I think it helps both paths. This like
incredible source of empathy, Like you can feel the empathy
(02:15):
like radiate off you. And I don't know the first
person to say that you're very kind. I mean I think, yeah,
I would say that I'm a nurturer. I would say that. Also,
I'm inquisitive. You know, it's always you know, I think
I'm the one that's always on set asking what's going
on and you know who's doing what and what what
and sit down and tell me all of it. So
I'm naturally inquisitive and so yeah, so that helps. I think. Wow,
(02:36):
on both fields, I had no idea. Oh my gosh.
We usually do like more of a cold open, and
I like dived right in because I was like, you know,
we usually don't begin with the birth, but I'm like
New York, Yeah, I could easily see you being an
interviewer to get back to the CBS news. You know,
I don't remember so much from school, but I do
remember one thing, and this was our teacher at George
(02:57):
State University. He was just like this hard ex journalist
and he was like I remember the first day he
came in, he was like I'm here to tell you
none of you are gonna make it. Just like though,
guess this guy's talking about seriously, He's like, none of
you will make it straight face, and I remember him
saying that, and then he's like, when you're doing an
interview and you put that mic to their face and
(03:19):
they say that sound bite, you leave that mic there
because the first thing they say isn't what you want
to hear. It's always the second, and that has proved
to be true. People are you know, when you have
that mic in front of them, they give you what
they think that you want to hear, and then if
you leave it there, they get a little bit uncomfortable
that they have to fill the space, and then they
just keep going and then that's when you get it.
(03:41):
You learn so much about psychology as an interviewer, which
helps you with acting. Yeah, you're probably one of the
most aware of people I've ever met as an actor,
which I love the pragmaticness about you because I think
I share that with you. We're very pragmatic. People were like,
how you doing, I'm good? How are you very raw?
We share a best friend. We start a very good friend.
(04:02):
Jessica Losa. Yes, Jessica, who is on this podcast, shout
out yes, and she was there for the origin of
us both walking into the show. Teen Wolf. Isn't that wild.
It's a small world. It's always a small It always
proves to me to be such a small world. You
had a whole career before Teen Wolf, and I did
not know this until this interview. Oh, you were on
Dawson's Creek. Yes, oh, Jwson's Creek and One Tree Hill
(04:27):
and One Tree Hill. Yes, just one episode, not one episode? Well, no,
I take that back, One Tree Hill. I think it
was two. I was one of the like, I was
one of the booster moms on One Tree Hill and
then I played some type of like a you know,
girlfriend poet that was on Dawson's Creek. It was a
lot of fun, it was Those shows were a lot
of fun. We had a lot of people working in Wilmington,
North Carolina. It was gonna say you saw the beginning
(04:48):
of Wilmington and shooting outside of Los Angeles. Yes, yes, yes,
And that was the first experience also kind of like
what we had in Atlanta where it was just this
family in this one place. And yes, everybody was from California,
and all these other wonderful places, but really it was
it was just us. And I feel like that happened
with teen Wolf here in Atlanta too. It was just
(05:09):
us One Tree Hill. I mean, you know, it's so strange.
It's so strange, Um what permeates? You know? And a
lot of people ask, you know me, and I'm sure
you like, what do you think it is? Lightning in
the bottle that you know has had team will you
know permeate all of these years? And I feel like
those are two shows also that kind of permeate. They're
just in the hearts of the people that watched it.
(05:30):
You know, they still have One Tree Hill conventions. I know.
I think there is a common ground of intention people
the certain kind of intention they put out in the world.
And then, obviously, like you said, just those energies together
and teen Wolf, there is a common We're all such
obviously different people, but there's a common thread of how
(05:52):
we've all lived our lives. And I would actually say
we're all relatively private people. We're all very pretty grounded people.
Is at least what Teen Wolf's you know, secret ingredient
was that kept us all so close and connected and
thankfully that chemistry translated in some capacity to the screen.
But I want to get to the team with moving
(06:12):
your reactions in your audition, and then we go through
the episode obviously, but the episode is called the Tell.
It's the fifth episode of the first season. We'll take
you through that episode. But but really quickly, you were
young to be a booster mom back then. Well, you know,
I seem to fall into that a lot because I was.
It's kind of like the magpies, you know, that's that's
that's what I would refer it to. I'm always kind
of like in that in that kind of like click
(06:34):
of women, that kind of like you're such a nurture
from the beginning. Same with Army Wives. It was me
and another actress here in Atlanta, Katie Neilan, and the
two of us were kind of like the girls that
were on the outside. You know, I'm making fun of
the other Army Wives, and so it's so funny. I
was going to ask you about Army Wives, Army Wives
Chicago Fire Dawson's Creek. I had no idea about one
(06:55):
true Hill. I somehow missed that part. But you had
quite a bit of success. You were there for two
or three years on Army Wives, right, Yeah, two seasons
and they went on, i think for seven seasons. You know.
The concept was and it was kind of going to
be just like an army base where they could really
just have all these wonderful women and guys come in
and kind of you know, helm that maybe a season
(07:18):
and it would be new and fresh. And that was
the beginnings of it. And then I think people just
really fell in love with those main characters, and you know,
they always had to like figure out how to keep
them on the base because that's not normal. Everybody gets
transferred in and out, you know. I mean it's just
like a constant shuffling of souls. But yeah, that was
really great. That's another one of those like we're up
there just shooting the show and nobody, you know, not
(07:40):
that nobody's paying attention, but we're able to kind of
do what we want for a season. And then it
was a huge hit for Lifetime, huge, huge. I remember
I remember Army Wives. That's around the time I started
acting in two thousand and seven, right, and then so
into the second into the third season, there was a
lot more input from everybody. But yeah, it was a
great show to be a part of Lovely Ladies, Very Lady,
(08:00):
and then from that was till two thousand and nine,
and then less than a year later, Team will come along.
That's right, Yeah, and you were told that you looked
like Tyler Posey. Is this how your audition came about?
So in brief, sorry, if Colton comes in the background,
there was a sneak, there was a sneak. There was
a sneak. There was a little bit of a sneak.
(08:22):
Someone tiptoeing. We'll have like two and three days sleepovers
together occasionally, wonderful. He either comes to my house or
I come to his house. Two peas in a pod,
you guys have always been two peas in a pod.
I know, it's weird. It's really weird. So in two
thousand and nine, if we're really going to get into
the nitty gritty of it, my mom passed away in
(08:42):
two thousand and nine, and so that was a very
formidable year for me. And through a series of events,
a manager from Los Angeles was here in Atlanta looking
at talent, and he happened upon some of my materials
and had a meeting with him. This would have been
my mom passed away in March two nine, and and
I probably met Robbie cast and Roxana run on probably
(09:06):
September October. Say that's an audition as well. Yeah, about six.
But I met him in Atlanta, and um, you were
a little bit ahead of me. And I was very honest.
I was like, I would love to try, you know,
Los Angeles, but mom just passed away, and I don't know.
My heart's in it. And he said, well, when your
heart's in it, let me know. And so, through a
series of events, um, I sent my materials out to
(09:27):
him and he's like, well, let me let me send
you this audition for the first Criminal Mind spin off.
I want to talk about like deep dive and so
and the chances, the chance irony of it and so. Um.
So I put it on tape on a Thursday at
four pm my time. At seven they called them. They're like,
can you be here Monday for a callback? And so
(09:48):
that actually started me going out to Los Angeles. And
so I went out there and you know for the
first week, and that was back like was the Criminal
Mind spin off? It was True Blood, it was Incis.
There was all kind of time of things and while
I was out there, one of my best friends from
Atlanta who's also an actress. Her name is Tiffany Morgan,
called me and she's like, hey, have you auditioned for
(10:11):
teen Wolf? I mean Susan had gone in, had gone in,
had gone in. They were looking for the antithesis of this.
As I, you know, circle my face as I rolled
my eyes. Yeah, I was like, no, I don't know
anything about it. And she's like, you look just like
the kid. You do look just like the kid. And
I looked him up and I was like, holy shit,
(10:32):
he could be my kid. You literally could be your kid.
I mean you'd be a little young to have that kid,
but you could totally have had that kid. Yeah. So um,
So I called Robbie while I was out there and
they were looking in Atlanta, got in out in Los Angeles,
got a call back, never thinking anything would happen, and
then I got a call. It must have been two
weeks later, and this is a true story. They were
(10:55):
They were like, well, you're not the first choice, but
the other girls that were approached they don't want to
go to Atlanta to work. And I was like, well
I'll go to Atlanta to work. Oh, don't worry about it.
You know, they just want you for three episodes. They're
probably just going to write the parents out, you know,
kind of like vampire diary style, and I was like,
I would be happy to and so that's how it
(11:15):
started for me. Wow, three episodes turned into you know,
season two where Jeff opened up the parents to the
you know, to the whole world. And here we are
on a hundred episodes later. So yeah, so you did
your callback in in Los Angeles. So original audition and
callback were out in Los Angeles, but heard about it
(11:36):
through best friend who was auditioning for it in Atlanta.
What a wild scenario. And you auditioned for the Criminal
Mind spin off which Jeff Davis created Criminal Minds in Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Los Angeles. That's what brought you out to
Los Angeles. Yeah, that's originally what brought me out. Jeff
literally brought you out to Los Angeles to then audition
for his other show to bring you back to Atlanta.
(11:58):
I guess. So, yeah, it was a very strange boomerang effect. Yes,
And I've been going through stuff downstairs and um, I
just recently ran across the original email for the Criminal
Mind spinoff and I have it and so the next
time that I see Jeff and I have it in
my little person, I'm gonna be like, do you remember
you have to he Jeff is one of the most
(12:20):
sentimental people, but he keeps it like under wraps, you know,
he doesn't keep it on the surface, but you can
totally tell. He's biggest heart, loyal, loyal, yeah, and just
such a sensitive soul, sensitive, truly caring. And he's very
well spoken about. You know, he's not the awkward writer
(12:43):
when he's in an interviews. He's so well spoken about
what he's able to write it put on paper. So
I often think about it, Holland, I mean, I mean,
you know, I mean we're we're creators on a certain level,
but can you imagine being a creator on that level? Nope,
I think about it often. I think about it. Opted No, Yeah,
(13:03):
I mean it's a lot. It's the world on your
shoulders when you're when you're talking about the amount of
people that that depend on you, need you look to
you for for decisions on a daily basis, and you
just at some point you just have to make decisions,
you know. And I interviewed Jeff Um. He was my
first guest m and we dive into that he was
like an IT administrator at Fox Studios for six years.
(13:26):
Shut the front door. Yes he was, And I said
for six years, Like this was not eighteen months, this
was six years. And he would watch all of the
show runners and creators at the lunch tables, you know,
in the commons at the studio. And I was like, okay, wait,
hold on, how did you know about tech? And you're
also a writer? Like what what he said? He wrote
(13:48):
his first script as a teenager. Um, I mean I
think he started really early, um as far as the
writing muscle goes. But but no, I think about it
often and I wish I was a writer. I really do.
