Tony Goldwyn (Scandal): Why Actors Should Embrace Discomfort & More

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Tony Goldwyn (Ghost, Scandal, and Oppenheimer) joins How We Role to share his journey from struggling with anxiety to finding authentic presence in his work. The actor, producer and director offers multi-perspectives on an actor's journey, giving insights into the benefits of embracing uncertainty and how digging deeper can set you free.

Goldwyn is an actor, director and producer. His latest feature directing project, Ezra, with Bobby Cannavale and Robert DeNiro, was released by Bleecker Street Films. Goldwyn made his feature directorial debut with A Walk on the Moon. The film premiered at Sundance and received a National Board of Review Award for Excellence in Independent Filmmaking. Other feature directing credits: Conviction, starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell which was awarded the Freedom of Expression honor from the National Board of Review; The Last Kiss and Someone Like You.  His many acting credits include Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, ABC's Scandal and the cult-classic Ghost.

Goldwyn’s New York theater credits include Tony and Olivier Award-winner The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry; Ivo van Hove’s Network with Bryan Cranston; the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises; Holiday at Circle in the Square; The Water’s Edge and Spike Heels at Second Stage Theater; The Dying Gaul at the Vineyard Theater; The Sum of Us at the Cherry Lane Theatre, for which he won an Obie Award and Digby at Manhattan Theatre Club.

This is - How We Role. Get cast today at castingnetworks.com.

Follow Host, Actor and Producer Robert Peterpaul (Amazon's Sitting in Bars with Cake, The Art of Kindness podcast) on Instagram @robpeterpaul and learn more at robertpeterpaul.com.

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Episode Transcript

Tony Goldwyn (00:00):
Hi, I'm Tony Goldwyn and I am six foot one
inch, and you're listening tohow we Roll.

Robert Peterpaul (00:08):
When it comes to working in entertainment,
there's a lot of hows, and theyall boil down to how we navigate
this wild industry.
While how we follow our dreamsis uncertain, how we roll along
the way is in our hands.
Welcome to how we Roll, apodcast for actors by Casting
Networks.
Hi friend, thank you for tuningin.

(00:34):
This conversation is one whereI really sit back and listen.
I hope you find it as inspiringas I did.
Dare I say it was quitescandalous.
Today's guest is Tony Goldwyn.
Tony Goldwyn is an actor,director and producer who cut

(00:57):
his teeth in the theater.
His acting credits include cultclassics like Ghost I'm making
pottery right now Oscar-winningpictures like Christopher
Nolan's, oppenheimer and, ofcourse, the binge-worthy ABC
series Scandal.
He is currently starring on amainstay show that is a bucket
list gig for most of us actorsLaw Order Bum bum.

(01:20):
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Although he may be known forlighting up the screen,
goldwyn's first love appears tobe theater.
With projects like the Tony andOlivier winner, the Inheritance
Network with Bryan Cranston,the Broadway revival of Promises
, promises and many more,goldwyn eventually pivoted into

(01:40):
directing, debuting with A Walkon the Moon starring Diane Lane.
The film premiered at Sundanceand received a National Board of
Review Award for Excellence inIndependent Filmmaking.
Other feature directing creditsare Conviction, starring Hilary
Swank and Sam Rockwell, theLast Kiss with Zach Braff and
Rachel Bilson, and Someone Likeyou with Ashley Judd and Hugh

(02:03):
Jackman.
The latest project Tony sat atthe helm of was Ezra, where he
directed Bobby Cannavale and theone and only Robert De Niro.
Tony and I dive deep into aconversation about embracing
your fears and staying presentas an actor two very tough

(02:24):
things to do.
He also touches on his iconiccareer, which I forgot to
mention, includes Hacks love,that TV show and being the voice
of Tarzan.
Tony also kindly answers somelistener questions.
Yes, that's right, you cansubmit yours via our social
media channels or the link herein the show notes.
This is how we roll with actorTony Goldwyn Right off the bat

(02:57):
here.
I truly admire not only thisgigantic career you've carved
out for yourself, but the wayyou just seem to lead with
kindness in this industry.
I really appreciate that, andyou know I interviewed you on
the red carpet once and at theThanksgiving play on Broadway
and you were so kind toeverybody and, yeah, I was a
little Muppet in the corner andyou stopped to talk to fans, and

(03:17):
so I just want to thank you forthat, because I think that's
really important in thisindustry.
Oh, good, well, I agree, I dotoo.
Thank you for mentioning that,of course.
So, generally, we have a topicon here that we try and break
down for actors.
But, again, since you're kindof this treasure trove of
knowledge, we're going to tryand cover a lot of ground here
today, from acting to directing,and we're going to have fun,

(03:38):
all with the intention, ofcourse, of getting sort of like
tangible tidbits for our actingfriends.
Great, so get ready.
I think we'll call them GoldwynNuggets of Wisdom, golden
Nuggets of Wisdom.
Okay, that's intimidating to me, but okay, you're going to be
great Going down, I guess, backfor a bit down the road.
Just to start, you have thislegendary family in Hollywood

(04:00):
that I loved learning more about.
Of course, I knew the name, butyou decided to start in the
theater.
So I'm just wondering what wasthe first valuable lesson you
feel like you learned as anactor from those early days?

Tony Goldwyn (04:14):
Well, professionally the first
important lesson, I would say Ilearned that it took me many
years to understand what thelesson was.
I got my first job at theWilliamstown Theater Festival,
which, as people may remember,is a summer theater festival in

(04:37):
the Berkshires in Massachusetts,and for many years, and
particularly when I started out,was like the sort of the place
to be if you wanted to.
You know, as an older actor whosort of mentored me.
When you know, when I've reallydecided I wanted to pursue this
, he's he.
I was in college and he wasgiving me.
He said well, if you want to,if you want to be an actor, the
first place you go is go toWilliamstown.

(04:58):
So I tried to audition and Imanaged to get in.
And you know, I was in thenon-equity company at
Williamstown and my my first.
It was my first summer therebecause it's where I ended up
getting my equity card.
My first summer there I was, Ithink, I was helping with
rehearsal on a play that I wasnot in.
I remember Frank Langella wasstarring in this play I

(05:21):
literally can't even rememberwhich, what play but one of the
other actors hadn't shown up yetfor rehearsal, so I was
standing in learning theirblocking and stuff, as, which is
something that, as, non-equity,people were supposed to do.
And, um, I was reading thelines and doing it and this
wonderful actor who just it wasa dear friend who recently died,

(05:41):
named George Morphogan, wasalso in the cast.
I think it might've beenSherlock Holmes or something
they were doing.
And George took me outside andhe said Tony, I want you to know
something.
He said you're, you're actuallyquite gifted.
He said, but you're, you'remaking a terrible mistake.
And I said what?
I was literally just reading,trying to help out, but I was

(06:04):
obviously trying to act.
And he said you're leavingyourself out of the room.
And I said oh, okay.
He said no, you need to thinkabout this.
When you work, you leaveyourself out of the room and
honestly, to be honest with you,I had no idea what he was
talking about.
I just knew I was doingsomething very wrong, but I've

(06:25):
realized it was such animportant lesson he was trying
to teach me about learning tobring yourself into the work and
not think, oh, I'm supposed tobe something other than myself.
Now I'm playing a character, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm doing this now,

(06:46):
and now I need to.
You know what?
What's going on with me is notreally relevant.
I need to now do something elseon top of me.
Yeah, it's a hard lesson tolearn.
You know, in some actors, Isuppose just have it naturally
were able to do that, but ittook me a minute to to start and
it's been an evolution.
You know, I'm still remindingmyself of that lesson, but I

(07:08):
felt like that was key lessonnumber one working in the
professional theater.

