Piper Perabo

Carlos talks to actress Piper Perabo about how she first got involved with acting, her activism and her FOX series The Big Leap.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Piper pair Boat grew up in Ohio and moved to
New York after graduating college to pursue her acting career.
After getting various play roles, she broke through with the
box office hit Coyote Ugly and can be seen in
the USA Network series Covert Affairs. On this episode of
The Carlos Watson Show podcast, Piper Pairboaw reflects on how
she first got involved in acting, her activism, and her

(00:24):
new Fox series The Big Leap. Hey, Piper, Hi, Carlos,
How are you? I'm good? How are you? I'm good?
I'm good. Are you Are you still enjoying the early fall?
Are you ready for the holiday season? Where are you now?

(00:46):
I'm in Chicago, So I feel like I'm still enjoying
the end of summer. Oh. I like hearing that I
actually got to go. I don't know if you're a
tennis fan, but I got to go to the US
Open this past weekend, which actually, yeah, a little little
she she actually it made it feel like summer was
still there because it felt like it's a really nice
I don't know if you've ever been to it. It's

(01:06):
a very open thing, and so you still wasn't warm
it was. It was warm, and it wasn't ye know,
sometimes when you go to events are really cramped. It
wasn't cramped, and so it was the best of both worlds.
The weather, it was good. It was good tennis if
you like tennis at all, and it wasn't super cramped,
and so it was kind of nice being there. I
never went. I mean, I don't really understand tennis that much,

(01:29):
but I still kind of like to watch it. It's
sort of like some forms of dance, like with ballet,
I'm like really know what's going on, like just like
watching it, you know what I mean, Yeah, you know,
it's funny. I'm the same way probably with gymnastics and
as you said, dance and some of the others. Is
that I can't I would even say that a little
bit with rugby. I don't know if you ever watched rugby,
but I think especially if you're with people who love it,

(01:52):
even if you don't know what's going on, you kind
of enjoy that they were enjoying it that much. So
that's kind of right. Ice skating at the Olympics. I
don't know all the moves in the judgment, like here
we go to relax I'm like, here we go. Let's
go all right now. If you if someone gave you
tickets to go to any event, what would you go to?
What would you love to go to? A sporting event,

(02:13):
sporting event or just an event? So oscars Grammy's I
don't know what else throw in their World Cup. UM,
I would like to go to like UM one of
the big meetings that the U n oh, you know,
like when they invite all the nations. I remember I

(02:34):
was working in UM. I was working in Buenos Series
and when I finished, I wanted to go down to
Uruguay because the Prime Minister of Uruguay, UM, I guess
all the world leaders if you just rotate and you
get a chance to make a speech at the big
UN General Assembly and like your way doesn't have like

(02:54):
so much um controversial stuff going on, Like he could
kind of who's what topic you wanted to speak on?
And he gave this beautiful speech on world peace, and
I felt like it would be so cool to like
go down to Urguay. I'm like, like, see if he
wants to hang out, you know, and like he lives
on a Gladiola farm with his wive. I don't know.
I just thought, I think going to you in general
Assembly would be really fun. Well, I love all of that,

(03:17):
including you choosing Uruguay on that. So do you find
yourself do you love international relations or or are you
just someone I know you've spent a lot time on
politics and but international politics as well. Yeah, I got
really interested. I've been obviously in um uh since the
last administration. I've been really interested in domestic politics. And

(03:41):
then sort of as I started to try and figure
out domestic politics and understand them better, and I started
paying attention to like who's who an administration and and
where they're sort of thought processes are coming from in
the history of those kind of ideas, I got really
interested in um for in a years and how we
sort of what's the American history with that, and how

(04:05):
do we think about that and who decides that? So
I've become more interested in that. I think, would you
ever run for office? Would you would you like to
run for office? I don't think so. UM. I would
really like people in office who have a lot of
experience and a lot of education in those fields. There

(04:25):
are the standouts, you know, who come from a different field,
like AOC. But obviously she has a great talent for it,
and I think because of my job, I have this
sort of incredible platform and ability to raise awareness and
and frankly raise money for people who I think are
better suited, UM, I better educated on the issues. Well,

(04:46):
Which political figures move you? Who? Who do you either
admire or enjoy or feel like you learn from or
you're glad they're in office? Who? Who were? Who were
a couple of folks that that you know, stand out?
I really I really like m the former US ambassador
to you and Samantha Power. I think she's really smart.