And um, it starts with him at a computer hyping words,
and it creates an entire company that lasts decades. So
(14:09):
uh yeah, I I We're all obviously all very thankful.
But um, back to you, that was a good you know,
turned down, Jeff Lane. I think really Melissa should be
the welcomer because she's the one that has kept up
the Instagram memories on Mondays. I love I love that
you started this years ago. And do you have a
(14:32):
favorite photo that you have posted? Our top five if
I had to do kind of like a top five,
it would be anything with blood, you know, because we
had a lot of blood on set, a lot of
behind the scenes photos of the blood, behind the scenes
photos of the blood. Yes, um, I like also like
just the candid photos just you know, standing there with
one of the batties, you know, like just you know,
(14:55):
like it was a battie. Writer, You're gonna have to
teach me. I know the word no, the bad like
you know our person you know, no, like the monsters
on the show. Quote. Oh, like literally you know, there's
like a like a slang term in gen Z called batties.
Oh no, no, no, it means something else. And I
don't go. I just like that's the urban dictionary of
(15:15):
Like there's another word for batty, and I think it's
a hot person or like a person you shouldn't sleep with.
But you do put it in the comment section. Guys,
what is a battie? We're not quite sure. Yes, I
guess I should we work batty like villains, Yes, villain villains, villains,
the dread doctors. You know, I love like you know
posing you know, I'm just it's like mom, I'm a
(15:36):
call with the dread doctors and you know they were
the tall ones. Yes, very tall, super tall, very tall,
super tall. I love um captured moments, you know a lot,
A lot of times I'd like to take pictures. I
took one of you that I posted. That's really great.
You were you were on the gurney and you were
laying down and you were on your I remember that photo. Yeah, yeah,
(15:59):
that was a lot of and I did you take
that moomo, Yeah, you had taken that photo because I
had posted that photo. I think you probably then send
it to my phone because that day because I've posted
that photo. Yeah, but then I don't forget about these
these photos if if they've been posted way far way back,
and then you repost them and it's a it is
a memory, not just for the fans but for us,
(16:21):
Like I try not to miss a moon Dames. And
then I along those lines, also I like to take pictures.
I've I've posted a lot of pictures of when when
a character comes into the hospital and I can have
a picture of their hand with their intake band. To me,
that's really important. And then of course I've taken a
lot of like um photos with Tyler in certain ways,
(16:42):
Like there's a photo where we're sitting on the steps
of our trailer and it's just our feet, you know,
stuff like that. That that those are the those are
the memories. Those are my memories that I share. Those
are my memories that are in my phone, that are
that are important to me. And that's a really that's
so fun. I love I love that. I don't. I mean,
we all know what we look like, right, so taking
pictures of faces isn't really that appealing to me. It
(17:04):
couldn't agree, we see. Yeah, I think inserts in general,
like if I was ever to direct anything, inserts are
so important. They tell the whole story, like feet walking
or hands how they move. I mean, yeah, I agree. Um,
but I love the hospital tags and I've seen you
post a lot of them, but I never fully put
it together. But that's genius. That is genius to take
(17:28):
the hospital tags. That's hilarious. On a personal note, um,
I take pictures. I have like pictures of my mom's hands.
I have pictures of you know, my one of my
best girlfriends recently lost their their grand mother and there
was a picture one of the last pictures that they
took and I zoomed in on their hands. There's something
about hands for me that are very telling, um and special. Again,
(17:49):
it's it's not about It's not it's about that like, um,
I don't know something about it really important to me.
So I'm gonna jump to the Team Wolf movie because
this is my problem every time I'm running a rewatch podcast.
(18:12):
But all I want to do is talk to the person.
Because this is our first season of this podcast and
the Team Will fans know so much about you on
Team Wolf as Melissa McCall, but they don't know what
you like. I had no idea about the Criminal Mind
spin off and the La Atlantic connection running so ironically
deep with Jeff Davis. So that's what I love hearing
(18:33):
on this podcast where I'm I don't know if the fans,
I'm assuming they want to hear that stuff, because if
I think if I'm interested, let us know, they're gonna
let us know. You're going to let us know. So
I always like to dig deep before we before we
get to the Team Wolf juice. But but Team Wolf movie,
did you see this coming? Where were you when you
found out? What are your thoughts? So? Do you remember
(18:55):
when we did the zoom reunion. Yes, yes, overproof. Yeah.
So I don't know if you remember, but Jeff was
asked during that reunion what could possibly be next for
teen Wolf, and he was like, well, other avenues have
been gone down, and people it is being looked at,
and so there was like this tiny little nugget of possibility.
(19:18):
You had that feeling back then. No. I heard him
say it, if we go back, if we if we
go back to the videotape, so to speak. He was
saying that there was something that was swirling back then
two years ago. And I've took that his words. I
didn't even take that seriously. You see, you had that
feeling then when he said it, I was like, there's
something up Okay, I hope there's something up, right, but
(19:38):
I mean we're COVID that at that point. It was
ten years, right, it was a ten year universary, you know,
who knows or whenever it was so. And then just
some some random day, you know. I don't get this often,
but I got a call from Jeff and I was like,
what's this about, you know, and I thought maybe he
was coming. I thought maybe he was coming to Atlanta
to visit his brother, and just wanted to say hi
(20:00):
or something, and then he's like, hey, I gotta talk
with you. All right, So this thing's happening and it's
not one hundred percent yet, so don't don't tell anybody.
Keep it a secret. And girl, I kept it a secret.
I didn't tell Kenny, I didn't tell my dad, I
didn't tell anybody. I told me what month was this? September, October,
November up twenty one? Yeah, yep, okay, right yeah. And
(20:23):
then because you know, I mean, things happen, things go away,
things get you know, put on the shelf. And so
I wasn't going to be the blabbie one. I wasn't
going to be the nah I wasn't going to harpoon this.
And so then then I want to say it was
maybe December. Was it late late late November or November?
They announced and they announced it, yeah, and so that
(20:44):
and then oh my gosh, who knew? And then going
into December and then I think we were actually scheduled to,
you know, to shoot in in January. And then that
girl pushed a little bit and you know, and it's
just it was just it's that thing I think, as
any actor does. It's like, yes, this is happening, but
it doesn't happen until I get on set. Am I
on set? Am I on set? Or do we have power?
(21:05):
Is it rolling? This is really how the bills being
paid for the lights that happened in our first season
the light buil didn't get paid are do you remember this? No?
And our lights got carted off? Wait what yeah at
the school during the season. Somehow there was a mistake
and the lights didn't get paid for. So they took
him and we had to wait hours to get them back.
(21:27):
Such an Atlanta move, such a team Wolf move. Man, gosh,
we are the little into that cut in those days.
So that's how that was my progression. It was like
can you keep a secret? Yes, sir, I can, And
then then the announcement, and then is you know, then
it was the understanding that he had a lot of
people to pull from and a lot of story to
pull from, and you know, I'm just really grateful and
(21:51):
thankful to be part of it. You know, I mean,
there's probably many different ways that maybe they could have
had not all the parents in it, but you know,
I mean, I Jeff did a real due diligence to
try to get everybody I think, you know, how do
you you know, encapsulate a show that ran for almost
a decade, and he did manage to get in a
multitude of the favorite villains and so much of the
(22:15):
cast and eating May's like, there's just so many incredible throwbacks.
And as far as your bond goes from Tyler from
the pilot to the movie, it is uncanny a obviously
how much you look alike, but you do feel like
his mom and and you know, we a lot of
events happened while the show was filming, and Tyler's mom
(22:39):
has had so many resemblances to you, and you to
his mom. It was and um, you know, quite the bond.
I feel like one of the gifts of someone passing
in your life is that then you have the ability
and strength to walk with someone else when it happens.
And you know, much like Tyler's mom, my mom passed
(23:03):
from cancer and it was it was a journey that
we had together. And I remember when he lost his mom,
and you know, and there were many people that came
to him, not just me, that came to him and
was like, you know, you're you're part of the club
that no one wants to be a member of and
you know, lean on me. You know, I have, I
(23:24):
have been there. I can tell you, you know, I
can't tell you everything, but I can tell you my
experience and hopefully that'll help. And you know, there was
a there was many people that reached out to him
because you know, he's he's our captain. And I can't
imagine what that must have felt like to have to
be number one and keep going on because there were
(23:46):
so many people. Again, it's it's akin to Jeff counting
on you to be there. You know, there's not a
lot of TV moms that go through that experience with
our TV sun, with the events that were happening in
real life. Yeah, so you know, I mean, I don't
want to say that I could just look over at
him and know what he was feeling, but I had
(24:08):
an idea. Yeah, and so I think that that was um,
you know wild that was the most probably the most
difficult time. It also was you know, I hope a
bonding time for him as much as it was for me.
I'm sure he both have such big hearts. And something
that is a testament to teen Wolf is like a
big ingredient in the pot is like your relationship to
(24:30):
Tyler on an off screen so wonderful. Thank yeah. My
only one regret with Teen Wolf was I do think
the parents and finance, this is when the financial stuff
comes in. But like, y'all should have been series regulars.
That's you're my first parent. Well no that's not true.
Jr's my first parent. On the podcast we shot those
(24:51):
out of order. But yeah, I think that. I think that,
you know, that's my I wish we all could have
been series regulars because and that's not the way the
business works, but it should, um because such a presence
we were. I mean, there's not many parents that are
that lucky to be that involved. I mean, when you
when you really kind of break down the numbers, we
(25:13):
were all very involved in a lot of the episodes,
and so there's there's we're we're we're just grateful, I
think I can I can speak for the other guys
as well. Just so grateful to be a part of it,
and um, yeah, yeah, it's all good. It's why we
know we did make it to the credits. The final season,
I saw very exciting for us. I know, all the
(25:34):
all the stupid actor stuff that goes all behind the scenes,
that's just like the business of the business. And you
know that the heart that this show had had so
much to do with you and Stalinski and jr. Um
you know, Linden and Jr. It's it's you instill in
scio man. Jr. Has like the sexy zing of like
(25:57):
I'm a parent, but wink wink, I'm really a kid,
does he not? Yeah? And you and and Linden are
the most. You're still totally actors and big kids, but
you have such a pragmatic maternal and maternal feel like.
You guys were the I say, Lindon, but I should
throw you into the pile. You're a little more playful
(26:20):
than Lindon, but at the same time, I feel like
you two are the most. You're the only responsible ones
on team. Think about that. I always say that I'm
allergic to responsibility, but Lindon really was not though, you know,
but Lindon was the one. I feel like a lot
of a lot of us, I mean included you know,
if if we ever came into a conundrum, he was
you know, he was the one that had the chops,
the experience, kind of like the dad role. You know,
(26:41):
he was going to be honest with you, um, and
he was going to tell you like it is, and
he's he's steadfast in that way, you know, so as
Susan Susan. Susan was too Susan. But Susan is so
funny to me because she's she downplays everything that she
is and I'm like, what what who? I've said it
(27:01):
to the past that you know, Susan and Lindon are
some of my mentors, as are you and Kenny. And
so yeah, Linda sat me down and walked through my retirement.
