Mena Suvari Meets World

Before American Pie or Beauty, Mena Suvari had TWO credits on her resumé for the same exact show - but NOT the same exact character! And because that show was Boy Meets World - she’s now coming on the podcast as…herself.

 

Mena shares her journey moving across the country to become an actor, eventually making it to John Adams High where she earned the title of “Your Crush’s Biggest Crush,” thanks to Rider revealing his teenage feelings decades later.

 

She also tells stories from the American Pie set and reveals the major superhero role Mena almost landed. It’s a reunion many seasons in the making - right here on Pod Meets World

 

Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
So I've been going into production on a project which I.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Will be able to tell you all about a couple
of months.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
But so we've been, you know, doing days at my house,
mostly with very small crew, mostly just my producers and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
But day one, we like I made.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Sure we got like great bagels, had them all laid out,
and then we break for lunch and we're like, oh,
what are we going to order for lunch? By day three,
we're like just sandwiches? What am I? You know, I
just realized, like this is the way production goes, right,
Like the quality of food just gets steadily worse as
you just get into production.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
And it made me think of some of.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
The worst food that I've had on sets because they
can go so extreme. There are there have been sets
where you go there and like they have you know,
sushi and catered lunches, and it's just like the budget
is insane. And then there are other sets where that's
really not the case. And for me, like the best example,

(01:21):
and this is I might have actually told a version
of the story. I know it's out there in the
world because I think it's even like a trivia effect
on IMDb.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
But I did this movie my Giant, which I know
we're talking about, right.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
So I went to.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I went to Prague to shoot this movie, and the
food was.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Subpar, allowed to be desired, And there is a scene
where I get puked on by the giant, and in
order to make it, you know, believable, they took some
potatoes and carrots and food dye and made this giant

(01:58):
vat because I had to be covered in vomit.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was one of those classic kid actor scenes.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Where it's just cover the kid and stuff.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
So they had this giant vat sitting on the set
and the extras.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
There were like one hundred extras that day. I thought
it was lunch. Oh no, they ate out of vomit.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
They had to stop them from eating, like they were
like no, no, no, no, that's production.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
There there with bowls and spoons.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
You've got catered vomit, cater voit, catered vomit. So have
you guys ever had.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Like a truly great or truly horrible on set food experience.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Well, I'll tell you right now. The movie I directed
for two.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
B no food budget.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
First of all, we ran out of craft service on
like day three.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
What there was just there's not even a red vine
to be had.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
There was there.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
There was not a red vine, and I I all
of a sudden noticed it. I was like, what, why
is there? Why is there nothing to eat here? And
they're like, yeah, we ran out, and so I paid
out of pocket have a massive cost go run where
we could just bring all the stuff that that movie had.

(03:17):
Some of the worst craft service I've ever had.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah too.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Now I'm doing Dancing with the Stars and on tape.
First of all, the little craft service thing on Magical
Magic Magical, they have a section that's very clearly geared
toward kids. So it's like all the different types of
fruit snacks, all the different type of granola bars, a
candy section, jelly beans, like you name it. I get

(03:42):
a writer for in my room. Anything I want and
need in my writer the minute you arrive.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Stinky broccoli. Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
It wouldn't be it wouldn't be a day without writer,
Stinky stinky Brockley. I'll tell you why, because you're the
one who wanted vegetables. Yeah you.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Peanut butter cups and water and peanut butter cups.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
I had waterbbly water yeah yeah, so.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Uh no, But like the minute we get there, we
we tape next door to an Airwan whatever, I want avocado, toast,
two eggs.

Speaker 6 (04:26):
So they're moving money around from Switzerland so they can
go to Airwon.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yes, cut a cup of coffee from a very specific
coffee place called Dante. Yeah they bring I mean, I mean, oh,
I want an energy shot? Nope, yeah, they just all
day off. Do you what do you want for lunch?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
It's glorious.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
It's actually glorious. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty great. So
I have definitely I have been on both sides of
the spectrum.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, so yeah, I mean I have too.

Speaker 6 (04:51):
Obviously you go to you do smaller productions where there's nothing.
I was just at a convention where the green room
was just a room, like a small closet room. No water,
no napkins, no anything, literally nothing, literally nothing. It was
just it was three chairs that if you wanted to
sit down and get some food you could.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
But I was did will do you remember?

Speaker 1 (05:13):
It was just like, oh, there's a whole bunch of sandwiches,
there's turkey or turkey or turkey.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (05:20):
No. But one of the best shows I was ever on.
Every day they just brought the in and out truck.
Oh my gosh, was every day magical. Yeah, the days
that I was there, that red meat, it was it
was magic.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
No.

Speaker 6 (05:32):
Actually, the more red the more burgers you eat, the
healthier they get. People don't know that there's a there's
threshold where then it becomes diet food.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
So that's just science. That's everybody knows that.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
So I had a burger last night.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know, it was dropped off to you, wasn't it
at your whole.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
Producer box. Yeah, I'm so hungry by the time our
tape nights are over.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
And imagine because I'm getting hungry.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Now, how are you too?

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Should we move forward into this episode?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah? Are we going to have a vat of puke
for lunch? Is that that's the plan. That's what are
we doing.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Somebody chop up the carrots and bring out the tomatoes.
It's time for Pukelu's puke lunch.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Awesome. Please don't eat that. Please don't eat that. That's part.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Please put the puke down. Welcome to Pod meets World. Oh,
I say my name.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
You're officially doing too much. Danielle. You're officially doing too much.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
She's gonna start tangling seriously.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
Welcome to Pod Meets World.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I'm Daniel Fischel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilfredell.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
When it comes to the legacy of Boy Meets World,
there is a lot we leave behind, the effortless, family
friendly mix of comedy and drama that TV still has
problems perfecting the comfort of its characters. Eric T. Panga,
Sean Angela, I mean Bill Daniels. It seems like, no
matter how many Emmys he won before he took the
role of mister Feenie, it's now the character that will

(07:10):
define an incredible career in Hollywood. But one other very
cool aspect about Boy Meets World that seems even more
relevant in twenty twenty five the careers that started right there.
On an ABC Friday Night. We've talked to Adam Scott,
whose first real TV set was that of John Adams, High,
Ethan Sipple early career, Linda Cardellini, and Britney Murphy. We

(07:33):
had future superstars just driving by saying hi, on their
way to much bigger projects. Yet it seems like our
show is still one of the things they're constantly reminded
of now three decades later, and our guest this week
is a perfect example of this trajectory. She was a
two timer, appearing in two Boy Meets World episodes, season
two's Danger Boy and season three's The Grass Is Always Greener,

(07:56):
playing Laura and Hillary respectively. But she'd breakthrough in nineteen
ninety nine with two films that helped define an entire
era of cinema, The Gross Out Slapstick of American Pie,
creating a revolution in theaters for the R rated teen comedy,
and American Beauty, a Best Picture winner that set the
standard for black comedy and is constantly listed as one

(08:18):
of the century's best. She'd become Hollywood's it girl at
a speed that's rarely seen on the screen. She'd follow
up with movies like Sugar and Spice, Domino and Spun
and Let's not forget about the American Pie sequels, a
franchise that appears to be getting another installment soon, and
she's made endless TV appearances from Psych to Six Feet
Under to Chicago Hope. But today we are talking to

(08:41):
her about the start of her career, the time she
played two different flirty girls on the TGIF sitcom Boy
Meets World and helped our legacy live forever. Welcome to
Pod meets World. Someone we have hoped to interview for
a while. It's Mina Suvari.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
She's kind of there.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Hey, does this feel so weird to be back all
in the room together thirty years later?

