Episode 2 Once We Were beJeweled

Now, Jewel Staite stars in Family Law and enjoys making cooking videos for her YouTube channel. But once, she was the youngest cast member on Firefly… despite the fact that she’d already been a working actor for years. She was also once Canadian and – actually – that one still stands. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've done a lot of conventions, as you know, and
I know my sci fi fans, like if someone come
touch to me in the grocery store with their arms
out and is like, oh my god, Firefly fan, Firefly fan,
because they're expecting Kaylee.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Once We was Spacemen, man Man.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots
and things that don't have romance.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
I once didn't get a job where they were looking
for a Nathan Fillian type Once we were Spacemen.

Speaker 5 (00:42):
Once we were Spacemen.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
By way of intro, alan here we are. This is
episode two. Yes, we already did an episode just the
two of us.

Speaker 5 (00:52):
Yes, yes, this is.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Our second episode of Once we Were Spacemen. And this
one's special because we're union a guest, a former space person,
another another spaceman.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I would say the heart of our maiden space journey together?
Is this person the heart of that journey that was
on our ship?

Speaker 5 (01:17):
The serenity?

Speaker 4 (01:18):
If our guest was the heart, what did that make you?
Like a pancreas?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, I don't think it's like a mole that you
need to worry about.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
I think I did have a purpose more like pancreas.
I think you got it.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Pancreous, Yeah, not entirely useless, like a like a uvula.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
No, or like a like one of those subnumerary nipples
or is it subnumerary or I think was.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
The word I've never heard before.

Speaker 5 (01:50):
It it means an extra nipple. Well, you can say
third nipple. No, so I'm saying it wrong. It's I'm
just gonna, I'm gonna. I'm just gonna have to just
look this up real quick.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Extra nipple, alentitude, super numerary, supernumerary nipple.

Speaker 5 (02:06):
That's what I meant to say. Sounds like you're gifted
with that, you know, supernumerary. That's not a good. So
she was the heart of the ship.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
You're saying, yes, and she gives it, says suggests it's
one of the females, because you could have said that
Book was the heart.

Speaker 5 (02:26):
I think Book was the soul, Thank you very much.
Absolutely he was. He was the soul.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
What do you remember about the first time you met
our guest? Our first guest, What do you remember about
meeting her?

Speaker 5 (02:41):
She was sweet, She was sweet and funny. A lot
of people are sweet funny. That's rare. That's rarer.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
I also found her to be incredibly because she was young, right,
incredibly competent, incredibly not just in the job itself, because
a lot of child actors like kid young actors can
be I think there's people who cannot act, people who
can paint by numbers. Just tell them look, just go
go up at the end of the sentence and then

(03:13):
pause and then say this next bit. And they can
do that, don't look at the camera. And then there's
people who have a knack. And then there's people who
have an intrinsic understanding of what it is they're doing.
You couple that with experience, you couple that with they've
been in the business for decades, and you have someone

(03:34):
who is incomparable mm hmm. That's where I put you.
That's where I put our next guest.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
And you're in there too, because that's where you're putting us,
because when you put us in there, you have to
drag us in there yourself, so you're in there.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
I think I had a knack. I think I started
with a knack and then I got such incredible experience.
I gained an intrinsic understanding. I think you and I
think our next guest started with an intrinsic understanding.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
She was so young when she started. I can't believe.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
And I know that you've seen people like this who
started young, and it is a weird way to start.
You know, who we are as young people, and the
experience we have as young people really dictate a lot
of who we become as adults. Those experiences, and because
the business is so weird, it can arp some people
and people up.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, and she's not. She's not warped, not any weird way.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Kind of a fun way, but not in the way
that you think of when you think of like child actors.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
She's just fun.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
I'm realizing I'm trying to build some excitement and like
make it suspenseful, like who's gonna be, Who's it gonna be?
It's probably going to be right on the title of
this podcast. Without further ado, let's welcome our guest, So
Jewell state, let's start out with just you in general.

(04:53):
Are you surprised if people don't know you're Canadian? Do
people find out your Canadian?

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Go? Oh yeah, I think so. I mean, yeah, that's
a funny thing, isn't it. People are shocked and surprised
to find out.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
I'm so public about when I'm Canadian and people find
out I'm not Canadian.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Where you've been, you have all the ethnic markers on
your face. You wear it, you know, right, you look
Canadian the two of you.

Speaker 5 (05:15):
Now. I did a little google. Yes on Jewel.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
No, her heritage is a proper mix, a proper Canadian
mix of British, Irish and French, but also Iroquois Indian.

Speaker 6 (05:28):
Well it's Mayti.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
So my great grandmother was even better. Yeah, my great
grandmother was Mati. So there's that part of it over
there on my mom's side.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Okay, how did I never know this about you?

Speaker 6 (05:40):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
I don't know what is may te?

Speaker 1 (05:44):
May Ti is a mix of First Nations and French Canadian.

Speaker 5 (05:49):
Oh wow.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
So essentially it can mean ten percent First Nations or
it can mean fifty percent as long as you are
mixed with French Canadians.

Speaker 6 (05:58):
So that was my grandfather. There's mother. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:01):
They were the voyageurs that the pictures they see of
the Canadians canoeing across for the beaver trade, the fur trade.

Speaker 6 (06:08):
They're strong folk, yes.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Portaging their canoes. Yeah, portaging for you Americans? Do you
have a tattoo that commemorates your Maiti heritage. I feel
like I would.

Speaker 6 (06:18):
I I do not.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's one of those things where it feels not quite
my place to do so, only because I never got
to meet my great grandmother.

Speaker 6 (06:29):
My grandfather spent very little time with her. Unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
It was one of those very sad stories that a
lot of people don't know about Canada and its heritage.
Where he was taken from her when he was a
small child. Yeah, so he didn't really have much of
a relationship with her either, and he was raised in
a boys school, never really knew his mother. He was
separated from her at the age of six, I believe, so.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
The darker side of Canadian history.

Speaker 6 (06:54):
Yes, and was put into a school that whole very
sad history of Canada.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
So separated because of.

Speaker 6 (07:01):
Because of her her heritage.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
But yeah, it is a dark part of Canadian history.
But what a wonderful thing to learn. I had no idea.
I feel like, Yeah, I just feel like I would
have talked to you about it more had I known
that about you. I've known you. How long have we
known each other? Night, Well, we're talking. Firefly was two
thousand and two.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
Three.

Speaker 6 (07:21):
Oh no, Cosier, was it earlier than that.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
I know, I met you when I was nineteen and
I'm forty two, so it's been a long time.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
I was to understand there'd be no math today. I
was reading that as well, that you were nineteen when
you were doing Firefly. Yes, and kind of stunned that
you were so competent, not only at your job but
at life itself.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, I was the youngest. Everybody thought it was Summer,
but Summer was older than me. So I was the
youngest in the cash.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
She was thirty five. That's what a lot you was.