Robert Peterpaul (07:14):
Yeah, I think that's cool.
The key to life, I think well,what do I know, but is trying to
stay curious and learning.
And if you're not learning, youknow you might be six feet
underground.
I don't know, but you're veryopen about something that I
think, as we talk about bringingourselves to the role, makes it
a little bit tricky, which isthat anxiety you felt early on.
You know the pressure that youfelt on yourself you've talked

(07:36):
about and that's very relatable.
Honestly, how do you feel likeyou stopped that from stopping
you?

Tony Goldwyn (07:43):
Well, part of it.
These are complicated questions.
Uh, because it's an evolution,I got a lot of them.
It never stops.
But yeah, I remember thathorrible thing that people say
to you when you're young is likejust be yourself.
I remember literally thinkingwho the fuck am I?
I don't know who I am.
What does that mean?

(08:03):
I, I don't know who I am.
What does that mean?
Be myself?
I don't know what that means.
So it was God.
It was very stressful.
I hated that phrase.
In a way I preferred George's.
It was a bit more esoteric Isuppose, but you know you're
leaving yourself out At least.
I didn't know what that meant,but it made more sense to me

(08:26):
when I came to understand thatBecause we're particularly, I
think, through our at least me Ican only speak to myself,
particularly through my 20s.
You know, I was trying, I wasdiscovering kind of what that
meant, like who I was, who I, uhI literally it's very difficult

(08:47):
to put into words because it'sa feeling that you have where
you're like oh.
I can be present.
You know other teachers wouldsay they remind us that we're
enough, like just be.
I mean it's, it's a lifelongthing.
I'm sorry I'm repeating myself,but it's a very tricky, elusive

(09:07):
thing that some people have assmall children.
They just never let go of itand they're like gifted in some
way, but for a lot of us it's avery elusive thing to understand
.
Oh, I can just be present.

Robert Peterpaul (09:26):
And uh, god, yeah, no, I think it's always
interesting, especially if youwatch back yourself tapes, which
is a unique torture, and I'mglad you probably don't have to
deal with that anymore.

Tony Goldwyn (09:34):
I have those when I started out, so yeah, it's
wild.

Robert Peterpaul (09:37):
You're like the director, the lighting
designer, all this stuff and youwatch them back and sometimes
it's almost more interesting towatch yourself as you're like
about to start the scene and itfeels like some of us struggle
with maybe like puttingsomething on the second we go,
versus just coming from thatnatural place of of being.
And I think that's what you'retouching on and what I've
appreciated you saying too, isnow, as a director, it's what

(10:00):
you look for.
I think in actors, you look fortheir perspective versus them
trying to give you what you want, like what they think you want
Absolutely.

Tony Goldwyn (10:10):
I mean, the key to it, if it's of any use to
anyone to me is like when I worknow I still have that same
feeling when I start to work onsomething, that I don't know
what the hell I'm doing and whatis this, and I don't know what
this is, and it feels stiff andforced and I don't know what to
do with it.
And how do I find myself inthis?

(10:31):
You know, you still have all ofthose feelings and the thing of
like I'm not really right forthis, someone else should play
this part, and I and I've cometo make peace with that as just
the beginning of the process.
So so, perhaps when I wasyounger, because of that anxiety
maybe I've never articulatedthis before, but because of that

(10:51):
anxiety that we all feel whenhanded a role that is unfamiliar
, perhaps when I was younger, Ileapt immediately to thinking I
needed I had an answer, like.
In other words, I was like, oh,I don't know what this is.
So I have an idea in my head ofwhat it's supposed to be.
So I'm going to do that, I'mgoing to try and perform this
thing, because I think I kind ofknow what this is.

(11:12):
I have an idea of what this is,so then I perform it, but I
haven't really done any of thework to ask the questions of
what is this?
And be okay with not knowingwhat this is.
So I went immediately from stepA to step Z, and so step Z was
a manufactured cerebralintellectual thing and I robbed

(11:35):
myself of allowing myself intothe piece.
So the answer is to be okaywith not knowing first of all.

Robert Peterpaul (11:46):
And to just ask the question like what is
this?

Tony Goldwyn (11:50):
I don't know what this is.
So, like, let's start with whatam I saying.
Do I understand what I'm saying?
Do I understand who I'm talkingto?
Like, who is this person?
Like, where am I, where's thisplace?
And to start asking thosequestions of the given
circumstances, but don't insiston an answer that that's huge.
Like, don't hire an answer,just be okay, like not knowing.

(12:12):
And that's how you begin to bepresent as an actor, as being
like, hmm, I don't know what thehell this is.
Yeah, so you know.
And as you get a bit moreexperience, you work, you start
to be maybe a little quicker andbeing okay.
Those questions are like well,maybe it's this or maybe it's
that, or maybe I'm this, butmaybe you know.
But mainly to be okay, notknowing.

(12:33):
And then, even whether you'reworking on stage or you know in
front of the camera,particularly when you work in
front of the camera, yougenerally don't have much
rehearsal, so you have to do allthat work by yourself before
you even start.
And then, when the camera'srolling, you need to forget

(12:53):
everything you decided and bevery present and be like well, I
know I made all those decisionsand I was getting the thought
maybe I'd do it this way, but Idon't know.
Let's kind of see what happens.
That's what we're getting intoother.
Oh, we can go wherever that'sreally cool.

Robert Peterpaul (13:05):
No, I think I addressed what you said at all
you did.
I think you might not realizeit, but I really do think that's
going to be so helpful topeople because these things are
hard to articulate.
But we're trying to do that onthis little podcast because I
feel like they're important totalk about.
You know it's it's living inthat discomfort I mean, first of
all, being on stage.
There's a lot of that.

(13:25):
You don't know if someone'sabout to cough in the audience.
You don't know if you're doingthe show network and you're
outside someone's going toscream something at you.
In to one of your first jobs, Ithink was with Denzel

(13:46):
Washington, and a lot of ourlisteners are trying to break
into that co-star circuit, maybeon Law Order, get that badge
Fully.
Kind of realizing now that youare a top-notch creative that
actors could be nervous to workwith themselves.
Do you have any advice on sortof not getting in your own head
when you're working with peoplethat you admire?

Tony Goldwyn (14:07):
Yeah, it happens to me all the time.
I mean, again, it's that samething with being comfortable,
being uncomfortable.
It's fun.
I mean I like I the last movieI directed it was, you know,
robert De Niro was in it, andwhen I first was working with
Robert De Niro I was like holyshit.

Robert Peterpaul (14:20):
Yeah Ezra on Paramount Plus.
I believe De yeah Ezra on.