Speaker 5 (09:09):
This is wild? This is wild. I don't know if
I have enough words, you know, guys, I was. I
was looking up the episodes that I was in, which
is like a whole other conversation. I was in two
of them, but it's my first credit on IM.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Wow, So was it actually your first job then?

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Well?

Speaker 5 (09:35):
I had done some commercials. Yeah, I had done a
couple of commercials. I did a Rice Serroni commercial, which
I always joke that I was like the other girl.
I didn't even get to eat the rice aerronie and
I got my SAG card.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Okay doing that? Did they let you eat it at
lunch at least?

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Or no?

Speaker 5 (09:57):
Funny? Do you you know the actress Vanessa Shaw? Yeah,
so it was her sister Natalie Shaw, And it was
like a joke where it's like, you know, we're at
high school, we run into each other and wearing like
the same outfit, and then she was like talking about
it over the race, and so I was.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Like the other girl like can I have a bite anything?

Speaker 5 (10:20):
But this was but so I did. I did that.
I did like a Pizza Hut commercial. I did a
Kodak commercial, and then yeah, I was like doing these
kind of like guest spots, you know, yeah, the Chicago Hope.
I was always like the rebellious teenager or like totally nineties,

(10:42):
like slightly naughty, solicious team.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
Were you played some flirty girls in your two episodes
of Boy Meets World. We first saw you in season
two in Danger Boy Uh, and we just talked about
in your intro that there are quite a few people
Boy Meets World was their first credit Adam Scott Ethan
Sipplee You had you ever seen Boy Meets World before
you auditioned for it?

Speaker 5 (11:07):
No, but it's not It has nothing to do with that.
I just sort of no. I mean I still kind
of live under a rock like I wasn't. I was
kind of living in this space of being in LA
and it being new and adapting to I came from
South Carolina, so like adapting to high school and auditioning

(11:31):
after school and now I was sort of like in
this weird grind of you know, it took me a
long time to really understand like the business aspect of things,
or kind of being a part of it. I was.
It's so hard to describe, but I was really just
kind of living in this place of like, you know,

(11:54):
doing this, doing that, like not thinking too much about it,
going on the auditions. I do you remember though, with
the show and the first episode for me going over
that line he drinks water, like over and over and over.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'm really the first episode. I remember your second one.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
You played like a bouncer, like letting people into the
like club, Yeah, where I think it's where Danielle, you
were pretending to be the French. French all right, but
what was your first episode? Something about drinking water?

Speaker 6 (12:26):
No, I remember your I don't know why, but your
exact line and performance sticks in my head.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
I don't know why does he spits water? Why does
he spit water? It's just in my mind.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
When he does, when he's pretending to be the fountain,
remember when he's.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Like, well, there's it.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
I just watched it again. Another girl. I assume my
friend you and writer you're like the girls are here
or like the girls are coming, which is always and
then we kind of show up and she mentions that, yeah,
he spits water, and then I'm like, he spits water,

(13:02):
and then something like, oh, I want to see that,
can you do it for me? It was funny watching
it again now because I remember doing it like a
lot more I don't know, with like more pizazz or.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
More more like when they were really.

Speaker 5 (13:21):
They used like the one that was like the middle
of the road, like kind of like interested, but like not.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Even doing it all week by the time we got
to tape. Now you were probably just like.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
I mean, my mom would talk about it too, and
I would runt it with her. He drinks water, He
drinks water, like because it was like my wine.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yes, your first big job, your first drink. He drinks water, drinks.

Speaker 5 (13:47):
He spits exactly funny too because that was such a
I mean, I only did it really with this show,
and then there was another show that I guests start on,
but that whole experience, and I know you guys were
so used to this, but it was like a totally
different entity and like so nerve wracking being there an audience,

(14:11):
and like because I haven't I don't have like a
lot of theater experience, so it was pretty pretty like
exciting but also terrifying at the moment. You couldn't mess up,
You couldn't. There was a lot of that, you know,
that those those nerves around it.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
For me, Do you remember your audition at all?

Speaker 5 (14:32):
I don't. Can we talk about why I was in
two episodes? Yes, different characters because it always makes me laugh?
And when you talk about other people coming from the show,
did they.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Ever do that?

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah? It was tradition.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
Ye. Really, It's so interesting to me because it blows
my mind that I don't know how much that would
happen nowadays.

Speaker 6 (14:58):
Like no, because there's there was no streaming at the time,
so you couldn't binge. Yeah, so it's like if you
show up here and then hey, you show up six
months later, nobody's going to put the two together.

Speaker 5 (15:10):
Now.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
It's like, wait a minute.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Our producers also just really if they liked somebody, especially
a kid, you know, because the pickings were slim, they'd
be like, oh, we'll just bring so and so back,
you know.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
But I don't know did you have to audition for
the second one or I'm.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
Pretty sure I did, guys, okay for sure, but I
don't remember the audition per se. And I do know,
but that's just me because again I'm horrible. But I
do have a lot of photos as well. Oh really,
both of us. I have both, and I'm so bad,
damn it. I'd have to come back on.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Oh my god, I want to see those.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
If you can just take pictures of them or scan
them and email them to us, we would love to
see them. We'd love to post them on our socials.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
Yes, I do have them, and I have some of
me like in the makeup chairs, yes, getting ready, And
then I have some of us like outside the studio.
That's so cute out by the studio door. Yeah, you know,
being kids.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Do you remember the wardrobe? It is very nineties and
we just loved it. You're wearing a tight green sweater
over a pink polka dot top. Yes, and you were
actually one of two girls to wear that.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
Polka dot top on the show.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
Oh we saw a few episodes. Yeah, we saw a
few episodes later and I was like, Hey, that's a
pink pot top. Dare they That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
So they had this kind of theme like we'll have
them back. We like the polka dot body suit or whatever.
Maybe we'll change it up. And put a green sweater
over it. I did see, which I thought was really cute.
Somebody commenting that they they watched that episode because they
thought my outfit was so cool.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Oh yeah, okay, it is. It's very cool. You looked
so cool at it.

