June 19, 2025 • 33 mins
Skye P. Marshall is an Air Force veteran, Hollywood actress, caregiver, and relentless dreamer. With no agent, no connections, and no backup plan, Skye left the military and a corporate cubicle behind to pursue acting + built a thriving career from scratch. This episode is about the radical belief that you don't need permission to begin– just vision, discipline, and the courage to build it brick by brick. Skye shares:
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Why fear is a biological superpower + how to channel it
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How the Air Force trained her for acting more than any drama school
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What she learned doing 7 years of background work
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How she booked Matlock with no agent
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The reason she refuses to set a timeline for success
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The "red towel red carpets" that sparked her childhood dreams
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How she bought her mom a house while caregiving through dementia
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Why imagination is the key to reinvention
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The mindset shift that changed everything: from "acting" to being
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Why every job—even catering—can be a strategic career move
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And the mantra that carries her through it all: "Survive until you thrive."
Follow Skye P. Marshall here.
Book rec: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Check out her film Daft State on Youtube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
No one has all the answers, but when we ask
the right questions, we get a little closer, closer to truths,
closer to each other, even closer to ourselves. I'm journalist
Danielle Robe and each week, my guests and I'd come
together to challenge the status quo and our own ways
of thinking by daring to ask what if, why not?
(00:28):
And who says?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Come curious, dig deep, and join the conversation. It's time
to question everything. Hello, I hope you're having an amazing week.
I just got back from New York and it was
such beautiful weather and I was sitting outside at dinner
one night, and I love how in New York the
(00:52):
same thing happens in Chicago, but not often in LA.
In New York, strangers talk to each other. And so
I was sitting outside at dinner and there was a
couple sitting next to me, and the guy said, what
brings you here? And I was saying, you know, a
little bit of work, some meetings, a little bit of fun,
and he was like, oh, I just come to New
York to walk and his wife or his girlfriend laughed,
(01:15):
and I thought that is so brilliant. Everybody just comes
to New York to walk. I walk so many miles.
I have to go look, I need one of those
R rings or something or a whoop. But I guess
I could check my phone. I want to see how
many miles I walked to New York. It is so
fun and so wherever you are today, I hope you
have time at some point this week to just go
(01:36):
for a walk. It felt so good. Anyways, today's episode
is deeply inspiring. And I don't say that as sort
of a turn of phrase. I was listening to our
guest in complete awe. What do you do when you
want something that feels out of reach? A lot of
(01:58):
us freeze big, and then we get stuck at the
starting line. We just don't know where to begin, or
we're waiting for permission, or we question whether it's possible
or if it could really be ours, even realistically right.
But what if we didn't wait? What if we mapped
the vision, built the plan, studied the players, and worked
the room until it was ours. That's exactly what sky
(02:20):
P Marshall did.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I had a resume, I wasn't in the Union, I
didn't have an agent. What I did have is manifestation.
And in Manifestation, there's the starter kit was the secret.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Sky is an actress you might know from CBS's Matt
Locke and good Sam or the new indie psychological thriller
daa State, but her story didn't start in Hollywood. She's
a US Air Force veteran, a former marketing exec, a
woman who once worked in operating rooms, and now she
plays surgeons on screen. And what's most inspiring is she believes,
(02:58):
truly believes that nothing is out of reach. And in
this episode she walks us through exactly how she made
the impossible happen, from background gigs and catering gigs to
lead roles. Here's what I love about her story. She
has tangible examples. She didn't just manifest, she executed with
the precision and discipline she learned in the military.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Don't take it till you make it, just survived until
you drive.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
The question we're circling today is what does it mean
to thrive on your own terms? And what does it
take to get there? The thread running through this whole
interview is the pursuit of a life that is both
self authored and deeply purposeful and directed, not dictated by
timelines or status or external validation. And I want you
(03:44):
to listen for one of my favorite parts of the episode.
