April 16, 2024 • 58 mins
Brian sits down with actor, model, and violin prodigy Torrey DeVitto to learn about what makes a great classical musician, hitting the teen mecca of television jobs, and why she can’t bring herself to eat eggs from her own duck.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you eat eggs?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I do eat eggs. So my duck has started laying eggs,
but I can't.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, they're eggs groups, just like chicken eggs, but they're bigger,
and apparently they make baking even fluffier. So I've heard.
I can't.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We need to we need to share that sound, we
need to clip that sound. But right there, they make
baking even fluffier.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hi, I'm Toriy Devido and I don't eat duck eggs.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, everybody, it's so good to have you back here
on Off the Beat, and I am delighted. I'm pleased
as punch to be your host. Brian Baumgartner, my guest
today is Well some might call a violin prodigy. Yep,
toy to veto. Now. I didn't say she was necessarily
(01:03):
famous for playing the violin, mind you, but she's very
very good at it from everything she led me to believe.
Tory is, of course a fantastic actor. You may know
her from a number of different shows, Nanny Carey on
One Tree Hill, Melissa on Pretty Little Liars, or Doctor
(01:23):
Natalie Manning on Chicago Med. She's also been playing the
violin since she was very little. She even played at
Christy Brinkley's wedding and on Stevie Nick's album. So she
is not only very talented, she's also very very cool.
(01:44):
You'll find out how she went from touring with the
likes of Billie Joel to traveling the world as a
fashion model to now living on a small farm in
rural Michigan that does not currently have any pigs. Let's
hear it straight from her, the absolutely delightful Tory DeVito.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble
and Squeaker, cook it every more. Lift over from the
Nine People.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Hi, Torri, Hi, how are you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm all right? How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Pretty good?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah? Yeah, no, no one, no one. I always say
I can't complain because no one would care anyway, I
would care how you're doing. But uh yeah, where where
are you right now?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I'm in Michigan. I live full time in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Michigan.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
H wow, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't get a lot of Michigan. Where in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So I live near a town called Saugatuck, Okay, And
I have a I have a farm there and then
we also have a place about an hour away from
the farm in Kalamazoo where my fiance works. Okay, but
I moved to Michigan, uh because I just love it.
Before I met him, before anything, I just I love
(03:26):
I love Michigan. And I was like, I'm done with La.
I'm stick of LA staying in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You're staying in Michigan. Good for you. I had a
great experience with one of my old co workers there
in uh what I say, Grand Rapids and oh yeah
and big big Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah. Grand Rapids is like an hour from me, and there's.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
A Big Rapids. That's where the college I was at
a college there, Right, big Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think. So I know there's I only know Grand
Rapids personally, but I know there's all sorts of rapids,
which I didn't know. There was so much about Michigan.
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, you you grew up in New York or you
were born in New York, I understand. So, yeah, you
falling in love with Michigan. That doesn't sound on brand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
No, Well, my mother's from Michigan, and so we did
come here to visit her family for the summers. So
I had a little bit of a background with Michigan,
but when we would visit them, I didn't feel connected
to Michigan. Then it was I was filming in Chicago
and my mom had moved to this little town in
Michigan that's on the water, a very artsy, cute community
(04:36):
that you see in movies and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
but it really exists. And I'd come up on my
weekends because it was a two hour drive to Chicago.
I just fell in love with it. So during the pandemic,
I was like, that's it, I'm out. Just stayed.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah. I have some friends. It's exactly what you said
when they were like, we summer in Michigan and this
is from Atlanta, Georgia are in Michigan. Like what does
that even mean? But the lake there is very beautiful.
And do you boat? Are you like? Are you like
an outdoors I mean you.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Have a farm.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, what's on your farm?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
What do you have on your farm?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I have two goats and two ducks and two dogs
and two cats.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Okay, goats, that's exotic. You don't have like alpacas and.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, no, it's no. I think I'm sticking with this
for now. I obviously would like to expand. But you know,
one step at a time, at a time.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But you're I moved to Michigan. Give me a break.
I already did the step.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
One step at a time. But no, I love it.
I love being in nature. I love getting to walk outside.
I love that it's just more pure here.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Okay, fine, pure.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
The air is cleaner, things are just cleaner. You know,
I can just outside, Yes, and I'm not inundated with
city crap, you know. Yes, But I'm two hours from Chicago,
so if I need that hit, it's right there, take
a two hour drive.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean, I do know that you're wearing overalls right now.
I don't know if those are like I don't know
if those are like Levi's though. Those seem a little
bit more like like overalls you would wear a New
York or Chicago. But I'm just their corduroy. Yeah, I
don't see. I don't see goat debris on the Okay, yeah,
(06:38):
small steps, I understand. Small steps.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You to move the move designer overalls. Then we'll get
to the non designer overall soon.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Okay. All right, baby steps, baby steps. Uh, you had
a fascinating childhood. I know, I'm not the first to
tell you this. Your parents, they were in the music industry.
You as a child, you went on tours. I'm guessing
(07:10):
with people like, oh, I don't know, like Billy Joel
and Stevie Nicks. Tell me a little bit about your
your childhood. Your dad was the drummer for for Billy Joel.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, my dad played with Billy for thirty.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Years years stop.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, a long time. They met when they were like
nineteen years old or something on Long Island. Yeah, so
I grew up going on tour. Alexa, his daughter is
in between my age and my sister's age, so we
all grew up together. And yeah, it was. It's so
I feel so pretentious when I'm like, I don't know
(07:48):
any other childhood. So when people say like, oh, it's
such an interesting channel, and I'm like, yeah, but what
is it like when your parents are like doctors like that,
what they save a lot? That's crazy, you know, like,
what is that? So? Yeah, but I mean, look, it's
my dad still. He's playing all the time and every
time I go visit him. He's in a new band
(08:10):
right now called the slim Kings, and also the original
Billy Joel guys play together and tour, so he's always
doing something, so there's always something going on and I
love it.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
By the way, it did sound pretentious. I how many
times have you heard piano man live live live? A lot,
a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
But what's funny is I actually could not sing a
full Billy Joel's song start to finish all the lyrics
because I would go to the shows and then sometimes
we would be playing backstage or whatever. We didn't really
sit through the whole show. And I never listened to
it until honestly, kind of recently, I'm like, man, these
are really good songs. Not that I couldn't acknowledge that,
(08:52):
but it's like it's your dad's you know what I mean.
I wasn't sitting in my bedroom listening to Billy Joel,
So people, I think, always find that funny that I might.
I don't know all the work, Like I don't know
every song.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So he was a drummer, Yeah, was constant? Was that
sound the sound of your childhood? Like do you do
you remember hearing that from I don't know, from the garage,
from the guest bedroom, whatever, Like constantly hearing music and
experiencing music as you were growing up.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Absolutely to this day. It's like, even if we're at
a restaurant, he's constantly like with like the fork and
a knife doing something and I'm like, Dad, everybody wants
to hear this right now, like take it down a notch.
But yeah, No, he had a drum set and we
had my parents had this office room. He had a
drum set in there, and when they would be on hiatus,
(09:48):
he was always playing with other people you know around
that would come over and just have like jam sessions
all the time in the house. And he was always
playing loud music. And I think one of the things
I wish I would have been more into. But you know,
as a daughter, I was like, go away, leave me alone.
He'd like run into my room like, oh, you got
to listen to this song, listen to this part. And
I was like, okay, whatever, go away. And now I
(10:12):
wish I would.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Have been That's like me in sports with my daughter,
like something like I'll be like, oh, yeah, come here,
you got to see this. This is something really cool.
No interest, no, just just a total dismissal job of
a child.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think, I.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Guess, I don't know. At some point you moved to Florida,
Central Florida specifically, this is I don't know if you
know this. This is very different from New York and
Long Island. What was the reason for that move? Was
that just he was on the road, or.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's so my parents. So my mom was best friends
with Stevie and when dad and Billie were on Hiatus Tory,
my dad played on Stevie's solo tour. That's how he
met my mom. My mom was a very hippy California girl,
like loved the sun and palm trees, it all this,
and my dad is a very East Coast Italian New Yorker,
(11:13):
so they got together. Everything happened very quickly, and she
moved to New York. And I think the promise was
you will be around palm trees again. One day I promised.
They were on tour, we were in Florida, they decided
to look at houses. My mom loved this little town
called Winter Park, so we ended up moving there. And
I can hate Florida. It was I was not It
(11:39):
was not the direction I would have gone right, and
none of my family lives there anymore. I really do
think it was part of the downfall of us to
beatos moving to Florida. My dad went back to Brooklyn.
My mom now lives in Michigan. So but yeah, Florida.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So was that tough for you as a How old
were you when you moved?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I was eleven, Okay, yeah, so it was sad. It
was sad, saying God by all my friends. I was
excited about the high school. I knew we would all
go to together one day in King's Park, New York.
And you know, it's always hard making new friends. And
I found Florida to be very weird, even at that age.
I noticed that even in my high school, like my school,
(12:23):
we had like four thousand kids in our school. It
was huge. Wow, and the segregation was insane. I was like,
and I was so taken it back by so much
about Florida that wasn't in New York. I was like,
oh my god, it was just it was a very
alarming place.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think you played the violin. Now, what I read
was violin prodigy. That's not true, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I mean I started playing when I was six, and
six is young. Six is young. And I did play
all throughout high school, and I traveled over to Europe
and I played for Chrissy Brinkley's wedding when I was
like twelve, and so I think that's why the word
prodigy gets lost, and I.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Didn't do a lot prodigy though, that's prodigy. Yeah, that's prodigy, right,
I mean I know this was there were friends, but but.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Still yeah, yeah, no, I mean it was, it was.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was a huge part of my life. It still is,
but it was even bigger.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Part of my life than you still play.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I do still play. I took a little bit of
a break the last couple of years because I fractured
my finger, and then it was really hard to get
back into it because I noticed, like as a classical musician,
improv and all the things were allowed to do as
actors you can't do as a classical musice. So that
was actually the hardest switchover for me. When I started acting,
(13:55):
people were like, just go with it, and I'm like, no, no,
give me the words, let me act it. They're like, no, no,
just go with your and I'm like, wait a second.
I'm so used to being told exactly what I have
to play. So when I broke factured my finger and
then took some time off, it was like, wait, I'm
gonna be terrible. I can't play violin and not be
(14:15):
good at it because I'm so classically trained. It's like
you have to Everything has to be perfect. So I
put off playing for about two and a half years,
but I just started again, which has been fun.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
This is fascinating to me. So as a classical musician,
does that mean that there's no personal interpretation?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, I obviously think everybody has their styles and their
way of doing things, and that's why the greats happened.