Speaker 5 (17:03):
And in the second episode with like the was it
like Doc Martin's and like the dress, yeah, very nineties,
it's all back.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
Oh yeah, it's I know, I know. Do you remember
any I mean, I want to see these pictures of
you with writer. I think that sounds so cute, But like,
do you remember any specific interactions with with any of us?

Speaker 5 (17:21):
I just remember everybody being like really nice and friendly
and you know, just welcoming. And again, I think I
was really caught up with a lot of nerves and
like just feeling kind of not like fully overwhelmed, but
like starstruck to all of it, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
And I hung out.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I had such a crush on you, and I do
spend Yes, I spent the entire week trying to hang
out with you as much as I could.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
You don't know this, Maybe I wasn't that obvious, but
like I remember, you.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
And I spend a lot of time together, and like
hanging out in the classroom and schoolroom and then and
you were.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Just the coolest girl I had ever met. I was
like obsessed with you.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
Well, that just shows like how kind of dumb I am,
because I just thought you were really nice.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
He's like this so friendly.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yeah, but it was. Yeah, I do.

Speaker 7 (18:21):
Remember us, like, you know, like hitting it off and
feeling more connected.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
Yeah, and that meant everything, you know, because I mean
it's you know, a bit like later in my career,
I was I was able to do an arc on
Six Feet Under, and it was kind of like that
same thing, like you're going into this, you know, this world,
this entity that's already been completely set up, and it's
a family, and it's like so hard to fit into that,

(18:48):
and especially when you're just doing like, you know, a
couple of lines. Right.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, So you're back for season three for The Grass
is Always Greener. You play another flirty all this time
named Hillary. And I think it's so interesting that every
time we ask somebody who did more than one episode
and we say, do you remember having to audition again,
most of the time the answer is no. And it
really does make me think I find it hard to

(19:14):
believe they would make her audition again, especially Michael, who
loved working with actors. He just liked working with and
like regularly would bring back actors. Michael was always really
good about that, Like if you liked somebody, he'd bring
them back on another show.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
I have the same casting director, Sally, Yeah, for all
six all seven seasons.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
So I feel like, yeah, I feel like you were
just on the roster.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
You know. I feel like, oh, i'd love to know.
I mean, that was the biggest compliment. I don't.

Speaker 7 (19:40):
I wouldn't put money on that, but that sounds nice.
It's like I mean, because you know, it's.

Speaker 5 (19:46):
That was just part of it. Yeah, And I mean
it's wild just to see how much of it has changed,
Like that was such just again a big part of
it going into a room with like I don't know,
twelve plus people and I have to kind of like
do it one shot. And you know, nowadays it's like

(20:08):
your can self tape, you know, comfort wherever and do
it as many times as you want. You don't have
that part of it.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
So yeah, do you remember getting any specific direction on
either of your two episodes? Do you remember working with
the directors?

Speaker 7 (20:23):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
That's horrible. To say, but it's no, I don't. But
it's it's not just that part of it. I think
it's also I wasn't like tuned to that in a way,
Like it's so hard to describe. I sort of I
wrote about my life a little while ago and sort

(20:47):
of talked about.

Speaker 7 (20:50):
A lot of my younger years and like what that
was like for me and what perspective I had.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
I was so used to it.

Speaker 7 (20:58):
I mean, the best way I've been able to kind
of put it is that I.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
Was so used to kind of like doing the do
like doing the grind, kind of going in as long
as I completed what I had to do, Like, I
felt very separate from a lot of I maybe this
is why I did pick up on things of the writer,
but like I felt very separate from the rest of

(21:25):
like the crew or the cast. I didn't. I had
to learn later in the industry, like how I really
was able to hold apart with that, And so yeah,
I didn't. I didn't have that perspective of like understanding
what I was doing and working with the director to

(21:48):
kind of like complete this this thing that we're all
in together, right.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
The collaborative nature of how it comes together.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
Yeah. Yeah, so I think I might have been more
caught up and just sort of I mean taking the direction,
but not like remembering those collaborative like compete in moments.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Wow, you're also fifteen, you know, like.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Yeah fifteen sixteen. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
Did you have a crew of young actors that you
hung around with in LA around this time? Did you
go to traditional school? Who were your friends?

Speaker 7 (22:23):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (22:23):
Gosh, I mean I came out to LA and I
went the first two years to Notre Dame, Okay in
the Valley, and I had come from an all girls school,
so I was going into a co ed private Catholic
not Catholic. That was very interesting. And no, I didn't.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
I didn't.

Speaker 7 (22:46):
I had to.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
Start all over in a way. So I did have
a best friend that I hung out with the most Nicole,
but I didn't have like a slew of friends. Like
I was totally like the nerd, very much made fun of.
It was hard for me to do work or you know,

(23:12):
like I was given a hard time from the school
or like having to do makeup work the teachers, things
like that. So I joke like, you know, working on
American later that it kind of gave me my high
school experience because it was opposite. And then I went
to Providence in Burbank for the last two years, so

(23:34):
I transferred over. I was very much into like academics,
getting my work done, but I.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
Was like ready to read.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Yeah, you're ready to get out of there. You're originally
from Rhode Island, right, but you ended up in New
York to model.

Speaker 6 (23:46):
I was.

Speaker 5 (23:47):
I was born in Rhode Islands, and then I lived
there till I was about well, I lived somewhere else
just for one year. When I was eight, I came
back to Rhode Island and fourth and fifth grade. During
that time, when I was younger, we would drive to
Boston and I was part of Cameo Kids, which was

(24:10):
a modeling agency in Boston.

Speaker 7 (24:13):
I believe they let me go when I lost my
two front teeth.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
You can't model anymore. Take a break. And then and
then after Rhode Island for middle school, transferred from middle
school to Charleston, South Carolina. And then by that time
there was like a local modeling agency. It was called
Milly Lewis. I just went with a friend, kind of

(24:40):
one of those like you know, take a class and
like learn how to put on makeup. Do you remember oodles?

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Oh, are you kidding? My kit and Kaboodle was everythingoodles.