(05:06):
She wrote, um one of the most important books on
the history of genocide, which obviously is like a very
difficult subject. So just someone who chooses to explore that
and sort of look at the world history on that
and then how we can sort of do better. My
husband always says, like, um, you can't learn how to
fight when you're in the middle of a boxing match,

(05:28):
And I feel like it's a little bit like that.
With really difficult issues like genocide, you really want us
to thinking about it ahead of time. So I think
she's a really thoughtful person. UM and I follow a
lot of what she says, just to sort of get
a better idea how she's framing world events. Now she's
the head of USA I D and so I think

(05:48):
that's a great person for that job. And I'm always
interested to hear sort of how she's framing that the
work she does there. Oh, I really like her too.
I had her. I had her on the show last
year and yeah, very uh, as you would say, very thoughtful,
but also very funny and uh and very very down
to earth and uh uh Yeah. I think when you

(06:11):
talk about people we are fortunate to have in government,
I think of her as someone who, um, we're fortunate
to have in policy in the government. How do you
prepare for an interview like that with someone who's like,
sort of the work is so broad ranging? Um, good question. Definitely,
try and read a lot of what they've done. I
try and listen to conversations they've had, maybe try and

(06:32):
follow some of their social feeds. But then, if I'm honest,
I also think a lot about just what I'm interested
in what I would love to hear learn from an expert.
So I'd love to learn from her as to how
she thinks about the situation in Iran right now, or
how she thinks about North Korea, or how she you know,
analyzes something as complex as China and all that's going

(06:54):
on there and so um, or even how she thinks
about what Trump got right um and kind of hearing
her as a foreign policy professional who's able to look
at all of it, say, you know, these eight things
I didn't agree with, but these two things, you know,
I do think they're value and so yeah yeah yeah yeah.

(07:16):
So so now why are you Why are you an actor?
How did that happen because or mom or dad an actor?
Or no? Oh no, no no, Um. I just you know,
as a child, I sort of did it sort of instinctually,
like we put on plays in my neighborhood, Like the
neighborhood children would do that, and um, and then I

(07:36):
did it in school, like in public school, you know,
they have like a school play. And it was just
something I was always drawn to. Um. I didn't even
know it could be a job when I did it
as a kid. And then when I realized, um, you
got to pick what you wanted to study in college,
I feel like, oh, I'll just do that thing that
I that I like. And then how did you get
your big break? How did it happen. Um, I got

(08:00):
way to college and I moved to New York because
that's where the acting that I like was coming out of,
you know, the theater, and I went with I was
dating a guy who I was had been in college with,
and he was going to an audition at the National
Arts Club, you know, that building on the south side
of Grammar's Park, and they have a folio of Shakespeare's

(08:23):
in their library. And but I'm not a member of
the National Arts Club obviously, so I well, especially at
that age, and so um, I said like, oh, I'm
gonna call with you, you you know, because you can probably
bring somebody in, and then will you go to the audition.
I'm gonna see if I can see the folio. And
I couldn't. It's obviously like for club, you know, I
couldn't go to that room. And so I was sitting

(08:44):
in the hallway and the casting that came out and
she said, um, we'll be ready for you in about
fifteen minutes, and I said, oh no, I'm just I'm
just here with Justin. I'm just with Justin and said, oh, well,
I'm casting the part that looks exactly like you. Do
you want to read? And I was like, yes, yes,
And so she gave me the sides, and when he
came out of his get on the strail with me.

(09:05):
And so we just ran the scene as many times
as we could, and he was giving me as many
notes as he could think of. And then I went
in and read and she she said, who who's your agent?
And I said, I don't. I don't have I don't
have anybody. And she said, well, um, you're not gonna
get it, but let me make some calls for you. Um,
let me see if I can get you some representation.
And that that's how it started. Wow. And who is

(09:27):
this woman? And where is she today? She's a casting director.
Oh my gosh, Now I'm panicking that I can't remember
her name. She she's an angel. I'll think of it.
I'll think of it as we as we um as
we go out. I sent her like a hundred bouquets
of flowers because I got a manager and an agent
from that audition. And then I booked a movie about uh,

(09:49):
maybe about six weeks later I booked my first movie. Wow.
And and were you I mean, as you think about
it now, is that surprising that you booked it that quickly?
Or does it actually make sense? He I almost hesitates
to tell the story because like, young people think like
it can happen that fast, and really I sort of
do a disservice by saying that it does, because you know,

(10:11):
it never that never happens, you know. I mean, I
guess it happened one time, but it's so hard to
get into this industry and no one can really tell
you exactly how to do it. And by making it
sound like you just like, oh, there's like gondition, somebody's
just like, I don't know, it doesn't happen like that
very often. So what would you say to people, because
there's such an extraordinary number of people who do just

(10:34):
love it and breathe it and want it. What do
you say when you see that look in someone's eyes
where you can tell that they're not just like idely
asking you, but like their whole heart and souls in it.
Like what tips can you give someone about how to
how to make it? I think the education is the
most important part. If it's a young person and they

(10:55):
have the opportunity to go to college and study acting
or theater, either in a liberal arts programmer conservatory, that's
you know, I must if that's possible. But there are
also acting programs in the big cities where you could
study Meisner, which is the style that I do, but
there's other styles UM, and that kind of foundation of

(11:19):
UH process is really important. And then also at the
same time, a general education abroad. General education is important
to that you have something to bring to the stories
you're gonna set tell. There. You know high school kids
who say they want to just move to New York
and be an actor, but they don't have so much
to say yet, and that that big education can be

(11:43):
very helpful for for being able to tell a really
interesting and specific story. Well who do you Who do
you think of when you think about the actors that
you admire the most, who for whatever combination of reasons,
Like who stands out for you? Who gets you excited?
Did like? Who do you want to watch? I really
like UM Phil Hoffman, Philip Simore Hoffman as an actor

(12:07):
that I would watch anything he did. I would go
to any playing he did, I'd watch any film he did.
It's the same with UM, with Daniel day Lewis, both
of those men I've found very sort of UM. They're
kind of like strange and strong at the same time,
which I find really compelling. Um, I guess it changes.