But when it comes to the music, you know, Mozart
and bait, there's no room for interpretation. It's not like
you'd be like, well, he put this as a half note,
but I'm bake it a bordant note. It's like, no,
you can't. You can't do that. And every note has
(14:57):
to be pitch per Everything has to be so perfect.
There's no improv unless you're playing jazz or fiddle or
something like that. But that's for music.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
No, Yeah, So what does distinguish.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
That's a really good question. I've actually never thought of that.
I think style, you know, charisma, the way people and
also just being so much better than everyone else. It's
a really hard instrument to get really really great at
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So there's hitting the notes, but then there's a way
to hit the notes pure or well.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It's funny. It's like even some string musicians, some have
better tone than others. And I don't even know how
to explain that. It's almost like singing. It's like how
somebody could be hitting the same pitch, but somebody's tone
is just better. Right, It's like, I don't know if
that's finesse, if that's just like more of a natural
(15:55):
thing that you have it than someone else. I'm not
really sure. But that's kind of where I stop, not
stop playing, but decided it wasn't going to be a
because of profession for me, because I realized I wasn't
ever gonna be good enough to be the soloist, and
they didn't want to be in an orchestra forever.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Right. That's fascinating to me. I've never thought I mean,
you said, you've never thought of it. I've never thought
about that. The ability. Yeah. Yeah, when you're acting to
say like, oh, go no, go with what you're feeling
right now, go, Yeah, you can play around with this
a little bit, and you're saying like, no, no, no,
tell me what the notes are. I'll hit the notes right,
(16:35):
I'll hit the notes in the tambra, in the in
the pace that you want me to.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's fascinating piano, I'm actually thinking, because at least with violin,
it's like you have to hit all those notes. Piano,
it's all there. So what makes a great pianist versus
you know, if they can play the same music and
they have to say, well, you're not even pitch at
that point, because the pianos as long as you're hitting
the keys or pitch perfect. So what makes a great pianist? Huh?
(17:03):
I really think about this today.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right, I'm gonna have to dive into this well
because I'm also thinking about singers too, right, which in
a way, I mean, once you get into opera, then
there is performance, there's presence. But you know what makes
the great singers of classical music? What makes them great?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Emotion?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
The emotion that comes through the voice.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I think, Yeah, being able to pull So maybe it's
the same with as well. Yeah, it's being able to
convey that emotion, pulling somebody in because.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You feel it. I mean, I mean great classical music
you feel yeah, and it is it the composer that
makes you feel or is it the artist that's that
has the instruments that makes you feel. I didn't think
we were going to be talking about this, by the way,
but I know, but I think this is very interesting
to me.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
No, it is, for sure. I think it has to
be a combination. Like obviously the it's like when you
get a really great script, you're like, oh, the words
speak for themselves, but you still have to put in
that emotion and still so I think it's it's got
to be a combination.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So you had decided that that was not going to
be your profession, though you still play it. You started
modeling at age fifteen, and I have read that you
have said that that was in order to get eventually
into film and television. So even at fifteen, you saw
this path, this was the path you wanted, and this
(18:58):
was the path you decided to take.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
No. No, So I I went into modeling and not
really knowing what I was doing. I got an agent,
and I was very shy, and I didn't really love it.
I found it to be very boring, and not to
say that people don't have fun with it, but I
(19:22):
personally was like, it's a lot of waiting around just
to go take pictures. Like, I didn't really love it.
And a photographer had said to my mom, you know
she's very shy in front of the camera. You should
put her in an acting class to kind of open
her up. And so I went into an acting class,
and I was like, Oh, this is what I want
to do, not that, And so I kind of used
modeling while I was still in high school, like commercials
(19:43):
and commercial modeling to save up the money to move
to La got it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
What was it about the acting class that attracted you
that made you say that this is what I want
to do.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I honestly just found it to be so fun. I
am a very I could be very emotional and dramatic,
and I was like, wait, I can do this just
because I am having fun doing this, that's cool. It's
not because I'm just like a teen in my bedroom
being all emo. This is so fun.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Were you taking like like did you do classical stuff?
Were you doing acting for film and television or was
it more theater. I know you did some theater in Orlando.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I did some theater in Orlando. So I took a
class outside of my school. I never did it in school,
but this class was a scene study class. So that's
kind of where I started, and I loved it, although
admittedly I hated going to class. I still hate going
to class. Like if I knew I was going to
a class tonight at six, I would be thinking of
(20:48):
excuses from now until that of why I can't show up.
I just I hate showing up, But once I'm there,
I love it. But I hated showing up, but it's
a scene study class. And then back and Nickelodeon was
actually still in Orlando. I don't think it had fully
moved to LA yet, so there was like little extra
work I did, and like I did a guest star
(21:10):
on a CW well was WB a show that came
into Jacksonville, and then like commercials for Bush Gardens and
things like that, and I was like, I'm ready to
move to LA and I was like, got there and
I was like, no, you're not.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
What Why did you Why did you think? No, you're not?
Once you got there, I.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Went into auditions and I was just so I hate
using this term because I thought this term, I was like,
what does that even mean? It was so green. I
didn't know what I was doing. I thought, I was like, oh,
but haven't you seen my reel of riding the rollercoaster
nine times? It's like, no, that doesn't cut it out here.
I just I was so nervous. I was so green.
(21:54):
I didn't yet know how to really like dig totally
deep into my work. Like it was very superficial. When
I moved out, and luckily I met this acting coach
in LA that totally changed everything for me. He used
to train under Larry Moss, and so I did like
a Larry Moss intentive intensive as well and read his
(22:17):
book and that was like something clicked for me there.
I was like, oh my gosh, like this way of
breaking down a script and all that stuff really made
sense to me and I it really changed my work,
thank god.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
From the time you moved to LA though, you wanted
to work in film and television.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yes, yeah, I actually I went to a professional children's school.
It was not really but in Orlando, and I graduated
six months early. I got my manager and then I'm like,
the month I moved turned eighteen, I moved to LA.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So you were on a path even in Orlando. Yeah, yeah,
what age did you decided. I mean, you start modeling
at fifteen, you take this class, So was it by
sixteen seventeen you're like, oh, this is this is what
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah. You got on a number of shows pretty quickly.
Safe Harbor, No One Knows Best, I don't know that one,
Drake and Josh Dawson's Creek, to name a few. What
were those early experiences like for you just being on
(23:31):
a set for the first times.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So the Safe Harbor, No Knows Best actually were the
two I did in high school before moving to LA.
The Safe Harbor filmed in Jacksonville, and then No One
Knows Best was in Orlando at Nickelodeon, and I remember
that being very fun. I was so nervous. I had
one line on Safe Harbor and I was so nervous.
But I remember thinking like, oh, this was so fun
(23:56):
that when I left, I was like, I want more.
I remember, this is going to say probably another pretentious remark,
but and ridiculous, when I booked Dawson's Creek. I I
think I'd been in LA less than a year, and
I remember sitting on the balcony and being like I
made it. I was like, oh my god, I can
(24:20):
call all my friends at home and tell them I
have made it. And I have like two lines. And
I thought because it was such a big show, I
was like, that's it, like and no, that's not it,
and that's not how it works. But it was weird.
I remember I had to show up so early. They
didn't turn the heat on in my trailer, you know,
because I'm like barely a character, so they don't care
(24:41):
about me. I was freezing my ass off. I was like,
oh my god, this is the life I wanted. What
is this? So this is scary?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But was this? Was this back in North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah? Yeah, I had to fly, so you flew.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I mean this is this becomes a real job when
you get when you get on a plane and you
have an itinerary and someone picks you up and you
go to a hotel. Yeah yeah was that? Oh but
so this wasn't You were like, I made it, this
(25:15):
is it?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
And what's ironic is I remember when I was in
eighth grade, was when Dawson's Creek came out. And in
the pilot episode, I think one of the characters, I
think Katie Holmes actually suggests giving a blowjob, and my
mom walked in and she was like, you're not watching this.
So I found it so ironic that that was the
first job I got. I was like, aha, mom, Dawson's Creek.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Oh my, I mean it was a huge show at
that time. Yeah, and everyone was like exploding off of it.
What were they nice to you?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah? You know. I did this episode where I was
one of the college kids in the audience asking do
you remember Loveline with Doctor Drew and were in the
episode answering questions for college and one of the episodes
I really had to ask questions was is it okaytie?
He's a vibrator. So not only was I like haha,
mom my mom on Dawson's Creek, but I'm like, now
I'm making the comments you didn't want me to hear. Oh.
(26:14):
It was like a double sticking to the man. But
it was nerve wracking. Joshua Jackson, one of the stars
of Dawson's Creek, was actually directing that episode, so it
was a little late later in the seasons, but he
was only when I met and I met Katie Holmes
in the the hair and makeup trailer, and I remember
being like, but I didn't get to work with anybody else.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Really, Okay, you eventually get cast as Karen on an
ABC family show, Beautiful People. This is your first regular job. Well,
first off, was this just an audition? You auditioned and
went through the process. So this is your first time
kind of going through that studio network process, right.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yes, it was my first time screen testing like that.
It was so nerve wracking, and it was like I
did it from the zero to one hundred, like casting callback,
with casting callback with director, call back with director and producers,
and then they had already cast the woman playing my mom,
who was Daphnie's uniga, and so they were like, we're
going to do chemistry reads with Daphney. So I had
(27:23):
to do that and I did to do chemistry with
my sister. Then you have to do the network, then
you have to do the studio. And I think I
blacked out every time. I couldn't believe I got the job.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Wow. Was that another moment where you felt like, Okay,
now I thought I had made it before, but now
I've this is actually a job. I've got my name.
They'll turn the heat on before I get there, like
so they all have heat this is an important step.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It is. Yeah, it felt really exciting because we had
to relocate to Toronto, so I had to find an
apartment and you know then it was the first time,
like we had to do upfronts in New York and
they flows down and they put me up at the
Ritz Carlton in Central Park and I was like, these
pillows are like clouds. What am I sleeping on right now?
Like it was just it was yeah, everything was new
(28:12):
and different, and I turned twenty one during that upfront stay.