It's when Sky talks about fear. She said it's biological
and while she was in the military, she learned how
to channel it and use it. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I ate that part up.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I think you will too. So if you're sitting on
a dream but you don't know where to start, whether
it's small, medium, or large, use this episode as a
roadmap and inspiration. Because Sky didn't just chase the dream,
she engineered it. It's time to question everything with Sky.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
P Marshall.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Sky, you are a Chicago girl. Are you living in
LA now?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I'm currently in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay, So what's the most Chicago thing about you? And
the most New York thing about you?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I think the most Chicago thing about me is I
still say pop and do you want to go to
the show instead of the movies? And I still go
really hard for like good house music, and I still
love couple dancing and no one does couple dances anymore.
But in Chicago, I grew up where people were like
stepping and like that was a part of our culture there.
(04:55):
And then I got to La and New York and
all these other cities, and I'm like, wait, so nobody
as a girl and does a two step.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You gotta teach him.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I know I do. And I love teaching people how
to step because as soon as they see me step,
suddenly it's like the Avengers. Every Chicago person in the
room suddenly emerges and meets me on the dance floor.
And so that's always pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That's amazing. So we were talking about how you are
on your eighth or ninth life. I'm curious when you
were a little girl in Chicago, if you thought about
doing all of these different things, or if you thought
about the air Force only, Like, what did you think
about late at night when you were in your room
(05:37):
staring up at the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Luke Perry honestly same. You know. I was a nineties kid,
so I was obsessed with not a tono. But anyway,
I've sidetracked it. But I did have a very vivid imagination.
And I've always loved being a performing artist. That was
always a part of my life, but it was never
considered to be a profession. That was a hobby. It
(05:58):
was therapeutic for me. Mom had me into tutu at
the age of five, and I was a part of
a lot of hip hop dance troops in Chicago where
we would battle other dance troops and footwork all across
the city. And so that was something that not just
allowed me to connect with the community, but it also
taught me discipline, taught me formation, taught me how to
(06:21):
be an athlete. I was being an athlete without even
knowing it, and so when I became an adult, I
just always remained pretty fit because I grew up athletic
through dance performance in Chicago, which was huge in the nineties,
and so I had to then figure out, Okay, what
am I going to do with my life as a
(06:41):
career because they put all that unnecessary pressure on teenagers
in high school to just know what you're supposed to
do for the rest of your life and then immediately
throw you in debt once you go to college and
force you to just pick a major. I felt this
uncertainty about what I wanted to do and who I
wanted to be as an adult when I was sixteen
seventeen years old, because I graduated high school at seventeen,
(07:03):
and so one thing I definitely knew I didn't want
to be as a twenty something year old with thousands
of dollars of debt from college because I remember hearing
my parents like, really go through the complexity of having
to balance life, family and loan, and I remember thinking
that Sally May was some chick down the street that
(07:26):
was mean, aggressive and kept trying to come for your money.
I thought she was an actual human being that my
family knew and just did not mess with. And I
was like, let me tell you about any May. I
want nothing to do with that chick. And so early
on I decided that debt was something I didn't want
hanging over me. And that is what motivated me to
(07:46):
go to the military, is because I knew that I
had a goal to have a college degree, because again
I didn't think that acting or performing arts was a profession.
But in order to get that college degree, I had
to get Uncle Sam to be my sugar day and
pay for it. And that's exactly what I do.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That's a really smart outlook, especially for a young person
to have. People don't think like that most often these days.