(12:31):
There's this actor, Cillian Murphy, this Irish actor that I
sell he's a monster. Oh that's good, That's an outstanding choice.
He's a he's very good at and I've seen him
play a lot of different kinds of things. There's an
Australian actor's named Jackie Weaver that I really like, who's
also very chameleon like and kind of powerful, almost terrifying

(12:54):
to watch. I like that kind of actor. All right,
So what would your dream role be? What would make
you uh, what would make you smile? I really appreciate
what you're saying about general education and being able to
bring something to the storytelling. And I could already see
the the breadth and the and the width of your
interests from your way to you know, to to uh

(13:18):
tow Cillian Murphy. So you know, what would what would
you love? What would Are there a couple of roles
that that you know that that would bring you joy?
I mean there's a lot of sort of the young
contemporary playwrights who are doing work that I find really exciting,
and I'm sort of I'm so excited that new York

(13:40):
theater is coming back because I feel like a lot
of them UM Like it's there's a kind of naturalism
in the dialogue that's come back to contemporary theater that
I think UM is going to engage audiences in a
new way, in a more complex way when you feel

(14:00):
at home in the language, but it's also complicated storytelling.
I think that's really gonna be exciting. I don't know,
there aren't class I mean, there are classic roles that
I would love to play, Henry the Fifth, um, you know,
and there are parts in the Tennessee Williams plays that
I'm interested in, But I'm sort of more interested right

(14:22):
now and seeing what the young people are writing and
sort of pushing out from their leadership. Yeah. How how
different are you Piper? If I admit Piper in college,
how different is she from the woman I know today?
I mean, I intellectually know that she's got to be
somewhat different. But what I recognize those two women, like,

(14:43):
is there a clear connection or you know, is this
woman today meaningfully different than than than the young woman
I would have met at twenty or twenty two. I
think in some ways I'm I'm the same person I
have a lot more confidence then I did. You know
at twenty year maybe brash, but there's not a lot

(15:04):
of There's not a whole band behind the brass section,
you know what I mean, there's just like and UH.
And I think UM having some experience and the support
of other people has given me confidence to UM really
push UH and stand up for what I believe in.

(15:27):
And the more I practiced that, the more confident I get.
And so I think that's a big difference. If you biber,
if you could go back and do this life over again,
and I gave you, you know, one or two magic
you know, magic buttons to push so that you could
redo stuff, what would you redo? What would you if

(15:48):
if I gave you the benefit of all this knowledge
and you had a chance to take a fresh cut,
what would you What would you change? What would you
do differently? I mean I don't know that like one
life has power to change things that I really want
to change, UM. You know, big issues like the climate crisis,

(16:10):
UM wage, inequality, climate justice. There are things that I
don't I mean, there are singular human beings like John
Lewis who have been able to really push forward an agenda.
UM that has made like global shift, but I don't
I would like to know how to make those changes.
But if I could just pick a small thing I
would like to al to play the piano. Would you

(16:33):
know what your first song would be? Do you know?
You play? No? But I think it's so nice when
there's a piano in a room that's sort of sitting
quiet and someone that you didn't know can put the piano,
sits down and plays the piano. I think like everyone
is like universally delighted in that moment. And I think
it's such a powerful tool to have to be able
to sit down and play the piano. You know what?

(16:55):
That is such a great point, Like they say, like
the baby's smile was one of those things that Yeah,
and I think you're right about the piano. What else
is on that list? I think sometimes when it's cold
and someone brings out a surprise set of like hot
things to drink, and like you didn't expect it, Like
there's no way to not be excited about that coming.
And I'm trying to think, as you said that, like

(17:16):
what are those other things that like when it happens,
you're like, there's no way but to say yes, I
mean like dance is kind of like ben a way,
you know, because it's not language based, so like anywhere
on the planet, like if some there's a in the
show that I'm doing now, there's a a man who
was the lead mail dancer at the Joffrey a Ballet

(17:36):
who's in our show, and like when his name is
Fabreece and when from Greece Um like moves into space
and begins to dance, it's it's kind of like seeing
a baby that's laughing or something. You're just so like whoa,
you know, And I think even the busiest adult or
the most like upset child would still be like you
can't help, but kind of I feel lucky that you're

(17:59):
seeing it. Yeah, I really like that you're saying it's funny.
I think about I used to live in New York
and when you sometimes walk through the park and if
you'd see people dancing, or if you saw people juggling,
or I even think sometimes seeing people start to sing.
Even though sometimes people can be a little bit grumpy,
but as soon as someone starts going, if they're good,
there's no way but to but to feel that. I