Oh oh yeah. He sat down and hold out all
the financial stops and was like, this is what you
should be doing. And I in so many terms, like
you know, always picking and asking questions and he yeah,
(27:23):
he did. He sat me down. So he's always been
my mentor. UM valuely appreciated he doing that. Yeah. So
so yeah, so you were happy with the movie. You know,
you know this, but not everybody does. My stepdad was
actively passing when we were shooting. I do know this,
and I when you mentioned your mom and the fact
(27:44):
that was happening right before the pilot and now this
kind of put a new little zing above my head
because I'm like, oh, my gosh, what are the chances. Yeah,
So personally, this was like you know, um uh, it
was my own personal fever dream, you know, to have
such an amazing high and such an amazing low and
(28:07):
have to toggle between the two of them because I
was either on set or I was at the hospital.
That's it. I knew that, and and we all knew that,
and we all just sort of like try to give
you your space, and we knew that, you know, you
just were going through it and you were trying to
get through it and you felt all of that on you. Yeah,
(28:27):
and I know Kenny was a rock star behind the scenes,
I'm sure, and it was just yeah, it was. It was.
It was such a strange time to like think back
at it, and so it's one of the first projects
that you know, when I actually like look at myself,
I don't have a sense of memory because I think
that I was in so many different places. I'm just
really I'm very grateful and thankful for everybody that were
(28:49):
in the scenes with me, and grateful and thankful for
that for that thing that was already there from those
hundred episodes that I could lean on, that thing of
being Mama McCall already, so that there was something inside
of me that I could pull from and I could
I could rest on it, you know, and know that,
you know, the work was already there and all I
had to do was kind of dip into it because
(29:11):
you know something like that. I mean, I'm sure that
there were people on set that had more more drama
in their lives than than that, but it's it's going
to go through that. No, No, that's the important stuff
at the end of the day. And so we felt
for you, and um, you know, we have real life
goes on and it's probably a blessing you don't have
any sense memory because I have too much sense memory,
(29:35):
which I don't know what that says about me, but
when I watch a project, I have a hard time
watching it because I just remember, Oh, that's the day
I went to the vet. That's the day I was late,
or that's the day I X y Z happened, or
I remember the life I was living while filming those projects. Wow,
And it's probably good that like it White Noises for
(29:55):
you and you just you knew, oh, obviously you were
going to remember teen Wolf somewhat with that, you know,
part in your place in your life. But um, I'm
glad you're able to like turn one off when you
were there and then turn the other one on, you know,
back at the hospital. And m that's only well, you're
one of the few, Melissa that has the strength to
do it. Let me tell you. I mean, you know
(30:17):
the story with Eadie, right m hm. So Edie and
Crystal were filming a scene together. It was the first
day that Edie was back um in Los Angeles to
film and Edie's mom was ill. In five minutes before
she has to go and shoot with Crystal, she picks
up the phone and her mother has passed. Eadie may's
(30:43):
you want to talk about a warrior, hung up that phone,
walked out that trailer and did her work. And she
only told Crystal, so this will be an interesting when
you when you when you when you talk with Crystal,
and she was and Crystal was like, we can shoot
this another day. We can tell everybody to go home.
You can get on a flight right now. And Edie
was like, nope, no, I want to do the work.
(31:06):
And and and I don't know, I can't recall what
the what the line is in Edie's dialogue And I'm
sure everyone will let us know. But it was something
about like, you know, I'm talking with my dead mother
or something like that that Crystal had to say, Edie,
and it was just like, you know, there's nothing more
meta than that. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's a
(31:27):
strong woman. There. You guys go way back, Yeah, on
different projects. M M yeah, as does Susan. Yeah yeah,
connection Small World. Oh, Edie, my heart goes out to her.
I know, we love you, Edie. Yeah, seriously, she'll definitely
be on this podcast. I mean, we want The movie
came at a time in our lives that Shelley Hadda
(31:48):
said it best of like it was just a really
important time and a lot of our lives for this
movie to hit, But it wasn't fight. It's interesting it
didn't happen right after, as it is a quote Season seven,
and it didn't happen when we you know, was twenty
years later either. So I find it interesting of when
it hit in all of our lives, just serendipitously. Yeah,
I agree. Yeah, you know things come right on time,
(32:09):
and so did the movie. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And do
you remember because I will throw out this, but um,
I'm wondering if this was improv or not improv? But
do you remember your first scene in teen Wolf. I
know this is hard when he was getting ready for
a date and I was like, what's her name? Because
I forgot her name? Wait wait in the scene, I
(32:34):
completely forgot what her name was. And I was like,
what about what what? What's her name? And Jeff was like,
that's great, keep it. Yeah, that was a moment. That's
not even the moment I was talking about. That's funny,
that was improv. Okay, yeah, the moment I was thinking
about was it as the camera's pulling back, You're like,
I'm not gonna end up on a reality show with
a sixteen year old pugnance son. And yes, no, no, no,
(32:55):
that was written. That was written. I kind of thought
that one was improv, but I figured I was like,
it's always gonna put like a joke into the pot
about MTV. Totally. Yeah, that's funny. And what's her face?
Was the improv Oh funny name? Yeah? And do the
fans know this or is this the first time you're
telling the story of what's your name? I mean, probably
(33:16):
the first time I'm telling the story of what's your name? Funny,
that's funny and you are. I don't mean this in
a matronly way, but like the fact you are so maternal,
like the fans feel like they I think they call
you Mama McCall. They don't. Yeah, yeah, like it conventions,
you're like, I'm gonna sit down and I'm going to
talk to this girl, and everybody gets hugs. Yeah, everyone
(33:37):
gets hugs, like you are so good about it. And um,
my favorite of the meet and greets and panels the second,
but meet and greets first. And I'm just so curious
and I would be curious to get your opinion on
the meet and greets. Is I love the meet and
greets because I got to know, like, Okay, why do
you like this show? Because you're having trouble in school
(33:58):
and this is where you lean or you have you know,
you're excellent time management, and this is your relaxation. And
I always like to hear like, oh, I'm in med school.
I just watched you as like white noise in the
background because I knew that their heads and hearts were
in their lives, their own lives, and we were truly entertainment.
And then I had this other experience of a mixed
(34:21):
feeling of we could be the salvation for some people,
but it also broke my heart of like why were
we the salvation for some people? And so that's what
I took away, I think from those meeting greets, and
I really I enjoyed every single one of them, and
so I know that you carry a heavy heart with fans.
I think with the meeting greets, there's such a such
(34:43):
an intimacy and a vulnerability with the people that you meet,
you know, because you're literally sitting six feet away from
them and you're looking at them in the eye, and
they're able to tell you a story or a feeling
or an experience or you know, something that meant a
lot to them in one of the episodes. And so
I think that, you know, it's vulnerable both ways, right,
(35:03):
we have to be vulnerable and open to hearing it,
and they have to be open to sharing it, you know.
I mean, it's a kind of a two way street.
And I think that Jeff poored enough of his own
experience as a child and his own experience with his
own mother and his own brother into my dialogue in particular,
and I think that it strikes a chord with people,
(35:23):
whether they're watching it for the first time or the
fifth time. You know, a lot of be your own
anchor speech is something directly that was from from you know,
from his mom that was said and you know, shooting
all over yourself and there's a lot of that was
Jeff's mom saying that. And to your point, you know,
we're five years since we wrapped up the series, and
(35:44):
what I heard, you know, a lot this time around
from people was thank you for being a part of
my childhood, you know, because now everybody's growing up. You know,
we're five years older in real life and you know,
fifteen years on the show. But I'm hearing a lot
of that now, like you know, kind of in a
shy one way, like thank you so much for being
And so I'm seeing, you know, somebody that it meant
(36:07):
something so much to them growing up and they've put
it inside of them as an adult, you know, five
years down the line, and that too. Yeah, we're part
of We're part of peoples scrap books. That's wonderful to say,
their heart scrap books. It's wonderful. Yeah, it's it is
a huge gift. I mean, I'm sure the topics got
pretty heavy in your meeting greets, I have a feeling yes, yes,
(36:30):
because it's a form of like group therapy. It is. Yes.
Here we are talking about how how vulnerable um, these
people are in relation to you know, our show, and
it just touches people. And I think when people are touched,
they feel a little bit, you know, more open to share.
Like we're just working actors on a smallest show that
had a very loyal fan base and all of the
(36:50):
themes like we're talking about today. That's obviously why teen
Wolf has the bond amongst the fans and then the
fans too, you know us and us to the fans
that we do and that's why they convention and still
still are alive and well because people. It's not a
large group of people in comparison to Stranger Things or
Game of Thrones, but the but the dedicated loyalty. Man,
it's it's like it's very special and it's it's not
(37:13):
lost on I think either of us, any of us
really Yeah, no, no, it's not. And they're different levels
of intensity. I've had meet and greets where it's just
been one one person, five people, twenty five people, you know,
and they all have a different flavor of Again, I
use the word intimacy, not in a bad way, just
in a very vulnerable talk space way. I'm sure you
gave them good advice. I'm sure a lot of people
(37:35):
ask you for advice. I mean, I don't know about
advice as much as just you know, organically talking in
a way that maybe they couldn't with their own parent
or guardian or sister or brother. You know, again, maybe
maybe their guard was a little down because you know,
they know us, they know us on a certain performance level,
and they and they feel close to us. You know,
(37:55):
a lot of people don't watch the show just once,
they watch times and so you know, they become attached
in a way. I would say the fans probably definitely
feel closest to you at these at meeting greets because
in it that should be noted. And like you know,
gold starred because you handle it so well, because it
can be overwhelming the love, and you you handle it,
(38:19):
I would say, one of the best. It's like very
pragmatic and then very heartfelt at the same time. So
it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool to see I see
it from afar And as far as the episode, yes,
this was the parent teacher conference episode. Do you remember
that's this episode? Yeah? Yeah, so you are rapping for
(38:41):
all the parents here. But I love that your your
first scene in teen Wolfe is talking about it's like
the sex talk. Have you had to have a sex
talk with a kid? Me? Yes? In real life? Yes? No,
Kenney took that on. Really really were with Jesse. Jesse
he was always very honest, in pragmatic. I'll use your
(39:02):
word and oh do you think that that's what that is?
Let me tell you really what this term is, and
all the slang terms. So he went through all the
terms with her, to actions terms from a very young man.
What a dad, right. What Jesse was able to do
is go back to school and when people were flinging
around all these terms, She's like, that's not really what
(39:24):
that means. Let me tell you what it really means.
And so it was a real super education for her,
not only for her personally, but like also to make
sure that everybody knew what's up. Like, yeah, so you know,
someone needs to educate me on what the term baddie is,
so I know that I'm not you know, we got
we got the basics down. Yeah. Yeah, so I didn't
have to have this sex d with Jessie. Yeah, I
(39:48):
don't think I ever had the sex talk with my
parents that that team we've seen never happened from me.