I remember on that day and I was like, oh,
this is so cool, Like this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, I remember that those times as well. I mean
like going to New York, having the shows announced and
the advertisers and they treat you very nice, at least
for two or three days. It's yeah, it's very fun.
You You also got an opportunity to play a villain
(28:44):
on One Tree Hill, Nanny Carrey. This is another huge show.
I mean, I wonder I'd have to go back and
look how many people were on Dawson's Creek and One
Tree Hill, sort of the may Your shows of that time.
I know, how was it for you? Joining that cast?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
That was super saying that was the time that you know,
because the show that I was a series regular on,
I knew it was on ABC Family and it was
its first scripted series, so it was like, Okay, it's
not going to be like the lead on a CW
show because it's a new network for scripted. So but
One Tree Hill was such a huge show and I
(29:28):
was actually doing a really big arc. I ended up
doing like sixteen episodes or something or I don't know,
something like that, and I was so nervous, like when
I tell people my nerves, like I think for the
first like five episodes, I was like shaking in every scene.
(29:48):
I couldn't get a hold of myself. Luckily you couldn't
see it, but I was so nervous, and I remember
it was it was a really pivotal moment for me
in our industry because I went on to set and
the girl that I had to play opposite against most
of the time, one of the series regular's Joy. She
was so kind to me, and she put this like
(30:10):
male letter opener in my trailers, like all the fan mail.
She was just so sweet. Everybody else that I met,
I felt like there was a lot of big egos
on that show, and I'd never really stepped into that before.
And when you're in the space, you know, we're in
this reconditioned air all day. You don't see if it's light,
(30:31):
if it's dark outside, and then you're with a lot
of egos like that, it can get a little depressing.
And I got really depressed, and I thought to myself,
I was like, Okay, I'm in the position I've always
wanted to be in. I'm on a show that is
so big, and I got to play this crazy nanny
that got to do so many cool things. So I
was like really grateful for that. I wasn't my girlfriend
(30:52):
number one anymore, but I was like so depressed. And
I think also my childhood of growing up around people
like Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks and who I knew
to be very giving and generous people, and whether they
acted a different way around the kids, I'll never know,
but around us they were always just normal people who
(31:14):
were very humble. And then when I'm around people that
are on the CW and can't even make eye contact
with you, it's like, wait, what what are you talking
about here? So yeah, I remember going home for a
break from that show and being like, I have got
to also do something other than just acting to get
(31:35):
my head out of justice, because I'm not going to
fall in with these people. I can't.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Hm, that's unfortunate. Yeah, I had this opportunity. Yeah, yeah,
and that was that was filmed away too, right? Was
that in? Was that in North Carolina too?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yes? It was in the same stages as Dawson's Creek.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I ended up working there years later after Town William
What is it?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
No, Oh my god, Wilmington.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes, loved it, loved it, loved being there, loved those stages.
They weren't as vibrant as they were when you were
there because a lot of stuff had moved to Atlanta.
But that's a whole other conversation. So that's got to
be very difficult to be away from your support system
and there and being and having an experience that was
(32:26):
that was that was difficult.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah. I was very intimidated, for sure, But I'm grateful
I had that experience because it really showed me even
more the kind of artists and actor I wanted to
be and just how none of this matters. We're doing
it because we love it and we're not saving lives.
(32:51):
So check your ego at the door and have fun
or don't be here, do you know what I mean.
So really kind of solidified all of that from me,
which I think was important.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well yeah, I mean it's I'm sorry that you had
to go through that experience, but I think, yeah, I
think for me, I mean, I was just thinking about myself.
I think I learned it the opposite way, because when
I started, there were people who were just so great,
like truly, like so great and so generous, and so
(33:23):
ego checked and you know, becoming quickly or already having
achieved like legend status. Yeah, and yeah, it I think
it taught me how I want to be as like them,
whereas it feels like you may have gotten the same
but from sort of a different place.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, But I find that I find that with a
lot of people. The more I look at somebody's resume
and I'm like, whoa, look at everything they've done, the
more awesome they are to work with. Most likely, you know,
when I was doing Chicago Med with you know, Oliver
Platt and se Payson Merkerson, they could not be cooler,
(34:06):
like just the best human beings on the planet. And
so I'm like, yeah, you're awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
You said before you discover that you needed to find
something else. What was the other thing that you found?
A farm? I won Michigan.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That was later in life, Okay, No, I actually I
wanted to volunteer somewhere, and I found hospice work. And
I didn't even know what hospice was. It like popped
up on one of my searches, and I started doing
inpatient care and I loved it so much, and then
so much so I was talking to somebody who did
(34:43):
something and they were like, you know, not enough people
know about hospice volunteering. You should talk to like the
mothership hospice and see if they need like a spokesperson.
I was like, okay, So then I started talking to
them and I started actually doing work with them and
bringing awareness this hospice while I was still doing inpatient care,
and I did it for almost a day decade. I
stopped during the pandemic because we couldn't do in person anymore.
(35:03):
And then now just being at the farm, I haven't
sought out another hospice.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But yeah, that's so important and valuable and that's got
to feed you, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
That's what and that's what I need it because a
lot of I feel like what we do is so
like we have so much focus on ourselves and how
is my performance? I have to be in my emotion
to that to be able to get out of that
and focus on somebody else who's literally dying and they
just want to tell their story and all you can
do is be present for them, really help it, Like
(35:37):
helped refocus me for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
That's awesome. Melissa, the Hastings, Pretty Little Liars another, I mean,
(36:04):
you're it's crazy. When I was looking at like your
Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries,
there's I don't even know how you define this niche.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
That you have. Do you hit the teen mecca?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Is that what it is? Is it like a teen mecca?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I think? So I really did?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Should I look? I should? I should know? No, No,
gossip Girls. I don't see gossip girls.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Gossip Girls. I just did though. I was doing One
Tree Hill and then I did Pretty Little Liars and
Vampies at the same time, and so they were all
back to back, so it was it was a pretty
trippy experience all.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Those shows you were shooting simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Pretty Little Liars.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, wow, okay, like on your off time or going
back in fourth, going.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Back and forth. And that's when I learned the value
of getting really really cool because I did a recurring
on Pretty Lot Liars the all seven seasons and I
loved that. I was like, oh my god, it's so
fun to do recurrings because you're not locked into anybody,
and if you get a really really sick one, then
(37:22):
you can like go do something else and you're not
locked in. I was like, Oh, this is the value
of maybe not being contractually obligated to just write the show.
It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Right, was working in I don't know, fantasy, I guess.
I guess that's what you would call vampire. Is it fantasy?
Did you feel like that was different in some way
the approach to the work or is it? Is it
just the character is and that's a given circumstance of
the character.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, it was a given circumstance for sure. And I
felt like you had to just play it the way
you play anything else or else it's going to seem
ridiculous even more so than maybe.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Right right, right, Well, that makes sense. It's funny we
share something in common which is all of those shows
I was not on. It's very weird. It's no, it's
very it's very weird. It's a weird thing. But oh,
(38:25):
we do have a little overlap. Corey, you entered eventually
the universe of Dick Wolf. Yes, I did the Chicago
Monopoly that or the Stranglehold. I mean, Jimmy Hoffa was
big in Chicago, but then came Dick Wolf. Talk to
(38:47):
me a little bit about how you got cast, because
this is a different universe than where you had been
playing previously, doctor Natalie Manning on Chicago Med. Now I
know you did some overlap on Fire and PD, but
you were you were cast on Chicago Met. Talk to
(39:08):
me about how that, how that happened.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I went in, I did one audition, and Dick Wolf
cast off tape, which I find to be wild, and
so the tape just went to the network and all
that stuff, which is kind of grueling in its own
way because you have so much time to overthink everything
you did and didn't do, and you're like, oh, I
wish I had one more chance, and it's just a
(39:33):
ta and you have to wait so long. But that
was the process, and I remember I was so excited
because kind of embarrassingly and admittedly, when I got Pretty
Little Liars, I didn't want to go in for the
audition because it was on ABC Family again for a
free form it was at that time, and I was like, hey, guys,
(39:55):
I really I want to get out of this team thing.
I like, I'm ready to be an adult, you know.
And I'm so glad I didn't because Pretty Little Liars
ended up being really doing so many things for me.
It was amazing. So when I hit med, I was like,
oh my god, I'm an adult, Like this is so cool,
(40:17):
Like I'm playing a doctor, I'm working opposite like really
amazing actors. And then I got to set and it
was a whole new set of worries. I was like,
I'm out of my league. What am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Did you They're gonna fire me? No? I yeah, I
mean I overthink everything and I have like slow anxiety
that's always like riding right under my chest. But so
I for sure I was like, oh my god, I'm
going to mess all this up. I thought I was
gonna get fired probably every day of season one, season two.
I started to settling to myself, Wait, so but.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
This is what you're saying is crazy. You did one
tape to be cast straight as a serious regular, yes, for.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
The pilot, on which I find to be crazy too. Yeah,
just one tape.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
That's insane. So they just kept sending the same tape.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The same tape. And I did the tape with you know,
casting right, so I didn't do it at home. But yeah, wow,
all the people making the decisions just saw that one tape.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's the easiest casting process of all time. I no,
I envy that. That's incredible. That's incredible. You say you
felt like you were out of your league, but I mean, look,
you're working with a lot of amazing actors, some of
which you mentioned before. But you're also you're doing now
(41:41):
twenty twenty two to twenty four episode seasons as opposed
to not that many on most of the other shows,
or doing as you mentioned before, like recurring arcs and
going and coming back or whatever. Was that grind difficult
for you? Was that a new muscle for you?
Speaker 2 (42:01):
It was a new muscle in the sense of, especially
on medical procedural dramas, you can only find so many
ways to say we'll be back to check on you shortly.
Interesting and so that was like a muscle I had
to because I was like, you know, I do feel
like sometimes when actors are doing you know, twenty two
episodes on a primetime drama, there is a little bit
(42:23):
a bit of complacency that gets set in probably around
season three, four, five, six, and trying to work against
that and being like, no, I want this to feel
fresh every episode. You know, I gotta show up do
it because on procedurals, a lot of the episodes are
really guests are heavy too.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
So yeah, so that sometimes that's when I was like, oh,
it's you know, I love doing all those fun recurrings
because like the episode you do, you have so much
to do, and sometimes when you're this series regular, it's
it's not that way. And I was like, okay, so
keeping that fresh and interesting was a new muscle for sure.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Right. Yeah. I was Chicago Fire.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Oh fun.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
How long did you do that?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I mean no, I mean I showed. I was one
of those guest stars you were talking about. I can't
I can't remember. I can't remember. I think it was one,
maybe two. Yeah, that I did.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
I was.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I was a law I was a smarmy lawyer and
went and it was great and I had a great time.