(18:22):
really felt it when you said the piano thing. In fact,
what was in my mind is, I don't know if
you've ever been to like these bed and breakfasts in
other places, and sometimes they've got like a little library
and they're they've got a little piano in there and
they've got books, and so often it sits quiet, but
then it can kind of there's something beautiful both about
the quiet and when it starts to come alive, whether
you're looking through the books or someone goes to play

(18:44):
the piano. Yeah, I would imagine if you're staying in
a place like that, even if you're up in your room,
it would be so surprising to hear the piano begin,
even a piano from far away, or kind of who
do you play the piano? You know what I mean?
Like it's this kind of exciting mystery of like that
is that really? Is that the radio or somebody with
the piano? Piper? When did you I saw that you

(19:21):
endorsed our girl Elizabeth Warren. Um When you look back
at that, why do you think she didn't win? And
I asked you that as someone who very much likes
Senator Warren and liked her even before she was a senator,
I think the Trump presidency was terrifying for a lot

(19:43):
of people, myself included, and um, people had people did
not want to take a chance on the solution, and
because Joe Biden had the level of experience in the
Senate and as Vice president, it felt like more of

(20:04):
a sure thing. When you're scared. It's not really the
time that you're feeling confident to take a chance. Even
though I think Senator Warren's understanding of the economy could
be so transformative to a capitalist country. Um, She's also
has a little bit of a professorial way of communicating

(20:26):
her classes and her hair cut means she was a
professor for a long time, and not everybody likes their teachers,
you know what I mean. So maybe that style. You know,
our country is very obsessed with beauty and celebrity, and
so maybe like the professorial look isn't really the kind
that we would pick first. Um, that's my guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(20:52):
I really appreciate people who bring big solutions to the
table on whatever side of the aisle they may be,
but that they really step into the thorniest things and
try to engage them. And I felt like she definitely
did that and has consistently done that and it's thoughtful
about it, and yeah, it was. It was interesting. She

(21:14):
has a gumption too that I really like. You know,
you could interviews sometimes when they'll put up a problem
and she's like, we'll let me and then just like
you know what I mean like this, it's like she's
so smart, he's excited about like, let me just tell
you that's not really you know, And I love that.
I love that kind of leader who has like a

(21:36):
joy in the solution. What kind of leader would you be?
I I can tell m. Piper how much you care
and think about these things, and it's it's funny. It
you can't hide it. It runs. It's so you that
you know. Um um, you should meet this wonderful woman

(21:57):
named Lupe Valdez. If you haven't, have you ever met
loupe Veldez, former sheriff of Texas. No, I don't know
her personally, you would like her. Loupe Veldez, uh was
sheriff of Dallas, Texas. She got elected sheriff. Correct. I
really care about sheriff's. Most people don't realize that their

(22:19):
sheriff is elected. And we have a real problem with
criminal justice reform one thing we can all do is
vote in the right shriff. Yeah, yeah, well, and uh,
she's that kind of person. What was interesting She got
elected in two thousand and four, the same year President
Bush got re elected. She got elected as a Mexican
American woman, um lesbian who would never run for office before,

(22:42):
running against a twenty year white male John Wayne looking incumbent,
and ran even with her own brothers and sisters coming
out in opposition to her, She's still won. And when
I asked her, you know, what do you read? She said,
I read the Harvard Business Review. When I asked her,
who who do you admire? She said, Gandhi. You don't

(23:04):
expect to her a sheriff, say Gandhi. And she was
just such an interesting person who's whose interest set was
was broad. And you know, you'd be wrong to make
assumptions about her just because she happens to do this job.
And so as I hear you talk, I just I
hear there's something in you that's really connected to these issues.

(23:26):
And so I guess I do wonder if the time
will come where you'll decide that that, you know, some
kind of ongoing role in office would would make sense,
like if I, if I was truly useful, of course
that would be um of interest to me to be useful.

(23:51):
But right now, coming out of the Trump administration where
a celebrity held the highest office, and really I was
so humiliated as a citizen to have that been my representative,
I feel like I need I would like there to
be a pause on celebrity. Fair fair enough, totally totally fair,

(24:13):
totally fair enough. Do you do you still enjoy acting
today so much? So much? Why? Why do you enjoy it?
It's really fun. That's so simple. It's very fun. It's
very fun to like storytell, especially as an adult. You know,
as a kid, you're kind of doing that in a
lot of different ways. But the older I get, the

(24:34):
more rare it is to do the things that I
get to do in my age group. You know, like
I in the show The Big Leap. We're gonna do
this production of Swan Lake in the finale, and like
that's very crazy, and you know, they built us this
ballet studio and we we have our ballet classes and
we're also doing all these giant dance members of the show,

(24:54):
And like, I don't have any friends who are not actors,
who are like in their like six hour Baltlake if
they're not at work, you know what I mean. And
so it's really, um, it's kind of I really like
the deep end, you know, I really like to jump
right into the deep end to learn how to swim.
I feel like I learned fast is that way. And
with acting, you really there are skill sets that you