How did you approach single momdom because you've never had
to do single momdom in real life, did you. My
(40:08):
mom was a single mom. Your mom was a single mom.
My mom was a single mom for a time, and
I remember that as a young girl, and so I
had that one on one experience with just my mom.
And to be honest, you know, we didn't have a
lot of money. My mom was a waitress at the time,
and so um so I remember long shifts much like
(40:29):
a nurse, so to speak. Um, I remember having to
use my own creativity because we couldn't. You know, it's
not like there was a lot of entertainment. I remember,
you know, spending a lot of time with grandparents while
my mom had to work. You know, she could barely
get off any holidays. So I did. I did have
a little bit of a reference there for for what
it would be like for a single mom. And it's funny,
(40:50):
I think going into season four, you know, I was
lucky enough to get a call from you know, the writers,
and you know, we were talking about like what what
if you you know, what would you like to see
maybe you know, for the next season. And I was like, well,
I always love comedy. More comedy would be great. And
they were like, okay, well if I mean not that
we're gonna have Mama McCall maybe land in a relationship,
(41:11):
but if we did, who would it be? And I
they asked you this, yeah, And I took a beat,
and I was like, I mean, does she have to
end up with anyone? Like why can't she just be
a single mom. Why can't she just be a single
mom working really hard and trying to raise a son
and that be the priority? Like do we have to
you know? Um? And so I threw that in the
(41:33):
ring because I think that's that's you know, when you
talk about representation, he's talk about real life. That is
an element. I don't think single moms have time to date.
It's not that they're undateable. Shout out to single parents,
really shout out to single parents. So that yeah, I
love that they put the parent teacher conference in because
I remember having to stay home at night and getting
the center and then our parents going to the teacher
(41:55):
conference night, and I just remember that so clearly at
school and I think I think it's the same episode
where where I actually you know where Mama McCall goes
up to the arch parents. Yes, and we have a
key until there's an explosion or of some sort or something. Yes,
arrow something, something happens. Yeah. That was fun. And that
(42:16):
was actually shot at the Beacon Hills School that was
here in Atlanta because we shot the first and second
season here, um, and that was right across the way
from where I live, and so I could literally when
we were shooting there walk walk to work and I
was like, I remember the scene draining job. Yeah, yeah,
talk about I remember. And was the school partly in
(42:37):
session or was it abandoned at that point? So it
was it was just used as a set, and it
was OK. I want to say, maybe I would have
to look in my book, but maybe maybe two years
after after so we were in season four, they demolished
the school and now it really yeah, it's still just
an open area. And so what's beautiful is that when
it rains there's a duck pond that form, and so
(43:00):
all of these ducks in Canadian geese, they kind of
now inhabit the old Beacon Hills School. That's so funny
because our stages in north Ridge got demolished as well.
Oh really, yes, you didn't know about this? Oh no, no, no,
that's why we had to move stages from north Ridge
to Recita was because they bought the land and said nope,
(43:22):
no more. And I think it was an abandoned stereo
factory when they when I think that was the north
Ridge one, right, yeah, and so it wasn't like a
quotquote proper stage with proper ducting. That's like extra quiet,
you know, things like that. But um, what a wild time,
wild time. So so it's crazy that that two of
the big teen wolf sets are now are now open fields. Yeah.
(43:43):
And this is also the episode that they skipped school,
Allison and Scott. In this episode they skipped school. And
did you ever skip school? Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble.
Oh no, it's okay. Senior Skip Day was the only
day that I skipped, and I skipped half the day.
Don't tell anybody, don't tell anyone. That doesn't even count.
(44:05):
You literally skip on Senior skipp Day and you only
skipped half the day. That's it. I never I would.
I'm still I'm still afraid to get in trouble. That's funny.
What did you do when you skipped a half day?
Felt really guilty? It wasn't worth it. You just sat
in the corner with shame. It was just like, I
need to be back. My mom's gonna know about this.
I didn't want a proper I want to ask you
(44:35):
what's next for you? And also quickly touch in Chicago Fire.
How song was that? Because I could easily tell you
from like you, like I could see New York in you.
I even see Southern in you, but I totally see
Chicago in you. Again, It's just a dream job, a
real gift to be a part of Chicago Fire, in
the whole Chicago family again. One of those actors' stories
(44:56):
where you put something on tape and you don't know
if where it's gonna land. I literally put that on
tape with someone out in Los Angeles in their kitchen
and you just you send it off and it's and
it's one of many and you're hopeful, but you never know.
And they came back and they were like, look, it's
going to be like this five episode arc and you're
actually going to come in and you know, the Chief's
(45:17):
gonna have some interest and you're kind of going to
be this gold digger and break the chief's heart. Yes
for you true story. After the first episode, they were like,
you know, maybe chief needs love, maybe this could actually
be a thing, and um, and then it developed into
what it was, and then we became older parents. I
(45:39):
gave birth on a fire truck. We have little terrans
who's growing older, and you know the trials and tribulations
of you know, two working parents. I'm a teacher and
obviously he's the he's the fire chief, and we're still
going strong. You know where I think, is it the
eleventh season, twelfth season? Do you still go back? I
haven't been back in a couple of in a couple
(46:00):
of seasons, but I think that's that's partly because you know,
talk about a huge cast there. There's so many cash
members on each individual show, and mister Dick Wolf has
done a wonderful job of you know, we've got the
Chicago one where all the shows are intertwining and so
you know, Fire comes on Med, Med goes on to
you know, PD, PD comes back on Fire and so
(46:21):
there's just a constant, beautiful orchestra orchestrated, um happening of
everybody coming on everybody's show. And so you know, as
somebody that's a wife to a character, you know, that's
a lot of show to kind of compete with. And
so only when the focus comes back to the chief
show up. We work on tough shows, yes we do.
Team Wolfe was a tough show. It to show it
(46:43):
was conditions. Yeah, probably not much different. Yeah, Chicago fire,
tough environment, tough show, a lot more fire, a lot
more fire, a lot more cold. So you know, and
you know, you can't complain when you've got you know,
all all the crew that's out there in their car hearts.
They look like giant you know, Michelin men, they're not
complaining how cold it is, so you know, neither can you.
(47:04):
And so there's a certain camaraderie that happens, and you know,
it's it's a joy to be on set with family,
right Tyler and I mentioned the exact same thing, And
even with Vince m of Teas like your teaching Vince
the ropes, and Vince took to it so well, yeah, um,
in the team of a movie. But it's absolutely the case.
I mean, we worked, we don't work. You know, we
worked double the work day. It's like sixteen hours um,
(47:26):
usually around at least what the team off hours were UM.
And so how about the days, I mean, I think
we both shared this where we were wrapped and you
were on the four oh five, come on back, come
home back, even the days that are maybe even those
triple days. You know, we got a lot of come
home backs. Yeah. I want to touch on really quickly,
just because it's all in the family that Kenny Alfonso
(47:49):
is in. Yes, Hilt of Wolfpack. Yes, yes, he plays
a doctor, doctor Selgato and the pilot. Okay, really proud
and I always thought, I mean this was season when
was the DROC season three with the Nematon and everything. Yeah,
that was the first time you were doing some type
of hosting thing for MTV. Remember that. Ye, Haley and
(48:11):
I actually came into the office and we talked with you. Haley,
Web you are phenomenal. You are a phenomenal You are
a phenomenal host. And I think that this is you know,
this is a really wonderful second home for you, and
I see I see more of this to come for you.
I think, well, hey, thank you. I love talking to
people like Oprah Winfree. I never missed an episode. I
(48:32):
loved Oprah from I was like a little kid to
wrap up, what is next for you? Because I think
you need to direct? That is my personal opinion. And
no a fill the hands. No thank you, no thank you,
this is this is no no no. I say these
two things, and I say them with great gusto. I'm
allergic to responsibility. And I really have no other marketable
(48:53):
skills other than being an actor. I couldn't direct, I
couldn't write. I might be able to do craft service
so hilarious if it's funny, you don't feel like you
could direct? You don't know that? Wow. No, So what's
next for me? I'm happy to be part of a
Bridgewater podcast which is in its second season. Um and
that's actually streaming right now on iHeartRadio and just shot
(49:16):
something in the late late fall, early winter with UM.
I always like to joke this little known actor by
the name of Kevin Hart. I think that he's going
to be a star. Just this up and coming dude. UM,
you know, he's pretty good. He's got a new show,
UM actually for Roku of all places and um and
it's called Die Heart, Die harder, which is kind of
(49:38):
a you know, a take on things. Yeah, and um,
he plays himself kind of in a in a wanna
be action star, and I play his manager agent. I
love that for you. It was a lot going to
be so fun. It was a lot of fun. He
was a lot of fun. The whole cast was a
lot of fun. Did you die laughing? Were you just
cracking up? Yes, totally cracking up. Did you get to
(50:00):
do a lot of improv with him? Got to do
improv with him? Yes, that was fun. Did you make
him laugh? I mean I think I made him giggle.
And at the end of it, he's like, you're a
real professional. I'm like, so are you? Man? Oh? I
knew he would take to who doesn't take to you?
But yeah, that's I could see him being like, I
see her, I see her. Yeah he gave you know,
but he gave everybody a lot of freedom. He's a
very generous He's a very generous performer. Wow, So when
(50:21):
does that come out? Do you know? I don't know, Okay,
I don't know. Keep us posted. Yes, what's next for you?
Other than this podcast? I've got a mini series coming
out later this year that had thirty seven series regulars. Wow,
it's a it's a Christmas mini series. Okay, fun. I
(50:42):
just can't give too much away, but yeah, no, I'm
really excited about that project. It was a really fun
project to shoot. I'm happy for you. I'll be watching.
You're very sweet. Thank you, honey for coming on. I
love you, Honey. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening. Y'all.
Follow us on Instagram at Halleback Now Podcast and make
sure to write it's a review and leave us five stars.
We'll see you next time.
This is holler Back Now with me Holland Rowden and
I Hunt Radio podcast. Hey guys, and welcome to haller
Back Now. Today on the show, we have drum roll
Melissa Ponzio. Melissa Ponzio is a warrior on an off
screen that's your sister. I had no idea. I knew
(00:26):
you had a New York feel, but I didn't know
you were born in New York. M Yeah, I'm born
in New York Lower East Side at Israel Hospital, fourteenth
Street in First Avenue. And do you not, like, when
did you move away? Do you miss New York? How
did that transition happen from there to Atlanta? I know
there's a mini steps in between, obviously. Yeah. So my
parents actually lived in New York when I was born there.
(00:47):
They separated young, but my pop, my biological father, always
lived up there, and my whole family's up there, and
so I go up there quite often. In fact, I
was just up there last week right after the premiere
I left and I spent a week up there. That's
why you're in New York, Okay, yeah, yeah, So it's
in my veins, you know all. I love the city.