Tony Goldwyn (14:23):
Paramount Plus, I believe, I don't know, it's on
Amazon.
It's called Ezra.
You can get it now, but it wasin the theaters on Memorial Day.
But you know it still happensto me every time.
So, and you know I work with myidols or you work with some
very famous person and you'relike it happens every job I do.
So it's like being the new kidin school, kind of, is the same

(14:45):
sort of feeling and you justhave to have a sense of humor
about it and be like, okay, myfear brain is clicking in and
freaking me out and you learn tojust stop listening to that.
It's like, okay, that'shappening.
Here's what it is.
There's like our fear brainwhatever that is, our amygdala,

(15:14):
whatever it is creates ascenario, tells us a story that
we should be afraid thatsomeone's going to judge us,
that we're not going to be doinga good enough job, all things
are going to go wrong, it'sgoing to be a disaster, whatever
that is that we have.
And you learn that that's notthe brain you should be
listening to.
There's another voice that is acalmer voice.
That is your real self.
It's totally got this andthere's not even need to worry

(15:38):
about anything.
It's like social anxiety, it'sall the same thing, and so what
I've learned to do is, when thathappens, I just go oh yeah,
okay, that's happening.
I know that's bullshit, I knowthat's not how this is.
No, it's like noise.
So I'm like okay, the noise isthere.
Stop with the noise.
How about I know that if I justlet the noise happen, I'll be

(15:58):
just fine?
And why don't I just focus onthe task at hand, which is, um,
if I'm working with Denzel orwhoever, whoever it is with De
Niro, it's like there's a job todo here.
Bob needs my help here and Ihave a job to do so.
Let me just do my job and I'lljust hopefully that noise will
go away, and it always does.
It always does.
It's like when you go to aparty and you're dreading going

(16:18):
there.
You're like I don't knowanybody.
People are going to me there,what am I gonna do?
You walk in and then you engagein a conversation.
You're like what was I worriedabout?
It was fine, like that was anice person, I was talking.
You know, you always thoseanxieties are ever present and
you just have to learn to notlisten to them.
There's a different voice andthen that other voice becomes
dominant and um, that's yourtrue self, and so, uh, that's a

(16:42):
um, a constant problem thatnever goes away for an actor.
Every time I go on stage,practically my knees buckle, and
I have these moments sometimesbefore I make an entrance, where
I'm like, okay, I'm going towalk out there, my legs are not
going to support me, I'm goingto fall down, I'm not going to
remember anything I'm supposedto do, I'm not going to be able
to breathe, and I have a panicattack.

(17:03):
And so now I go yeah right,whatever, just breathe and shut
up Power through?

Robert Peterpaul (17:13):
No, that's relatable Like let it be there.

Tony Goldwyn (17:14):
Don't, don't be like, oh my God, that's.
You just know that voice is isnot a valid it's, it's, it's, um
, it's not real.
It is's what I said thosevoices are it's not real, it's a
self-created thing.
That is just a part of ourevolution.
That it's not real.
What's real is what's happeningright now in front of you.

Robert Peterpaul (17:35):
Yeah, not it's all fear-based I think that
that's the fear-based end.
So it's like choosing the lovefor what you do, maybe over the
fear of not doing it correctly.

Tony Goldwyn (17:45):
Which, what even, is correct yeah, don't even get
in the freaking argument with it, don't even engage.
It's like if we're going for anaudition.
How many times we've been like,oh my god, what are you?
That person in there's reallygood, and then I don't know were
you watching me yesterday?

Robert Peterpaul (18:03):
yeah, no, seriously, like well yeah.

Tony Goldwyn (18:04):
Seriously, the trick is to not engage with it.
It's like, yeah, whatever, okay, my heart's beating really fast
or I'm sweating, okay.
So what I do is I breathe, Ijust try and do the antidotes
and I'm like all right, I'm justgoing to let that be there, I'm
not going to fight it.
Okay, wow, weird, I'm havingthis physical reaction.
The cool thing is oh wow, I'mjust going to let that be there,
I'm not going to fight it.

(18:25):
Okay, wow, weird, I'm havingthis physical reaction.
The cool thing is oh wow, I'mhaving a physical reaction.
That's happening.
Oh, what is that?
That's interesting.

Robert Peterpaul (18:34):
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, you're not giving itpower, you're just acknowledging
it.

Tony Goldwyn (18:38):
You can't imbue it with meaning.
It's happening.
You're having like a fight orflight reflex, like even if you
get interested in that, like wow, that's interesting, that's
actually.
That is actually happening tome physically.
Yeah, my brain spinning aboutwhat it means is is not real.
That's not actually happening,that's a creation of moment
that's taking me out of thepresent moment.

(18:59):
But I had it yesterday.
I was working and, uh, I wasshooting where I was doing Law
and Order and you know ithappens all the time.
So we started to roll and Istarted to have that kind of
slight like whatever anxiety orsomething, and I just went oh,
what's actually happening, right, this second to me, I'm feeling

(19:20):
a little agita, or whatever itwas.
So I was like, oh, that's real.
So I didn't fight it and Iallowed it to.
Maybe that's interesting, maybethat's something to explore,
maybe that's something that isuseful in this scene, like maybe
that's a part of let's just letthat be there and see if it's

(19:41):
useful to me.
And A all of a sudden itdiminished.
I welcomed it.
And B there was this aspect ofthat that helped me raise the
stakes for the scene that I wasdoing and it was quite useful
and it was fresh because it wasa little different than what I
hadn't thought about that.

Robert Peterpaul (19:58):
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, totally.
You're not blowing up thatballoon.

Tony Goldwyn (20:00):
Either.
We've spent so much time going.
Oh god, I'm nervous.

Robert Peterpaul (20:03):
Oh shit, of course you are yeah, but let it
be maybe excitement and I alsothink we're wrong ourselves
about so many things in a daymentally, all these thoughts.
So why would we be right aboutthese negative things about
ourselves?
Sometimes that helps me tocourse correct is like.
I know I'm wrong about so much,so why am I listening to this?

Tony Goldwyn (20:21):
you know you generally are it's like anything
I know it sort of gets back tothat thing.
It's related to the thing of, uh, when you look at a scene, you
I know what this wants to be, Iknow how to do this.
It says I think that I'm like,wait a minute, hold on, whoa, I
don't know.
Maybe there's a possibility itmight go in that direction, but

(20:44):
I don't know.
So getting back to the actuallyapproaching material, one thing
that I find useful again, we'rejumping around, but it's not
unrelated to this is when I lookat a new piece of material,
young actors particularly goright to how they think it
should be done I know how thisis done and I'm going to do that
and then they skip over all thediscovery.

(21:08):
It's sort of general, becauseit's it's sort of performed,
because I know how to do this.
I'm mad, or whatever it is.
You know, we just have aninstinct.
It doesn't mean instincts arewrong or invalid.
They may be great.
But if you're more, I now go,oh, I have a feeling like maybe
that's the direction it goes.
But before I go even to that,what am I saying?