Speaker 5 (24:51):
Learn how to put on makeup, like take a photo,
this kind of thing. And then it started to snowball,
like they wanted me to join the agency, and then
they wanted me to go to a model in competition
that was nationwide. Long story long. I ended up signing
with Wilhelmina, but in their kids division called Wee Willie's,
which was in New York. And so then I was

(25:13):
twelve twelve, I did the summer in New York, thirteen.
They wanted me to come out to La still under Wilhelmina,
and then I got my race running commercial. But then
they're like you should move out here and whole after
big discussion, my parents decided to come out and then
I started high school and so then I was just

(25:35):
sort of like auditioning after school, that kind of thing.
I remember even with Rice and wrote sorry race leaving
the audition thinking the casting director absolutely hated me, like
there was no way I was going to get the job.
But I got the job.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
She's like, wow, my perceptions really off, you know, And
then yeah.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
And then just started to did like boy, meets Roll
like a Chicago Hope Er did an episode.

Speaker 6 (26:05):
Of R.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
Were your parents in the industry at all? How what
did they do? How did they just are you an
only child? How did they just decide to pick up
and move across the country?

Speaker 5 (26:15):
Great question. I have three older brothers. Wow, the one
up from me was a bit caught in the mix.
The older two were already in college by then, beginning college.
And yeah, I remember a lot of like cross country
driving road trips in my grandmother's fleetwood Cadillac Nice. Those

(26:42):
were the days of the road trips, transporting everything over.
And my father had me pretty late. He was older
than my mom, so he was sort of retired by then,
and I can only assume, yeah, they were kind of
going with it and it, but yeah, we didn't really
I had uh, I have like two second cousins out here.

(27:05):
It was like the only family, so we were able
to connect with them. And then yeah, just started the
the journey. You can look back and see the couple
crazy managers ahead. And then but like you know, finally
from from Oh, I was with gold Marshak. Do you

(27:26):
remember Golden Marshak You reread Burbank, There was do you remember, Uh,
there was that big brown building off of Olive and
there was a restaurant called Adults like the Hangout. So
around that time of like having the commercials and probably

(27:47):
working on this show, I was with Golden Marshak and
then I eventually was introduced to an agent at GERSH
and then I was there for a bit. So yeah,
I mean, I've lived here way too long.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
And I think about if my kid was deciding to
act and then somebody said to me, listen, Adler's really talented.
I think you guys should move to New York. I'd
be like, well, we're obviously not going to pick up
for the kid, for the six year old, like you know,
it just and yet so many people we talked to

(28:21):
who it totally paid off for that it was the
right move, that families are just willing to take that
leap based on you know, instinct and obviously the knowing
it's it's so it's so remarkable, like thank god your
parents were like, yeah, you know what, I'm retired, and
you know, did your mom work? Was she able to

(28:42):
just get a job out here?

Speaker 5 (28:44):
No? No, she didn't. Actually, I mean I was sort
of like supporting the family then I was also going
to throw in there. When we came out here, we
stayed at the oak Wood, Oh yeah, which is now
like something else and like.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
They should just go back to Oakwood. It's ridiculous. Do
you remember your building?

Speaker 5 (29:07):
I don't remember my building, but I do. I remember
like the pool area. I remember like a wreck area
where I tried to take an aerobics class and just
heavily mailed somewhere in the back. I was like, by
my day, they had like a communal like a piano
in there, and I would sort of just like wander

(29:30):
around the oak Wood, like you know, I remember hiking too.
I started hiking. I think I even hiked up like
that hill that's like blind Oh yeah, do that too.
Those were kind of the days too. I mean I
grew up like in the eighties, and it was sort
of like the lock see a dinner, yeah exactly.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah, come home in the light when when the sun
starts to go down. That's how it's supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (29:53):
So I would like wander around the oak Wood, and
eventually as I got older, and then we moved to
off of Glen Oaks on the other side of the river.
By Jan Fernando, and across the street was a Blockbuster,
and I do my brother, one of my brothers worked
there for like a summer memorable Buster.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, I'm married because of block
I'm married.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Because of Blockbuster.

Speaker 6 (30:18):
So yes, oh yeah, I was returning a tape while
my wife and I re met, and then I proposed
her right in front of what used to be the Blockbuster.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Five years later.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Yeah, so he still has a Blockbuster card in his
wallet that he carries around with him for. We don't know, listen,
we don't know.

Speaker 5 (30:34):
It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
I have no problems with anything. They just said.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
Was the best.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
Thank you, be kind and Rewind and be kind rewind yep, exactly. Well,
after Boy Meets World, you were just off to the races.

(31:00):
Are kiss the Girls? And soon after American Pie. So
much of young Hollywood broke out from this movie while
you were filming. Did you know it was special? Did
it just feel special?

Speaker 5 (31:12):
Oh? I told you like the worst With these answers,
I just had no clue. And again, I mean I've
recently talked about this, but that point, that period of
my life was pretty heavy and pretty dark. So I
was saved very much by working on that film and
you know, going to work with like Chris Klein and

(31:34):
people that really made it beautiful and positive. It was
a It was a nice rescue from a lot of things.
So no, I did not have that concept. I worked
on American Pie and American Beauty back to back pretty.

Speaker 7 (31:50):
Much, and then they came out back to back. And
I've mentioned this, I will not lie.

Speaker 5 (31:55):
I honestly thought that every movie made a hundred million dollars,
Like I just of focusing on the work, doing my job,
being a good student. But I didn't have that ability
to look at a script and think like, people are
gonna love this or this is gonna be a.

Speaker 6 (32:12):
Hit, And well, if you just stuck with movies and
had an American in the title, you were doing fine.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
Then.

Speaker 7 (32:19):
And then I put that in my writer in my Deal,
my mother, only.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
American in the title. Did you have any reservations about
working on something that was like so obviously pushing the
envelope at the time.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
On American Beauty, well both of both. Oh well, but
American Pie was like the sweet Sweater sets. Yeah, you
were remember them asking me if I sang towards the
end of the audition I was like, yeah, I was
in the choir for three years, you know, middle school.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Like great, that's good, and you're doing your oppression of yourself.

Speaker 5 (33:02):
True, I'm not really a singer, but I do remember
going into the studio with Chris and like working on
this song and it's funny because I love it, but like, man,
when I hear that song, I'm like And then in Beauty,
I was pretty much like living it to a certain extent,
which I finally talked about recently. So that was kind

(33:24):
of like a no brainer. Yeah, No, definitely wasn't like
this is tawdry. I was like, oh, it's different.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
Are you writing a memoir? You said You've been writing
about this a lot.