It's something that's always been very constant for me, and
(01:09):
you know, it's home. And how did you transition? I
know you lived in LA for a long time. Yeah, so, um,
my parents divorced when I was young, and my mom
remarried into the restaurant business to my stepdad, and so
then we were transferred around like almost like the army.
I mean we were we were Atlanta to Ohio, down
to West Palm Beach, Florida, back to Atlanta. And you know,
(01:32):
so I actually went to college here in Atlanta and
then was in news for a while. I was an
assignment editor for the CBS. I didn't know that, Yeah,
we have, We not had this conversation. No, I was
just passing. I really didn't know what I was doing.
Do you have footage of this? I mean, I'm sure
I have, like my audition tape, because I thought I
was going to be Maria Shriver. But I was still,
(01:52):
you know, I was gigging it. I was still I
was taking acting classes. I was getting my feet wet,
and at one point it kind of leveled out to
where I had to, you know, make choice, and I
made the choice and it was the right one. I mean,
you know, it was definitely the right one. But you
have which I think it helps both paths. This like
incredible source of empathy, Like you can feel the empathy
(02:15):
like radiate off you. And I don't know the first
person to say that you're very kind. I mean I think, yeah,
I would say that I'm a nurturer. I would say that. Also,
I'm inquisitive. You know, it's always you know, I think
I'm the one that's always on set asking what's going
on and you know who's doing what and what what
and sit down and tell me all of it. So
I'm naturally inquisitive and so yeah, so that helps. I think. Wow,
(02:36):
on both fields, I had no idea. Oh my gosh.
We usually do like more of a cold open, and
I like dived right in because I was like, you know,
we usually don't begin with the birth, but I'm like
New York, Yeah, I could easily see you being an
interviewer to get back to the CBS news. You know,
I don't remember so much from school, but I do
remember one thing, and this was our teacher at George
(02:57):
State University. He was just like this hard ex journalist
and he was like I remember the first day he
came in, he was like I'm here to tell you
none of you are gonna make it. Just like though,
guess this guy's talking about seriously, He's like, none of
you will make it straight face, and I remember him
saying that, and then he's like, when you're doing an
interview and you put that mic to their face and
(03:19):
they say that sound bite, you leave that mic there
because the first thing they say isn't what you want
to hear. It's always the second, and that has proved
to be true. People are you know, when you have
that mic in front of them, they give you what
they think that you want to hear, and then if
you leave it there, they get a little bit uncomfortable
that they have to fill the space, and then they
just keep going and then that's when you get it.
(03:41):
You learn so much about psychology as an interviewer, which
helps you with acting. Yeah, you're probably one of the
most aware of people I've ever met as an actor,
which I love the pragmaticness about you because I think
I share that with you. We're very pragmatic. People were like,
how you doing, I'm good? How are you very raw?
We share a best friend. We start a very good friend.
(04:02):
Jessica Losa. Yes, Jessica, who is on this podcast, shout
out yes, and she was there for the origin of
us both walking into the show. Teen Wolf. Isn't that wild.
It's a small world. It's always a small It always
proves to me to be such a small world. You
had a whole career before Teen Wolf, and I did
not know this until this interview. Oh, you were on
Dawson's Creek. Yes, oh, Jwson's Creek and One Tree Hill
(04:27):
and One Tree Hill. Yes, just one episode, not one episode? Well, no,
I take that back, One Tree Hill. I think it
was two. I was one of the like, I was
one of the booster moms on One Tree Hill and
then I played some type of like a you know,
girlfriend poet that was on Dawson's Creek. It was a
lot of fun, it was Those shows were a lot
of fun. We had a lot of people working in Wilmington,
North Carolina. It was gonna say you saw the beginning
(04:48):
of Wilmington and shooting outside of Los Angeles. Yes, yes, yes,
And that was the first experience also kind of like
what we had in Atlanta where it was just this
family in this one place. And yes, everybody was from California,
and all these other wonderful places, but really it was
it was just us. And I feel like that happened
with teen Wolf here in Atlanta too. It was just
(05:09):
us One Tree Hill. I mean, you know, it's so strange.
It's so strange, Um what permeates? You know? And a
lot of people ask, you know me, and I'm sure
you like, what do you think it is? Lightning in
the bottle that you know has had team will you
know permeate all of these years? And I feel like
those are two shows also that kind of permeate. They're
just in the hearts of the people that watched it.
(05:30):
You know, they still have One Tree Hill conventions. I know.
I think there is a common ground of intention people
the certain kind of intention they put out in the world.
And then, obviously, like you said, just those energies together
and teen Wolf, there is a common We're all such
obviously different people, but there's a common thread of how
(05:52):
we've all lived our lives. And I would actually say
we're all relatively private people. We're all very pretty grounded people.
Is at least what Teen Wolf's you know, secret ingredient
was that kept us all so close and connected and
thankfully that chemistry translated in some capacity to the screen.
But I want to get to the team with moving
(06:12):
your reactions in your audition, and then we go through
the episode obviously, but the episode is called the Tell.
It's the fifth episode of the first season. We'll take
you through that episode. But but really quickly, you were
young to be a booster mom back then. Well, you know,
I seem to fall into that a lot because I was.
It's kind of like the magpies, you know, that's that's
that's what I would refer it to. I'm always kind
of like in that in that kind of like click
(06:34):
of women, that kind of like you're such a nurture
from the beginning. Same with Army Wives. It was me
and another actress here in Atlanta, Katie Neilan, and the
two of us were kind of like the girls that
were on the outside. You know, I'm making fun of
the other Army Wives, and so it's so funny. I
was going to ask you about Army Wives, Army Wives
Chicago Fire Dawson's Creek. I had no idea about one
(06:55):
true Hill. I somehow missed that part. But you had
quite a bit of success. You were there for two
or three years on Army Wives, right, Yeah, two seasons
and they went on, i think for seven seasons. You know.
The concept was and it was kind of going to
be just like an army base where they could really
just have all these wonderful women and guys come in
and kind of you know, helm that maybe a season
(07:18):
and it would be new and fresh. And that was
the beginnings of it. And then I think people just
really fell in love with those main characters, and you know,
they always had to like figure out how to keep
them on the base because that's not normal. Everybody gets
transferred in and out, you know. I mean it's just
like a constant shuffling of souls. But yeah, that was
really great. That's another one of those like we're up
there just shooting the show and nobody, you know, not
(07:40):
that nobody's paying attention, but we're able to kind of
do what we want for a season. And then it
was a huge hit for Lifetime, huge, huge. I remember
I remember Army Wives. That's around the time I started
acting in two thousand and seven, right, and then so
into the second into the third season, there was a
lot more input from everybody. But yeah, it was a
great show to be a part of Lovely Ladies, Very Lady,
(08:00):
and then from that was till two thousand and nine,
and then less than a year later, Team will come along.
That's right, Yeah, and you were told that you looked
like Tyler Posey. Is this how your audition came about?
So in brief, sorry, if Colton comes in the background,
there was a sneak, there was a sneak. There was
a sneak. There was a little bit of a sneak.
(08:22):
Someone tiptoeing. We'll have like two and three days sleepovers
together occasionally, wonderful. He either comes to my house or
I come to his house. Two peas in a pod,
you guys have always been two peas in a pod.
I know, it's weird. It's really weird. So in two
thousand and nine, if we're really going to get into
the nitty gritty of it, my mom passed away in
(08:42):
two thousand and nine, and so that was a very
formidable year for me. And through a series of events,
a manager from Los Angeles was here in Atlanta looking
at talent, and he happened upon some of my materials
and had a meeting with him. This would have been
my mom passed away in March two nine, and and
I probably met Robbie cast and Roxana run on probably
(09:06):
September October. Say that's an audition as well. Yeah, about six.
But I met him in Atlanta, and um, you were
a little bit ahead of me. And I was very honest.
I was like, I would love to try, you know,
Los Angeles, but mom just passed away, and I don't know.
My heart's in it. And he said, well, when your
heart's in it, let me know. And so, through a
series of events, um, I sent my materials out to
(09:27):
him and he's like, well, let me let me send
you this audition for the first Criminal Mind spin off.
I want to talk about like deep dive and so
and the chances, the chance irony of it and so. Um.
So I put it on tape on a Thursday at
four pm my time. At seven they called them. They're like,
can you be here Monday for a callback? And so
(09:48):
that actually started me going out to Los Angeles. And
so I went out there and you know for the
first week, and that was back like was the Criminal
Mind spin off? It was True Blood, it was Incis.
There was all kind of time of things and while
I was out there, one of my best friends from
Atlanta who's also an actress. Her name is Tiffany Morgan,
called me and she's like, hey, have you auditioned for
(10:11):
teen Wolf? I mean Susan had gone in, had gone in,
had gone in. They were looking for the antithesis of this.
As I, you know, circle my face as I rolled
my eyes. Yeah, I was like, no, I don't know
anything about it. And she's like, you look just like
the kid. You do look just like the kid. And
I looked him up and I was like, holy shit,
(10:32):
he could be my kid. You literally could be your kid.
I mean you'd be a little young to have that kid,
but you could totally have had that kid. Yeah. So um,
So I called Robbie while I was out there and
they were looking in Atlanta, got in out in Los Angeles,
got a call back, never thinking anything would happen, and
then I got a call. It must have been two
weeks later, and this is a true story. They were
(10:55):
They were like, well, you're not the first choice, but
the other girls that were approached they don't want to
go to Atlanta to work. And I was like, well
I'll go to Atlanta to work. Oh, don't worry about it.
You know, they just want you for three episodes. They're
probably just going to write the parents out, you know,
kind of like vampire diary style, and I was like,
I would be happy to and so that's how it
(11:15):
started for me. Wow, three episodes turned into you know,
season two where Jeff opened up the parents to the
you know, to the whole world. And here we are
on a hundred episodes later. So yeah, so you did
your callback in in Los Angeles. So original audition and
callback were out in Los Angeles, but heard about it
(11:36):
through best friend who was auditioning for it in Atlanta.
What a wild scenario. And you auditioned for the Criminal
Mind spin off which Jeff Davis created Criminal Minds in Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Los Angeles. That's what brought you out to
Los Angeles. Yeah, that's originally what brought me out. Jeff
literally brought you out to Los Angeles to then audition
for his other show to bring you back to Atlanta.
(11:58):
I guess. So, yeah, it was a very strange boomerang effect. Yes,
And I've been going through stuff downstairs and um, I
just recently ran across the original email for the Criminal
Mind spinoff and I have it and so the next
time that I see Jeff and I have it in
my little person, I'm gonna be like, do you remember
you have to he Jeff is one of the most
(12:20):
sentimental people, but he keeps it like under wraps, you know,
he doesn't keep it on the surface, but you can
totally tell. He's biggest heart, loyal, loyal, yeah, and just
such a sensitive soul, sensitive, truly caring. And he's very
well spoken about. You know, he's not the awkward writer
(12:43):
when he's in an interviews. He's so well spoken about
what he's able to write it put on paper. So
I often think about it, Holland, I mean, I mean,
you know, I mean we're we're creators on a certain level,
but can you imagine being a creator on that level? Nope,
I think about it often. I think about it. Opted No, Yeah,
(13:03):
I mean it's a lot. It's the world on your
shoulders when you're when you're talking about the amount of
people that that depend on you, need you look to
you for for decisions on a daily basis, and you
just at some point you just have to make decisions,
you know. And I interviewed Jeff Um. He was my
first guest m and we dive into that he was
like an IT administrator at Fox Studios for six years.