Everybody was so nice, and all I remember was it
was hot hot in Chicago, like hot. We were filming
(43:41):
for it to be cold cold. And I remember this
bar that they had built that we were all we
had all we were all entering into with coats on
and jackets and scarves and out of the snow, and
it was nine million degrees in there. And I was like, God, damn,
(44:06):
I don't know how I'm going to survive this night.
It was like this night shoot. I was like, this
is how do these people do it? It's crazy. Not
that I hadn't done that before, but there was something
about it there that I was like, this is oppressively
hot and we're all in like wool coats and scarves
and gloves and.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Oh yeah, the weather is a key star of those shows.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Of those shows. Yeah, I mean I imagine when it
is really cold and snowing, it's got to be incredibly difficult.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yes, because at that point you're wearing spring jackets because
that's those are the episodes that are going to film
the spring, and you're outside trying not to like show
the frostbite on your eyelashers you're like, oh my god,
him dying.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
You did the show for a very long time. You
did leave at a certain point, then you came back
once you ended for good. Were you Was it time
for you?
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Yeah? It was time for me. Also, they kind of
wrote my character into a hole with a bunch of
stuff they were doing, and I don't think they knew
how to get her out. So it was definitely a mutual,
mutual decision on moving forward. And I was really grateful
for that moment with them and having that conversation, because
(45:26):
I don't think I would have been brave enough to
just leave on my own, even though I want to
do at that point, because it is such an art industry,
it's hard to find security, and shows like that give
you massive security. But I also was like, Okay, I
think it's time to get out there and do something else.
And also, you know, I was about to be forty,
(45:49):
and I'm like, I still want to have a family
and kids and so many things, and I just felt
like I couldn't do that if I stayed much longer.
So yeah, it was time. It was time to go.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
But when you went, when you had gone back, were
those planned in advance or they called, and you were like, Okay,
I'll come back and play for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, they called, and it was just because so I
had one character, we had a whole romance the whole
time I was there, and his character was leaving the show,
and they wanted to make it like they were leaving
to be together finally. And I was actually very happy
to do that because I felt like we did not
get the ending that they deserved at all. So and
(46:31):
also he became like a brother to me, so I
really like the incentive to go back was basically to
support his leaving and to kind of have our characters
have that last moment.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
That's awesome. Horror movies.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Love them.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
I love them, love them, love to watch them, love
to be.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
In a love to do them, love all of it,
see all of it, all of it.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Why what is it? Oh, I'm fascinating.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
I haven't been in one in a very long time,
and I keep saying, My that's what I want to do.
I'm really smart. Like a really good horror movie. I
love being scared, like horror movies with really great jump scares.
I love although watching them alone at the farm just
hits different than anywhere else. That is a little a
little much for me, but I just love them. I
(47:18):
find them to be so fun.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
So that's your that's the's what you want to do next.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Yeah, I want to do a really good horror movie
because you.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Because you're I mean, you're you're a what do you
call it, a something wrapped in an enigma? You're so
you've got I can't I can't even think of the
phrase New.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
York, Florida.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
Classical Violinist, One Tree Hill, Hallmark Christmas Movies. I mean
you literally it's a dichotomy wrapped in I'll think of
the phrase at some point, Like, So, do you just
love it all? You like exploring whatever it is and
(48:05):
whatever opportunities you have, you just say, let's go.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah. Yeah. I always had friends that were so picky
and would turn things down all the time. And I'm
not saying I haven't turned things down because obviously there's
some stuff that's come through just like, oh, okay, I
don't know if I'll be doing that, but but I've
always said, like, if I feel like I could have
fun with the character and I want to do it,
(48:31):
I'm going to do it. I So I just like
kind of testing everything really, that's great.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Do you enjoy Have you enjoyed? I mean you've done
a few Hallmark Christmas movies? You enjoy doing that? Making
people happy?
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I do? You know? Think made my grandma so And honestly,
it was the last thing she was watching before she passed.
As she was passing, she would just watch it on
repeat the one I did, and I just I did
like it because I felt like to, like in between
meds sometimes over the summer, if one that would come
(49:08):
in that I thought was endearing would come through. And
the only filmed like three and a half weeks, you
know what I mean, it's a very short amount of time.
And the last one I did, I got to go
to Greece and travel and I was like, yeah, I'm like, sure,
of course I'll go to Santorini and film for three
and a half weeks. And why why not?
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, I mean I've done one. Mine wasn't Christmas Chris.
There is something different about the Christmas wins for sure.
In fact, mine was a procedural or something not really No, no,
it wasn't really a procedural. I was a doctor, That's
why I was saying it. But yeah, no, I I
get that. And by the way, like you say, you know,
(49:51):
doing it for your grandma, I mean that's just like
people saying they do it, you know, animated stuff for
their kids, or they do children shows for their kids.
It's the same thing. It's entertainment and having the opportunity,
you know, to what you have done something wrapped in
an enigma. I don't know, it's like killing me. Yeah,
(50:16):
I mean having an opportunity also makes you exposed to
such an incredible diverse body of people. Yeah, I mean
the opportunities that you have had working in all of
the different genres and all of the different types on
all of the different networks. Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah. And you know, I have to say one thing
I love is when I work in an environment where
you feel valued, where everybody feels valued, and it becomes
and I have to say, out of everyone I've worked with,
homework really makes me feel like a part of their
team more than anybody else. Like every birthday I hear
(50:59):
from them, Miles, so I got engaged. I heard from Falmark,
do you know what I mean? Like, they just make
you feel valued. And I think nowadays it's very popular
to get on a show even as a serious regular,
and they're like, listen, if it's not, you would be
someone else, So don't ask us for too much. And
you're like, all right, but makes you feel.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Loved, And I love that, dude, there is value in that.
Let me let me tell there is value in that.
I mean, I mean, I'm not mentioning any names, but
you know, there's companies that I've worked with for ten
years and I'll get a coffee cup on the way
(51:37):
out the door. Totally, I can't not mentioning any names,
but it's as possible that may have happened to me
in the past. Uh No, that's that's that's great. And
I actually have some very good friends who have worked
for Hallmark and love it as well, and that's, uh,
(51:58):
that's important. Look, I mean, whatever it is that we're exploring,
and clearly you're willing to go to a lot of
different places. If you haven't seen the right by the way, like,
that's not Hallmark, it's a spoiler alert. That's that's very cool. Well, look,
I know you have to take care of your goats
(52:20):
right now. I think that there should be some chickens
for sure. Next time we chat. I want chickens, alpacas,
that's got to be an investments. Yeah, pigs, I just
saw pigs. Yeah, they do tricks, by the way, I
just I just saw. I just was introduced to a
(52:43):
pig that did tricks.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
They're very smart. I'm thinking a pig and a donkey
or next, Well, you know.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
My my ex coworker, he is a zonkey.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Really yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Yeah, yeah, he has a he has a donkey and
pigs and he lives on a farm. And what does
he have. He has a lot of weird, weird peacocks.
I think they're so loud albino people. They're very loud.
They're very very that. Yes, that's see. You know, not
(53:21):
a lot of people know that. They're very very loud. Yeah,
I think at least some chickens. Do you eat eggs?
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I do eat eggs. So my duck has started laying eggs,
but I can't.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (53:37):
Yeah, they're just like chicken eggs, but they're bigger, and
apparently they make baking even fluffier. So I've heard. I can't.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
We need to we need to share that sound, we
need to clip that sound. But right there, they make
baking even fluffier. I don't. Yeah, am I sounding like
a rube? I don't know. I've never heard of duck
egg you.
Speaker 4 (54:01):
Yeah, you cook with duck eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah? And people people you know eat?
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Do you fry up duck eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:08):
Uh? Huh? It looks just like the yolk is just bigger,
and sometimes it's a little more orange than chicken eggs.
But it looks just like a chicken egg, just bigger.
Speaker 1 (54:18):
Are you eating them?
Speaker 2 (54:19):
No? I can't. It's like too personal or something like
I know her, you know what I mean. I don't know.
It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
But what do you do with the eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:28):
They just I give them to my fiance's brother, and
he loves them.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Oh, he will eat it.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
He eats them. Yeah, and he sent me sure, he
cried it up. He had it all. It looks like
a fried egg.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
All right.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
I'm gonna look up that phrase that I keep screwing up,
and I'm gonna look up duck eggs because I'm not sure.
I don't know. I haven't heard quail eggs. I've heard
of that.
Speaker 4 (54:51):
Yeah, duck eggs.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
Huh yeah, all right, Well, good luck with the ducks.
But yeah, I think a pig, maybe a donkey, definitely somebolpacas.
I don't know why I want. I'll pacus for you.
I just do. Good luck, it's been such a pleasure.
(55:13):
Good Luck in whatever genre field you end up in next.
I have no doubt that it will be but be
very interesting if you can pull yourself away from the farm.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
I know, right, I mean, it's gotta be. Really, it's
gotta be a good horror movie, just for anyone out
there to pull me away from the farm.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Good. That's what we're looking for. A good horror movie
is all you're leaving the farm for. Is that what
they're saying. If HBO calls, you're like, nope, I just
need a horror movie.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
Spielberg, Nope, nope, not sure. I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Just horror. Just Saw twelve is what we're looking for,
all right, all right, I'll get my people on it.
We'll get it done. Tory, thank you so much, and
good luck. I hope truly that you find some time
from the farm to continue the important, important work that
(56:10):
you're doing with hospice and end of your care. And
I know that that gives a lot to other people,
but also for yourself. So God bless you and very
very nice chatting with you.
Speaker 4 (56:21):
Thanks for coming on, he was well, Thank you, Tory.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Thanks again for being here. Look, you are a woman
of many, many talents. You truly are a riddle wrapped
in a mystery inside and enigma nailed it finally.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
That's the praise I was dying to find for the
last hour. But guess what, it still fits listeners. Thanks
for doing what you do so well. That's right, listening.
I hope you'll come back next week because guess what,
I'll be here and if you're not here, it will
be very very lonely. Until then, have a really good week.