Speaker 6 (07:51):
Yes, Summer's in her seventies now, I believe.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
Yeah, looking very good, very sprung, very good. Yes, yeah,
it's the dancing everything better Toad.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (08:01):
Does being Canadian?

Speaker 4 (08:03):
Do you believe it brings anything to the table?

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (08:05):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
I mean what would it bring to the table? Do
you think? I just feel like it's not that big
of a deal. Does that make sense to you? And
especially in the in the industry, it's just sort of
like more of a pain in the ass to networks
than anything else, because you know, they need to make
sure you have your work visa and you're able to
do that show you just booked, But otherwise I don't

(08:28):
think it's really ever been a thing.

Speaker 6 (08:31):
Do you have you found that.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
I've always felt that there's a patience with Canadians that
when people say, oh, you're that makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
I suppose I wouldn't know any other way, only because
you know, I'm Canadian.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Been Yeah, as an American, there's a generosity that it's
not to say that Americans aren't generous, but there's a
just sort of an overwhelming blanket generosity that you can
just sort of attribute to Canadians.

Speaker 5 (08:58):
That's nice to hearing kindness. Hmm. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
That was something that was brought to my attention that
Americans refer to themselves as Americans, but in South America
they find that offensive.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
Oh oh really, they.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Say, we're all Americans, We're South Americans, you're North Americans.
When you say where you're from, I'm American, they say, yeah,
that doesn't tell me anything, right, you're from.

Speaker 5 (09:21):
The States, right. So it's that's how they differentiate, right.
I didn't know.

Speaker 6 (09:26):
That's interesting.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
Yeah, I got caught with that. Your family you're married, Yes, Charlie,
he's really good.

Speaker 5 (09:34):
Yeah, Charlie is your husband.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yes, he's the best. Yeah, he's just like he's just
a normal dude.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
You know, you guys live out of town. We do, yes,
on a beautiful patch of land. Oh, really close to water.
How much land.

Speaker 6 (09:50):
We're closest to water? We don't have.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
We don't have a lot of land here, but we
have access to land on Galiano Island, which is where
my mother in law lives full time. She has the
insane beach house that we spend a fair amount of
time at. My son's favorite place in the world. So
we're close to the water here where we are. But
we're water people. We like to go boating, we love
to fish. We love to be near the water.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
I heard you not mentioned swimming. Is that because the
water is so it is you don't want.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
To go you want to go in there? No, No,
I'm not that Canadian. My husband would, Charlie Wood, you'd
go for swim But I know there's people that go
up there, not I not. I Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Now, which brings us to Wilder. It's it's his favorite
place in the world. Is he an outdoors Wilder.

Speaker 5 (10:36):
Is your other husband?

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yes, yes, yes, Legamy happening there Canadian.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
And a polygamist or is this actually your son? Yes,
he's our nine year old, so Wilder.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
Named him Wilder. Yes. Do you feel like that was.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Giving him license to be wow? Or you just felt
that's who he was, that's his spirit.

Speaker 6 (11:06):
I felt like that was his spirit.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
We had a list of names and that one felt right,
so we settled on that very quickly, and it suits him.
He's a very expressive wild child and I love that
about him.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
Very smart, very funny.

Speaker 5 (11:24):
He entertains you. You have a quirky sense of.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Humor, he has my sense of humor, and yeah, it's
and he has lots of things. He looks a lot
like his dad, but he is very much my personality.
So I always say it's like arguing into a mirror,
you know, when.

Speaker 5 (11:40):
I get into it with him, you're experiencing.

Speaker 6 (11:43):
Yes, I'm like, is this what I like? And Charlie's like, yes,
this is what you're like.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
So that was my next question was who does he
take after? So it's a little is it a little
combination though a little bit.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
I mean, he just he loves his dad, so he
always wants to be doing what his dad is doing.
And you know, Charlie's very out so he loves to
follow his dad around and learn all of those things.

Speaker 6 (12:03):
But he's also Wilder's very artistic.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
And very dramatic and hilarious, and Charlie is quite shy
and reserved. I think Wilder is definitely more or his
mama's side.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
Where is easy.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
I want to be a fireman? Is he looking at you?
Who think I want to be an actor?

Speaker 1 (12:20):
He never did until recently. He's starting to be curious
about that world and that life. He can be quite
shy when he first meets someone, so being on stage
isn't necessarily his you know. I don't know if it's
his thing yet or not. I remember being very shy
at that age too, so maybe he'll grow out of that.

(12:41):
He definitely has it in him. He's He's a natural,
which really scares me.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
If he was to like say, yeah, I want to
be an actor, you'd be like.

Speaker 5 (12:52):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
I think I would nurture that in some way, but
I don't think i'd be running out to get him
an agent and throw him on set. I grew up
that way, and I'm very grateful for the life that
I have, And I know a lot of that is
because of the hard work I did when I was
a kid, and I developed a reputation when I was
a kid as being a hard worker, and I kept working,
thank God, because of that. But it's a strange life

(13:17):
when you're growing up on a set and you miss
out on a lot of things.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Let's talk about that per second, but before we do,
I just want to ask one quick question.

Speaker 5 (13:27):
Does Wilder know who we are?

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yes? Well, he knows you as mom's friends, right like
he knows that. And you know, when he was a baby,
I don't know if you guys remember, I would take
him to conventions because I didn't want to be separated
from my baby.

Speaker 6 (13:41):
So sure, everywhere I went, the baby.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Went and he would be around us at the signing tables,
and you know, knew you in that way. So he's
pictures and knows you that way. But he's never seen
Firefly because I don't think he's ready for that yet.
He doesn't really know who.

Speaker 6 (13:57):
Anybody is in terms of like celebrity.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
Understand, we'll fix that, Alan, We'll get on.

Speaker 5 (14:03):
Yeah, does he know Disney?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yes, well, he knows Okay, so he knows he knows
Alan is the voice of everything.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
He knows everything.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, yeah, that's fair and yeah and yeah, and he
thinks he thinks that's very interesting, like that side of
things where he's like, how do I become back?

Speaker 5 (14:19):
Well, if he ever wants a lesson.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
Oh, I'm sure he would be delighted.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
Now back to let's talk about because you were talking
about how that was your life and your style.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
Thing. We're a kid.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
You were five or six when you were discovered in
a shopping mall five yeah, about five? And I okay, yeah,
discovered it? What you've done doing?

Speaker 5 (14:39):
What setting some on fire?

Speaker 6 (14:41):
Because yeah, shoplifting?

Speaker 5 (14:44):
No, I was discovered shoplift.