(13:26):
Shut the front door. Yes he was, And I said
for six years, Like this was not eighteen months, this
was six years. And he would watch all of the
show runners and creators at the lunch tables, you know,
in the commons at the studio. And I was like, okay, wait,
hold on, how did you know about tech? And you're
also a writer? Like what what he said? He wrote
(13:48):
his first script as a teenager. Um, I mean I
think he started really early, um as far as the
writing muscle goes. But but no, I think about it
often and I wish I was a writer. I really do.
And um, it starts with him at a computer hyping words,
and it creates an entire company that lasts decades. So
(14:09):
uh yeah, I I We're all obviously all very thankful.
But um, back to you, that was a good you know,
turned down, Jeff Lane. I think really Melissa should be
the welcomer because she's the one that has kept up
the Instagram memories on Mondays. I love I love that
you started this years ago. And do you have a
(14:32):
favorite photo that you have posted? Our top five if
I had to do kind of like a top five,
it would be anything with blood, you know, because we
had a lot of blood on set, a lot of
behind the scenes photos of the blood, behind the scenes
photos of the blood. Yes, um, I like also like
just the candid photos just you know, standing there with
one of the batties, you know, like just you know,
(14:55):
like it was a battie. Writer, You're gonna have to
teach me. I know the word no, the bad like
you know our person you know, no, like the monsters
on the show. Quote. Oh, like literally you know, there's
like a like a slang term in gen Z called batties.
Oh no, no, no, it means something else. And I
don't go. I just like that's the urban dictionary of
(15:15):
Like there's another word for batty, and I think it's
a hot person or like a person you shouldn't sleep with.
But you do put it in the comment section. Guys,
what is a battie? We're not quite sure. Yes, I
guess I should we work batty like villains, Yes, villain villains, villains,
the dread doctors. You know, I love like you know
posing you know, I'm just it's like mom, I'm a
(15:36):
call with the dread doctors and you know they were
the tall ones. Yes, very tall, super tall, very tall,
super tall. I love um captured moments, you know a lot,
A lot of times I'd like to take pictures. I
took one of you that I posted. That's really great.
You were you were on the gurney and you were
laying down and you were on your I remember that photo. Yeah, yeah,
(15:59):
that was a lot of and I did you take
that moomo, Yeah, you had taken that photo because I
had posted that photo. I think you probably then send
it to my phone because that day because I've posted
that photo. Yeah, but then I don't forget about these
these photos if if they've been posted way far way back,
and then you repost them and it's a it is
a memory, not just for the fans but for us,
(16:21):
Like I try not to miss a moon Dames. And
then I along those lines, also I like to take pictures.
I've I've posted a lot of pictures of when when
a character comes into the hospital and I can have
a picture of their hand with their intake band. To me,
that's really important. And then of course I've taken a
lot of like um photos with Tyler in certain ways,
(16:42):
Like there's a photo where we're sitting on the steps
of our trailer and it's just our feet, you know,
stuff like that. That that those are the those are
the memories. Those are my memories that I share. Those
are my memories that are in my phone, that are
that are important to me. And that's a really that's
so fun. I love I love that. I don't. I mean,
we all know what we look like, right, so taking
pictures of faces isn't really that appealing to me. It
(17:04):
couldn't agree, we see. Yeah, I think inserts in general,
like if I was ever to direct anything, inserts are
so important. They tell the whole story, like feet walking
or hands how they move. I mean, yeah, I agree. Um,
but I love the hospital tags and I've seen you
post a lot of them, but I never fully put
it together. But that's genius. That is genius to take
(17:28):
the hospital tags. That's hilarious. On a personal note, um,
I take pictures. I have like pictures of my mom's hands.
I have pictures of you know, my one of my
best girlfriends recently lost their their grand mother and there
was a picture one of the last pictures that they
took and I zoomed in on their hands. There's something
about hands for me that are very telling, um and special. Again,
(17:49):
it's it's not about It's not it's about that like, um,
I don't know something about it really important to me.
So I'm gonna jump to the Team Wolf movie because
this is my problem every time I'm running a rewatch podcast.
(18:12):
But all I want to do is talk to the person.
Because this is our first season of this podcast and
the Team Will fans know so much about you on
Team Wolf as Melissa McCall, but they don't know what
you like. I had no idea about the Criminal Mind
spin off and the La Atlantic connection running so ironically
deep with Jeff Davis. So that's what I love hearing
(18:33):
on this podcast where I'm I don't know if the fans,
I'm assuming they want to hear that stuff, because if
I think if I'm interested, let us know, they're gonna
let us know. You're going to let us know. So
I always like to dig deep before we before we
get to the Team Wolf juice. But but Team Wolf movie,
did you see this coming? Where were you when you
found out? What are your thoughts? So? Do you remember
(18:55):
when we did the zoom reunion. Yes, yes, overproof. Yeah.
So I don't know if you remember, but Jeff was
asked during that reunion what could possibly be next for
teen Wolf, and he was like, well, other avenues have
been gone down, and people it is being looked at,
and so there was like this tiny little nugget of possibility.
(19:18):
You had that feeling back then. No. I heard him
say it, if we go back, if we if we
go back to the videotape, so to speak. He was
saying that there was something that was swirling back then
two years ago. And I've took that his words. I
didn't even take that seriously. You see, you had that
feeling then when he said it, I was like, there's
something up Okay, I hope there's something up, right, but
(19:38):
I mean we're COVID that at that point. It was
ten years, right, it was a ten year universary, you know,
who knows or whenever it was so. And then just
some some random day, you know. I don't get this often,
but I got a call from Jeff and I was like,
what's this about, you know, and I thought maybe he
was coming. I thought maybe he was coming to Atlanta
to visit his brother, and just wanted to say hi
(20:00):
or something, and then he's like, hey, I gotta talk
with you. All right, So this thing's happening and it's
not one hundred percent yet, so don't don't tell anybody.
Keep it a secret. And girl, I kept it a secret.
I didn't tell Kenny, I didn't tell my dad, I
didn't tell anybody. I told me what month was this? September, October,
November up twenty one? Yeah, yep, okay, right yeah. And
(20:23):
then because you know, I mean, things happen, things go away,
things get you know, put on the shelf. And so
I wasn't going to be the blabbie one. I wasn't
going to be the nah I wasn't going to harpoon this.
And so then then I want to say it was
maybe December. Was it late late late November or November?
They announced and they announced it, yeah, and so that
(20:44):
and then oh my gosh, who knew? And then going
into December and then I think we were actually scheduled to,
you know, to shoot in in January. And then that
girl pushed a little bit and you know, and it's
just it was just it's that thing I think, as
any actor does. It's like, yes, this is happening, but
it doesn't happen until I get on set. Am I
on set? Am I on set? Or do we have power?
(21:05):
Is it rolling? This is really how the bills being
paid for the lights that happened in our first season
the light buil didn't get paid are do you remember this? No?
And our lights got carted off? Wait what yeah at
the school during the season. Somehow there was a mistake
and the lights didn't get paid for. So they took
him and we had to wait hours to get them back.
(21:27):
Such an Atlanta move, such a team Wolf move. Man, gosh,
we are the little into that cut in those days.
So that's how that was my progression. It was like
can you keep a secret? Yes, sir, I can, And
then then the announcement, and then is you know, then
it was the understanding that he had a lot of
people to pull from and a lot of story to
pull from, and you know, I'm just really grateful and
(21:51):
thankful to be part of it. You know, I mean,
there's probably many different ways that maybe they could have
had not all the parents in it, but you know,
I mean, I Jeff did a real due diligence to
try to get everybody I think, you know, how do
you you know, encapsulate a show that ran for almost
a decade, and he did manage to get in a
multitude of the favorite villains and so much of the
(22:15):
cast and eating May's like, there's just so many incredible throwbacks.
And as far as your bond goes from Tyler from
the pilot to the movie, it is uncanny a obviously
how much you look alike, but you do feel like
his mom and and you know, we a lot of
events happened while the show was filming, and Tyler's mom
(22:39):
has had so many resemblances to you, and you to
his mom. It was and um, you know, quite the bond.
I feel like one of the gifts of someone passing
in your life is that then you have the ability
and strength to walk with someone else when it happens.
And you know, much like Tyler's mom, my mom passed
(23:03):
from cancer and it was it was a journey that
we had together. And I remember when he lost his mom,
and you know, and there were many people that came
to him, not just me, that came to him and
was like, you know, you're you're part of the club
that no one wants to be a member of and
you know, lean on me. You know, I have, I
(23:24):
have been there. I can tell you, you know, I
can't tell you everything, but I can tell you my
experience and hopefully that'll help. And you know, there was
a there was many people that reached out to him
because you know, he's he's our captain. And I can't
imagine what that must have felt like to have to
be number one and keep going on because there were
(23:46):
so many people. Again, it's it's akin to Jeff counting
on you to be there. You know, there's not a
lot of TV moms that go through that experience with
our TV sun, with the events that were happening in
real life. Yeah, so you know, I mean, I don't
want to say that I could just look over at
him and know what he was feeling, but I had
(24:08):
an idea. Yeah, and so I think that that was um,
you know wild that was the most probably the most
difficult time. It also was you know, I hope a
bonding time for him as much as it was for me.
I'm sure he both have such big hearts. And something
that is a testament to teen Wolf is like a
big ingredient in the pot is like your relationship to
(24:30):
Tyler on an off screen so wonderful. Thank yeah. My
only one regret with Teen Wolf was I do think
the parents and finance, this is when the financial stuff
comes in. But like, y'all should have been series regulars.
That's you're my first parent. Well no that's not true.
Jr's my first parent. On the podcast we shot those
(24:51):
out of order. But yeah, I think that. I think that,
you know, that's my I wish we all could have
been series regulars because and that's not the way the
business works, but it should, um because such a presence
we were. I mean, there's not many parents that are
that lucky to be that involved. I mean, when you
when you really kind of break down the numbers, we
(25:13):
were all very involved in a lot of the episodes,
and so there's there's we're we're we're just grateful, I
think I can I can speak for the other guys
as well. Just so grateful to be a part of it,
and um, yeah, yeah, it's all good. It's why we
know we did make it to the credits. The final season,
I saw very exciting for us. I know, all the
(25:34):
all the stupid actor stuff that goes all behind the scenes,
that's just like the business of the business. And you
know that the heart that this show had had so
much to do with you and Stalinski and jr. Um
you know, Linden and Jr. It's it's you instill in
scio man. Jr. Has like the sexy zing of like
(25:57):
I'm a parent, but wink wink, I'm really a kid,
does he not? Yeah? And you and and Linden are
the most. You're still totally actors and big kids, but
you have such a pragmatic maternal and maternal feel like.