(57:24):
Off the Beat is hosted and executive produced by me
Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior
producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris,
and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary,
and our intern is Ali Amir Sahim. Our theme song
(57:45):
Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed
Bratton
Do you eat eggs?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I do eat eggs. So my duck has started laying eggs,
but I can't.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, they're eggs groups, just like chicken eggs, but they're bigger,
and apparently they make baking even fluffier. So I've heard.
I can't.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We need to we need to share that sound, we
need to clip that sound. But right there, they make
baking even fluffier.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hi, I'm Toriy Devido and I don't eat duck eggs.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, everybody, it's so good to have you back here
on Off the Beat, and I am delighted. I'm pleased
as punch to be your host. Brian Baumgartner, my guest
today is Well some might call a violin prodigy. Yep,
toy to veto. Now. I didn't say she was necessarily
(01:03):
famous for playing the violin, mind you, but she's very
very good at it from everything she led me to believe.
Tory is, of course a fantastic actor. You may know
her from a number of different shows, Nanny Carey on
One Tree Hill, Melissa on Pretty Little Liars, or Doctor
(01:23):
Natalie Manning on Chicago Med. She's also been playing the
violin since she was very little. She even played at
Christy Brinkley's wedding and on Stevie Nick's album. So she
is not only very talented, she's also very very cool.
(01:44):
You'll find out how she went from touring with the
likes of Billie Joel to traveling the world as a
fashion model to now living on a small farm in
rural Michigan that does not currently have any pigs. Let's
hear it straight from her, the absolutely delightful Tory DeVito.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble
and Squeaker, cook it every more. Lift over from the
Nine People.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Hi, Torri, Hi, how are you?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm all right? How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Pretty good?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah? Yeah, no, no one, no one. I always say
I can't complain because no one would care anyway, I
would care how you're doing. But uh yeah, where where
are you right now?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I'm in Michigan. I live full time in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Michigan.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
H wow, Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I don't get a lot of Michigan. Where in Michigan.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So I live near a town called Saugatuck, Okay, And
I have a I have a farm there and then
we also have a place about an hour away from
the farm in Kalamazoo where my fiance works. Okay, but
I moved to Michigan, uh because I just love it.
Before I met him, before anything, I just I love
(03:26):
I love Michigan. And I was like, I'm done with La.
I'm stick of LA staying in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You're staying in Michigan. Good for you. I had a
great experience with one of my old co workers there
in uh what I say, Grand Rapids and oh yeah
and big big Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah. Grand Rapids is like an hour from me, and there's.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
A Big Rapids. That's where the college I was at
a college there, Right, big Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think. So I know there's I only know Grand
Rapids personally, but I know there's all sorts of rapids,
which I didn't know. There was so much about Michigan.
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, you you grew up in New York or you
were born in New York, I understand. So, yeah, you
falling in love with Michigan. That doesn't sound on brand.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
No, Well, my mother's from Michigan, and so we did
come here to visit her family for the summers. So
I had a little bit of a background with Michigan,
but when we would visit them, I didn't feel connected
to Michigan. Then it was I was filming in Chicago
and my mom had moved to this little town in
Michigan that's on the water, a very artsy, cute community
(04:36):
that you see in movies and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
but it really exists. And I'd come up on my
weekends because it was a two hour drive to Chicago.
I just fell in love with it. So during the pandemic,
I was like, that's it, I'm out. Just stayed.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah. I have some friends. It's exactly what you said
when they were like, we summer in Michigan and this
is from Atlanta, Georgia are in Michigan. Like what does
that even mean? But the lake there is very beautiful.
And do you boat? Are you like? Are you like
an outdoors I mean you.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Have a farm.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, what's on your farm?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
What do you have on your farm?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I have two goats and two ducks and two dogs
and two cats.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Okay, goats, that's exotic. You don't have like alpacas and.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, no, it's no. I think I'm sticking with this
for now. I obviously would like to expand. But you know,
one step at a time, at a time.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But you're I moved to Michigan. Give me a break.
I already did the step.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
One step at a time. But no, I love it.
I love being in nature. I love getting to walk outside.
I love that it's just more pure here.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Okay, fine, pure.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
The air is cleaner, things are just cleaner. You know,
I can just outside, Yes, and I'm not inundated with
city crap, you know. Yes, But I'm two hours from Chicago,
so if I need that hit, it's right there, take
a two hour drive.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean, I do know that you're wearing overalls right now.
I don't know if those are like I don't know
if those are like Levi's though. Those seem a little
bit more like like overalls you would wear a New
York or Chicago. But I'm just their corduroy. Yeah, I
don't see. I don't see goat debris on the Okay, yeah,
(06:38):
small steps, I understand. Small steps.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You to move the move designer overalls. Then we'll get
to the non designer overall soon.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Okay. All right, baby steps, baby steps. Uh, you had
a fascinating childhood. I know, I'm not the first to
tell you this. Your parents, they were in the music industry.
You as a child, you went on tours. I'm guessing
(07:10):
with people like, oh, I don't know, like Billy Joel
and Stevie Nicks. Tell me a little bit about your
your childhood. Your dad was the drummer for for Billy Joel.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, my dad played with Billy for thirty.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Years years stop.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, a long time. They met when they were like
nineteen years old or something on Long Island. Yeah, so
I grew up going on tour. Alexa, his daughter is
in between my age and my sister's age, so we
all grew up together. And yeah, it was. It's so
I feel so pretentious when I'm like, I don't know
(07:48):
any other childhood. So when people say like, oh, it's
such an interesting channel, and I'm like, yeah, but what
is it like when your parents are like doctors like that,
what they save a lot? That's crazy, you know, like,
what is that? So? Yeah, but I mean, look, it's
my dad still. He's playing all the time and every
time I go visit him. He's in a new band
(08:10):
right now called the slim Kings, and also the original
Billy Joel guys play together and tour, so he's always
doing something, so there's always something going on and I
love it.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
By the way, it did sound pretentious. I how many
times have you heard piano man live live live? A lot,
a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
But what's funny is I actually could not sing a
full Billy Joel's song start to finish all the lyrics
because I would go to the shows and then sometimes
we would be playing backstage or whatever. We didn't really
sit through the whole show. And I never listened to
it until honestly, kind of recently, I'm like, man, these
are really good songs. Not that I couldn't acknowledge that,
(08:52):
but it's like it's your dad's you know what I mean.
I wasn't sitting in my bedroom listening to Billy Joel,
So people, I think, always find that funny that I might.
I don't know all the work, Like I don't know
every song.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So he was a drummer, Yeah, was constant? Was that
sound the sound of your childhood? Like do you do
you remember hearing that from I don't know, from the garage,
from the guest bedroom, whatever, Like constantly hearing music and
experiencing music as you were growing up.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Absolutely to this day. It's like, even if we're at
a restaurant, he's constantly like with like the fork and
a knife doing something and I'm like, Dad, everybody wants
to hear this right now, like take it down a notch.
But yeah, No, he had a drum set and we
had my parents had this office room. He had a
drum set in there, and when they would be on hiatus,
(09:48):
he was always playing with other people you know around
that would come over and just have like jam sessions
all the time in the house. And he was always
playing loud music. And I think one of the things
I wish I would have been more into. But you know,
as a daughter, I was like, go away, leave me alone.
He'd like run into my room like, oh, you got
to listen to this song, listen to this part. And
I was like, okay, whatever, go away. And now I
(10:12):
wish I would.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Have been That's like me in sports with my daughter,
like something like I'll be like, oh, yeah, come here,
you got to see this. This is something really cool.
No interest, no, just just a total dismissal job of
a child.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think, I.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Guess, I don't know. At some point you moved to Florida,
Central Florida specifically, this is I don't know if you
know this. This is very different from New York and
Long Island. What was the reason for that move? Was
that just he was on the road, or.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's so my parents. So my mom was best friends
with Stevie and when dad and Billie were on Hiatus Tory,
my dad played on Stevie's solo tour. That's how he
met my mom. My mom was a very hippy California girl,
like loved the sun and palm trees, it all this,
and my dad is a very East Coast Italian New Yorker,
(11:13):
so they got together. Everything happened very quickly, and she
moved to New York. And I think the promise was
you will be around palm trees again. One day I promised.
They were on tour, we were in Florida, they decided
to look at houses. My mom loved this little town
called Winter Park, so we ended up moving there. And
I can hate Florida. It was I was not It
(11:39):
was not the direction I would have gone right, and
none of my family lives there anymore. I really do
think it was part of the downfall of us to
beatos moving to Florida. My dad went back to Brooklyn.
My mom now lives in Michigan. So but yeah, Florida.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So was that tough for you as a How old
were you when you moved?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I was eleven, Okay, yeah, so it was sad. It
was sad, saying God by all my friends. I was
excited about the high school. I knew we would all
go to together one day in King's Park, New York.
And you know, it's always hard making new friends. And
I found Florida to be very weird, even at that age.
I noticed that even in my high school, like my school,
(12:23):
we had like four thousand kids in our school. It
was huge. Wow, and the segregation was insane. I was like,
and I was so taken it back by so much
about Florida that wasn't in New York. I was like,
oh my god, it was just it was a very
alarming place.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think you played the violin. Now, what I read
was violin prodigy. That's not true, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I mean I started playing when I was six, and
six is young. Six is young. And I did play
all throughout high school, and I traveled over to Europe
and I played for Chrissy Brinkley's wedding when I was
like twelve, and so I think that's why the word
prodigy gets lost, and I.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Didn't do a lot prodigy though, that's prodigy. Yeah, that's prodigy, right,
I mean I know this was there were friends, but but.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Still yeah, yeah, no, I mean it was, it was.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was a huge part of my life. It still is,
but it was even bigger.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Part of my life than you still play.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I do still play. I took a little bit of
a break the last couple of years because I fractured
my finger, and then it was really hard to get
back into it because I noticed, like as a classical musician,
improv and all the things were allowed to do as
actors you can't do as a classical musice. So that
was actually the hardest switchover for me. When I started acting,
(13:55):
people were like, just go with it, and I'm like, no, no,
give me the words, let me act it. They're like, no, no,
just go with your and I'm like, wait a second.
I'm so used to being told exactly what I have
to play. So when I broke factured my finger and
then took some time off, it was like, wait, I'm
gonna be terrible. I can't play violin and not be
(14:15):
good at it because I'm so classically trained. It's like
you have to Everything has to be perfect. So I
put off playing for about two and a half years,
but I just started again, which has been fun.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
This is fascinating to me. So as a classical musician,
does that mean that there's no personal interpretation?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, I obviously think everybody has their styles and their
way of doing things, and that's why the greats happened.