Speaker 6 (14:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
I was walking with my mom and an agent was
there scouting and came up and said, would your daughter
be interested in auditioning and that kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
So I booked a commercial around that time, and it
was a very serious commercial about, you know, the environment.
So I did that, and then I sort of started
doing TV movies because I was one of those kids
that could cry on cue. So I just booked all
those jobs right where I was like, mommy hurt me
or whatever. Oh boy named the celebrity of the week. Yeah,

(15:19):
So I did a lot of that stuff, and it
just kept happening. You know, I just kept booking work,
so I stayed in the business. And that's just sort
of all there was to it. It just kind of
followed me, and I followed it.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Just perspective.

Speaker 6 (15:33):
What year was that, Oh my god, I don't know.
I mean, I was born in.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Eighty two, so eighty seven eighty eight is when I
started to book work.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
So when I was in high school, you were already
a professional actor.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
Well, yeah, I guess.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
So, just just.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
To be I just want to be clear, because I
do remember this about Firefly. Was when I met you
and I learned how long you've been doing it, I
kind of think.

Speaker 5 (16:03):
Yeah, there's been a it's a hard business.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, did you coffee and your cigarettes?

Speaker 5 (16:10):
I think I remember floor.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
I think I remember being like, you know, when they
put us on Friday nights at eight, they gave us
our time slot, and I remember being like, to kiss
the death guys, you see you?

Speaker 5 (16:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (16:19):
Yeah, And I was the only one who knew it,
but I knew. I was like, well, right, working with you, we're.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
Out and here's here's me first kind of my kind
of almost my not first time in pride time, but
right there.

Speaker 5 (16:31):
I was like, what, what's wrong? What's wrong? Everything exactly?

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Only after work on Fridays and they turn on their
TV and now where they don't go out, no.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
Time to be on.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Now what does that do? You're a kid, you attend
school normally?

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Imagine no, I Well, I did elementary school for the
most part normally, so I didn't miss much of it.
I did kindergarten to seventh grade mostly in school, give
or take a few months here and there. The longest
chunk of time I left for was in the seventh grade,
I believe, and we left for six months. I had

(17:10):
to go to Montreal to shoot a series, so I
missed a fair amount of school. I had a tutor
on set to help me, and then after that I
just kept booking. So grade eight, nine, ten was with
a tutor on set. And then I had a little
break and I was dying to go to school. I
wanted to go to high school because all of my

(17:30):
friends from elementary school, and I grew up in the
West End in Vancouver, it's a very small pool of kids.
All of my friends went to high school and they
had all their stories and their you know, cleaqued some
parties and proms and whatever, and I was missing all
of that.

Speaker 6 (17:45):
So I was dying to go.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
So I enrolled in eleventh grade. I went to school
for a few months, and then I booked another show,
and I like, what does that.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Do to the relationships of a young woman in junior high?
You know what with kids who are looking at you, going,
I'm not going to know a real job for a
decade and you've been doing it for a day.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
I was always that kid, right, I was always that
weird kid who worked and disappeared for a while. And
I grew up with the same kids. I mean, there
are a few people from elementary school that are still
my very, very best friends. So we stayed friends and
they understood and kind of kept being my friend. Which

(18:29):
was so nice to come home after being away for
months and have your friends still there waiting for you.
So it wasn't so bad. It was just different. And
I liked what I did. I liked working, and I
was having a lot of fun and I was living
this amazing life. So it's not like I was sad

(18:51):
about the stuff I was missing out on.

Speaker 6 (18:53):
It was just different.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Since your relationships in school you were seeing, you know,
the people that you met in school, you had such
a short.

Speaker 5 (19:00):
Time with them.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Did you find in your high school years you had
to be a fast woman, you had to make the
most of a short amount of time.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
Well kind of yeah.

Speaker 5 (19:11):
There, Yeah, take me to problem.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Basically, it was, you know, I was trying to be
all of the things right, and I have a tendency
of doing that now. I try to be all of
the things until I just sort of exhaust myself and
then realize you can't be all of the things.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
That'll slow down. That'll slow down with age.

Speaker 6 (19:28):
Yeah, yeah, I hope.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
So I'm definitely better now than I was a few
years ago.

Speaker 6 (19:32):
Like I've learned a lot in the last like five
or six years.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
You know, what it means to be a mom and
what it means to work at the same time and
all that.

Speaker 6 (19:39):
That's like a totally other that's a different story.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
But yeah, I think more than anything, you know, getting
back to whether while they would want to be in
the business or not, the only thing that would concern
me is that there would be things that he would
want to do as a regular kid that would be
disrupted if he were, Yeah, start working. And I can
see in him that he likes to do those things.

(20:05):
He likes to be a part of a soccer team,
he likes to be around his friends and go to
sleepovers and do all that stuff. Whereas it wasn't that
important to me back then, but I can see that
it's important to him, and I don't want you to
have to sacrifice those things to be on set for
twelve hours.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
That's the word I was just about to use. Was
it sounds like there was sacrifice in your choice at profession?

Speaker 6 (20:28):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (20:29):
Yes, Where does Vancouver Film School fit in?

Speaker 1 (20:32):
I've never really spent a lot of time at Vancouver
Film School. I did a lot of classes with really
amazing teachers, scene study and things like that when I
was when I was a kid, But again, it got
to the point where I was just learning on set.
I didn't really have time to commit to anything other
than work. I mean, you guys know what it's like

(20:53):
when you shoot a show that's all you're doing for
six months. You know, it's just like so all encompassing
that I just didn't really have the space to commit
to anything else.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
If you could go back to Vancouver Film School as
a guest lecturer, what would you say, Hey, guys, here's
the part they're missing. Here's the part they should be
telling me that you're going to need.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Okay, well, the reality of how difficult this is.

Speaker 6 (21:20):
I mean no, but like a lot of people have stars.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
In their eyes when they consider getting into this business.
It's glamor and exciting and all of the opportunities and
you get to take your pick, and it's just quite
simply not the way it is. So I think, if anything,
I would want to educate people on what it feels
like to have downtime and how you get through having downtime,

(21:48):
and how you keep your confidence up and how you
get through the hard parts, because I feel there are
more hard parts in this business than there are the highs,
don't you think.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Alan, Yes, yeah, this business it's interesting. This business is
so many can be so many things to so many people.
You can have so many different experiences within the business.
You know that I was just being told something about
a star, you know, in the makeup trailer and making
trailer here a lot of a lot of gos, a
lot of hot gas, and so the people that you're

(22:23):
working with are coming off of another project and they're
about to go to another project and so they if
someone was a diva or a complicated, problematic actor and
they're annoyed, they'll tell you about it. So I heard
all these stories about this one Oscar winning person behaving
in a way that I don't know anybody behaving, nor anybody.

Speaker 5 (22:46):
Who could behave that way.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
But because they are have had success back in the
nineties in once some oscars more than one, they are
now capable of coming onto a show for just a
short amount of time and turning it on its head, stealing.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Things like whoa crazy stuff?