(21:34):
Do I understand the words thatI'm saying?
Do I understand what I'mactually telling you?
Just on a literal level, do Iunderstand what I'm saying?
Often I'm like I don't actuallyknow what that word means, or I
don't know what that isreferring to.
Exactly that.
What am I talking?
What's he talking?
Why is he talking about that?
What does that place that he'sreferring to?
What's that thing that I'mreferring to?

(21:54):
I don't actually know this.
I better think about that.
So I just go with, like, whatam I saying?
Yeah, and what is that personsaying to me?
Do I understand that?
And when I get to that levelthat's a lot, man, that's that's
something useful.
Then I can immediately start.
If I'm interacting with you,reading with you, I can just

(22:15):
communicate what I'm saying.
I don't need to performanything.
I can at least just start withthat and that's active
automatically.
And then what is going tohappen in our interaction?
I'm going to have a wholeexperience of reading the scene
with you, just based onunderstanding what I'm saying to
you and what you're saying tome literally, what does it mean?

(22:38):
Yeah, and then I'll get anotherlayer of like oh well, I felt
like we're in this kind of aplace.
Maybe this is what ourrelationship is, or everything
like huh, and instead of we asactors, we go to like the
emotion immediately.
How do I feel about this?
How do I feel Like I don't know?
Let that be fluid, let thatthere might be 200 possibilities
of how you feel and you can trya different.

(22:59):
You know, don't play the result.
Don't get so fixated on how andthe result.
That's how you do that.
Just slow down, start with whatI'm saying.
I find that very useful and ithelps me be present in what I'm
doing in the early stages.

Robert Peterpaul (23:16):
Yeah, that's so interesting.
I've talked to some televisionactors that will say I mean some
of them honestly, it seemswrite out emotions to track all
the scenes they're doing thatday or the scenes for one
episode.
Is there anything you do likethat?
Do you have like a cheat sheetof what am I doing?
What am I doing, or is it likeon set you just kind of have
that same process you justdescribed.

Tony Goldwyn (23:36):
No, I don't.
Part of it is.
You know, I'm a prettyexperienced now, yeah, so a lot
of the homework that I used todo, writing it down and making
notes about stuff.
Intuitively I ask all thosequestions without writing them
down, because I kind of knowwhat questions I want to ask in

(23:56):
my preparation.
For me, the trap is of writinga lot of things down and
creating a score for myself.
This is just me.
It can freeze things and canset things that I want to, that
I want to remain fluid.

(24:16):
It suddenly something that isin the flow becomes fixed in a
way.
That's not helpful to me.
So if I say I mean I wouldnever do it with emotion, For me
that would be a disasterBecause again, for me and every
actor works differently, so yougot to find your own way.
But for me, to set an emotionmeans I'm then playing the

(24:37):
result and I'm playing anemotion which is, for me, never
good.
More like what am I doing?
Like, what am I after what More?
Like, what am I doing?
Like, what am I after?
What am I?
What am I?
For me, it's like, what am Isaying?
Like, what does this mean?
And then, what am I trying toachieve?
What am I trying to get from?
What am I doing in an activeway?
And I don't even.
You know I struggled a lot withlike action analysis, writing

(25:00):
down.
I've tried everything but oflike writing, oh, this is what
I'm doing, I know what my actionis here and people, some people
, love doing that stuff for me.
It always got me stuck.
So you know, I spend a lot oftime preparing, I working alone,
and it's I just keep it fluid.
I just go over it over and overand over and over it and I, you

(25:22):
know I now have this app that Iuse that runs lines with me.

Robert Peterpaul (25:25):
Oh, rehearsal pro.

Tony Goldwyn (25:27):
Yeah, it's a.
What is it called Cold read?
It's called cold read, oh yeah,but just doing it and not even
thinking about it, just going.
Every time I do it it'll raisea question like, oh, I don't
really understand what this isabout, I don't really understand
what my relationship with thisperson is.
Or I wonder, if I, like it'llget me thinking about, like what
happened?
You know, where am I comingfrom, what, what, how important

(25:49):
is this to me?
You know, those questions weask?
Or it feels a little vague, alittle general, like it feels a
little the stakes feel very lowto me.
So what?
Why is this important?
to me what, what happened before?
You know the kind of all thosegiven circumstances.
So in just reviewing it I endup asking myself over and over,

(26:10):
and over and over again thesequestions.
But I don't necessarily have ananswer.
It's like, um, I always look atit like it's like peeling an
onion and you never get to theend.
Ever.
There's never an answer, neverthere's a oh, there's another
layer to peel away.
Oh, that, yeah, that made senseto me.
Huh, where's that going to leadme to the next question, and
what I find then?
When I am working in rehearsalor with, and when I'm on set, I

(26:32):
then can forget everything andhave no opinion about anything.
But if I've done enough work onmy own and an unconscious level
, I have gained an understanding.

Robert Peterpaul (26:45):
Does that make ?

Tony Goldwyn (26:45):
any sense, as opposed to going.
I've got my, I know what I'mdoing and I've got my notes and
I'm going to it's.
That's to me.
For me personally, I'm stillstuck in a cerebral stage and I
need personally to be in a stagewhere I can forget everything
and hopefully be prepared enoughto just be like I don't know.

(27:06):
Yeah, but if I've done, enoughwork, I'm, like, ready, and
sometimes I have to look at mylines and go.
You know I drill my fuckinglines.

Robert Peterpaul (27:16):
Well, I'm glad you mentioned the app, because
we all need.
We all have different hacks fordoing that.

Tony Goldwyn (27:20):
Personally, I need to know my lines so well that I
just don't even think aboutthem.
I need to know the words sowell that I can't, I don't, I
could.
They just come out, you know,and I still have to like when I
look at it, you know.
Or if there's a reason I can'tremember something, it's because
I don't understand it enough,like why do I constantly keep
forgetting that line?

(27:41):
Or why do I keep getting thatwrong?
Because I don't understand it,that line, or why do I keep
getting that wrong Because Idon't understand it?
And so then I have to go askmyself a lot of questions like
well, I don't understand it.
What does it make sense to me?
I thought I understand it, butI guess I don't.
Anyway, so that's for me.
I need to come to work soprepared that I can forget
everything and not have anyopinion about what I'm going to
do.

Robert Peterpaul (28:00):
I appreciate you sharing all that.
We had a lot of listeners andCasting Networks members write
in that were excited to ask youquestions, and a lot of them had
to do with your method or yourprocess, but one I think that we
can kind of step into from herewas from an amazing listener
named Jade Rushing.
Hello, jade, thanks for beinghere.
And Jade wants to know what youfind to be or I guess found,

(28:24):
because obviously you're a vetat this to be the most
challenging aspect of acting, ofyour process.
Like, what do you find to bethe most challenging?
Sorry?

Tony Goldwyn (28:34):
that's a hard question to answer.
What do I find to be the mostchallenging?
Well, yeah, the mostchallenging thing is to be
absolutely present with what'shappening in any given moment.
That's what we are striving for, the transcendent experience of
being totally present.
And that requires a lot For meI can't speak for anybody else.

(28:59):
For me, that requires atremendous amount of preparation
so that I can forget everythingand be present, and I rarely
achieve it.
I can admit, you know thosemoments where I feel completely
in flow and dialed in andanything can happen and I'm just
with you and not ahead ofmyself or behind myself.