You know you mentioned the word discipline. I think that's
the word that comes up for most people when they
think about the Air Force, And then I think about
acting and it is a discipline in itself, but it's
actually so much more free flowing, and a lot of
(08:24):
times creativity can come to you at unexpected moments. I
think a lot of people could say that your life
in the Air Force or the military and your life
as an actor could be worlds apart. But I have
this feeling that you bring a lot of discipline to
your acting career. Has it shown up in expected or
unexpected ways?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Oh? Yes, you know, as actors, there's a lot of
people that have made it to where I've managed to
arrive as like a lead on a TV series or
a studio film, and they're always asked like, so, where
did you train? And I believe my formal training was
in the US Air Force, because a large part of
(09:05):
being a successful actor is allowing to process your fear
going into the auditions. The auditions are the hardest part,
and that's where we really can self sabotage, and we
can really cripple our choices because we want to get
it right and we want to nail it, and we
want to guess what they want. And during that mental processing,
(09:27):
we're sitting in the waiting room amongst other actors, and
then we feel this fear kick in, and we were
never really properly trained. I feel as young adults on
how to move through the fear. When people say I'm fearless,
I feel terrible for them, because fear is given to
us to get us to our highest potential as a
(09:52):
human being. It's why we are capable to either fight
a saber tooth tiger or run as humanly fast as possible.
That's what fear was given to us as a gift,
is to transform into this like avenger version of us.
Our brain was not upgraded from the first human being,
(10:13):
you know what I mean? That process is the same.
And so what the military taught mean was how to
use fhear, how to know that when you feel that shake,
when you feel that trember, when your stomach your bowels drop.
That's why a lot of people have to go to
the bathroom before a big speech or a big talk,
(10:34):
or like they meet someone and they're like they feel butterflies,
like they don't even know what to associate that feeling,
and the gut is but what's happening is a chemical
reaction takes place when our brain identifies something to be
danger or a threat. In that chemical reaction in our body,
our bowels do literally shut down. Why because the gut
(10:57):
uses most of our energy, right we don't have to say,
think about breaking down foods or moving like one to
the waste, the other to the nutrients here and there,
and so it shuts that down. That energy goes to
every major muscle in our body, so that again we
can fight a tiger or run as humanly fast as
possible as why you can see moms lift cars off
(11:17):
of their children. And so I personally believe the one
percent allows us to think that this means I'm not ready,
I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna mess up, I'm nervous, But
really you're just being activated. And in the military they
teach you that like, oh here we go, like imagining
(11:41):
yourself transforming into your highest potential. And that's why when
we sense danger or threat, we're not taught with our
m sixteens to run the opposite direction. We are programmed
and the most sophisticated way to go exactly towards what
we're scared of. And when I decided at twenty eight
to pursue acting, that was the thing I saw most
(12:03):
common amongst artists, this fear that was just like paralyzing them.
I'm like, we're not doing open heart surgery here, like
no one's going to war, but the fear is the same.
And so I would try and help my friends with
the training that I received from the military. But that's
the hardest part is that fear during auditions, fear during
(12:24):
wanting to be chosen.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So what do you say to yourself in those moments?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Honestly, when I feel it, when I feel my palm sweating,
when I feel that like I'm gonna throw out, you
feel it physically first, and then if you really pay
attention to your senses, I can literally hear the girl
in the audition room's choices. Your senses literally, if you
pay attention, they actually do get heightened. If you really
pay attention to your senses while you're in that state
(12:51):
of fear, you'll realize you actually are at your highest potential.
And so that's when I sit there and I'm just like, oh,
oh shit, Like I actually get excited, right because if
it was easy, everybody be doing it. It's on the
other side of that fear. Then what I do is
with that fear because you can't hide it because I
(13:13):
can't run and I can't kill, so my body is
still physically like. I bring those stakes to the character
because if they chose that audition scene specifically, that means
that they want to see the stakes involved in this character.
Whatever they're fighting for. We're always fighting for something, and
so I use it. But when you're like I'm fearless,
(13:35):
I am centered, then good luck.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I'm sure other people have said this, but Will Smith
is the person that comes to my mind.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The only thing he fears is s fear himself.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And the best things in life are on the other
side of fear. And I know that to be true
in my life, but I actually haven't quite understood why
until you just said that. It's because you are at
your highest potential.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You really are, and that's why. Will Smith has also said,
if we're both on a treadmill, either I'm gonna win
or I'm going to die, but I'm not getting off.