Speaker 4 (23:08):
Man?

Speaker 5 (23:09):
These were crazy things.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
And why am I not saying this person's name because
it's not good to say these people's names, because maybe
one day I want to work with crazy.

Speaker 5 (23:18):
You don't know, because you're in one of those down times.
It's just such a.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
You know, so interesting, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
I've always felt that celebrity or success in gen let's
just school with success. It's kind of like alcohol in
that it'll just turn you into more of what you
already are.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
I love that stuff. Hollywood Secrets.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
That's that's very true. That's very true. Unfortunately, Yes, no.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
Having started so early, Jule, there's people you worked with
in the beginning of your career, you started with maybe
maybe you knew someone your age that you were working with.
Is there anyone that you started out with or that
was in the industry when you started, who is still
in the indust Oh, yeah, you've outlasted a lot of people,
I have.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
But there are quite a few. Yes, I mean, there
was a whole group of kids. I remember living in
la during a pilot season, staying at Oakwood Apartments. Oh yes, everybody.
I mean, you know, the Home Improvement Boys were there,
and Jessica bial was there, and she was so nice,
and she was one of the good kids. And we
were all very bad, very very badly behaved, but she

(24:26):
was so so sweet. But yeah, I mean there were
so many kids around that time, you know, the Disney
Channel kids that were either being guided or misguided. And
I had a very strict mother who wanted me to
have fun and wanted me to get into the good
kind of trouble and all that. But she was strict,

(24:48):
and she was strict in the way where she would
not withstand any diva behavior from me.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Oh wow, it was.

Speaker 6 (24:56):
It was quite simply not acceptable.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
The opposite of a mometer.

Speaker 5 (25:02):
Yes, she she a mometer.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
You know, like a mom manager, a mom manager who
will go out there and typically you describe that person
as someone who will destroy their child's career because they
are so demanding and.

Speaker 6 (25:16):
Like guys like I've seen. We saw that.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
We saw a lot of that, and it was so
crazy to see. And my mom would go, oh my god,
this kid, this poor kid, and we would watch this
happen and it was so sad and sort of just
the real side of the business, you know, rearing its
ugly head all the time, and these parents just encouraging

(25:41):
their kids to kind of do the wrong thing as
long as it made them more famous maybe, or I
don't know.

Speaker 6 (25:48):
It was just it was all so weird. And she
had a panic moment.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
I remember I was like fifteen or sixteen, and I'd
just come off at Disney Show and she had a
panic moment where she.

Speaker 6 (25:56):
Was like, we got to get we got to get
out of here, we got to go home. This is
not good.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
We did, and we packed up, and you know, my
agent said, aren't you going to stay for the next
pilot season? She said, we are not. We are not
going to stay. We're going home. And we went home
and I booked a sweet little Canadian show and did
that for a while and stayed focused and you know,
had my party days for sure, but did not go
off the rails.

Speaker 5 (26:20):
Was that hard for you to go back? And not?

Speaker 1 (26:22):
No, no, not at all. I had had it at
that point. I think it was all just too much.
It was all so crazy. And you know, it was
a whole bunch of people in and around my age
living and breathing the business and living and breathing every audition,
and all that anybody wanted to talk about was was
work and the next show and did you book that thing?

(26:43):
And I hope you know, we read with me this
thing and it was like so oversaturated in my world
that it was unhealthy, Like I'd forgotten. I was starting
to forget how to be a person and how to
you know, prioritize other things in life other than you know,
being in teen People magazine.

Speaker 6 (27:02):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (27:03):
I love that your mom did that.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
I love that she recognized, oh yeah, the bubble that exists,
yeah yeah, for the.

Speaker 6 (27:10):
Industry here, yeah, and there there was that.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
It was it was kind of coming to that point
where like there was a path that was about to
be presented where I could have gone this way, I
could have gone that way, and she was she was
getting scared that I was around people that were going
that way on that path, and she didn't want me
going that way, so she took me home.

Speaker 5 (27:31):
When did you know you made it?

Speaker 1 (27:33):
I mean I had a moment when I was like
fourteen fifteen. I did the show called flash Forward on
the Disney Channel and it was a little bit of
a hit, and I remember a lot of kids following
me around in the mall or whatever. Like there was
that period of time where I was like, oh, this
is weird. But as an adult, Firefly was the one
that propelled me into a different kind of level, meaning

(27:53):
that I didn't necessarily always have to audition. Sometimes offers
came to me. I felt like, I find Lee was
considered a bit of a name, you know, Like I
remember a long time would I would audition for something
and they'd say it's going to a name.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
It's not going to you, it's going to a name,
and I would go.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
I tell you the name. You say, I've never heard
of them.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, But you know, at that point I was like, oh,
maybe maybe this has done something. And then I started
getting other jobs because of Firefly, because the producers are
like Stargate for instance, Right, Stargate came along and I
booked a series lead because because it just so happened
that some of the writers and producers were fans of Firefly. Right,
So like flight did something for me that to this day.

Speaker 5 (28:38):
It brought some riots.

Speaker 6 (28:39):
Absolutely that still lingers.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
And it opened sci fi doors. Yes, yes, and those
doors open like this.

Speaker 6 (28:47):
Very good.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
It's a really cool door. Yeah, it's true. Sometimes it's up.
Sometimes it's yeah in the middle there very big and
they or if it's Firefly, Yeah, Stargate door was cool
one too.

Speaker 6 (29:00):
It was opened very fast.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
What is the difference between a sci fi fan? Oh
and a fan of Family Law?

Speaker 6 (29:11):
Oh, big difference, big, big difference.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
I've done a lot of conventions, as you know, and
I know my sci fi fans. I know a Stargate fan,
and I know a Firefly fan, and I know a
Supernatural fan, and I can pick them in a moon.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
They are Wow.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
There are different people, and they're all wonderful in their
own ways, but they're they're all just they're all.

Speaker 6 (29:36):
Kind of they're different.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's very rare that I meet a Stargate slash Firefly
Fan really all in one.

Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yeah, yeah, I feel like they're two totally different shows. Yeah,
they really are.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
So family law fans are people in their usually people
in their fifties and sixties and seventies, so.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
I'm basically okay, yeah, demographic.

Speaker 6 (30:02):
I see them at the grocery store.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
They are hilarious and really fun to talk to because
they are very into the show and are very very sweet.
And I also play someone kind of scary on the show,
so they're sort of intimidated by me, which is also
really interesting. Like if someone comes up to me in
the grocery store with their arms out and is like,
oh my god, Firefly fan, Firefly fan, because they're expecting

(30:28):
Kayley right right.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
If it's a family, like if they're pulling their kids away, yes, a.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Family off fan comes up like kind of frightened, doesn't
know what I'm going to say, Yes, hands up for defense.