(25:15):
have to acquire very quickly and have some facility in them,
and and that requires jumping in the deep end really fast.
And so but you're you know, given this great privilege
of amazing teachers, and you're supported by other people who
are also learning it, and so it's really fun to
try and figure out how how to execute the story
is a really fun thing to work on. Have you

(25:38):
learned anything doing the Big Leap? Is there been any
interesting new things you've learned? Well, my ballet is much better,
much better, um, And I think my ability to pick
up pornography is getting faster. They say that memory is
a muscle. So if you've got you know, some actors,
if they're in a repertory theater, are doing three shape

(26:00):
spear plays in rep and so you've got three plays
in your memory at the same time and apparently, like
three plays is not much more difficult than one play.
Once you get the memory muscle that strong, um, you
can put more in there easily and hold it. And
so I think that may be true. I'm sorry to
think with choreography because at the beginning, you know, you

(26:21):
see a dancer can look at it, you know, ten
pounds of eight and they watch it one time and
then they start to do it, which is so fast
to ingest and then repeat and they repeat it with
feeling and like intention, and so the ability to repeat choreography,
I feel like it is getting a little better. What

(26:43):
do you think of reality shows in general? Because obviously
the Big Leap is all about someone who takes a
big leap and goes from being auto exact to trying to,
you know, win a competition. What do you think of
reality shows? Do you watch them? And Bibriyetta tell me
the truth? And if you do, what are your favorites?

(27:03):
So I feel like I've been thinking a lot about
this because what our show is about it, they're kind
of for me. There's sort of two kinds of reality shows.
There's a kind where, um, it's gonna exploit your emotional
the people on the show are going to be exploited emotionally,
and then we as the kind of Roman coliseum watch

(27:26):
that exploitation and see like will you crack you know
and that that? Or will you like get married I guess,
or like the two options. And that's the kind of
reality show that I'm not really that interested in. Then
there's another kind of reality show where these um sort
of non professional experts are like amateur experts, are competing

(27:47):
with their skills like Great British bake Off, you know,
they're amateur baker small in the country that are competing,
and that I find really interesting, um because it's something
that are very passionate about and they can't help but
do it all the time, even though they have families
and partners and parents and another a full time job.

(28:09):
And the one that I like the best is the
show called Alone. Have you ever seen the show? No? No, no, no,
what is it? Oh? My gosh, it is amazing. They
take usually like ten to twelve amateur survival experts, actually
some people now they've been going so many students are
professional survival experts, and they drop them off near the

(28:34):
Arctic Circle, just south of the Arctic Circle and they
leave you there with you can bring ten things, and
the people are all separated, usually at least five miles
between them, and the person who stays the longest wins.
And there's like a health check so that like if
your weight falls below a certain number, or you get

(28:55):
frost fed, or you're attacked by animal, obviously you know
they come and get you. You have a satphone. But
it's fascinating to watch um like the shelter building and
hunting and fishing and all these um skills that people have,
even the sort of mental exercise just being with yourself
for so long, they filled themselves so they're really alone

(29:17):
and I love watching it. You could you do that?
Do you think you could be alone for a prolonged
period of time? I could be I think I could
be alone. I don't think I could. Like, like, there's
one there was one season where a man built a canoe.
All he had was his axe, and he found the
right kind of trees and he split the wood and

(29:37):
he soaked the wood, and then he steamed the wood
so he could bend it. And he built a boat
so that he could fish in deeper water. It was
extraordinary to watch this man. I mean, you know, like
there's that saying like teacher man to fish, Like this
guy couldn't just fish it, he built the boat. It's
so impressive. People are so impressive. People are creative. I

(30:02):
think people are. You know where I see it a lot. Honestly,
this may sound weird. In the comments sections on social media.
That's where you see people's creativity. I do because I
know there are a lot of haters in there. But
people's ability to be funny, people's ability to like, um,
have really interesting retorts, or to actually like shine a

(30:24):
broader light on something or to connect it to something else.
And they are so quick, and it blows my mind
what people are able to do. I can't believe that
they can do it. Also, like with such a short
number of characters, you know, correct correct Twitter, when you
can only you only I forget the number. But like,
it's very hard to be smart and funny and like

(30:46):
and it's you know, like sarcasm doesn't really work. You're
kind of limited in the forms you can use. I
have to agree with you. That is kind of a
cool art form. Yeah, I love I love how people do.