And on YouTube, I remember when I first started acting.
I would go to YouTube and I'm ad type in
Will's wisdom and I would watch that five minute clip
of multiple interviews of Will Smith, and it really helped
(14:20):
me just stay grounded in the unrealistic expectations that I had,
because what's the point of being realistic.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
There's one Kid's Choice Awards speech he has and he
says every answer is in a book, like there's nothing
that you've gone through that somebody else hasn't gone through.
And then he talks about the treadmill. He's like that feeling.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It's the energy, right, it's just exerting that energy. But
he's not gonna get off. Either you're gonna get off
or I'm gonna die, right because you are at your
highest potential. And you know, he's so great at also
helping me understand that you don't set out to be
build this big wall, right like I'm gonna build biggest,
baddest wall. You lay one brick as perfectly as you
(15:06):
can possibly lay a brick every day, and eventually you
have a wall. And so that's why they say it
takes ten years to be an overnight success. And that's
pretty much what my story is.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I was just going to ask you that, So can
you take me from twenty eight when you decided to
be an actor to the moment where you got your
first yes? What happened in between?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah. When I decided to pursue, I was working in
the corporate industry at a pharmaceutical marketing firm, where I
realized a cubicle was hell on earth.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I've known you for about eight minutes, and that is
so not you, that is not me right, it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Was so sterile you can only imagine. And I convinced
my boss to lay me off so that I can
get unemployment for two years. And so once I finally
convinced him, I had two years to build a foundation
in an n the street that I knew no one.
I had no resume, I wasn't in the union, I
(16:04):
didn't have an agent. What I did have is this
new found deep interest in the buzzword at the time manifestation,
and in the manifestation, there's a starter kit was the secret.
That's when it first came out. Remember it was all
the rape. They were all on Oprah, they were everywhere.
(16:27):
I took it very serious. So that's what I came
out with, this belief system that there was a new
way to generate what I wanted, and two years of unemployment,
and so the first thing I needed to do is learn.
I became a background actor and I ended up being
(16:47):
a background actor for almost seven years into my mid thirties.
Then I was also a cater waiter because I knew
that I couldn't get into these big, fancy studio parties,
but if I tray passed, I could. I didn't care
that I had a college degree, came from the military,
blah blah blah. Another thing that helped was pushing my
(17:09):
ego to the side. I think that's challenging too for
a lot of like I'm not going to cater or
like I'm not doing background. Yeah, okay, then you're missing
out an opportunity because it's not going to just be
handed to you. You got to put yourself in the
trenches and you got to get some dirt under your
nails sometimes. And thank god I did that background work.
(17:29):
I did background work at Paramount Studios where I'm currently
filming that lock. I did background all over the place.
I made so many great connections and relationships with people
because I was taught at a very early age and
it's not about what you're doing specifically, it's about who
you're being while you're doing it. And so I could
have gone in there and I could have just been like, oh,
(17:49):
I'm just a background actor. Oh, I'm just an extra.
But instead I went in there and I was like,
oh no, this is a paid internship and I'm here
to learn. And I showed up that way and they
knew it. I was like, excuse me, what is banana
around the camera?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Mean?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I was asking so many questions because all I knew
was stage. I didn't know anything about television. I didn't
know what Martini shot was.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You were going to grad school?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, and I'm getting paid to learn. So why would
I not be excited to be there? Right? Why would
I not grab the call sheet that the creative team
is getting in research who the writer of the next
episode is going to be? So that could properly introduce myself, right,
Like I was showed up like a paid intern rather
than just sitting and holding on my phone because I
(18:33):
was just doing background where that wasn't who I was.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
So how do you come to the table in that
way so vibrantly and not come off too eager?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I did a lot of research, So, for instance, I
had these index cards where like on the front of
the index card, I would have faces of people who
I wanted to work with. I didn't know what they
looked like. Like, I didn't know what Ron Howard looked like.