Speaker 6 (33:36):
It did.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
Yeah, it's called The Great Piece. It came out in
twenty twenty one, and I finally was like, here's my
side of the story. So I was because for a
long time I was caught in this place of I
mean especially back then too, like doing press for American Pie,
and I was always trying to come up with like
the one liner and make it sound great. And I

(33:59):
finally was a well to just you know, reveal that again.
It saved me in a lot of respects, and I
wasn't necessarily. I mean, I did a thing with Jason
and his wife Jenny, it's called dinner in a movie,
And I went on and we with Alison Hannigan and
we watched American Pie and talked about it again, and
I just didn't. I didn't what is it like relate

(34:24):
with them in the way that I think a lot
of them were. So I was just living very much
in like a different space. So I missed out on
a lot of that, like camaraderie and friendship or just
understanding what we were making. I would kind of like
go in do my job. Even on American Beauty. I
remember thinking one day on set, I'm literally I'm so
grateful to have a job and everyone's so nice, Like

(34:47):
it was that.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
Simple, right, Yeah, do you mind sharing what was going
on with you in your personal life? I have not
read the memoir. I'm going to read it now, but
just a lot of, you.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
Know, things that I think through childhood led me into
feeling very insecure and abandoned, and I ended like a
lot of really dark relationships, especially by the time I
was right before working on American Pie, and so I

(35:20):
was living with someone who was a lot older than me.
It was like taking me to school, started doing a
lot of like different drugs, and so playing someone like
Heather was completely opposite to what I was living. It
became very like abusive and very like sexually abusive. So
I think that's why I had no, you know, qualms

(35:43):
with relating to Angela. I was sort of used to.
It's interesting too, not to get like dark round going
met the world, but it's interesting too how I watched
myself with with like especially the second episode. I'm in
season three and and there's just like a comfort around that,

(36:03):
like sexuality and showcase. I mean, some things I even
worked on. I'm trying to remember right now. But my character,
I have a lot of photos from that too. My
character was a teenage prostitute, and I'm like, what is
append around? Like, you know some of these things are
it being kind of normal back then? Like that's a

(36:26):
whole other conversation, especially like the nineties, like being sexualized
young Oh yeah yeah, And I was like, oh I
was so easily can just send those things. But it's interesting.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Memoir.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
It's heavy. I appreciate it, but it's more about like
it's been really rewarding for not just me but being
able to help a lot of people, you know, just
by talking about these things, because I think I felt
like I needed to have it all wrapped up in
a bow and be putting back then and for a
long time after that, and I was sort of done

(37:03):
playing that roles. Yeah, this is yeah, because I feel
like it does. It's a lot more of a service
just kind of being honest and talking about it and yeah,
talking about how those things kind of can unfold. Yeah,
writer and I have talked about how much like those
that feeling in your twenties where you just feel like
you're supposed to be good at all the things, like

(37:25):
I'm finally here, this is the adulthood I have been
waiting for and looking around and somehow feeling like everyone
else knows how to do everything?

Speaker 4 (37:33):
Why do I not know how to do anything? And
then you realize like no one, no one knew how
to do anything. Everyone was figuring it out, but no
one was talking about the fact that no one knew
what they were doing exactly.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
So now imposter syndrome.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, but the adults too, I mean everybody every week.

Speaker 6 (37:56):
The thing, Yeah, the thing we talked about is as
especially as child actors, is you assume at all the
adults around you know exactly what's going on, and you're
following their.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Days, say, is right, interest yep, And that's the way
it's got to go.

Speaker 6 (38:07):
And then you become an adult and you're like, I'm
still figuring this out. I don't know what the hell's
going on. So it's yeah, it's very interesting to see
how just the idea that somebody's older than you obviously
means they have it together.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
It's like, no, that's not the case. So yeah, no,
it's funny.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
I still feel like that's sometimes I'm like, they have
it so together. But yes, I mean it's kind of
comforting in a way hearing this because I remember vividly younger,
thinking that I think it was when you turned eighteen

(38:42):
I had this concept or was it twenty one? I
had this concept that like, when that happened, you just
knew everything.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Right, is you get a download?

Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yeah, you get a magical pill, you know everything going on?
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
And then that happened and I was like, oh, gosh,
I don't know anything.

Speaker 6 (38:59):
Yeah exactly, And I think, you know, strangely, I think
it's actually probably worse for kids now because social media
makes it where everybody's got this incredible life look at
all these pictures, when really nobody does.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's all lies. The whole thing is lies.

Speaker 6 (39:14):
So it's just, uh, yeah, I couldn't imagine going through
I mean, what we all went through was tough enough,
but now doing it where everybody is in.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
The public eye, it just seems like it would be
such a daunting task.

Speaker 5 (39:25):
And I'm sure you've gotten this question before, but I mean,
can you imagine working on the show with God.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Oh, God be too horrible? God, no, be awful. I
couldn't imagine.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
No, Yeah, there was something nice about about that. Yeah,
I mean a lot of things, not feeling that pressure.
I mean I also remember like being new to LA
or just like new to the business, and you know,
you'd go to the grocery store and you're in the
checkout out and they're the magazines, right, like that was

(39:58):
our information, and I I remember thinking all of that
was real, like somebody, and then it wasn't until like
more experience in the industry, and then being there was
one interview I gave that I swear it felt like
they must have just mixed up the pages completely because
I was reading it and like in bold there were quotes.

(40:20):
I was like, I never even said that, like not
even blows to saying yeah, And I realized, yeah, they
could be something like sex is like uh, it was
something like along the lines of like once you do
it more, you get also just like what like it

(40:41):
wasn't even the room for these questions but I and
then I realized like, oh, none of that is true.
But I had this concept that like if it was
there and it were on the page and that was
an interview, like that was word for word what the
person said, I had no idea that it was constructed

(41:01):
or like manipulated in that sense.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Right, right, So American Beauty is one of those. It's
one of my favorite examples in my own life of
seeing the difference in perception of a project while it's
being made versus when it comes out. Because we were
we were shooting boys still and an old studio teacher

(41:24):
came who I had worked with when I was like
eleven or twelve and had become friends with my mom,
and she came to the set to visit my mom,
and we were hanging out talking and we're like, oh,
so what are you working on And she's like, ough,
this awful movie.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
It is so weird.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
I don't and I don't know if she was the
studio teacher or she was just there for a couple
of days, but she was.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Like, it's Kevin Spacey and I don't know.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
It's like it's trying to be funny, but it's just
it doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
And she like gave us the worst elevator pitch for
this movie that we were like, wow, it's because but
it's like a big movie and she's like, yeah, it's
got actors, but it's gonna be so bad. There's no
they're just gonna bear. And we like so then when
the movie came out, it was like that's the movie she.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
Was talking to.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
I was like, wow, you know, so you just never know,
Like so here was a crew member, maybe only there
for a day or two, but she was reading the
script and like knew the movie and was.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Like, this is a disaster. There's no way this is
gonna be That.