(31:14):
I gotta ask you about a couple of things. Before
we go. First of all, your name, um. I had
the most interesting conversation years ago with a quarterback, Joe Montana,
who told me that part of the reason he thought
he was successful was because of his name. That not
only was he a good player, but he thought that
sports anchors liked saying his name and felt like his
name was the name of a hero, and so they
were kind of more invested in that. Um P Squared

(31:40):
is an interesting name, and there's a little bit of
a literation to Piper Parabo that I wonder whether that
has helped you. Do you think that has helped you
or does it have any impact either on your life
or your career. Well, I'll say that, um my father
is poetry professor and they chose my name because he
wanted and duration. So it's so interesting that you pick

(32:02):
up on that, because I do think when I first
started working, when I got that first movie my dad,
I was talking to my dad on the phone. He
was like, if your name is too just And I
was like, like, they meet a casting up her one time,
and then they remember me the next time, you know.
So yeah, I think I think maybe it's helpful. It's

(32:27):
hard to see it your own name, you know what
I mean. But I think I do think it's helpful. Also,
when you said that, it started to interrupt you. It
reminded me of something when you said about Joe Montana
sounds like a hero. I worked with this acting coach once,
who was Sandel Phoene's acting coach, and I was asking
her a question about the person that I was working

(32:48):
on and and she's I said, well, you know, I'm
kind of a villain in this, and she goes, oh, no, no.
Jimmy says, like you are always playing the hero. Like,
no matter what character you're playing, you believe you are
the hero of the story. You are advocating for that
person as though they are no matter how despicable. What
they're doing is if you wouldn't do it, if you

(33:09):
didn't think that was the best choice, So you have
to sort of. But I like that Joe Montana sees
himself as the hero and then becomes Joe Montana. You know,
it's something useful there. I really think it. Uh, I
really think it is. I'm trying to think who else
goes on a hero's journey? I mean I used to
um uh uh. Jeff Daniels you know, the actor Jeff Daniels.

(33:35):
You know, we recently had him on and he was
saying that forty five years into his career, he's finally
at a place where he can make choices, and that
such a turning point for him. Was not just dumb
and dumber, but was newsroom, and in particular was that
one speech that he gave. And he was like, it
was a hero's speech. We think about the about the Jerseys, No,

(33:55):
remember the thing about um, the US is not the
greatest country in the world. Oh the opening, the opening, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
And so you know, it is such an interesting thing
to get to be a hero, and as he described it,
to have someone write a hero's speech for you have
the best of the best. In his case, he was saying,
Aaron Sorkin do that, and he said he came to

(34:18):
it with such confidence that he knew he was going
to nail it. And yeah, yeah, And so I think
that that is just such an interesting thing to be
able to walk in the world. As you know, Michael
Jordan's once said that after he hit the game winning
shot as a freshman at University of North Carolina, and
he went into every game thinking, what's it gonna look

(34:39):
like when I hit the game winner. And that's just
such a different way to go through a game, assuming
that it's going to end in you being the hero
and it's gonna end in you hitting the game winner.
It's very useful to think that way, if you can
really get get to it authentically and carry it with you.
There was a um early on. I did a movie

(35:01):
with de Niro. The second movie I did was with
Robert de Niro, and I was having kind of a
crisis because I didn't understand the tall and of the film,
and and so he was like, I'll look at your
dailies and then we can sit and talk. Once a week.
I just talked about the work, you know, which was
like a great gift. And one time we would meet
outside this hotel and have coffee. And one time he
came down before I was ready for him, and I

(35:22):
was working on an audition and and I was like, oh, sorry,
I have such a treat and he said, oh, I
love to audition. And I said, no, no audition anymore.
And he said, no, no, I don't audition anymore. But
when I did audition, I love to audition. And I
said why it's so hard. We don't know what they want.
It's so confusing to walk into that room and I
can't guess what they're looking for. And he said, oh yeah,

(35:44):
but when I walk in, when I walk into audition,
I've prepared how I would play the part. And they're
not paying me yet. They can't give me a note yet.
So I go in and show them what you would
get if Robert didn't me. Eiro is hired to play
the part. This is the DeNiro version. And then I
leave and see if they want to pay for it.

(36:05):
And I was like, oh, like that feels really the
right way to go into one on this day. You know,
you know I love that you move your shoulders. There's
a great thing. Are you have you been pushed down
the TikTok hole? Do you spend time on TikTok? I hope,
you know. I don't even know how to keep downloading it.
If I can watch one, I want you gotta get

(36:28):
you gotta get into because there's there's a great young guydo.
There's good things with shoulders that go on. I just
saw you doing shoulder thing. That's a great thing. But
there's a great song from about a decade ago from
Mystical this rapper who said, if you ever see me
fight the bear, help the bear, that bear is gonna
need it. And that is such a great mindset, and

(36:50):
you're talking about de Niro and having that mindset is
such you know. Mike Tyson as a boxer, used to
say that he would go into the ring and he
would see in people's eyes before the fight started that
they had given up and that he would just go
in and even the people were bigger because he's not
a tall guy. Or why and and what an interesting
way for de Niro to say, I'm gonna step into

(37:14):
this space and uh and own it and see if
they're ready to do the thing. It is a there's
something valuable and especially for the artist's mind and mentality
and mental health to say, you know, what I'm doing
is not auditioning. What I'm doing is showing you what
magic could look like. Right, it's really but even for