But when it comes to the music, you know, Mozart
and bait, there's no room for interpretation. It's not like
you'd be like, well, he put this as a half note,
but I'm bake it a bordant note. It's like, no,
you can't. You can't do that. And every note has
(14:57):
to be pitch per Everything has to be so perfect.
There's no improv unless you're playing jazz or fiddle or
something like that. But that's for music.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
No, Yeah, So what does distinguish.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
That's a really good question. I've actually never thought of that.
I think style, you know, charisma, the way people and
also just being so much better than everyone else. It's
a really hard instrument to get really really great at
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So there's hitting the notes, but then there's a way
to hit the notes pure or well.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It's funny. It's like even some string musicians, some have
better tone than others. And I don't even know how
to explain that. It's almost like singing. It's like how
somebody could be hitting the same pitch, but somebody's tone
is just better. Right, It's like, I don't know if
that's finesse, if that's just like more of a natural
(15:55):
thing that you have it than someone else. I'm not
really sure. But that's kind of where I stop, not
stop playing, but decided it wasn't going to be a
because of profession for me, because I realized I wasn't
ever gonna be good enough to be the soloist, and
they didn't want to be in an orchestra forever.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Right. That's fascinating to me. I've never thought I mean,
you said, you've never thought of it. I've never thought
about that. The ability. Yeah. Yeah, when you're acting to
say like, oh, go no, go with what you're feeling
right now, go, Yeah, you can play around with this
a little bit, and you're saying like, no, no, no,
tell me what the notes are. I'll hit the notes right,
(16:35):
I'll hit the notes in the tambra, in the in
the pace that you want me to.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's fascinating piano, I'm actually thinking, because at least with violin,
it's like you have to hit all those notes. Piano,
it's all there. So what makes a great pianist versus
you know, if they can play the same music and
they have to say, well, you're not even pitch at
that point, because the pianos as long as you're hitting
the keys or pitch perfect. So what makes a great pianist? Huh?
(17:03):
I really think about this today.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
All right, I'm gonna have to dive into this well
because I'm also thinking about singers too, right, which in
a way, I mean, once you get into opera, then
there is performance, there's presence. But you know what makes
the great singers of classical music? What makes them great?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Emotion?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
The emotion that comes through the voice.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I think, Yeah, being able to pull So maybe it's
the same with as well. Yeah, it's being able to
convey that emotion, pulling somebody in because.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You feel it. I mean, I mean great classical music
you feel yeah, and it is it the composer that
makes you feel or is it the artist that's that
has the instruments that makes you feel. I didn't think
we were going to be talking about this, by the way,
but I know, but I think this is very interesting
to me.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
No, it is, for sure. I think it has to
be a combination. Like obviously the it's like when you
get a really great script, you're like, oh, the words
speak for themselves, but you still have to put in
that emotion and still so I think it's it's got
to be a combination.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So you had decided that that was not going to
be your profession, though you still play it. You started
modeling at age fifteen, and I have read that you
have said that that was in order to get eventually
into film and television. So even at fifteen, you saw
this path, this was the path you wanted, and this
(18:58):
was the path you decided to take.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
No. No, So I I went into modeling and not
really knowing what I was doing. I got an agent,
and I was very shy, and I didn't really love it.
I found it to be very boring, and not to
say that people don't have fun with it, but I
(19:22):
personally was like, it's a lot of waiting around just
to go take pictures. Like, I didn't really love it.
And a photographer had said to my mom, you know
she's very shy in front of the camera. You should
put her in an acting class to kind of open
her up. And so I went into an acting class,
and I was like, Oh, this is what I want
to do, not that, And so I kind of used
modeling while I was still in high school, like commercials
(19:43):
and commercial modeling to save up the money to move
to La got it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
What was it about the acting class that attracted you
that made you say that this is what I want
to do.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I honestly just found it to be so fun. I
am a very I could be very emotional and dramatic,
and I was like, wait, I can do this just
because I am having fun doing this, that's cool. It's
not because I'm just like a teen in my bedroom
being all emo. This is so fun.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Were you taking like like did you do classical stuff?
Were you doing acting for film and television or was
it more theater. I know you did some theater in Orlando.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I did some theater in Orlando. So I took a
class outside of my school. I never did it in school,
but this class was a scene study class. So that's
kind of where I started, and I loved it, although
admittedly I hated going to class. I still hate going
to class. Like if I knew I was going to
a class tonight at six, I would be thinking of
(20:48):
excuses from now until that of why I can't show up.
I just I hate showing up, But once I'm there,
I love it. But I hated showing up, but it's
a scene study class. And then back and Nickelodeon was
actually still in Orlando. I don't think it had fully
moved to LA yet, so there was like little extra
work I did, and like I did a guest star
(21:10):
on a CW well was WB a show that came
into Jacksonville, and then like commercials for Bush Gardens and
things like that, and I was like, I'm ready to
move to LA and I was like, got there and
I was like, no, you're not.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
What Why did you Why did you think? No, you're not?
Once you got there, I.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Went into auditions and I was just so I hate
using this term because I thought this term, I was like,
what does that even mean? It was so green. I
didn't know what I was doing. I thought, I was like, oh,
but haven't you seen my reel of riding the rollercoaster
nine times? It's like, no, that doesn't cut it out here.
I just I was so nervous. I was so green.
(21:54):
I didn't yet know how to really like dig totally
deep into my work. Like it was very superficial. When
I moved out, and luckily I met this acting coach
in LA that totally changed everything for me. He used
to train under Larry Moss, and so I did like
a Larry Moss intentive intensive as well and read his
(22:17):
book and that was like something clicked for me there.
I was like, oh my gosh, like this way of
breaking down a script and all that stuff really made
sense to me and I it really changed my work,
thank god.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
From the time you moved to LA though, you wanted
to work in film and television.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yes, yeah, I actually I went to a professional children's school.
It was not really but in Orlando, and I graduated
six months early. I got my manager and then I'm like,
the month I moved turned eighteen, I moved to LA.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So you were on a path even in Orlando. Yeah, yeah,
what age did you decided. I mean, you start modeling
at fifteen, you take this class, So was it by
sixteen seventeen you're like, oh, this is this is what
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah. You got on a number of shows pretty quickly.
Safe Harbor, No One Knows Best, I don't know that one,
Drake and Josh Dawson's Creek, to name a few. What
were those early experiences like for you just being on
(23:31):
a set for the first times.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So the Safe Harbor, No Knows Best actually were the
two I did in high school before moving to LA.
The Safe Harbor filmed in Jacksonville, and then No One
Knows Best was in Orlando at Nickelodeon, and I remember
that being very fun. I was so nervous. I had
one line on Safe Harbor and I was so nervous.
But I remember thinking like, oh, this was so fun
(23:56):
that when I left, I was like, I want more.
I remember, this is going to say probably another pretentious remark,
but and ridiculous, when I booked Dawson's Creek. I I
think I'd been in LA less than a year, and
I remember sitting on the balcony and being like I
made it. I was like, oh my god, I can
(24:20):
call all my friends at home and tell them I
have made it. And I have like two lines. And
I thought because it was such a big show, I
was like, that's it, like and no, that's not it,
and that's not how it works. But it was weird.
I remember I had to show up so early. They
didn't turn the heat on in my trailer, you know,
because I'm like barely a character, so they don't care
(24:41):
about me. I was freezing my ass off. I was like,
oh my god, this is the life I wanted. What
is this? So this is scary?
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But was this? Was this back in North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah? Yeah, I had to fly, so you flew.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I mean this is this becomes a real job when
you get when you get on a plane and you
have an itinerary and someone picks you up and you
go to a hotel. Yeah yeah was that? Oh but
so this wasn't You were like, I made it, this
(25:15):
is it?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
And what's ironic is I remember when I was in
eighth grade, was when Dawson's Creek came out. And in
the pilot episode, I think one of the characters, I
think Katie Holmes actually suggests giving a blowjob, and my
mom walked in and she was like, you're not watching this.
So I found it so ironic that that was the
first job I got. I was like, aha, mom, Dawson's Creek.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Oh my, I mean it was a huge show at
that time. Yeah, and everyone was like exploding off of it.
What were they nice to you?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah? You know. I did this episode where I was
one of the college kids in the audience asking do
you remember Loveline with Doctor Drew and were in the
episode answering questions for college and one of the episodes
I really had to ask questions was is it okaytie?
He's a vibrator. So not only was I like haha,
mom my mom on Dawson's Creek, but I'm like, now
I'm making the comments you didn't want me to hear. Oh.
(26:14):
It was like a double sticking to the man. But
it was nerve wracking. Joshua Jackson, one of the stars
of Dawson's Creek, was actually directing that episode, so it
was a little late later in the seasons, but he
was only when I met and I met Katie Holmes
in the the hair and makeup trailer, and I remember
being like, but I didn't get to work with anybody else.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Really, Okay, you eventually get cast as Karen on an
ABC family show, Beautiful People. This is your first regular job. Well,
first off, was this just an audition? You auditioned and
went through the process. So this is your first time
kind of going through that studio network process, right.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yes, it was my first time screen testing like that.
It was so nerve wracking, and it was like I
did it from the zero to one hundred, like casting callback,
with casting callback with director, call back with director and producers,
and then they had already cast the woman playing my mom,
who was Daphnie's uniga, and so they were like, we're
going to do chemistry reads with Daphney. So I had
(27:23):
to do that and I did to do chemistry with
my sister. Then you have to do the network, then
you have to do the studio. And I think I
blacked out every time. I couldn't believe I got the job.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Wow. Was that another moment where you felt like, Okay,
now I thought I had made it before, but now
I've this is actually a job. I've got my name.
They'll turn the heat on before I get there, like
so they all have heat this is an important step.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It is. Yeah, it felt really exciting because we had
to relocate to Toronto, so I had to find an
apartment and you know then it was the first time,
like we had to do upfronts in New York and
they flows down and they put me up at the
Ritz Carlton in Central Park and I was like, these
pillows are like clouds. What am I sleeping on right now?
Like it was just it was yeah, everything was new
(28:12):
and different, and I turned twenty one during that upfront stay.
I remember on that day and I was like, oh,
this is so cool, Like this is awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, I remember that those times as well. I mean
like going to New York, having the shows announced and
the advertisers and they treat you very nice, at least
for two or three days. It's yeah, it's very fun.
You You also got an opportunity to play a villain
(28:44):
on One Tree Hill, Nanny Carrey. This is another huge show.