Speaker 6 (30:41):
Yeah, it's it's funny. It's very funny.

Speaker 5 (30:43):
Now.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
I think the impression that most people have of our
industry is that we have our pick and choose of
what we're going to do next. Are you going to
do more sci fi? Are you going to do more
like you pick, like you have, But that's not really
the case. It's more opportunities open up in front of
you if you had, if you could pick, would you bolt.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
Back to sci fi?

Speaker 1 (31:05):
I mean, I really like doing sci fi, and I
feel like it's been a long time since I've done
something like that. It's a fantastical world. You really get
to do wild and crazy things that you wouldn't normally
get to do in a procedural, you know, like family law.
So I miss it when I haven't done it in
a while. But I mean, like you said, it's not

(31:27):
like a lot of us can pick and choose. I
say that Firefly was the show that changed things for me,
but that's not to say I haven't had to fight
tooth and nail for all kinds of jobs since then,
And lots of jobs don't go my way all the time.
I mean, the other day I was, you know, my
son who really just knows how to put it toay,
I didn't book this thing, and I was upset about it.

Speaker 6 (31:48):
I really wanted it.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
It was one of those ones where I just I
wanted it too hard and it's annoying and I and
I said, I said, you know. Sorry, I'm just having
a little bit of a day because I found out
that somebody else but that job, and I'm frustrated and
I'm a little sad about it. And my son goes, okay,
i'll give you some space. Comes back about half an
hour layer and he gives me this big hug and
he says, I'm sorry you didn't book that job, Mama,

(32:12):
And I go, thank you, honey, and he goes.

Speaker 6 (32:14):
But to be fair, you haven't booked a lot of jobs,
can I go?

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Oh, he's right, and he's seen this happen many times,
so in his mind, what he was saying was it's
just another job.

Speaker 6 (32:31):
It's just another day, don't worry about it.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
But it just it's a little brutal.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
The honesty is a little brutal, especially when it's presented
with to be fair.

Speaker 6 (32:40):
To be fair?

Speaker 5 (32:41):
Yeah, how old is he using that phrase?

Speaker 1 (32:44):
There's a lot of phrases he uses that our mind,
like to be fair as one. And then I'm in
hot water is another one. He came on with that
one the other day where he was like, so I'm
a bit of a hot water at school, and I'm like,
oh my god.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
Listen, mom, I'm not gonna lie. You're great, but.

Speaker 6 (32:58):
Yeah, very funny, but yeah, so, I mean, you know it,
just it.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
There are opportunities that come your way, sometimes magically, that
are amazing and perfect, a perfect fit in your life
for that moment, and how wonderful is that? And then
there are other opportunities that you have to chase and
prove that you're the right person for the job.

Speaker 6 (33:18):
And I don't know.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
I mean, I think there's like one percent in the
industry where that don't have to worry about doing that.
But I'm not in that one percent. And you know,
I fight for it. I fight for what I want
and sometimes it goes my way.

Speaker 5 (33:29):
I'm not I'm not in that one percent either. Nathan.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
I once didn't get a job where they were looking
for a Nathan Fillian type.

Speaker 6 (33:40):
I remember that. I remember, I remember reading that write
down that.

Speaker 5 (33:44):
Is soul crushing for an adult diaper's commercial. You didn't
want that thing anyway.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
They said, Nathan Filian type. Right right, you're right, And
I'm the type to load my drawers not to that
about getting jobs and how they come about. You are
in the industry for decades. You're not a stranger to
lead roles. But now suddenly here's a project with you
are the lead family law. How did that come about?

Speaker 1 (34:12):
I had had my kid and I'd done a couple
jobs away from him and had the sads the entire time,
and I thought, Okay, so I don't want that. I
don't want a job that's going to take me away
from him for too long, tough life.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
You know.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
It's just it's too It's not worth it, it's not
worth the sacrifice. I can't do it. A lot of
people can, and kudos to them, but I am miserable
when I'm away from him, and that I know. So
I thought, I need to find something that will keep
me in BC so he can go to school and
he can have his life and I can work, and
wouldn't that be great? So I held out for a while,

(34:50):
waiting for this magical job to come along. And then
it came along and I read the script. I was
in Mexico, We're on vacation, and I read the script
and I thought, oh my god, this is it, this
is it, this is it. And I have that feeling
come up, which I hate, that feeling of like, oh,
I actually really want this one, I really care and
I was like, were.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
They saying, were they saying, are you interested? Or were
they saying we're interested in you.

Speaker 6 (35:10):
They're saying you can audition for this like everybody else.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
So I read it and it was a complicated audition
with lots of law jargon, and so we taped it
in Mexico against the hotel room wall.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
On a topless beach, which I thought was at first
was alan.

Speaker 6 (35:25):
I think that's why I booked it, because I was topless.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
So I sent the tape in and I made it
to the next stage, and I went in again, and
I met the producers and the showrunner, and she and
I had a moment where we just clicked. I don't know,
she's so she's one of those people that we'll be
friends for life. But it was the first time you'd
ever audition for them. Yes, wow, and yeah. And then

(35:50):
I tested. After that, I was the only one testing,
which felt good, took away some of the nerves, but
as you know, testing is hard. And I read with
a bunch of other actors who were to play the
siblings in the show, and then they called and offered
it to me, and everything everything I wanted came true
and fell into place and cool.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
I think one of your strong points is it makes
perfect sense to me. You're in the room and you
click with people. I think that's probably one of your
strengths being in the room. They get to see.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
What are you like? Who are you?

Speaker 4 (36:21):
What is this person going to be like to work with?
This job could potentially be years. Who are we getting
into bed with?

Speaker 6 (36:28):
Totally?

Speaker 1 (36:29):
I always say it's like buying a house right for
the for the creatives, for the producers to commit to
you for that long as a series lead, they're taking
a big risk. I mean it's it's buying a house. Basically,
you are committed to this person and you better hope
you made the right choice.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
They better have good plumbing. How did you enjoy Family?

Speaker 1 (36:49):
I loved it first still it is. We shot four
seasons of it. I will say that when we did Firefly,
it was very, very spac There was something about it
from the very beginning, and I know we can all
agree that it just felt different from anything else. It
felt like the relationships that we made were relationships friendships

(37:11):
we were going to have for life, and it really
just we knew in our heart that it was different
and it was something to cherish and to appreciate what
we had it. I hadn't had anything like that that
felt that right, that magical since then and family Law

(37:32):
came along and I met these people and we clicked
in a way where I realized that no matter what
happened with the show, I would love them forever, and
I would take care of them and I would be
family to them forever. And that's what I was going
to take away from the show. So no matter what happened,
we had that, and it was totally magical from day one.