(37:36):
like young people, I think that's so powerful. You know,
it's poor for the artists and the athletes, but also
the young people. For how do you walk into a
space and give your version you know what I mean
that you thought about and you want to share, not
asking to be accepted, but like sharing what you want
to bring to the table, Piper, let me ask you
about this. This is a tough one to ask about

(37:58):
because I know this conversation, but I think it's an
important conversation. Years ago I watched l a Law. There's
a guy named Corbyn Benson on one of the most
interesting episodes was he was a divorce lawyer. When the
most interesting episodes, he was representing a woman in a divorce,
a young attractive woman with an older, wealthy guy. Right,
so a little bit of a trope. But the lawyer

(38:23):
he was not. He was a lawyer. So Corbyn Benson
was playing the lawyer to the young woman who's about
to get divorced older guy, so contentious divorce. At the end,
the older guy pulls somebody said, hey, um, I think
I think Corbyn Benson's name on the show is Arnie. Aarnie.
I used to be the young, handsome guy like you.
And he said, there's gonna come a moment where you
walk in the room and no one's head turns anymore.

(38:43):
And he said, and you're it's gonna happen to you too.
And it was a really interesting bit of conversation about looks,
about appearance, about what happens, about the value of that,
and it was a really it's still all these years later,
there probably are twenty episodes from serial shows that I
still remember, and that's one of the twenty episodes that

(39:04):
I still remember. What about for you as an actor?
Do you think about that? Do you think about your appearance?
And do you think about how that either helps or
at some point may not help. Do you think about
any of those kinds of things. I think about it,
but I'm not um afraid of it. You know. I

(39:25):
work hard to stay strong and limber, I guess that's
the best way to say it, so that I can
do a lot of different parts. But the way that
you get into the room is being good at the job.
You know. You can get into the room for a
little while on your looks, but it doesn't last very long.

(39:48):
And the actresses that I see, you know, um, nobody's
telling fran mcdormot not to come into the room, you
know what I mean. And she doesn't have any hair, makeup,
dune and it's like, I think that's because of her
her ability and and there are there are roles in
the cannon for every age person. They're not always women,

(40:12):
but I think we can just sort of push into
that space. Um. I like that you said, Henry the Fifth.
I love that that you said, Henry the Fifth. That
said so much about you and about your mind's willingness
to traverse the entire part and not just the part
that people assume you you you would enter. So there

(40:34):
was a moment, this was like maybe five years ago now,
before pilot season, where I said to my agents, I
was like, you can send me the male parts too,
because they don't know what they want and that should
be a T shirt. You should send me the male
parts too. You know when Share said my mother said

(40:55):
you know you should, uh, you should marry a rich man,
And she said, mom, I I'm a rich man. I
don't know if you've ever heard that one. No, but
it's like, you know what I mean, Like I could
go in for the male lead on a show and
change their mind if it's well written, like, let me
go and try and get it. That's better than me
trying to make a poorly written female part. Interesting that

(41:20):
that's a game changer. Piper, I'm going to declare that
one of the Carlos Watson show Game Changers of all time.
That's a game changer. I'm gonna start asking myself what's
the equivalent of that, because I do think that they
were not everybody, but there are a number of people
who will think, well, I would send this to Carlos
or I will think about Carlos for this because he's black,
but I wouldn't think about him for these. And I

(41:41):
love that. Send me the other parts too. I love that.
Show me the other deals too, you know, invite me
to the other parties too, you know, um uh, have
the other part of the negotiation with me too. I
love that, give me the other part. I like that.
I like that. Yeah, I can get it, you know, yeah.

(42:03):
I find it with activism too. Is that like you know,
there's there's influencers and celebrities who do activism, and so
you think of them for the cause that you've seen them.
Do you know, like Cheatle does clemency and Ruffalo does
the environment predominantly water but but actually, um you know,
like or Laver and Cox does a lot of transgender

(42:24):
lgbt Q rights, but actually so then people are like,
well it's lgbt true, Like let's call over, but actually
like go called cheatle Go called ruffalo because I think
like with with with influencers who are interested in the
activist space, they are a little exhausted by their main
their main um issue and probably it's what's most personal

(42:45):
to them, So it is exhausting in a more emotional way,
whereas like if you call cheatle and go like can
you do this like water thing, He's like, oh, that's cool,
Like it feels refreshing in a way if you ask
a bird you know what I mean, Like we're gonna
do this water situation. We're gonna work on this leg
stution that like protecting the aquifer in Memphis. It's kind
of refreshing, and it's a little bit like send me

(43:05):
the mail parts to a piper unsolicited, uh, championing and encouragement.
That's your ted talk. You got to give that. That
is such that is such a freshening game changer and
for so many people it will turn a light on
whether you're a teacher who often has only shown the
things teachers doing, but you're saying, well, show me the

(43:28):
stuff that you're showing the principle like send me not
like there's so many versions of that that people will say,
don't just put me in this box, like, show me
the whole thing, and to your point, I might go
get it, you know what I mean? And you might
end up with a DeNiro like win, meaning you might
end up with a better version of that than you