These casting directors. I was a corporate New York woman, like,
I didn't know who these casting directors were. I didn't
(19:04):
know who their assistance. I didn't know. And lord forbid,
I'm carrying an event or I'm doing background work and
they show up and I have no idea. So I
would sit there and quiz myself. And what I would
do is on the back, it would have like where
they're from, credits that they were known for. And to
give you an example, Anthony Hemingway, who I absolutely adore,
(19:26):
who's an incredible executive producer and director. I was the
extra on CSI New York and he came in to
direct and I knew he was coming because I already
checked and so over by the crafty table where the
snacks were, I'm kind of next to him and they
had some pizza there and I was like, I don't
know about this pizza. It ain't Joe's. He was like,
what you know about Joe's. I was like, what do
(19:46):
you know about Joe's? I already knew he was from
New York, right, So it's about being clever but not
being an opportunistic and there is a difference, and I
don't ask for things. If I do ask, it's like,
so I've done this and this and I've hit a wall.
What would you recommend I do next? If I do
reach out to someone of my contacts, half the time
(20:08):
they're like, you know what, don't worry about it. I
know someone and then they offer or they're like, Okay,
I see you've done your work. Here's another step. And
just to share, these are all things that I learned
while working marketing in New York City on how to
connect with your client, how to connect with people who
you want to work with without being opportunistic because they
(20:29):
can smell that a mile away. Until today, I do
not have an agent. Even Matt Locke came through somebody
I knew, and the credit I had before that came
through somebody I knew, and the credit before that came
through somebody I knew. And it's been a lot of
majority amazing women passing the baton to another woman. But
it's because of not what I was doing when I
(20:49):
was working with them, but who I was being. And
so my very first credit was like an indie film
horror movie in Joshua Tree and I went in and
on auditioned and that was my first time on to
set a movie set, and that was in twenty ten,
and from there on, they kind of connect with each other.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
A lot of actors I've interviewed give themselves a timeline
and they say, Okay, if I don't make it in
ten years, I'm gonna try something else. It doesn't seem
like you gave yourself that. And you're telling me you're
in your mid thirties cater waitering. That's tough. I know
that you are tough, but that is a really tough
thing day to day when you're living it. What makes
(21:33):
you say I'm gonna still do this?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I think it is tough. If you give yourself a timeline,
where are you going? You're an actor? Where are you going?
Are you gonna go to college? No? How many actors
are like, I'm giving you three more? Yearears? Six years
later they asked, still there, where are you going? You're
not going anywhere? Right, So now you're just putting all
this unnecessary pressure on yourself. So every side job feels
like absolute hell because you're not even seeing the intention
(21:57):
as to why you chose that job in the first place, right,
Like if I chose hatering, it's because I need to
get behind the pearly gates of Warner brother Studios in Paramount,
and you know ari Emanuel's house and seand Rihime's backyard.
You know what I mean, Like, it's intentional. Why I
would choose that. It's intentional why I would choose background work,
Right Because I get to be in proximity of video
(22:18):
village where a bunch of writers and producers and directors are.
And I'm not stupid. I know that I can have
chemistry with a fire hydrant. So you know, the side
jobs never became a hassle or a bore or unnecessary.
It was all a part of the process. Because I
would tell people all the time, I plan on doing
this until I'm sicily Tyson's age, So what's the rush.
(22:39):
I plan on doing this until I'm Betty White's age,
So what's the rush. I used to say that to
people all the time. I'm done. I did what I
thought I was supposed to do. I was in the military,
I did corporate New York, and I worked in the
hospital for six years. Three of those years I was
an O Rtech and then I turned around and played
an actual surgical resident on a CBS medical drama with
(23:00):
that information was able to come in hand, right, But
I'm like, where am I going? I'm not going anywhere.