(29:20):
Yeah, those are rare, fleetingmoments.
You know that's what I'm alwaysstriving to achieve, a hundred
percent of the time.
And I guess I get, I'm close toit a lot.
You know what I mean and I haveto give myself a lot of a break
to go.
Well, no, you know, you have tobe willing to, you have to very
much accept that it's ararefied experience.

(29:43):
You know, every artist istrying to find that
transcendence and we, mostartists, even the greatest
artists, if you ask them,they'll go.
Oh, I never get there, I'malways failing always, but we
watch them and the greats you'relike, oh my God.
So my job is to hopefully haveyou have that experience of me.
But in doing that I'm justtrying to get as close as I can

(30:06):
to being present and free, andthat is the most challenging
thing.

Robert Peterpaul (30:11):
Yeah, it's like that's why all the gamblers
are still at the slot machines.
It's just for that one big win.
You know that one high you canexperience and you've had so
many highs in your career that Ididn't even realize I had no
idea you were the voice ofTarzan first of all, which is
kind of legendary, and I keepseeing that meme of Tarzan.
I don't know if you've seenthis.
Have you seen it going aroundwhere he's holding Jane and also

(30:31):
midair and everyone's like howis he holding the vine?
There's like this one shot ofTarzan I encourage you to look
it up after this thateverybody's sharing these days.
But it's no shock to me that alot of listeners wanted to know
about Scandal and I think tostop there for one second.
It matches what you were justsaying with that preparation,
because I imagine being on aShonda Rhimes show comes with

(30:54):
its own sort of like actingtechniques and things that you
learn, especially with those bigiconic monologues she has and
her cadence.
Is there anything you can sharefrom that experience as far as
what you feel like it reallyhelped you achieve as an actor?

Tony Goldwyn (31:08):
Yeah, that was a very interesting technical.
That helped me a lot working onScandal, because Shonda
required us to be word perfect.
Her sort of policy with us isyou know, I'm totally open for
notes or ideas or comments orthoughts ahead of time, but she
does not like any changes on setand a lot of times when you

(31:32):
work on a film or you work oncertain types of material,
certain screenwriters are veryopen to improvisation and you
know, others are very meticulous, more like working in the
theater, and Shonda is one ofthose writers, meticulous, more
like working in the theater, andSean does one of those writers.
So, uh, and on scandal, she wasparticularly obsessed with us
speaking extremely quickly.

(31:52):
She, for the first season shewas constantly emailing us.
You have to talk faster, youhave to talk faster.
The only time this show willever slow down is when Fitz and
Olivia are alone together.
Those are the only pauses weallow in this show, and then she
would was like a minute, butthere's, we had this famous kind
of thing of like one minutewhere we were silent, you know.
So we had to earn those thingsand so technically, that

(32:13):
required, um, you know, you hadto be really super prepared and,
uh, do what I said before.
You know, I just learned it sothat I didn't even have to think
about it.
You know that didn't mean wedidn't get on set and stumble
and screw up all the time, andthat's the benefit of working on
the cameras.
You can there's take two andthree, but you know we really
tried to be.

(32:33):
You know you had to be veryquick.
It's like working on a stylizedcomedy in the theater.
You know where you have to be.
You know the rhythm iseverything.

Robert Peterpaul (32:43):
You know it's interesting too.
In doing some research Iremembered I guess because I
knew it at the time that scandalreally rose to prominence
because of social media, becauseof Twitter.
I think it was Carrie's ideaYou've spoken about that often
to kind of get on Twitter.
I know you yourself.
Maybe we throw this out intothe garbage, this question, but
I know you're not as big onsocial media, you don't seem to

(33:04):
be as active.
But can you I mean, can youspeak to it at all?
Because I feel like on thisside, a lot of working actors
now are being encouraged to havea presence, to create their own
content, and I think you couldmaybe still weigh in, since you
are a content creator, as adirector and a filmmaker.

Tony Goldwyn (33:20):
Yeah, social media , look, it's also a generational
thing.
I mean, you know, we did it onScandal because Carrie had this
brilliant idea, and it was whenTwitter was just kind of
beginning and we became thisphenomenon, and so then we built
up this massive following.
We would live tweet ourbroadcast twice, you know, east
Coast and West Coast everyThursday night for seven years,

(33:41):
and we all were very committedto it and we built up these big
social media followingsings andwe really interacted with our
fans a lot.
And then Instagram was invented.
So we got an Instagram andFacebook and, and you know, it
was exhausting, honestly, likeit was great, it was really fun,
um, but for me, uh, whenscandal was over, I was pretty

(34:04):
burned out on it, me, uh, whenscandal was over, I was pretty
burned out on it and it, it, youknow I kept it up for a while.
Um, but it, I am a fairlyprivate person.
So this constant you have tofeed the beast.
If you're on social media, youreally do, and there's a sort of
false sense of relationshipthat people have with you and

(34:24):
you have with your followers.
Um, that I started feeling itwas just a bit exhausting and um
, and so that was part one.
So I kind of said like I needto take a break.
I still stayed on Instagram.
I got off Twitter because Ialso Twitter to me became a very
toxic environment, um and um, Ijust got turned off by it.

(34:45):
So I just stayed on Instagramand Instagram I think it's fun
and um, um.
So I still on Instagram and Istill post now and then and I
share professionally what I'mdoing and I definitely try and
share, you know, stay in termsof, like, charitable causes that
I'm supporting and stuff.
There's another aspect on apersonal level about social
media.
It's very performative and thatjust rubs me.

(35:09):
I find that's very dangerousfor me.
It's a little toxic, it's toostrong a word.
It is, um, it's hazardous forme.
You know the, the performativenature.
It's a very curated thing andwe're putting out something.
Everything is presented in away that feels slightly to me
fraudulent and it takes acertain amount of work to go.

(35:31):
Okay, no, I'm being authentic,but I'm also being performative
because I'm certainly presentingsomething that's curated to my
audience, but it's just likeit's, I don't know, it's
hazardous to people.
Like, be careful, because it isvery performative In terms of
the profession and people sayingyou need to be on social media.

(35:52):
I think to some degree that maybe true, so go for it.
And I have to admit to youngerpeople, it's very much a part of
how younger people communicateand connect with each other and
love it.
Shit's dangerous man, I'mtelling you.
It is a very hazardousenvironment and it is
tremendously anxiety-provoking.

(36:14):
I find I know for me, but Iknow for a lot of people and
it's dangerous.
You know that performativething.
It's like hi, this is me,beautiful and I'm perfect, and
I'm this and I'm that.
Oh yeah, you fall down thatrabbit hole.
You know that performativething.
It's like hi, this is me, yeah,beautiful and I'm perfect, and
I'm this and I'm that.

Robert Peterpaul (36:26):
Oh yeah, you fall down that rabbit hole.

Tony Goldwyn (36:28):
I know I got to do that and it's kind of bullshit
too.

Robert Peterpaul (36:33):
Because you start to compare yourself.
You're like I'm sitting at homeand this person's at some gala,
but meanwhile they were there,you know, a month ago, for a day
, and it's just.
I understand what you're saying.
It's a tricky dance, no onecares?