Speaker 5 (42:19):
Is so fascinating awesome.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Yeah, but it's true, right, I mean half the time
we don't know, Like even when we're acting in a movie,
we're like, is this gonna be any good or is
this gonna have any cultural value? And then something like
that happens, And so what was the transition for you? Like,
because you have these two movies come out back to
back and before that you had sort of been regular
actor just doing the job, and now you're suddenly a star.

Speaker 5 (42:44):
Yeah, it was really weird.

Speaker 7 (42:45):
I remember, well, I wasn't able to go to the
premiere for American Pie.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
I was working on a film called Sugar and Spice
at the time in Dallas, and.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
We had like I love that movie, by the way,
for that movie, I wanted it so bad.

Speaker 5 (43:03):
Amazing how you went in I want I read.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
I read that script and I was like, this is great.

Speaker 5 (43:09):
It was originally do you remember it was originally called
Sugar and Spice and Semi Automatics.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
Yes, exactly, Like I did change the title.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
But I mean that was awesome too. Working with Francine McDougal,
female director, that was great. But I remember we had
a football scene and so there were a lot of
extras because a I didn't exist. Yeah, there were real

(43:38):
people there, and I started hearing people yelling Heather choir chick,
and I was like, oh, just going on you know,
and then I remember people asking me for a photo.

Speaker 7 (43:52):
With me, and I was like, this is so weird,
and it made me feel it just was really strange,
and it made.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
Me feel uncomfort ball because I felt like I'm no,
I'm no better, like different than you. And so that
was kind of like the beginnings of it. And that
was that was in the summer, late summer. I remember
coming back to la after that and going to the
American Beauty premiere and then everybody kind of saying congratulations,

(44:23):
like this is amazing, and I just remember not being
able to understand that or digest it, because again I
just I was like thank you, like I just kind
of what that meant, you know, and people were trying
to kind of like get my attention into that, like
this is so great, congratulations and I was like cool, thanks,

(44:45):
you know, happy to be a part of it. And yeah,
then it kind of became, I guess, the norm of
like doing photo shoots and press and traveling and things
like that. I do remember, though, having kind of like
a midlife crisis in my early twenties after that, because

(45:08):
I hadn't gone to college and there were a lot
of things like you know, when I was younger, I
wanted to be an architect. I chose medical research for
my career. Day at school, I ever thought of like acting,
and so I was like in this phase of you know, oh,

(45:28):
I can go to UCLA. I looked into it. They
were going to let me go like the first two
years as an extension student, but then I'd have full
time the last two and I kind of just chose
at that moment that I chose, I guess my career
because I felt like I could be in any you know,

(45:50):
sitting to learn. I didn't have to necessarily be there.
But yeah, it was like a hard time for me
because I kind of felt like I didn't have an
identity because I was Yeah, I remember it was sort
of at that moment feeling like there's the there's this
mina and then there's like the real mina, right, And

(46:12):
I had to kind of like come to terms with
that or or learn how to navigate that because everything
was It just was very strange for me to be
like recognized and because I never got into this industry
for that reason, so weird.

Speaker 4 (46:33):
Yeah, yeah, do you remember any specific directing or working
with Alan Ball for American Beauty, like you do you
remember that experience.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Yeah, I mean I remember working with everyone. I remember
working a lot with Sam and having a lot of
rehearsal us even working on scenes that didn't make it
into the film. I felt, I felt like I was
being very uh, I was given this really great gift

(47:05):
and sort of spoiled in a sense because we did
so much rehearsal and it was so helpful awesome. I mean,
this sort of also feels like a time for the
most part gone. I mean, I've gone films where it's
like you're just so in and out and you don't

(47:26):
have that process anymore, and so I'm really grateful that
I had that then. But yeah, I just I remember,
I mean, because again I didn't like hang out with
people then. It was like so much in survival mode
and like surviving the horror of like my real life

(47:46):
that And I think it also was coming from a
place of just never feeling good enough. So I just
do my work and I kind of like disappear. I
was always like wanting to kind of like be back here,
and and but when I was there, I do remember
just feeling so cared for by Nam, particularly because you know,

(48:11):
and it was so necessary. But yeah, yeah, there was
a lot of really wonderful things, a lot of fun things,
but sort of it just all kind of feels like
a I don't know, it was like so much happening
that I needed to eventually learn how to pick up on.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
Yeah, I talked about even like there were so many
moments where I felt like my life was happening for me,
and it took me a while to catch up to that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Do you think it's a movie that could be made
now in twenty twenty five, That's.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
A great question. I mean, I don't see why not.
I feel like that's what's so wonderful about the film
is that, I mean there's certain topic and subject matter
that I feel like is still continuous, very present. The
yes and no, Yeah, yes and no depends on you

(49:14):
know what exactly I think you're analyzing, because it also
was I think a big part of it a certain
place and time, there's a certain there's a certain amount
of subject matter that yes, I think could and then
there's a certain subject matter that I think. It was
a perfect showcase in conversation around like what is continuously

(49:39):
hidden but like that still exists too, So.

Speaker 6 (49:41):
Yeah, yeah, I'm just curious because you've had such an
interesting career and some of the projects are so different
from each other. Is there one that you're really proud of?
I mean, I know you're probably proud of a lot
of them, but is there one that really stands out
for you?

Speaker 5 (49:56):
Gosh, I'm so bad with these questions because like they
don't something to me in a different way. I mean, yes,
and I'm proud of all of it, but it all
it's different for me because as I've gotten older, I've
felt more and become more connected to all of it,

(50:19):
and that's really changed it for me. I think a
lot about well, I have things that I've done that
haven't come out yet. I did a film called Vampires
of the Velvet Lounge where it was just a lot
of fun, and that's been in post. I did a

(50:40):
film called All You Need Is Blood and that was
really really cool and exciting. I think that one's on
Keino Quino movies. I mean, they've all been like different
for me. I just finished a project called Death of
a Brewer. It's based on a book called Beer Money,
and I got to play a woman of temperance and

(51:03):
it's period and never done anything like that.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
That's cool.

Speaker 7 (51:07):
Yeah, yeah, so they're all and our crew was like,
I just didn't want to leave.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
Everyone was so lovely and our cast and yeah, so
it's it's it depends on like what it is. I mean,
I think about the place that I've been in and
being able to appreciate it. I feel like a lot
of that came for me a bit later, of course.

(51:35):
I mean that to me that I was so happy
seeing that as like it was like going down and
I didn't know if they'd listen anything of like the commercials,
but it's literally like the first thing on my IMDb.
It's so awesome not it? To me, that's like really
really beautiful and really special.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
We ask a lot of our guests this question, were
there any roles you auditioned for and almost got that
still haunt you? Like the minute you mentioned sugar and
spice for me? And I was like, is there anything
you auditioned for?