I mean, I wonder I'd have to go back and
look how many people were on Dawson's Creek and One
Tree Hill, sort of the may Your shows of that time.
I know, how was it for you? Joining that cast?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
That was super saying that was the time that you know,
because the show that I was a series regular on,
I knew it was on ABC Family and it was
its first scripted series, so it was like, Okay, it's
not going to be like the lead on a CW
show because it's a new network for scripted. So but
One Tree Hill was such a huge show and I
(29:28):
was actually doing a really big arc. I ended up
doing like sixteen episodes or something or I don't know,
something like that, and I was so nervous, like when
I tell people my nerves, like I think for the
first like five episodes, I was like shaking in every scene.
(29:48):
I couldn't get a hold of myself. Luckily you couldn't
see it, but I was so nervous, and I remember
it was it was a really pivotal moment for me
in our industry because I went on to set and
the girl that I had to play opposite against most
of the time, one of the series regular's Joy. She
was so kind to me, and she put this like
(30:10):
male letter opener in my trailers, like all the fan mail.
She was just so sweet. Everybody else that I met,
I felt like there was a lot of big egos
on that show, and I'd never really stepped into that before.
And when you're in the space, you know, we're in
this reconditioned air all day. You don't see if it's light,
(30:31):
if it's dark outside, and then you're with a lot
of egos like that, it can get a little depressing.
And I got really depressed, and I thought to myself,
I was like, Okay, I'm in the position I've always
wanted to be in. I'm on a show that is
so big, and I got to play this crazy nanny
that got to do so many cool things. So I
was like really grateful for that. I wasn't my girlfriend
(30:52):
number one anymore, but I was like so depressed. And
I think also my childhood of growing up around people
like Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks and who I knew
to be very giving and generous people, and whether they
acted a different way around the kids, I'll never know,
but around us they were always just normal people who
(31:14):
were very humble. And then when I'm around people that
are on the CW and can't even make eye contact
with you, it's like, wait, what what are you talking
about here? So yeah, I remember going home for a
break from that show and being like, I have got
to also do something other than just acting to get
(31:35):
my head out of justice, because I'm not going to
fall in with these people. I can't.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Hm, that's unfortunate. Yeah, I had this opportunity. Yeah, yeah,
and that was that was filmed away too, right? Was
that in? Was that in North Carolina too?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yes? It was in the same stages as Dawson's Creek.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I ended up working there years later after Town William
What is it?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
No, Oh my god, Wilmington.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes, loved it, loved it, loved being there, loved those stages.
They weren't as vibrant as they were when you were
there because a lot of stuff had moved to Atlanta.
But that's a whole other conversation. So that's got to
be very difficult to be away from your support system
and there and being and having an experience that was
(32:26):
that was that was difficult.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah. I was very intimidated, for sure, But I'm grateful
I had that experience because it really showed me even
more the kind of artists and actor I wanted to
be and just how none of this matters. We're doing
it because we love it and we're not saving lives.
(32:51):
So check your ego at the door and have fun
or don't be here, do you know what I mean.
So really kind of solidified all of that from me,
which I think was important.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Well yeah, I mean it's I'm sorry that you had
to go through that experience, but I think, yeah, I
think for me, I mean, I was just thinking about myself.
I think I learned it the opposite way, because when
I started, there were people who were just so great,
like truly, like so great and so generous, and so
(33:23):
ego checked and you know, becoming quickly or already having
achieved like legend status. Yeah, and yeah, it I think
it taught me how I want to be as like them,
whereas it feels like you may have gotten the same
but from sort of a different place.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, But I find that I find that with a
lot of people. The more I look at somebody's resume
and I'm like, whoa, look at everything they've done, the
more awesome they are to work with. Most likely, you know,
when I was doing Chicago Med with you know, Oliver
Platt and se Payson Merkerson, they could not be cooler,
(34:06):
like just the best human beings on the planet. And
so I'm like, yeah, you're awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
You said before you discover that you needed to find
something else. What was the other thing that you found?
A farm? I won Michigan.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That was later in life, Okay, No, I actually I
wanted to volunteer somewhere, and I found hospice work. And
I didn't even know what hospice was. It like popped
up on one of my searches, and I started doing
inpatient care and I loved it so much, and then
so much so I was talking to somebody who did
(34:43):
something and they were like, you know, not enough people
know about hospice volunteering. You should talk to like the
mothership hospice and see if they need like a spokesperson.
I was like, okay, So then I started talking to
them and I started actually doing work with them and
bringing awareness this hospice while I was still doing inpatient care,
and I did it for almost a day decade. I
stopped during the pandemic because we couldn't do in person anymore.
(35:03):
And then now just being at the farm, I haven't
sought out another hospice.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But yeah, that's so important and valuable and that's got
to feed you, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
That's what and that's what I need it because a
lot of I feel like what we do is so
like we have so much focus on ourselves and how
is my performance? I have to be in my emotion
to that to be able to get out of that
and focus on somebody else who's literally dying and they
just want to tell their story and all you can
do is be present for them, really help it, Like
(35:37):
helped refocus me for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
That's awesome. Melissa, the Hastings, Pretty Little Liars another, I mean,
(36:04):
you're it's crazy. When I was looking at like your
Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries,
there's I don't even know how you define this niche.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
That you have. Do you hit the teen mecca?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Is that what it is? Is it like a teen mecca?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I think? So I really did?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Should I look? I should? I should know? No, No,
gossip Girls. I don't see gossip girls.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Gossip Girls. I just did though. I was doing One
Tree Hill and then I did Pretty Little Liars and
Vampies at the same time, and so they were all
back to back, so it was it was a pretty
trippy experience all.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Those shows you were shooting simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Pretty Little Liars.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, wow, okay, like on your off time or going
back in fourth, going.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Back and forth. And that's when I learned the value
of getting really really cool because I did a recurring
on Pretty Lot Liars the all seven seasons and I
loved that. I was like, oh my god, it's so
fun to do recurrings because you're not locked into anybody,
and if you get a really really sick one, then
(37:22):
you can like go do something else and you're not
locked in. I was like, Oh, this is the value
of maybe not being contractually obligated to just write the show.
It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Right, was working in I don't know, fantasy, I guess.
I guess that's what you would call vampire. Is it fantasy?
Did you feel like that was different in some way
the approach to the work or is it? Is it
just the character is and that's a given circumstance of
the character.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, it was a given circumstance for sure. And I
felt like you had to just play it the way
you play anything else or else it's going to seem
ridiculous even more so than maybe.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Right right, right, Well, that makes sense. It's funny we
share something in common which is all of those shows
I was not on. It's very weird. It's no, it's
very it's very weird. It's a weird thing. But oh,
(38:25):
we do have a little overlap. Corey, you entered eventually
the universe of Dick Wolf. Yes, I did the Chicago
Monopoly that or the Stranglehold. I mean, Jimmy Hoffa was
big in Chicago, but then came Dick Wolf. Talk to
(38:47):
me a little bit about how you got cast, because
this is a different universe than where you had been
playing previously, doctor Natalie Manning on Chicago Med. Now I
know you did some overlap on Fire and PD, but
you were you were cast on Chicago Met. Talk to
(39:08):
me about how that, how that happened.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I went in, I did one audition, and Dick Wolf
cast off tape, which I find to be wild, and
so the tape just went to the network and all
that stuff, which is kind of grueling in its own
way because you have so much time to overthink everything
you did and didn't do, and you're like, oh, I
wish I had one more chance, and it's just a
(39:33):
ta and you have to wait so long. But that
was the process, and I remember I was so excited
because kind of embarrassingly and admittedly, when I got Pretty
Little Liars, I didn't want to go in for the
audition because it was on ABC Family again for a
free form it was at that time, and I was like, hey, guys,
(39:55):
I really I want to get out of this team thing.
I like, I'm ready to be an adult, you know.
And I'm so glad I didn't because Pretty Little Liars
ended up being really doing so many things for me.
It was amazing. So when I hit med, I was like,
oh my god, I'm an adult, Like this is so cool,
(40:17):
Like I'm playing a doctor, I'm working opposite like really
amazing actors. And then I got to set and it
was a whole new set of worries. I was like,
I'm out of my league. What am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Did you They're gonna fire me? No? I yeah, I
mean I overthink everything and I have like slow anxiety
that's always like riding right under my chest. But so
I for sure I was like, oh my god, I'm
going to mess all this up. I thought I was
gonna get fired probably every day of season one, season two.
I started to settling to myself, Wait, so but.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
This is what you're saying is crazy. You did one
tape to be cast straight as a serious regular, yes, for.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
The pilot, on which I find to be crazy too. Yeah,
just one tape.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
That's insane. So they just kept sending the same tape.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
The same tape. And I did the tape with you know,
casting right, so I didn't do it at home. But yeah, wow,
all the people making the decisions just saw that one tape.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's the easiest casting process of all time. I no,
I envy that. That's incredible. That's incredible. You say you
felt like you were out of your league, but I mean, look,
you're working with a lot of amazing actors, some of
which you mentioned before. But you're also you're doing now
(41:41):
twenty twenty two to twenty four episode seasons as opposed
to not that many on most of the other shows,
or doing as you mentioned before, like recurring arcs and
going and coming back or whatever. Was that grind difficult
for you? Was that a new muscle for you?
Speaker 2 (42:01):
It was a new muscle in the sense of, especially
on medical procedural dramas, you can only find so many
ways to say we'll be back to check on you shortly.
Interesting and so that was like a muscle I had
to because I was like, you know, I do feel
like sometimes when actors are doing you know, twenty two
episodes on a primetime drama, there is a little bit
(42:23):
a bit of complacency that gets set in probably around
season three, four, five, six, and trying to work against
that and being like, no, I want this to feel
fresh every episode. You know, I gotta show up do
it because on procedurals, a lot of the episodes are
really guests are heavy too.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
So yeah, so that sometimes that's when I was like, oh,
it's you know, I love doing all those fun recurrings
because like the episode you do, you have so much
to do, and sometimes when you're this series regular, it's
it's not that way. And I was like, okay, so
keeping that fresh and interesting was a new muscle for sure.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Right. Yeah. I was Chicago Fire.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Oh fun.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
How long did you do that?
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I mean no, I mean I showed. I was one
of those guest stars you were talking about. I can't
I can't remember. I can't remember. I think it was one,
maybe two. Yeah, that I did.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
I was.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I was a law I was a smarmy lawyer and
went and it was great and I had a great time.