You guys were the I say, Lindon, but I should
throw you into the pile. You're a little more playful
(26:20):
than Lindon, but at the same time, I feel like
you two are the most. You're the only responsible ones
on team. Think about that. I always say that I'm
allergic to responsibility, but Lindon really was not though, you know,
but Lindon was the one. I feel like a lot
of a lot of us, I mean included you know,
if if we ever came into a conundrum, he was
you know, he was the one that had the chops,
the experience, kind of like the dad role. You know,
(26:41):
he was going to be honest with you, um, and
he was going to tell you like it is, and
he's he's steadfast in that way, you know, so as
Susan Susan. Susan was too Susan. But Susan is so
funny to me because she's she downplays everything that she
is and I'm like, what what who? I've said it
(27:01):
to the past that you know, Susan and Lindon are
some of my mentors, as are you and Kenny. And
so yeah, Linda sat me down and walked through my retirement.
Oh oh yeah. He sat down and hold out all
the financial stops and was like, this is what you
should be doing. And I in so many terms, like
you know, always picking and asking questions and he yeah,
(27:23):
he did. He sat me down. So he's always been
my mentor. UM valuely appreciated he doing that. Yeah. So
so yeah, so you were happy with the movie. You know,
you know this, but not everybody does. My stepdad was
actively passing when we were shooting. I do know this,
and I when you mentioned your mom and the fact
(27:44):
that was happening right before the pilot and now this
kind of put a new little zing above my head
because I'm like, oh, my gosh, what are the chances. Yeah,
So personally, this was like you know, um uh, it
was my own personal fever dream, you know, to have
such an amazing high and such an amazing low and
(28:07):
have to toggle between the two of them because I
was either on set or I was at the hospital.
That's it. I knew that, and and we all knew that,
and we all just sort of like try to give
you your space, and we knew that, you know, you
just were going through it and you were trying to
get through it and you felt all of that on you. Yeah,
(28:27):
and I know Kenny was a rock star behind the scenes,
I'm sure, and it was just yeah, it was. It was.
It was such a strange time to like think back
at it, and so it's one of the first projects
that you know, when I actually like look at myself,
I don't have a sense of memory because I think
that I was in so many different places. I'm just
really I'm very grateful and thankful for everybody that were
(28:49):
in the scenes with me, and grateful and thankful for
that for that thing that was already there from those
hundred episodes that I could lean on, that thing of
being Mama McCall already, so that there was something inside
of me that I could pull from and I could
I could rest on it, you know, and know that,
you know, the work was already there and all I
had to do was kind of dip into it because
(29:11):
you know something like that. I mean, I'm sure that
there were people on set that had more more drama
in their lives than than that, but it's it's going
to go through that. No, No, that's the important stuff
at the end of the day. And so we felt
for you, and um, you know, we have real life
goes on and it's probably a blessing you don't have
any sense memory because I have too much sense memory,
(29:35):
which I don't know what that says about me, but
when I watch a project, I have a hard time
watching it because I just remember, Oh, that's the day
I went to the vet. That's the day I was late,
or that's the day I X y Z happened, or
I remember the life I was living while filming those projects. Wow,
And it's probably good that like it White Noises for
(29:55):
you and you just you knew, oh, obviously you were
going to remember teen Wolf somewhat with that, you know,
part in your place in your life. But um, I'm
glad you're able to like turn one off when you
were there and then turn the other one on, you know,
back at the hospital. And m that's only well, you're
one of the few, Melissa that has the strength to
do it. Let me tell you. I mean, you know
(30:17):
the story with Eadie, right m hm. So Edie and
Crystal were filming a scene together. It was the first
day that Edie was back um in Los Angeles to
film and Edie's mom was ill. In five minutes before
she has to go and shoot with Crystal, she picks
up the phone and her mother has passed. Eadie may's
(30:43):
you want to talk about a warrior, hung up that phone,
walked out that trailer and did her work. And she
only told Crystal, so this will be an interesting when
you when you when you when you talk with Crystal,
and she was and Crystal was like, we can shoot
this another day. We can tell everybody to go home.
You can get on a flight right now. And Edie
was like, nope, no, I want to do the work.
(31:06):
And and and I don't know, I can't recall what
the what the line is in Edie's dialogue And I'm
sure everyone will let us know. But it was something
about like, you know, I'm talking with my dead mother
or something like that that Crystal had to say, Edie,
and it was just like, you know, there's nothing more
meta than that. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's a
(31:27):
strong woman. There. You guys go way back, Yeah, on
different projects. M M yeah, as does Susan. Yeah yeah,
connection Small World. Oh, Edie, my heart goes out to her.
I know, we love you, Edie. Yeah, seriously, she'll definitely
be on this podcast. I mean, we want The movie
came at a time in our lives that Shelley Hadda
(31:48):
said it best of like it was just a really
important time and a lot of our lives for this
movie to hit, But it wasn't fight. It's interesting it
didn't happen right after, as it is a quote Season seven,
and it didn't happen when we you know, was twenty
years later either. So I find it interesting of when
it hit in all of our lives, just serendipitously. Yeah,
I agree. Yeah, you know things come right on time,
(32:09):
and so did the movie. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And do
you remember because I will throw out this, but um,
I'm wondering if this was improv or not improv? But
do you remember your first scene in teen Wolf. I
know this is hard when he was getting ready for
a date and I was like, what's her name? Because
I forgot her name? Wait wait in the scene, I
(32:34):
completely forgot what her name was. And I was like,
what about what what? What's her name? And Jeff was like,
that's great, keep it. Yeah, that was a moment. That's
not even the moment I was talking about. That's funny,
that was improv. Okay, yeah, the moment I was thinking
about was it as the camera's pulling back, You're like,
I'm not gonna end up on a reality show with
a sixteen year old pugnance son. And yes, no, no, no,
(32:55):
that was written. That was written. I kind of thought
that one was improv, but I figured I was like,
it's always gonna put like a joke into the pot
about MTV. Totally. Yeah, that's funny. And what's her face?
Was the improv Oh funny name? Yeah? And do the
fans know this or is this the first time you're
telling the story of what's your name? I mean, probably
(33:16):
the first time I'm telling the story of what's your name? Funny,
that's funny and you are. I don't mean this in
a matronly way, but like the fact you are so maternal,
like the fans feel like they I think they call
you Mama McCall. They don't. Yeah, yeah, like it conventions,
you're like, I'm gonna sit down and I'm going to
talk to this girl, and everybody gets hugs. Yeah, everyone
(33:37):
gets hugs, like you are so good about it. And um,
my favorite of the meet and greets and panels the second,
but meet and greets first. And I'm just so curious
and I would be curious to get your opinion on
the meet and greets. Is I love the meet and
greets because I got to know, like, Okay, why do
you like this show? Because you're having trouble in school
(33:58):
and this is where you lean or you have you know,
you're excellent time management, and this is your relaxation. And
I always like to hear like, oh, I'm in med school.
I just watched you as like white noise in the
background because I knew that their heads and hearts were
in their lives, their own lives, and we were truly entertainment.
And then I had this other experience of a mixed
(34:21):
feeling of we could be the salvation for some people,
but it also broke my heart of like why were
we the salvation for some people? And so that's what
I took away, I think from those meeting greets, and
I really I enjoyed every single one of them, and
so I know that you carry a heavy heart with fans.
I think with the meeting greets, there's such a such
(34:43):
an intimacy and a vulnerability with the people that you meet,
you know, because you're literally sitting six feet away from
them and you're looking at them in the eye, and
they're able to tell you a story or a feeling
or an experience or you know, something that meant a
lot to them in one of the episodes. And so
I think that, you know, it's vulnerable both ways, right,
(35:03):
we have to be vulnerable and open to hearing it,
and they have to be open to sharing it, you know.
I mean, it's a kind of a two way street.
And I think that Jeff poored enough of his own
experience as a child and his own experience with his
own mother and his own brother into my dialogue in particular,
and I think that it strikes a chord with people,
(35:23):
whether they're watching it for the first time or the
fifth time. You know, a lot of be your own
anchor speech is something directly that was from from you know,
from his mom that was said and you know, shooting
all over yourself and there's a lot of that was
Jeff's mom saying that. And to your point, you know,
we're five years since we wrapped up the series, and
(35:44):
what I heard, you know, a lot this time around
from people was thank you for being a part of
my childhood, you know, because now everybody's growing up. You know,
we're five years older in real life and you know,
fifteen years on the show. But I'm hearing a lot
of that now, like you know, kind of in a
shy one way, like thank you so much for being
And so I'm seeing, you know, somebody that it meant
(36:07):
something so much to them growing up and they've put
it inside of them as an adult, you know, five
years down the line, and that too. Yeah, we're part
of We're part of peoples scrap books. That's wonderful to say,
their heart scrap books. It's wonderful. Yeah, it's it is
a huge gift. I mean, I'm sure the topics got
pretty heavy in your meeting greets, I have a feeling yes, yes,
(36:30):
because it's a form of like group therapy. It is. Yes.
Here we are talking about how how vulnerable um, these
people are in relation to you know, our show, and
it just touches people. And I think when people are touched,
they feel a little bit, you know, more open to share.
Like we're just working actors on a smallest show that
had a very loyal fan base and all of the
(36:50):
themes like we're talking about today. That's obviously why teen
Wolf has the bond amongst the fans and then the
fans too, you know us and us to the fans
that we do and that's why they convention and still
still are alive and well because people. It's not a
large group of people in comparison to Stranger Things or
Game of Thrones, but the but the dedicated loyalty. Man,
it's it's like it's very special and it's it's not
(37:13):
lost on I think either of us, any of us
really Yeah, no, no, it's not. And they're different levels
of intensity. I've had meet and greets where it's just
been one one person, five people, twenty five people, you know,
and they all have a different flavor of Again, I
use the word intimacy, not in a bad way, just
in a very vulnerable talk space way. I'm sure you
gave them good advice. I'm sure a lot of people
(37:35):
ask you for advice. I mean, I don't know about
advice as much as just you know, organically talking in
a way that maybe they couldn't with their own parent
or guardian or sister or brother. You know, again, maybe
maybe their guard was a little down because you know,
they know us, they know us on a certain performance level,
and they and they feel close to us. You know,
(37:55):
a lot of people don't watch the show just once,
they watch times and so you know, they become attached
in a way. I would say the fans probably definitely
feel closest to you at these at meeting greets because
in it that should be noted. And like you know,
gold starred because you handle it so well, because it
can be overwhelming the love, and you you handle it,
(38:19):
I would say, one of the best. It's like very
pragmatic and then very heartfelt at the same time. So
it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool to see I see
it from afar And as far as the episode, yes,
this was the parent teacher conference episode. Do you remember
that's this episode? Yeah? Yeah, so you are rapping for
(38:41):
all the parents here. But I love that your your
first scene in teen Wolfe is talking about it's like
the sex talk. Have you had to have a sex
talk with a kid? Me? Yes? In real life? Yes? No,
Kenney took that on. Really really were with Jesse. Jesse
he was always very honest, in pragmatic. I'll use your
(39:02):
word and oh do you think that that's what that is?