Speaker 6 (52:08):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (52:09):
Yes, you're gonna put me on the hot seat tell
the story. Yes, I mean the one that I auditioned
for several times, I tested for and was communicated to

(52:30):
that it would be mine was Spiderman.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Oh and they gave it to Toby maguire.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
And how did he do that to you?

Speaker 5 (52:45):
Yeah? But you know but again, like I think that's
that's what like allows for so much growth and have
strength in this industry. Is like, I mean, I've even
had these moments with now I've been working more in

(53:07):
like development and like pitching, and it's like people can
kind of come at you a certain way like yeah,
and you're like.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
We're like no, but I thought I thought we're just
gonna something. Yeah, I think it.

Speaker 5 (53:24):
I mean, those are those are the moments that like
we all have. I mean you talked about like with
Sugar and Space too. It's like those are the moments
that you have and you're just like yeah, but you
know what, like I still see this and I still
love this, and it's not you know, it allows you,
I think, to build like new.

Speaker 7 (53:44):
Muscles that are so important because not.

Speaker 4 (53:49):
Like that all right exactly. It's not just like here
you go, here you go, Oh you want this, Okay, you.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
Got to really work for it, you know. And I
and I'm grateful for that because it allows me to
just have a completely new perspective that I really try
to stay neutral with. Like it just wasn't meant in
some way other things that and I'm you know, and

(54:18):
you're able to see that like in the long run,
like oh, well, life brought me here and I was
needed here versus there.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Right in this industry, it's so hard compared to like
almost anything else though, in that those opportunities when they're
presented to you are literally life changing, right, like in
terms of like I mean when you audition for a
TV shoot network for a show, they make you sign
a six year contract.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
And you're literally able to see, oh, this could be
how much money I'm making.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
This could be in something like Spider Man, Like yeah,
like that's a three picture thing. I mean, that's like
and so it's so hard in the.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Moment because you're like, I don't want to invest too
much in this, but you can't help it.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Because it's like, but that would change my life in
a way that probably you want at that moment. You know,
it's really hard to see how to have any sense
of reality, you know, especially when you're younger.

Speaker 5 (55:10):
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, I think a lot, Like
for me now because I have a son and he's
four and a half, and so many times like if
I even try to go to that place. Then I
look back and I understand, like, but if this didn't
happen and that didn't happen, Yeah, it happened. Like I
never would have had my son right in the way

(55:34):
that I do. I wouldn't you know, life would have
kind of maybe taken me over here. I wouldn't have
met that person. So yeah, I always try.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
To like rein it in, yeah, we're here for a reason.
We're here for a reason, yeah exactly.

Speaker 5 (55:48):
Yeah, and like and we're here as ourselves individual for
that person, you know. And I think that's sort of
like what we were touching upon earlier, like feeling like,
oh I have to be twenty and like be perfect
and know it all. Like we don't have that, and
that's I mean, it's still happening. I think even when

(56:10):
you brought up social media, like even to a worser extent,
we're really missing that we're all individual in adding our
own thing to it. We don't have to be this
like everything, not everything has to be that. Yeah. So

(56:30):
I find a lot of like comfort in that and
allowing myself to feel that way and you know, just
remember that it's like this is what I have to
bring to it versus someone else, and if that's meant
you know, then that's great. And I've always tried to

(56:54):
look for anything that I can learn in my own
life through the work that I do, because I've seen
this weird like symmetry between personal growth that I've needed
and then the type of project that might come my way.
We try to stay really open to that and work

(57:15):
with it.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
I have to talk to you about American Pie five
the funeral?

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Are you going to be in it? Is this real?
Who's dead?

Speaker 5 (57:37):
This is so wild because everyone's been asking about it.
I think it would be awesome, even like when I
saw Jason and Jenny and Michelle, like we don't really
know what's going on, Like there's nothing, there's nothing official
but from if I can safely say, from what I know,

(57:58):
fans have, like I think on YouTube they've even created
trailers for this. I believe that this is a huge
admirer of the film and franchise who has like written
this script. So there's like things lingering, but there's nothing
official that I know of. I think it's a great idea.

(58:20):
I think it would have to be something like that
along along those lines, and it'd be awesome to come back.
I think everybody is like really wanting it, But I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
I don't write, you don't there's no official word. You
have worked consistently throughout your entire career. How did you
avoid burnout?

Speaker 5 (58:42):
Oh I did burn out?

Speaker 4 (58:43):
Okay, book, I Yeah, no, I have.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
I mean, it depends on what you mean by burnout.
I mean I talk about a lot of like just
disconnection and especially like early on, and then I got
married very young. I was married at like right after
American Beauty and sort of repeated this strange generational trauma

(59:16):
pattern and played that out. But yeah, so again I
was like living as like twice my age when I
was twenty from like twenty five.

Speaker 7 (59:29):
And yeah, I mean I've definitely been.

Speaker 5 (59:35):
I like to say that I've lived many lives. Yeah,
I've been, and then somehow I came out of it.

Speaker 7 (59:41):
I think I've been able to really.

Speaker 5 (59:45):
Navigate by being blessed with you know, the right people
around me at the right time. And and yeah, I
mean just how I talk a lot about how I
feel like being in this industry, being an actor, being

(01:00:06):
able to perform this art really saved my life to
a certain extent, because it.

Speaker 7 (01:00:11):
Allowed me to process a lot of things that were
so necessary.

Speaker 5 (01:00:16):
Yeah, but yeah, I mean it hasn't been easy at times,
and you know, I just kind of keep I have
a lot of friends that are not in the industry,
so I'm able to ground myself through that and yeah,

(01:00:37):
just somehow, somehow, I mean, listen, thirty years is a
long time, and I feel grateful and I'm even still alive,
like at certain moments, but I am. I'm very happy
now because of like, throughout all that process has just

(01:01:01):
given me really the perspective that I want to have,
and so it's really good with all the things that
I'm able to move forward with because it's just like
I said, I finished that film Death of a Brewer,
and it was just so it was like everything that
I would have ever wanted it to be. But I
think a lot of that came from me allowing myself

(01:01:22):
to be that person and feel connected to everyone. And
it was awesome because it was just an independent film
that we were making. But again, our cast and especially
our crew, it's beautiful when it lines up like that,
when part of this thing and it's not about like,

(01:01:42):
I don't know, any weird like hierarchy or ego, your
ego that you see all the time. And in those moments,
I realize, like, this is why I do what I do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
You mentioned your son. If your son wanted to become
an actor, would you let it?