Tony Goldwyn (36:46):
honestly, no one cares.
I mean, I guess to some degree,if you have a ton of followers
and you're an influencer andyou're beautiful, and that's all
great, it's part of your job,but it's not the job, your work
is all that matters.
Like when I'm casting something, I don't care, you know, if

(37:07):
someone's got a cool followingon social media and I look at
their stuff and I'm like, ohcool, I get, here's what I dig.
If I'm on social, if I go onsocial media to check you out,
if I'm the, I'm casting youwhich I probably never do but if
I do, I get a sense of who youare Really.
I'm like look at Robert, oh, Iget a vibe of who you really are
and I sense that I'm like, oh,that's cool.

(37:32):
It's like I spent some timewith you and I get a sense of
who you are.
If you're already a bigcelebrity, if you're already
famous and you have a bigfollowing and you have a lot of
publicity and you're doing a lotof stuff, that is, have a big
following and you have a lot ofpublicity and you're doing a lot
of stuff, that is a differentstory.
Your fans want to see you outthere and they dig it and they
want to be around the fantasyversion of Kerry Washington that

(37:54):
Kerry puts out.
She's got that's a part of herbusiness and she's a genius at
it and she works really hard atit.
That is a different thing thanan aspiring actor feeling they
need to be on red carpetsbecause someone's going to think
they're more than they are orsomething I just all that
matters is like if you want tohave a social media presence,
have it.
Be authentically you and thendo your work, because that's all

(38:19):
anybody actually cares about.
When you come in the room or Isee your stuff, I'm like, yeah,
you got some game.
I'm interested in working withyou.
Yeah, make any sense.

Robert Peterpaul (38:29):
No, that's a good reminder.
It should all be authentic toyou, I think, other than maybe
Dolly Parton.
That's all I want to see in mynews feed.
It's.
It should just come from you.
I mean, it should be what youwant out of it too.
It's a personal thing, likewe're saying, but that is
something that we get told abouta lot, as actors now is like
push out your own content, havethat going.
And I think, especially for thepeople in this sort of like

(38:50):
co-star circuit, it's true andit's interesting to me because
now you're on this iconic seriesLaw Order, I don't need to tell
you that and you know you'rekilling it For actors that show
such a rite of passage, as Ithink I mentioned earlier.
I'm just wondering, now thatyou're high on the call sheet,
when you have this revolvingdoor of working actors coming in
and you have someone playing adead body, you have somebody

(39:11):
coming in there to say will yousign for this, for one line
which 200 of us maybe are goingin for?
That just must be such a fullcircle, special thing to see.
Can you speak to that at all?
Like, what's that like for youto kind of see these people
coming in on this show that hassuch a reputation.

Tony Goldwyn (39:31):
I think they just spoofed it at the SAG Awards
this year.

Robert Peterpaul (39:33):
They had a whole kind of thing about Law
Order.
Yeah, having these people comein as co-stars and these people
that you know are just there forone line, these working actors,
I mean, what does it mean foryou to see that?

Tony Goldwyn (39:41):
Well, here's what I'll say which is a bigger point
I think it's worth making.
First of all, the.
You know, one of the bestthings about being a law and
order is the actors that come into guest star and co-star and
do all this.
You know, the day players aregreat, like people are really,
really excellent, and what Ioften feel when I see someone

(40:02):
either doing a big role who'svery young or doing just a small
part, is that they're superimportant and, um, I really am
so admiring of someone who comesin and, um, values their, their
.
I value the contribution of aperson who has one line as much

(40:25):
as I do the person who's themain guest star of that episode,
or one of our regulars, likeit's all what makes something
good is that every layer is realand good and excellent.
And the truth is it's excitingfor me because that person, who
may be young, who's coming inand doing their first line on

(40:45):
television ever, right in a yearor two, might be the lead in a
show.
I may be, you know they mighthave a big career out of them.
And you know I do, I can see it.
I go, whoa, you're good, youknow, you, you're.
So I remember feeling when Istarted out when I was doing
those small things, feelingunimportant and feeling

(41:08):
undervalued and being on lessgood television shows where
you'd show up and they'd treatyou like a piece of furniture
and sort of movie here and actlike you weren't important
because you didn't have as big auh, uh, uh, you know, uh, a
role and it infuriates me now as, um, I see how important it

(41:28):
actually is and you know, whenyou acknowledge someone's value,
then they, like they do greatwork, like all you have to do is
be like I'm happy you're here.
Like, what do you think?
What do you want to do?
What do you think about this?
Like you know, acknowledge theartistry because it's really
hard to come in and do one word,one line.

(41:50):
It's very hard.
It's a that's a real challenge.
Being a dead body is not sohard, but but but these are very
hard and it's.
I just can't believe the way Iwas treated early on and like
how did you even expect me to doa good job?
That I had to deal withpeople's being dismissed and

(42:11):
being like treated like I wasnot important, or that someone
else was so much more importantthan me and I was just like to
shut up and go with it.
I mean yeah.

Robert Peterpaul (42:20):
I'm sorry.

Tony Goldwyn (42:21):
How does an actor do, you know, and so I'm very
cognizant now and we were, youknow, on skin leaving any
background, like when backgroundare good, it's fantastic.
Yeah, it's so good when thebackground are engaged and
participating and present anddoing their job well, it's so

(42:41):
important.

Robert Peterpaul (42:43):
Because when they're not, it steals the scene
.
I noticed that on shows whensomeone's sort of like Well, no,
I mean when background are notgood, it's a problem, you know.

Tony Goldwyn (42:51):
So it's a real skill and and a really valued
thing.
And a lot of again, a lot ofreally good actors started out
doing background work becausethey were trying to find a way
in.
And so, you know, I remember,when we did scandal, carrie
washington was always, everytime we had a big scene with
lots of background, she wouldalways stop and applaud the
background and congratulate comehow fantastic they were and, um

(43:13):
, you know, all tried to.
I was trying to do that becausepeople hey, people need it and
deserve it, but it all matters.
So that's what I like to say toanybody who's, like you know,
showing up for a small piece of,you know, of a show.

Robert Peterpaul (43:29):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
I think you learn that in thetheater as well.
You literally do need everysingle person to tell the story.
And I guess, while we're on theTV guest star circuit, you know
I love seeing you on Hacks andI know you're on the new season,
so just to touch on that for asecond on behalf of all the
other actors slash fans outthere.
What's it like having a partnerin scene, a Gene Smart, a scene

(43:50):
partner, jean Scene?
That's great.