(37:56):
We laughed every day all day and were there for
each other and shared the workload very well. I was
the number one, but I had people around me who
were willing to pick up the slack and help me
and support me in a way that I needed. And
it was this crazy experience of growth and figuring out

(38:18):
how to balance my life as a mom and as
a wife and as an actor and all of those things.
It was like, you know, an invaluable experience that I'm
just I can't believe came to me, and I will
always be grateful for it.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Being a number one, it can is a heavy worklook,
especially in the beginning, because you have to establish you
establishing the show?

Speaker 5 (38:40):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (38:40):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (38:41):
What else is different about the difference between being on
a show or being the number one? You know, like,
what are the different responsibilities that you discover you recommend?

Speaker 1 (38:51):
I had seen many number ones in action. I've done
a lot of TV, and I'd experienced all different types
of number ones.

Speaker 5 (39:01):
I can imagine.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
I've experienced some shitt in number ones where I'm like, wow,
you just hate life? What's going on here?

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Right?

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Like you know those ones where you're like, are you
like you're so miserable? Maybe you should quit the business
and go live on a deserted island because you just
don't want to be here and everybody else can sense it,
and you're creating a terrible atmosphere. Please stop. So I've
seen that. I've seen ones that are really grandiose, which
I think are absolutely hilarious, you know, the super diva
types where you know, I just sit back.

Speaker 6 (39:31):
And go look at her.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Go.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
And then I've seen ones that are that are super
fun and really generous, and you know, like Nathan's heard
me do.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
This before, but I'm going to do it again. I
don't care. You are just you're such a fun.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Number one, and I remember being that nineteen year old
kid and watching you work your ass off and then
at the same time try your best to make it
the most fun.

Speaker 6 (40:01):
Said it could possibly be.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
You made people laugh all the time, you made fun
of yourself, and you created this vibe. It was just
a vibe that felt inclusive and relaxed.

Speaker 6 (40:16):
And you taught me something.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
You said, if you have everybody there feeling comfortable enough
to do their best, that's when the magic happens. Because
people let go of their nerves. They let go of
this like I don't know, feeling like the new kid
and feeling scared. They let go of all of that,
and then they're able to relax enough to do their

(40:40):
best work. And I thought, I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do that one day. And then family
law came around. I went, Okay, here's the opportunity. Because
these people seem great, they seem cool, no one's weird,
no one's weird in this cast. I think this could
be something really great if we set the precedent right away.
So I did, and I said, I want to have fun.
I want everybody feel supported. I want every single guest

(41:02):
star that comes on this show to feel relaxed and
to feel at home. I don't want any bullshit, and
as soon as anybody sniffs an anything like that, I
want you to tell me because I'm going to put
a stop to it. So we had a no drama
zone on set. No drama uh allowed, and.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
It stayed that way.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
And I was lucky in that I had a cast
that felt the same way and nobody wanted that. So
it was just a good time. But I'll tell you what.
I'll tell you it's so tiring. But I think you
know at the beginning, I remember you saying to me,
it takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot
of energy, and you're going to feel burnt out, and
you know, just make sure you don't burn out, basically,

(41:42):
and that was so true. I really didn't know how
much energy it took to a do my job, as in,
play the role and learn all those lines and work
every day all day, twelve plus hours a day, five
days a week, and then go home and be this
mom and be a wife and like it's insane, and

(42:04):
then also be a really nice person, like have the
energy to treat everybody still with kindness and respect and
all those things, even when you're totally entirely exhausted and
you don't feel like having a conversation, Like all you
want to do is just shut your eyes or bar
yourself into a book. You have to be you still
have to be that welcoming person to the guest star
who's there on their first day, do you know what

(42:24):
I mean?

Speaker 4 (42:24):
Yeah, that's something I have never experienced as in any
number one situation is going home and having another full
time job of being a mom, being a parent, having
to have that energy, dude, and that focus.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
It's like that that that first season nearly killed me
because my kid was four and he was nuts. Like
I would come home and Charlie looked like he'd been
to war, okay, and like Charlie runs a company and
so he it's not like he wasn't working, Like.

Speaker 6 (42:55):
He would work all day.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
He would go get that kid and bring him home
and deal with insaney and like I'd come home and
there'd be like a burnt meal in the frying kind
of you know, and like the house would be destroyed,
and Charlie would just be looking at me like pleadingly
for help. So I would I would step in and
help and like there was no break. I had no break.

(43:20):
And then I realized, oh, like, I'm starting to fatigue
and I can't run on this level forever.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
This is where do you go?

Speaker 1 (43:31):
Well, basically what happened was I got through that first
season because I was like, finish line, finish line, just
go to the finish line.

Speaker 6 (43:38):
So I did.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
And after that first season, I was like, WHOA, that
can't happen again. That was too much. How do I
figure out a way to balance this? How do I
be all of the things to everybody? So season two
I spent the entire time trying to figure out how
to be all the things to everybody again, which was
a mistake. And then by season three I realized there
had to be less of a workload somewhere, So how

(44:02):
do I do that? And so my producers and all
the writers are so wonderful and amazing, we just figured
out ways to give me a day off here and there.
Cool So basically every other week I would have one
day off and I knew that was coming, and that was,
you know, going to be my day with my family
or what or we're sleeping, you know, whatever the hell

(44:24):
it is that I needed to do. And I had
to learn to listen to myself and figure out what
it is that I needed and not feel.

Speaker 6 (44:31):
Guilty about it. But those first couple of years were
a grind for sure.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
The first couple of years. You can't say no, you
have no There's a part of it is I have
to establish something here, I have to build a foundation. Yeah, Alan,
similar situations. I mean, you have all these things going
except for being a people pleaser.

Speaker 5 (44:51):
I definitely I have you as a role model in
number one ing.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
It's funny, there was a you know, back when we
did firefl Nathan always has a camera. You've always had
a camera. The digital cameras. Whenever they came out, you'd
be like, hey, check out this new camera. Look how
little it is. And it gets three pixels or two pixels,
and it's like, you know, whatever the whatever the edge was,
you were, you were already there the cutting edge. So
I had all these pictures that were some that I

(45:18):
had taken on set, and then also that you had taken.
You'd shared them with me, and remember showing them to
a friend and they were looking through them and there's
one of you jewel. You've probably seen it where you're
in your trailer door. You're like in shorts and you're smiling.
And my friend saw this and they're like, my god,
look at how these people look at you.

Speaker 5 (45:39):
They love you.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
It's like, no, no, no, that's Nathan. No, yeah, this one,
this one looks a little scared. That's that was me.

Speaker 5 (45:51):
That was me. That was me, that was this one's
a little annoying. Yeah that was me. No.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
But but they did say that about about you, because
every picture that Nathan took, the people were like, ah,
there you are, Hey, there's my guy.