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
Such a great quess. I don't. I don't have him
out there. He has no idea what I do. He
just that I go and I work. And now he's
started to say, like, I want to cut work to
a town. But I've I mean, just personally, this is

(01:02:21):
like how we do things. Everybody does it differently. But
I really, I really care a lot about giving him
the opportunity to be who he is and not me
Savari's son. I want him to, you know, just develop
like the life that he wants and the interest that
he wants, and not have it be through me at

(01:02:43):
this age. So we'll see. I mean, you know, I
know that I would love him to like set it
up a bit differently, like if I had gone to
college or have a degree or some sort of like
hmm thing to fall back on. I would want to
navigate it probably a bit smarter than I did, because

(01:03:07):
I think for me it was sort of I'm not
gonna lie like it felt many times like this is
all I know how to do.

Speaker 4 (01:03:14):
Oh yeah, I know that feeling too well, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03:17):
And I have to figure that out because that's just
what I do. And so if I could allow him
to just feel a little bit more choice in the
matter than that would be great. But I remember working
with I did a film called Don't Tell a Soul
with Jack Grazer, and I was talking to Who's Awesome,

(01:03:37):
And I was talking to his mom on the set,
and I remember and getting to know her, and I
remember reading an art article that she was talking about
his child acting and fame and all of this stuff,
and the way that she presented it to him. I'm
not quoting it perfectly word for word, but she was
trying to communicate to him that she was supportive of

(01:04:00):
him wanting to do these things, but just remember that
it should always be fun, and at the moment that
it's not fun, you know, we should we should readdress that.
And I just thought that that was such a great
approach to it, because it's so it's so important for
that to be part of it, I believe, and not,

(01:04:25):
you know, I remember feeling like again I had to
get a job at like fourteen or fifteen to like
support my family or just the stresses of that. So yeah,
I would want to just kind of be smart about
things or and pay attention and create options or choice
for him. But we'll say, I.

Speaker 4 (01:04:46):
Mean, will you please tell us the name of your
book one more time where we can get it, tell
us about some of.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
The projects you have coming up?

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
Okay, ordered it?

Speaker 5 (01:04:54):
Well, it's called the Great Piece I had. I was
I talk about it in the book, but I would moving,
and I had everything. I had a storage unit and
I was like, oh, I want to get rid of
this storage unit. I don't need it anymore.

Speaker 7 (01:05:08):
And I had these bins where I kept a lot of.

Speaker 5 (01:05:13):
I have the photos. I got to go through these
the photo and I had my diary, and I had
this binder it was like a red you know those
old school binders, three ring binder, and I had I
had a typewriter, so I typed up like fifty sixty
loose leaf pages and a lot of it was like poems.
And that again was like an outlet for me to

(01:05:35):
communicate a lot of what I was or process what
I was experiencing. And I called it the Great Piece.
And so when I found it. I had this moment
of thinking like maybe I can publish my poetry book
or I was gonna option it as like a series idea.

(01:05:55):
I thought, maybe I can get this out, and I can.
It can be cathartic for me, but not fully doing it.
And then I had a friend sit with me and
he read some of it, and he said, you should
publish this as a memoir. And I remember thinking like, what, Like,
first of all, I'm not even like at that age
to do that. Yeah, but I thought about it, and

(01:06:18):
I thought, you know what, if I'm going to if
I'm going to share this at all, then I'll share it,
you know, one hundred and fifty percent. And so so
I titled it the Great Piece as well.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
I love it. And then when are some of the
movies coming out that you said you had won in post?
I can't wait to see these. Where can we see them?

Speaker 6 (01:06:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:06:37):
I don't know where yet. I just know that, well,
Vampires of the Velvet Lounge they were there's a lot
of effects.

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
Okay, so I believe those were.

Speaker 5 (01:06:46):
Just finished and I'm not quite sure. I did called
the Ick with Joseph Kahn that we were in theaters
a very limited release here a couple months ago. And yeah,
I don't know like all of where.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
To see them, Okay, but keep an eye out. Yeah,
are you on social media? Can then can people follow you?

Speaker 5 (01:07:12):
Yeah? I just I have just my name minus to
Marian Instagram. When you talked about one of those burnout moments,
I had this moment where I deleted my Facebook, I
deleted my Twitter, I'm done.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
With social media.

Speaker 5 (01:07:27):
And then I was going to delete Instagram, but I
forgot my password. And then one of my reps was like,
can you just keep one? Like it's some I was like, okay,
but I definitely was like I can't take it anymore.
But yeah, I'm on Instagram and I and I like it.
I like to focus on the aspect of how it

(01:07:51):
like gives us the opportunity to really share, like what
we're interested in.

Speaker 7 (01:07:54):
Yeah, something else being created, So so I'm on there.

Speaker 4 (01:07:58):
Okay, great. Thank you so much for spending your time
with us. We have been so excited about the possibility
of interviewing you since the moment you popped on our
screen when we were in season two of our recap,
and so thank you for finding the time to be
with us. We have really enjoyed this conversation. You are
truly lovely and it's been a really beautiful conversation.

Speaker 5 (01:08:18):
Thank you for having me, and thanks for just thinking
of me and making this possible, waiting for me to
get on. Yeah, that's like a scheduling thing, but I
really appreciate. It's so nice. It's so special, like this
is what it's about.

Speaker 4 (01:08:32):
Yeah, agreed, Thank you for being with us. Photos. You
have our email address, and yeah, we're going to read
the book. Maybe it'll maybe I'll switch it out for
my next book club. Yes, thank you, Mina. It was
good to see you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:47):
All right, take care bye, guys, Bye bye.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
Wow, man, I can't I really can't wait to read that.

Speaker 6 (01:08:55):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
Yeah, so ordered it up now.

Speaker 4 (01:08:58):
I have a crush on her, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
She wouldn't. She wouldn't recognize it anyway, No crush back
in the.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Day, everybody, she just forgot.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
No she didn't. Maybe she did.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
She was playing it cool. That's right, exactly right, that
makes sense.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your messages.
Pod Meets World show at gmail dot com. And we've
got merch.

Speaker 3 (01:09:31):
He spits merch? Why does he spit merch?

Speaker 4 (01:09:35):
Pod Meets Worldshow dot com will send us out.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
We love you all, pod dismissed.

Speaker 6 (01:09:42):
Pod Meets World is nheart podcast producer and hosted by
Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong executive producers, Jensen Carp
and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
producer and editor, Tara Sudbaksh producer, Maddie Moore, engineer and
Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song
is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon and you can follow
us on Instagram at Podmets World Show or email us

(01:10:04):
at Podmets Worldshow at gmail dot com