Tony Goldwyn (43:52):
You know I'd worked with Jean very early in
my career.
One of my first jobs was gueststarring on her show, um um,
designing Women, and we did thisreally amazing episode in the
eighties, uh, about AIDS, and itwas the very first time AIDS
was mentioned on primetimetelevision.
Wow, and the show runner, thecreator Linda Bloodworth,

(44:14):
thomason's mother had died ofAIDS that year from a blood
transfusion and at that timepresident Reagan did not even
said the word AIDS.
So she was like I'm going towrite an episode about this.
And so I played this friend ofthe designing women who was had
AIDS and was asked them todesign his funeral because his
family had rejected him.
It was pretty intense for asitcom and I played the great

(44:36):
part and I and Jean and I, youknow, sort of bonded at that
time and I, you know, I've seenher over the years sort of
whatever 30, whatever yearslater, if almost 40 years later,
you know to do hacks together.
Is was so fun and and um, she'syou know, gina's really such a
great actress and I'm so happyfor her having this moment at

(44:57):
this stage in her career whereshe's being fully recognized for
the brilliant artist that sheis and the writing on that show
is so great.
It was just.
It's just a blast.
Everyone's so wonderful blessed.

Robert Peterpaul (45:12):
Everyone's so wonderful.
Well, I'm glad you're beingrecognized too and that you're
at the stage you are because,again, we need good role models
in this industry.
And, to pivot for a second, youknow you're also a role model
for directors because you wereable to kind of take this
different path.
You talk a lot aboutreinventing yourself as an
artist and sort of theimportance of that, which I
appreciate Once you starteddirecting.
From an actor perspective, whatdo you wish you had known

(45:33):
earlier, Once you were in thatdirector's seat and watching all
the other actors, is theresomething you wish you had known
when you were on the other side?

Tony Goldwyn (45:41):
And now you're still on the other side.
But you know what I mean.
It's just again.
That's another huge question.

Robert Peterpaul (45:48):
I love your thoughtfulness.
Honestly, yeah, these arepretty big questions.

Tony Goldwyn (45:57):
What do I wish I had known?
I guess I'm going to say itmore from an auditioning point
of view rather than just anacting point of view.
When I started to auditionactors, it was revelatory to me.
I was super uncomfortable withit at first.
I was so apologetic because Iknow how hard auditioning is and
you know I would be like wherewould you like to sit, are you
okay?
I'm so stressed out by and oneactor finally was like just tell
me where to sit, I don't needyou decide.

(46:18):
Um, but what I really realized,that I wish I had known.
There's so many great actors,man, so many wonderful people.
There's so many great artistsout there and there's only one
person for every role and somany people who come in do such
great work.
And it doesn't mean just thefact that you do a great job

(46:41):
doesn't mean you're going to getthe part.
And also there are lots ofamazing actors who come in and
have shitty auditions.
You know come in and they'rejust like off their game and
they're going.
I'm like wow, I love thatbusiness work, but they were
having a bad day.

Robert Peterpaul (46:55):
Well, that's why I love being a reader.

Tony Goldwyn (46:56):
It's because you do get to sometimes read out the
titans and that took so muchpressure off of me when I was
like I know there's a milliongood people are going to be up
for this, but here's my take onit.
So, after that, when I you know, I fortunately, or
unfortunately don't auditionmuch these days, but you know,
in the years after I walk on themoon, when I would audition,

(47:17):
and even now when I do audition,I'm like I don't know what you,
you know, I know there's amillion great people for this,
but here's my, here's what I'mthinking, you know, as opposed
to, I've got to be the oneperson, I got to be the best.
You know, it's a weird alchemy.
Casting is this strange alchemythat has to happen.
And so that was useful.

Robert Peterpaul (47:40):
That was useful for us as well.
Listening, you know, casting iswhat we're all about here at
Casting Networks, and so we playthis little game called Casting
Keywords and it's kind of aflash round, and so, basically,
I'm going to throw out astatement or a topic surrounding
acting, like role preparation,auditioning, and you just please
, if you're willing, say thefirst piece of advice that kind

(48:02):
of pops into your head.
So it'll be like just a more ofa word association, advice,
garnering, mining your brilliantbrain to get all these other
actors in the place where theycan do what they love.
Okay, are you down to play?
Sure, okay.
Okay, insert a little musichere, maybe the Severance theme

(48:23):
song.
Do you watch Severance?
I do, I love it.
Okay, here we go.
So the first thing is scriptanalysis.
What am I saying?
Oh, that's easy.
I thought you meant to me.
I'm like I don't know.
Do I understand what you'resaying?
Perfect Acting, warmups,meditation.

Tony Goldwyn (48:42):
Auditions, playgrounds.

Robert Peterpaul (48:44):
I love that.

Tony Goldwyn (48:44):
It's like Carol Burnett says getting in the
sandbox, or I'll say rehearsal.

Robert Peterpaul (48:48):
There you go, screen tests.

Tony Goldwyn (48:53):
Yeah, rehearsal First day of rehearsal.

Robert Peterpaul (48:56):
Yeah, that seems so intimidating.
I think for a lot of actorsit's like you get to that point.

Tony Goldwyn (49:00):
Treat it like a first day of rehearsal.
Okay, do not treat it like yourfinal audition.

Robert Peterpaul (49:04):
I love that Acting methods.

Tony Goldwyn (49:09):
We never know what the hell we're doing.
Just keep asking questions,exploring every method.
There's no one way.

Robert Peterpaul (49:19):
I love that.
Just keep asking questions.

Tony Goldwyn (49:21):
I mean, I'm still always reading acting books,
always.
Oh, do you have a favorite?
Me too?
No, I just read.
I get new favorites all thetime and I read books and none
of them are right.
All of them are right.
It's like there's's.

Robert Peterpaul (49:33):
No, I love that.
I have one here to recommend ifyou haven't read it the Warner
Laughlin technique.
Oh, I never read that okay.
Warner Laughlin.
She's amazing.
I mean, I know she is, we justhad her on here.
She's great.
But I recommend that it's agreat book.

Tony Goldwyn (49:45):
Yeah, okay, onset etiquette uh, kindness, respect
and punctuality Hmm.

Robert Peterpaul (49:54):
Okay, k-r-p.
I love that.
Handling.
Okay, this is a silly one.
Well, not silly, it's actuallywe want to know.
But handling spicy scenes, Ifeel like you've had to do a lot
of those in your career.
Yeah, or like just anythingintimate.

Tony Goldwyn (50:12):
Yeah, intimate scenes.
Well, it's hard to have a short, brief answer to that, but it's
the components that arecritically important is what
story is being told in thisintimate scene?
Um, what um be?
Be very, uh, uh, sensitive andrespectful of your scene partner
, because the most importantthing is to develop that there's
trust between you, of yourscene partner, because the most

(50:32):
important thing is to developthat there's trust between you
and your scene partner.
You know, I guess now I'vereally not worked with them much
, but now there's this intimacycoordinator, so I don't know
about experiencing that, butwhether with or without an
intimacy coordinator, thequestion is always what story
are we telling here with this?
And then what you know, to talkalone with your director, like

(50:54):
what am I comfortable with, whatam I not comfortable with, you
know, so that everyone's tellingthe same story and you know,
and just to make sure, mainly,that you develop trust and
communication with your scenepartner, uh, and make sure that
it's a very safe space, causethat's ultimately so that you
can feel free, even sometimesit's very technical.
But if it's a very safe space,because that's ultimately so

(51:14):
that you can feel free, evensometimes it's very technical,
but if it's, you know, um, I'vedone a lot of it and it's uh,
both as an actor and a director,and it's elegant, but it's also
a beautiful opportunity.
You know, intimacy is whetherit's sex or not.
We're in the business ofintimacy.
Whether it's physical intimacyor not, it's all the same thing.
You know what I?
So we want to have thatvulnerability and openness in
any scene we're doing.