Speaker 6 (46:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
I think that was our natural state on Firefly, our jewels,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yeah, but yeah, you had a lot to do with
that from the very beginning, saying all right, that guy's
name is Tom, that guy's name is Alan. Whoever learns
the entire crew's names first wins, and I'm already wines.
And so we started learning the crew's name and that
was a huge thing for the whole We all got
together as a group, as a crew as we were

(46:30):
one thing. You know, people appreciate that you notice them.
I think a lot of Yes, you can get caught
up in your own department.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
I'm gonna give you guys a new one. That you
can try out so you'll know your crew, and then
there'll be a new face that you don't recognize. You
walk over and you say, oh, hi, I don't know
you yet. My name is Nathan.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
You are.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
They'll tell you their name, Sane, what are you doing
for us today? And they say, oh, I'm the new
second camera assistant. Oh that's wonderful, great, welcome. We're so
happy to have you. Then turn around to everybody and say, everybody,
new guy, look at me right in the eyes, Matt
right here, And then everybody and the.

Speaker 5 (47:03):
Crew goes, oh, sorry, Matt, that was great.

Speaker 4 (47:05):
Remember Matt, Remember he used to work here, and they'll
let's shuffle him off.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
It's kind of a kind of a hazing we do.
Have you ever had this?

Speaker 4 (47:16):
It's only funny though, when everybody goes, oh have you
ever gotten on a sorry sir, Hey, hey, new guy,
my name is Nathan, and you are.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
They go, I've been working here for two years. I'm
not saying that's happened to me, but not ring my
bell for two years. Oh god, Now my experience is
a little different.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
This show's the first season especially, I did get that,
you know, I was really part of you know, pushing
the show and in the face of the show and
all of that.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
But it's changed. It's much more of a group.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
The creator of the show, Chris Sheridan, has always said
he wants it to be an ensemble show. He doesn't
want it to be Resident Alien just about an alien.
It wants it to be about a town of people
that an alien happens to live in. And so I
work very little this season. And it's not because I've

(48:15):
asked for the time off. It's just not in the show.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
So Allan, you're the kind of you are the actor
who looks at something and goes, this is good, but
you know what's better. You see the opportunity for quality
right to go up, and then you cannot rest until
that quality.

Speaker 5 (48:33):
And Chris has been great about that. I mean, I
can't not do it.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
I can't go do a scene that I'm like, if okay,
just if I said my line first, then you said
your line.

Speaker 5 (48:44):
That's a funnier delivery of what would happen here.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Or if we put in this device there's a comedy
device we can if we put the idea here because
it's sci fi comedy, so much fun, so much fun.
To write because I go to that you can make
your own rubles exactly, and because it's a comedy. I
was just working with Edie Patterson who plays the bird
the Love of my Life, and you may know her

(49:09):
from Vice Principles. It was on HBO and then she's
also now on the other Dannamy Bride.

Speaker 5 (49:14):
Show, the show Allan is thinking of as the Righteous Gemstones.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
The Righteous Gemstones. Yes, we had to make out and
I saw that.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Yeah, right, we were spitting in each other's mouths at
one point. It was insane.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
It was.

Speaker 5 (49:35):
Over the top. And then you took it off.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Yeah, it says they kiss it gets out of control,
was the only thing that said in the script. And
I said, yeah, well, let me just tell you in
one of the takes, I would love it if you
because she had these sunflower seeds that she was eating
because she's a bird, she's a bird alien, but she
was in her human form as she had these some
flower seeds she was eating, and I said, at some point,
could you just eat a bunch of sunflower seeds and

(49:58):
then just regurgitate them in in my mouth? She goes,
got it. I know which level you're ready for. So
it became the most crazy thing, and we did it again.

Speaker 5 (50:07):
But yeah, so sci fi has a lot of fun
to write for sci fi's I enjoy it. It's right
up my alley.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
It can become very broad but also become grounded again,
and the show allows that. I'm choosing to take what
I learned from it, you know, I am getting to write.
I do have a different satisfaction when I'm watching the show.
I'll the go my line, my line, Yeah, you know
that that aren't I don't even know if the cast
knows that some of their lines are my lines.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
Hey, if you guys are listening.

Speaker 4 (50:39):
Hollywood Secrets, Juell, we talked about your sense of responsibility
to how things run, but now we're talking about story.
Did you also feel the sense of responsibility to story?
Like you're looking at a script saying, Oh, our relationship
isn't that yet? What if we did this instead?

Speaker 6 (50:58):
I haven't really had to do that at all.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
No. I think with Family Law, it's very well written
and the writers have a concrete plan, and it's fun
to read the scripts and go, oh my god, Okay,
I didn't see that coming. So yeah, I never on
that show anyway, I'd never felt the need to say
anything in terms of what my character would do or

(51:22):
not do.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
How about those parts of the things that you bring
to the table that they go, Oh, Jewel is great
with this, and I'm going to start writing for that is.
Have you seen it shaped to you in a certain way?

Speaker 5 (51:34):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (51:35):
I think in the beginning I took a risk in
the audition process and played a lot of the comedy
or at least the funny I found in these scenes
and just went for it because why not. And luckily
the risk paid off in that our showrunner Susan Nielsen
was like, I didn't really think that scene was funny until.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
I saw what you did.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
Oh cool.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Yeah, So they started writing her funnier for sure. So
she has this sad character, kind of down and out
and has made a lot of mistakes, but she uses
humor to cover up all of her insecurities and all
of her sadness. They really went for it after a while,
and it was fun in that she's a bit gross.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
I wanted to We.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Have a lot of scenes where we're sitting around this
table in the in the law office talking and eating. Right,
It's like, oh, here they are again sitting eating lunch,
and I kept thinking, what's a food I could eat
that's disgusting and inappropriate and makes this speech about this
case very bizarre. Yeah, or like a like A we

(52:42):
did one with a pizza where I just have a
large pizza in front of me and like no one
talks about it. Everyone's having salad and a I have
a large pizza and I'm like holding the slice and
you know, gesticulating with it and overacting, right, I overact
throughout the entire show, And I'm flinging the piece of
pizza like this, and there's mushroom and pepper flying cool

(53:07):
and everyone's kind of reacting.

Speaker 6 (53:08):
And then we had one where I was like I
just kept trying to up.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
The stakes, where I was like, what about like a
chili cheese dog, you know, And like I'm in a
scene with Victor Garber, who's upset with me, and we're
having this serious conversation and I've got a hot dog
and I'm like squirting condiments on the hot dog as
I'm talking to him. And it's so funny to me
to see a woman in a pencil skirt eating stuff

(53:34):
like this and she eats with her mouth open, you know,
like I'm like chewing and spitting and no one ever
talks about it like it's never ever great, and it
became really fun. So we just kept going and thinking, like,
what else could she be eating and doing?

Speaker 6 (53:50):
That's just absolutely vile.

Speaker 4 (53:53):
Let's talk about Victor Garber for just a second. That
guy is amazing.