Everybody was so nice, and all I remember was it
was hot hot in Chicago, like hot. We were filming
(43:41):
for it to be cold cold. And I remember this
bar that they had built that we were all we
had all we were all entering into with coats on
and jackets and scarves and out of the snow, and
it was nine million degrees in there. And I was like, God, damn,
(44:06):
I don't know how I'm going to survive this night.
It was like this night shoot. I was like, this
is how do these people do it? It's crazy. Not
that I hadn't done that before, but there was something
about it there that I was like, this is oppressively
hot and we're all in like wool coats and scarves
and gloves and.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Oh yeah, the weather is a key star of those shows.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Of those shows. Yeah, I mean I imagine when it
is really cold and snowing, it's got to be incredibly difficult.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yes, because at that point you're wearing spring jackets because
that's those are the episodes that are going to film
the spring, and you're outside trying not to like show
the frostbite on your eyelashers you're like, oh my god,
him dying.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
You did the show for a very long time. You
did leave at a certain point, then you came back
once you ended for good. Were you Was it time
for you?
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Yeah? It was time for me. Also, they kind of
wrote my character into a hole with a bunch of
stuff they were doing, and I don't think they knew
how to get her out. So it was definitely a mutual,
mutual decision on moving forward. And I was really grateful
for that moment with them and having that conversation, because
(45:26):
I don't think I would have been brave enough to
just leave on my own, even though I want to
do at that point, because it is such an art industry,
it's hard to find security, and shows like that give
you massive security. But I also was like, Okay, I
think it's time to get out there and do something else.
And also, you know, I was about to be forty,
(45:49):
and I'm like, I still want to have a family
and kids and so many things, and I just felt
like I couldn't do that if I stayed much longer.
So yeah, it was time. It was time to go.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
But when you went, when you had gone back, were
those planned in advance or they called, and you were like, Okay,
I'll come back and play for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, they called, and it was just because so I
had one character, we had a whole romance the whole
time I was there, and his character was leaving the show,
and they wanted to make it like they were leaving
to be together finally. And I was actually very happy
to do that because I felt like we did not
get the ending that they deserved at all. So and
(46:31):
also he became like a brother to me, so I
really like the incentive to go back was basically to
support his leaving and to kind of have our characters
have that last moment.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
That's awesome. Horror movies.
Speaker 4 (46:43):
Love them.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
I love them, love them, love to watch them, love
to be.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
In a love to do them, love all of it,
see all of it, all of it.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Why what is it? Oh, I'm fascinating.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
I haven't been in one in a very long time,
and I keep saying, My that's what I want to do.
I'm really smart. Like a really good horror movie. I
love being scared, like horror movies with really great jump scares.
I love although watching them alone at the farm just
hits different than anywhere else. That is a little a
little much for me, but I just love them. I
(47:18):
find them to be so fun.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
So that's your that's the's what you want to do next.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Yeah, I want to do a really good horror movie
because you.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Because you're I mean, you're you're a what do you
call it, a something wrapped in an enigma? You're so
you've got I can't I can't even think of the
phrase New.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
York, Florida.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
Classical Violinist, One Tree Hill, Hallmark Christmas Movies. I mean
you literally it's a dichotomy wrapped in I'll think of
the phrase at some point, Like, So, do you just
love it all? You like exploring whatever it is and
(48:05):
whatever opportunities you have, you just say, let's go.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah. Yeah. I always had friends that were so picky
and would turn things down all the time. And I'm
not saying I haven't turned things down because obviously there's
some stuff that's come through just like, oh, okay, I
don't know if I'll be doing that, but but I've
always said, like, if I feel like I could have
fun with the character and I want to do it,
(48:31):
I'm going to do it. I So I just like
kind of testing everything really, that's great.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Do you enjoy Have you enjoyed? I mean you've done
a few Hallmark Christmas movies? You enjoy doing that? Making
people happy?
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I do? You know? Think made my grandma so And honestly,
it was the last thing she was watching before she passed.
As she was passing, she would just watch it on
repeat the one I did, and I just I did
like it because I felt like to, like in between
meds sometimes over the summer, if one that would come
(49:08):
in that I thought was endearing would come through. And
the only filmed like three and a half weeks, you
know what I mean, it's a very short amount of time.
And the last one I did, I got to go
to Greece and travel and I was like, yeah, I'm like, sure,
of course I'll go to Santorini and film for three
and a half weeks. And why why not?
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, I mean I've done one. Mine wasn't Christmas Chris.
There is something different about the Christmas wins for sure.
In fact, mine was a procedural or something not really No, no,
it wasn't really a procedural. I was a doctor, That's
why I was saying it. But yeah, no, I I
get that. And by the way, like you say, you know,
(49:51):
doing it for your grandma, I mean that's just like
people saying they do it, you know, animated stuff for
their kids, or they do children shows for their kids.
It's the same thing. It's entertainment and having the opportunity,
you know, to what you have done something wrapped in
an enigma. I don't know, it's like killing me. Yeah,
(50:16):
I mean having an opportunity also makes you exposed to
such an incredible diverse body of people. Yeah, I mean
the opportunities that you have had working in all of
the different genres and all of the different types on
all of the different networks. Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah. And you know, I have to say one thing
I love is when I work in an environment where
you feel valued, where everybody feels valued, and it becomes
and I have to say, out of everyone I've worked with,
homework really makes me feel like a part of their
team more than anybody else. Like every birthday I hear
(50:59):
from them, Miles, so I got engaged. I heard from Falmark,
do you know what I mean? Like, they just make
you feel valued. And I think nowadays it's very popular
to get on a show even as a serious regular,
and they're like, listen, if it's not, you would be
someone else, So don't ask us for too much. And
you're like, all right, but makes you feel.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Loved, And I love that, dude, there is value in that.
Let me let me tell there is value in that.
I mean, I mean, I'm not mentioning any names, but
you know, there's companies that I've worked with for ten
years and I'll get a coffee cup on the way
(51:37):
out the door. Totally, I can't not mentioning any names,
but it's as possible that may have happened to me
in the past. Uh No, that's that's that's great. And
I actually have some very good friends who have worked
for Hallmark and love it as well, and that's, uh,
(51:58):
that's important. Look, I mean, whatever it is that we're exploring,
and clearly you're willing to go to a lot of
different places. If you haven't seen the right by the way, like,
that's not Hallmark, it's a spoiler alert. That's that's very cool. Well, look,
I know you have to take care of your goats
(52:20):
right now. I think that there should be some chickens
for sure. Next time we chat. I want chickens, alpacas,
that's got to be an investments. Yeah, pigs, I just
saw pigs. Yeah, they do tricks, by the way, I
just I just saw. I just was introduced to a
(52:43):
pig that did tricks.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
They're very smart. I'm thinking a pig and a donkey
or next, Well, you know.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
My my ex coworker, he is a zonkey.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Really yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Yeah, yeah, he has a he has a donkey and
pigs and he lives on a farm. And what does
he have. He has a lot of weird, weird peacocks.
I think they're so loud albino people. They're very loud.
They're very very that. Yes, that's see. You know, not
(53:21):
a lot of people know that. They're very very loud. Yeah,
I think at least some chickens. Do you eat eggs?
Speaker 2 (53:30):
I do eat eggs. So my duck has started laying eggs,
but I can't.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (53:37):
Yeah, they're just like chicken eggs, but they're bigger, and
apparently they make baking even fluffier. So I've heard. I can't.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
We need to we need to share that sound, we
need to clip that sound. But right there, they make
baking even fluffier. I don't. Yeah, am I sounding like
a rube? I don't know. I've never heard of duck
egg you.
Speaker 4 (54:01):
Yeah, you cook with duck eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah? And people people you know eat?
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Do you fry up duck eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:08):
Uh? Huh? It looks just like the yolk is just bigger,
and sometimes it's a little more orange than chicken eggs.
But it looks just like a chicken egg, just bigger.
Speaker 1 (54:18):
Are you eating them?
Speaker 2 (54:19):
No? I can't. It's like too personal or something like
I know her, you know what I mean. I don't know.
It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
But what do you do with the eggs?
Speaker 2 (54:28):
They just I give them to my fiance's brother, and
he loves them.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Oh, he will eat it.
Speaker 2 (54:34):
He eats them. Yeah, and he sent me sure, he
cried it up. He had it all. It looks like
a fried egg.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
All right.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
I'm gonna look up that phrase that I keep screwing up,
and I'm gonna look up duck eggs because I'm not sure.
I don't know. I haven't heard quail eggs. I've heard
of that.
Speaker 4 (54:51):
Yeah, duck eggs.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
Huh yeah, all right, Well, good luck with the ducks.
But yeah, I think a pig, maybe a donkey, definitely somebolpacas.
I don't know why I want. I'll pacus for you.
I just do. Good luck, it's been such a pleasure.
(55:13):
Good Luck in whatever genre field you end up in next.
I have no doubt that it will be but be
very interesting if you can pull yourself away from the farm.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
I know, right, I mean, it's gotta be. Really, it's
gotta be a good horror movie, just for anyone out
there to pull me away from the farm.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Good. That's what we're looking for. A good horror movie
is all you're leaving the farm for. Is that what
they're saying. If HBO calls, you're like, nope, I just
need a horror movie.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
Spielberg, Nope, nope, not sure. I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Just horror. Just Saw twelve is what we're looking for,
all right, all right, I'll get my people on it.
We'll get it done. Tory, thank you so much, and
good luck. I hope truly that you find some time
from the farm to continue the important, important work that
(56:10):
you're doing with hospice and end of your care. And
I know that that gives a lot to other people,
but also for yourself. So God bless you and very
very nice chatting with you.
Speaker 4 (56:21):
Thanks for coming on, he was well, Thank you, Tory.
Speaker 1 (56:37):
Thanks again for being here. Look, you are a woman
of many, many talents. You truly are a riddle wrapped
in a mystery inside and enigma nailed it finally.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
That's the praise I was dying to find for the
last hour. But guess what, it still fits listeners. Thanks
for doing what you do so well. That's right, listening.
I hope you'll come back next week because guess what,
I'll be here and if you're not here, it will
be very very lonely. Until then, have a really good week.
(57:24):
Off the Beat is hosted and executive produced by me
Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior
producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris,
and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary,
and our intern is Ali Amir Sahim. Our theme song
(57:45):
Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed
Bratton
Host
Brian Baumgartner
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