Let me tell you really what this term is, and
all the slang terms. So he went through all the
terms with her, to actions terms from a very young man.
What a dad, right. What Jesse was able to do
is go back to school and when people were flinging
around all these terms, She's like, that's not really what
(39:24):
that means. Let me tell you what it really means.
And so it was a real super education for her,
not only for her personally, but like also to make
sure that everybody knew what's up. Like, yeah, so you know,
someone needs to educate me on what the term baddie is,
so I know that I'm not you know, we got
we got the basics down. Yeah. Yeah, so I didn't
have to have this sex d with Jessie. Yeah, I
(39:48):
don't think I ever had the sex talk with my
parents that that team we've seen never happened from me.
How did you approach single momdom because you've never had
to do single momdom in real life, did you. My
(40:08):
mom was a single mom. Your mom was a single mom.
My mom was a single mom for a time, and
I remember that as a young girl, and so I
had that one on one experience with just my mom.
And to be honest, you know, we didn't have a
lot of money. My mom was a waitress at the time,
and so um so I remember long shifts much like
(40:29):
a nurse, so to speak. Um, I remember having to
use my own creativity because we couldn't. You know, it's
not like there was a lot of entertainment. I remember,
you know, spending a lot of time with grandparents while
my mom had to work. You know, she could barely
get off any holidays. So I did. I did have
a little bit of a reference there for for what
it would be like for a single mom. And it's funny,
(40:50):
I think going into season four, you know, I was
lucky enough to get a call from you know, the writers,
and you know, we were talking about like what what
if you you know, what would you like to see
maybe you know, for the next season. And I was like, well,
I always love comedy. More comedy would be great. And
they were like, okay, well if I mean not that
we're gonna have Mama McCall maybe land in a relationship,
(41:11):
but if we did, who would it be? And I
they asked you this, yeah, And I took a beat,
and I was like, I mean, does she have to
end up with anyone? Like why can't she just be
a single mom. Why can't she just be a single
mom working really hard and trying to raise a son
and that be the priority? Like do we have to
you know? Um? And so I threw that in the
(41:33):
ring because I think that's that's you know, when you
talk about representation, he's talk about real life. That is
an element. I don't think single moms have time to date.
It's not that they're undateable. Shout out to single parents,
really shout out to single parents. So that yeah, I
love that they put the parent teacher conference in because
I remember having to stay home at night and getting
the center and then our parents going to the teacher
(41:55):
conference night, and I just remember that so clearly at
school and I think I think it's the same episode
where where I actually you know where Mama McCall goes
up to the arch parents. Yes, and we have a
key until there's an explosion or of some sort or something. Yes,
arrow something, something happens. Yeah. That was fun. And that
(42:16):
was actually shot at the Beacon Hills School that was
here in Atlanta because we shot the first and second
season here, um, and that was right across the way
from where I live, and so I could literally when
we were shooting there walk walk to work and I
was like, I remember the scene draining job. Yeah, yeah,
talk about I remember. And was the school partly in
(42:37):
session or was it abandoned at that point? So it
was it was just used as a set, and it
was OK. I want to say, maybe I would have
to look in my book, but maybe maybe two years
after after so we were in season four, they demolished
the school and now it really yeah, it's still just
an open area. And so what's beautiful is that when
it rains there's a duck pond that form, and so
(43:00):
all of these ducks in Canadian geese, they kind of
now inhabit the old Beacon Hills School. That's so funny
because our stages in north Ridge got demolished as well.
Oh really, yes, you didn't know about this? Oh no, no, no,
that's why we had to move stages from north Ridge
to Recita was because they bought the land and said nope,
(43:22):
no more. And I think it was an abandoned stereo
factory when they when I think that was the north
Ridge one, right, yeah, and so it wasn't like a
quotquote proper stage with proper ducting. That's like extra quiet,
you know, things like that. But um, what a wild time,
wild time. So so it's crazy that that two of
the big teen wolf sets are now are now open fields. Yeah.
(43:43):
And this is also the episode that they skipped school,
Allison and Scott. In this episode they skipped school. And
did you ever skip school? Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble.
Oh no, it's okay. Senior Skip Day was the only
day that I skipped, and I skipped half the day.
Don't tell anybody, don't tell anyone. That doesn't even count.
(44:05):
You literally skip on Senior skipp Day and you only
skipped half the day. That's it. I never I would.
I'm still I'm still afraid to get in trouble. That's funny.
What did you do when you skipped a half day?
Felt really guilty? It wasn't worth it. You just sat
in the corner with shame. It was just like, I
need to be back. My mom's gonna know about this.
I didn't want a proper I want to ask you
(44:35):
what's next for you? And also quickly touch in Chicago Fire.
How song was that? Because I could easily tell you
from like you, like I could see New York in you.
I even see Southern in you, but I totally see
Chicago in you. Again, It's just a dream job, a
real gift to be a part of Chicago Fire, in
the whole Chicago family again. One of those actors' stories
(44:56):
where you put something on tape and you don't know
if where it's gonna land. I literally put that on
tape with someone out in Los Angeles in their kitchen
and you just you send it off and it's and
it's one of many and you're hopeful, but you never know.
And they came back and they were like, look, it's
going to be like this five episode arc and you're
actually going to come in and you know, the Chief's
(45:17):
gonna have some interest and you're kind of going to
be this gold digger and break the chief's heart. Yes
for you true story. After the first episode, they were like,
you know, maybe chief needs love, maybe this could actually
be a thing, and um, and then it developed into
what it was, and then we became older parents. I
(45:39):
gave birth on a fire truck. We have little terrans
who's growing older, and you know the trials and tribulations
of you know, two working parents. I'm a teacher and
obviously he's the he's the fire chief, and we're still
going strong. You know where I think, is it the
eleventh season, twelfth season? Do you still go back? I
haven't been back in a couple of in a couple
(46:00):
of seasons, but I think that's that's partly because you know,
talk about a huge cast there. There's so many cash
members on each individual show, and mister Dick Wolf has
done a wonderful job of you know, we've got the
Chicago one where all the shows are intertwining and so
you know, Fire comes on Med, Med goes on to
you know, PD, PD comes back on Fire and so
(46:21):
there's just a constant, beautiful orchestra orchestrated, um happening of
everybody coming on everybody's show. And so you know, as
somebody that's a wife to a character, you know, that's
a lot of show to kind of compete with. And
so only when the focus comes back to the chief
show up. We work on tough shows, yes we do.
Team Wolfe was a tough show. It to show it
(46:43):
was conditions. Yeah, probably not much different. Yeah, Chicago fire,
tough environment, tough show, a lot more fire, a lot
more fire, a lot more cold. So you know, and
you know, you can't complain when you've got you know,
all all the crew that's out there in their car hearts.
They look like giant you know, Michelin men, they're not
complaining how cold it is, so you know, neither can you.
(47:04):
And so there's a certain camaraderie that happens, and you know,
it's it's a joy to be on set with family,
right Tyler and I mentioned the exact same thing, And
even with Vince m of Teas like your teaching Vince
the ropes, and Vince took to it so well, yeah, um,
in the team of a movie. But it's absolutely the case.
I mean, we worked, we don't work. You know, we
worked double the work day. It's like sixteen hours um,
(47:26):
usually around at least what the team off hours were UM.
And so how about the days, I mean, I think
we both shared this where we were wrapped and you
were on the four oh five, come on back, come
home back, even the days that are maybe even those
triple days. You know, we got a lot of come
home backs. Yeah. I want to touch on really quickly,
just because it's all in the family that Kenny Alfonso
(47:49):
is in. Yes, Hilt of Wolfpack. Yes, yes, he plays
a doctor, doctor Selgato and the pilot. Okay, really proud
and I always thought, I mean this was season when
was the DROC season three with the Nematon and everything. Yeah,
that was the first time you were doing some type
of hosting thing for MTV. Remember that. Ye, Haley and
(48:11):
I actually came into the office and we talked with you. Haley,
Web you are phenomenal. You are a phenomenal You are
a phenomenal host. And I think that this is you know,
this is a really wonderful second home for you, and
I see I see more of this to come for you.
I think, well, hey, thank you. I love talking to
people like Oprah Winfree. I never missed an episode. I
(48:32):
loved Oprah from I was like a little kid to
wrap up, what is next for you? Because I think
you need to direct? That is my personal opinion. And
no a fill the hands. No thank you, no thank you,
this is this is no no no. I say these
two things, and I say them with great gusto. I'm
allergic to responsibility. And I really have no other marketable
(48:53):
skills other than being an actor. I couldn't direct, I
couldn't write. I might be able to do craft service
so hilarious if it's funny, you don't feel like you
could direct? You don't know that? Wow. No, So what's
next for me? I'm happy to be part of a
Bridgewater podcast which is in its second season. Um and
that's actually streaming right now on iHeartRadio and just shot
(49:16):
something in the late late fall, early winter with UM.
I always like to joke this little known actor by
the name of Kevin Hart. I think that he's going
to be a star. Just this up and coming dude. UM,
you know, he's pretty good. He's got a new show,
UM actually for Roku of all places and um and
it's called Die Heart, Die harder, which is kind of
(49:38):
a you know, a take on things. Yeah, and um,
he plays himself kind of in a in a wanna
be action star, and I play his manager agent. I
love that for you. It was a lot going to
be so fun. It was a lot of fun. He
was a lot of fun. The whole cast was a
lot of fun. Did you die laughing? Were you just
cracking up? Yes, totally cracking up. Did you get to
(50:00):
do a lot of improv with him? Got to do
improv with him? Yes, that was fun. Did you make
him laugh? I mean I think I made him giggle.
And at the end of it, he's like, you're a
real professional. I'm like, so are you? Man? Oh? I
knew he would take to who doesn't take to you?
But yeah, that's I could see him being like, I
see her, I see her. Yeah he gave you know,
but he gave everybody a lot of freedom. He's a
very generous He's a very generous performer. Wow, So when
(50:21):
does that come out? Do you know? I don't know, Okay,
I don't know. Keep us posted. Yes, what's next for you?
Other than this podcast? I've got a mini series coming
out later this year that had thirty seven series regulars. Wow,
it's a it's a Christmas mini series. Okay, fun. I
(50:42):
just can't give too much away, but yeah, no, I'm
really excited about that project. It was a really fun
project to shoot. I'm happy for you. I'll be watching.
You're very sweet. Thank you, honey for coming on. I
love you, Honey. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening. Y'all.
Follow us on Instagram at Halleback Now Podcast and make
sure to write it's a review and leave us five stars.
We'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com