Speaker 6 (53:57):
He's Canadian, right, Yes, he's Canadian.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
Yes? What was that like?

Speaker 4 (54:02):
What's it like hanging out? Was he acting with him?
His level of expertise.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
I've done a show with him before. I did one
of Legends of Tomorrow and he was a regular on
that one. He doesn't really remember because it was one
scene and he had had this experience on Legends where
you know, he basically says, he'll be the first person
to tell you I have PTSD from that show, because
it was just a night shoot after night shoot, and

(54:30):
you know, at one point they had him at the
end of a peer tied to a post and in
three in the morning and it was pouring rain, and
you know, someone yelled, how are you down there, Victor?
And he said, I hate everyone. When I met him,

(54:50):
I said, you know, actually, Victory, we've met before. I
did a stint on Legends and he went, oh god,
I've probably blocked that out, darling. I'm sorry, and I said, no, no,
that's and right away.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
He was.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
Very self deprecating and very funny, extremely professional in that
if you are not there on time, you're you know,
ten minutes late.

Speaker 6 (55:15):
Essentially, he.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Is on the ball at all times and you better
be as well. So it's kind of exhilarating to be
in a scene with him.

Speaker 6 (55:25):
Especially.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
You know, our characters fight a lot, so when you
have Victor Garber inches away from your face, very upset
with you, it can be quite intimidating.

Speaker 6 (55:33):
Because he brings it.

Speaker 5 (55:35):
That's great, But at the.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Same time, you know, he became kind of like a dad.
He would be over at our house on the weekends,
and my son would insist on sitting next to Victor
every time we had a meal or went out to
a restaurant or whatever.

Speaker 6 (55:48):
And he became a fixture in my life. And I
just love him very much.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
Now, I told you to. I asked you if you
would ask him.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
When I was in Rome for a day on my own,
first time I'd ever been to Rome, was down a
crowded street. I just bought a nice jacket and I
was walking and sort of going along, being pulled in
one direction. It was very tight. There was two streams
of people of a crowd. And as I was walking
in this narrow alleyway, there was Victor Garber suddenly and

(56:17):
he looked at me, and I looked at him. We've
never met before, but he recognized me as an actor
and I definitely recognized him. And he went hi, and
I said hi, and we just were swept along.

Speaker 5 (56:29):
So he's probably talks about me off all the time. Yeah, okay,
good good, that's what I was.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Good ju, we've had you for an hour. But I
do want to talk about before you leave, if anyone
knows you or what you are like to kind of
hang out with, and wanted to let the world know
this is what jewel is like. This is what it's
like to hang out with Jewels. I'm telling them. All
they would have to do is subscribe to your food channel,

(57:00):
because that's you. I subscribe. You are so entertaining.

Speaker 6 (57:04):
Oh thanks.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
It is rare that I will laugh out loud while
watching television. I laugh out loud probably twice for every
video you put up, your little throwaways, your self deprecating.

Speaker 5 (57:21):
It's hilarious. What's the name of it, so we can all.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
I basically I have a YouTube channel. It's just a
Jewel State official and I do what I'm calling amateur kitchen.
So I also post on my Instagram and I post
them on TikTok and all that. But it just it
became I love to cook, so I cook anyway, and
I bitch and moment when I cook all the time.
And Charlie was like, you should film this, you should

(57:47):
just like, why don't you just set up a camera
and just film yourself doing this stuff? And I said,
why would anybody be interested in that? And he said,
I promise.

Speaker 6 (57:53):
It was Charlie's Yeah, his idea. It was his idea.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Oh great, well can I thought, Okay, I guess I'll
do it. So I did, and then people seem to
be into it, so I just kept doing it about
I enjoy it.

Speaker 6 (58:05):
I enjoy cooking. I enjoy cooking with people, and.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
It is fun so wildly entertaining. And I've seen ones
where you have like a guest cook there with you,
but watching you on your own. First of all, do
you set up a camera? No one's filming it. No,
I just set it up.

Speaker 6 (58:20):
I just put it on my little tripod and click.

Speaker 5 (58:23):
Who's editing? I do it?

Speaker 6 (58:24):
I do it?

Speaker 5 (58:24):
Oh wow, how cool? It's concise. It's on it.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
There's one I remembering you're saying, and you can put
a little fig jam on this. People say, why do
you like fake jams? I'm telling you, I go through
this fashion and I go through wine. And that's saying something.
And over the shoulder as you're walking away, I crack
up watching you cook this stuff, and I'm saying, I
think I could. I think I could cook. You're actually

(58:51):
inspiring me this. I think I could cook some of
this stuff.

Speaker 6 (58:54):
I know you could. It's all easy, that's the whole.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
You're sweet and savory, grilled cheese. I'm looking around my
house going have branded. But I wonder if.

Speaker 6 (59:02):
So good so good?

Speaker 5 (59:04):
You're our first guest by the Yeah, yeah you are.
You're our first guest. It wasn't even a question.

Speaker 6 (59:11):
Excuse me. I'm just going to text Marina right now.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Ah imagine, hey bitch me again.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
First of all, thank you for doing this. Second, guy,
I love you guys so much.

Speaker 6 (59:35):
Love you guys, love you.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
Too, love you.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Can you believe that we're all still friends and we're
all still banging around in the industry. Congratulations to you both.
I can believe it's not easy. There's so many people
I've worked with up and left town. Right now particularly,
things are really tough for the entertainment industry. But here
we all are still plugging away. Congratulations to what is
a monumental success to be around, to be relevant this long.

(01:00:01):
Congratulations to you all. And I can't tell you how
pleased I am again that we're all still friends.

Speaker 6 (01:00:08):
Me too, that's never going to change. Never.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
Well, Nathan never said never.

Speaker 5 (01:00:13):
When we die.

Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
Hello, and thank you for listening. This is Nathan Fillian.
Now is the part where I read aloud the credits
for our show in my best telephone voice. So put
on some headphones, lay back, and relax, because this is
our time. If you have it yet, you can always
head over to our patreon to get bonus content, longer episodes,

(01:00:43):
and a chance to get your hands on some incredible crap.
If you loved the show, please leave us a review
and feel free to tell all your friends. If you
didn't love the show, Now is the time for quiet contemplation.
Once we were Spacemen is a Collision thirty three production.
Some of the names I will mention are my favorite
people in the world, and some of them have room

(01:01:05):
for improvement. You know who you are. If you hear
your name being read, please stand up. This show is
produced by Chabon Holman and Josh Levy of Collision thirty three.
We are edited, mixed, and produced by Resonate Recordings, with
special thanks to Courtney Blanquist and Adam Townseil. Our theme
music is done by Carlas Sousa and Joshua Moore. Artwork

(01:01:28):
by the incredible and incomparable Louis Jensen. But we're going
to tell you right now, I think he fakes his
accent until next time I was to understand, there'd be
no math to day