(43:48):
otherwise had planned for. Yeah, or than they had planned for. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
I really I really like that. All Right, they're saying,
I've got to let you go in a minute, but
can I do Can I do rapid fire with you?
Real quick? You mind if we do rapid fire? Okay,
I'll try to do it as good good. Um. What's
one of your favorite books of all time? Um? There's
this collection of poetry by Billy Collins called Sailing Alone

(44:10):
around the Room that I really like. Oh that word
alone shows up again? Okay? Um. What's your favorite movie
or one of your favorite movies of all time? Days
of Heaven. It's a Terence Mallick film, but they only
shot during Magic Hour. It took it took forever. It's beautiful.
Oh my goodness, Sorry, Terence Mallick comes into this most

(44:31):
beautiful place you've ever been to. Um. The when I
went to get my marriage license at City Hall in
New York City. You have to go downtown to that building,
you know, and that's where also people go when they
get married in front of a judge. And we got
our number and we had to stand there for quite
some time waiting for our turn, and there were all
these people coming. I could cry just thinking about coming

(44:54):
in to get married. Like these two men came in
in their suits with their briefcases, and like when I
got married, then like went off to their office jobs
and it was just like the most exciting place. I
love that. I love that you said that. What's the
most interesting thing you've learned in this life about love?

(45:15):
My father in law used to say this thing about like, um, marriage,
you know, like you need to go part way, one
of you go, six when do you go? And I
was like, how did I get it? Yeah? That's good,
that's good. That's good. Um, what's the most interesting thing
you've learned about dreaming fearlessly and bringing those dreams alive?
I think it's really important to say it out loud,

(45:37):
you know what I mean? There are these things that
we have that our dreams, that we feel we shouldn't
even share, but actually it's into sharing that you start
getting it done. All right, So what's the new dreams?
Say it out loud. I'm really ready to be back
on Broadway. Oh I like that. I like that? Do
you know? Do you know what you want to be in?
There is a play that I'm looking at, But the

(45:58):
season is just open, like as we you know, not
all the theaters are open yet we're coming back slowly.
So there is a play that I'm interested in. She
wants to do another pass on it, So like there's
a moment to maybe see what who else has got
something ready? I feel like the writers have been sort
of they've been holding their aces until the theaters reopened again.
So we're going to see some really good stuff, you know.

(46:21):
I love the idea that there could be a boom
in great plays coming our way. What else do they
even do? We? If they're the playwrights can work this
whole time, we while even sitting here, like ordering our
groceries online. They can keep they Oh they're always at
their desk by themselves. All right, give me your karaoke song.
Oh I can't do karaoke. Get like to embarrass? All right,

(46:44):
your favorite coyote ugly moment? This isn't in the movie,
but before we did, like the sex scene, which I
was very like intimidated by the actor in that movie,
Adam Garcia. The PA came and knocking theres a at
I wants to work the lines with you, and I
was like like four sentences. So I went over to

(47:05):
his trailer and like knocked on the door, like to
come over to my trail if you gonna work up,
and he's like, he's like, come in, and I was like, oh, Chris.
And they go in and he got two huge banana splits,
like big ice cream studdy but you would never even
He was like you look great. I look great, Like
let's enjoy this, and it was so like joyful. That's

(47:26):
a strong move on his part. All right, last question.
If you could have dinner with anybody, dead or alive,
who would you love to have dinner with? Fran Lebowitz.
I'm trying to meet fran Lebowitz. I hope you're watching
Fran like this is one of my stay it out
loud things. I watched um Pretend It's a city during
the pandemic. She's just like the greatest and so smart

(47:49):
and funny, and um, I did see her at a
party once, but I was too intimidate to talk to her,
and now I kicked myself, and so I'm like really
trying to meet fran Lebowitz. A Um, Piper, We've set
several people up on the show and scenarios like this.
Let me see if I can do a little bit
of magic for your friend, Frank. I would be really grateful.

(48:09):
You can come to dinner too, you know what, just
the two of you. I just I'll play matchmaker. There's
a Hey, Piper, what a pleasure. Thank you so much
for doing this, and and more than that, thank you
for expanding the way I'll walk in the world. The
first thing I'm gonna do is text my niece and
nephew about send me send me the mail parts too.

(48:32):
I'm gonna I love that. I love that. That's so profound.
Thank you for having me. I was so excited to
do your show. Um. I watched like a bunch of them,
and I just think what you're doing is so exciting
and interesting and new, and I just I was really
excited to get asked to do it. So thanks for
having me. Oh, Piper, I really I appreciate you saying that,

(48:53):
and I hope. I hope I get to meet you
in the real world one of these days, me too,
on Broadway. I want to come watch you on Broadway. Yeah,
if I get to play come great France. Yeah I will.
There we go, There we go. Hey, be safe and
um and I'll see you soon. I'll see you very soon.
I see Thank you so much, Okay, okay, take care,

(49:13):
bye bye bye. Thank you for listening to this episode
of The Carlos Boxson Show podcast. If you enjoyed this episode,

(49:34):
please tell your friends to find us on the I
heart podcast app or Apple podcast