(51:34):
So if we're taking off ourclothes or doing it, it's just
as more sensitive, I guess.

Robert Peterpaul (51:41):
Yeah, You're so right.
I mean, sometimes it's hard tojust be vulnerable and say hi to
somebody walking down the samepath as you.
When you're outside with astranger, you know so but it's
very, totally clear on whatwe're doing.

Tony Goldwyn (51:52):
What's, what are we, what are we trying to
accomplish here?
How are we doing and what arewe?
What are we doing?
And you know being sensitive topeople's sensitivities.

Robert Peterpaul (52:00):
I love that.
Boiling it down to the what isis a theme here, and I think
that's super helpful.
The last one I have is stamina.

Tony Goldwyn (52:28):
Um well, you need a lot of it.
It's really hard.
Working on a film andtelevision set is very hard and
for actors, particularly in film, we need to be ready and to be
present and fully in flow.
At a moment we may be waitingfor eight hours working, or
maybe like three in the morning,and you've got to be there.
So stamina is about taking careof yourself, learning how to
pace yourself, learning how notto burn yourself out before it's
time to you know, to keepyourself in this zone, in your
game zone, like an athlete, andit's the same thing.

(52:49):
Doing eight shows a week is nojoke, man.
Oh yeah, working in the theater, particularly in the musical
theater, is really hard, and inany, you know.
So making sure that you'recreate a rhythm and a routine to
eat well, get enough sleep,stay in shape, keep your voice
healthy, all of it so that whenit's curtain time, you are ready

(53:13):
to go and you are in your bestself.
Or when they say, roll thecamera, you are in your zone,
whether it's through meditation,physical exercise, you know,
prepare whatever you need to do,yeah, be like nothing is more
important than being able to go,I'm ready, so that when the
coach says okay, go in, you'reready to play.
You know the number of timesI've been off my center and I

(53:36):
didn't know why.
You know what I mean.
Or I stayed out too late ordidn't get enough sleep right,
was not concentrating, I waschit-chatting with somebody, or
I was not focused and I was likeI'm not.
I'm not.
You know it takes some, somework and some self-knowledge to
to to develop your own stamina.

Robert Peterpaul (53:54):
I'm glad you went into that.
I was going to ask you sort ofthe hows of that and I think
those were all wonderfulreminders.
So it's kind of like whateverworks for you, that's self-care.
I appreciate you sharing thatand I know we're running out of
time here so before we roll out,I would just appreciate if you
could share.
We always end with like a gotand a give, so these will be
some Goldwyn Nuggets I don'tknow why I keep saying that and

(54:16):
it's basically a piece of adviceyou got from someone in the
industry and then the best piecethat you have to give.
So we could start with the got.
What do you feel like the bestpiece of advice you got from
somebody?
Throughout this journey hasbeen?

Tony Goldwyn (54:29):
The best piece of advice I have gotten, which I've
quoted a billion times.
But when I was deciding to,trying to decide to be an actor,
I was terrified because Ididn't know if I had the ability
to do it.
My brother-in-law, who was avery brilliant jazz musician and
very successful, said to meTony, when I was your age, I had
the same thing and I knew if Icommitted 100% to my passion, I

(54:54):
would either achieve what Ithought I was going to achieve
or it would lead me to somethingthat I didn't even know.
But if I didn't commit ahundred percent to that thing
that was burning inside of me, Iwould always feel maybe I could
have done it and I don't wantto be that guy.
And that sustained me throughmany lean times and I was like,
well, I don't know if this isgoing to work, but I committed

(55:15):
to it.
So you know, I'm going to, Icommit, and I feel that way on
every project I do, becausethere's always moments where
you're like this isn't going towork, like what are we doing?
And I'm like, no, I just committo the process and I know if I
just commit, I will come out theother end, as opposed to
getting freaked out and bailingor getting too caught up in like
what if this doesn't happen, orwhat if that doesn't work, you

(55:35):
know?
So that was the best advice Iever got.

Robert Peterpaul (55:38):
Commit to the bet, and you've.
I love that and you've given somuch advice, but do you have
anything else?

Tony Goldwyn (55:43):
you would like to give.
I mean that was so genius.
But to give it's like.
This is a survivor's game.
Don't get caught up in likeit's got to happen.
I gotta be here now.
I gotta be like look at thatperson next to me, like my, my
peers, like gotten ahead andwhen I'm supposed to be at this

(56:04):
stage, at this point in mycareer, at 25 or whatever the
hell it is, or anywhere, it's asurvivor's game.
The goal is be like build abody of work and still be doing
it.
This is my.
My father used to say this youknow, like in your fifties, if
you're still doing your thing inyour fifties and you built,
then you're winning man.
You know, if you're winning 51%of the time, you're a rockstar.

(56:27):
So, um, you know, we can getvery, we can get very caught up
in thinking it's all supposed tobe happening on a certain
schedule, that we thought washow it was supposed to happen
and it's just not true.
And I know in my career justthink career-wise you know I had
those anxieties when I was inmy 20s and then those people who
surpassed me I then my careerway surpassed them and then 10

(56:50):
years later they then have somebreak, if they stay in the
business, like they're beingrediscovered.
And so now at my age, I workover and over again with these
people and we all started outtogether and we all have these
kind of really awesome, rich,interesting careers.
And what I really acknowledgeabout them and we acknowledge
about each other is not thatthey were the hot person at this

(57:12):
moment or that moment.
Look at the caliber of theirwork, look what they do.
I just love working with theseartists that I get to work with,
who I've known since we wereall kids.
And now I'm like I just loveDylan Baker's work, man, you
know, like Dylan and I startedout together and every time we
worked together I'm like you'reso great, it's so fun to
celebrate.

(57:32):
Or Kate Burton or any JeffPerry.
I mean all these people thatI've known forever or directors
that I've worked with.
There's so many people that Iknow.
You know that I celebrate whatis celebrated as the fabric of
their process and their artistry.
Not when they were, were notthe hot item when they were not
the hot item.

Robert Peterpaul (57:53):
I love that.
I also love that both of thepieces of advice you gave
stemmed from your family.
I think that probably speaks towho you are as a person.
You said both family members,which is really beautiful, and I
mean speaking of family.
If I don't just say this reallyquick before we go, my mom will
kill me, so could you just sayhi to my mom.

Tony Goldwyn (58:13):
Hi mom Sorry.

Robert Peterpaul (58:16):
She's like your biggest fan.
Okay, I usually I've actuallynever done that in an interview,
but I felt it was importanttoday.
But I appreciate you so much,tony.
I hope you stay you know,curious and kind, and I'm sure
you will.
It's great that we have a rolemodel in you to look up to
because, we need more of that, Ithink.
So I appreciate your opennessand thoughtfulness.
I could just see your gearsturning with every question that

(58:37):
you really wanted to help theactors listening, so thank you
on their behalf.

Tony Goldwyn (58:41):
Okay, great.
Well, it was great talking toyou, thank you Okay.