So as long as I can survive, have great friends
around me, take good care of myself, pay my bills,
and consistently grow that tree of community within the industry.
What's the rush to get to what? And that's where
(23:21):
I think people are really seeking for the celebrity and
not so much the full bodied experience of being a
working actor and getting some real dirt under your nails.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Where did all this come from? Sky my mom?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I am a copy and paste of my mother, except
she just didn't have the opportunities that I have. You know,
she was born in nineteen forty four, so she saw
a colored fountain before there was no social media. I mean, hell,
when I started pursuing the industry, it wasn't really until
(23:57):
the Oscar so White hashtag happened that suddenly people were like, Oh,
what happened to all that diversity that was on television
in the nineties? Where did that go? Like in the
eighties and nineties, the Fresh Prince of bel Air Martin,
you know two to seven and family matters like where
did that go? It just all disappeared. And so I
(24:18):
think until Instagram was a platform where people can come
together and fighte for something that I believe gave me
an opportunity because I was like, oh, I came here
right in time, and then it just kept growing and growing.
And now that door I don't believe will ever close
again for all people of color in the entertainment industry,
(24:41):
because they see the numbers and they see what we
are capable of delivering when we all have a seat
at the table. But my mother had the dream but
didn't have the execution. I grew up and she would
put red towels on the floor and never missed an Emmy's,
never missed an Oscar's, never missed a golden glow. And
that was our red carpet. Was these red howels that
(25:03):
she would put out and we would get dressed up.
It was always the star of the community. Even though
she didn't have any money. She would never go out.
She would to go to the mailbox without her lipstick on.
She is just a glamor girl. Is she alive?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Is she able to see all that you've done.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
She has dementia and I'm her caregiver. So Matt Locke,
this new show that I'm working on gave me the
ability to buy her a house so she doesn't have
to go to a memory care home. And so that
came just in time to where I was able to
buy in a house and pay for caregivers. And so
now she has her forever home. And my duty as
a daughter is complete because my mission was always to
(25:41):
get my mother a house, and so this industry being
redirected to it at twenty eight allowed me to do
that literally just in the nick of time. And so
she knows that things that are going great for me,
but she's not really connecting with the actual accolades that
(26:02):
I have. But the most important thing was when I
had that one line on that one show, she'd get
the whole building together to come and screen it. She
was always my biggest cheerleader, so whether I had no
lines as an extra, but she spotted me or me
with Kathy Bays and CBS, she was always over the
(26:27):
moon excited for me and knew that I was going
to make it. But it does sting a lot that
I'm like, oh, man, I arrived and she's not connecting.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You want her to enjoy it with you.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I really do deeply, and I have to manage
my expectations every time something happens. But yeah, it's heartbreaking.
Grief is very heartbreaking, and dementia is the longest goodbye.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
It's also takes a lot out of you to be
a caretaker, even if it's an opportunity too.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
It definitely is a beautiful opportunity, but yes, it is
very consuming. And yeah, you have to watch somebody who
you love and who raised you have to now be
raised by you. And it's daring. But I'm at that
stage now where a lot of things that she says
and does is just absolutely hysterical to me and I
(27:23):
just laugh and I have dollar up and she has
an eightieth birthday this month, and so that's a huge
milestone that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Congratulations to you for being able to buy her a house.
That's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thank you. Now I finally I can get myself one.
But yeah, I'm really.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Thrilled you will that's coming.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
No, I definitely what we got to season two.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I have the think an agent is coming too, But hey,
you know what.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I'm not even worried because the train hasn't stopped.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I'm wondering years down the line, what do you hope
people remember about the stories you chose to tell and
who you are as a storyteller and a performer.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wow, that's a great question. As a performer, the roles
that I choose, I definitely want to move the culture forward.
I definitely want to move the needle, and so a
lot of the larger projects that I do, you know,
like Mattlock, or like good SAYD playing a surgeon, you know,
or a film that I recently also did where I
(28:20):
played a teacher, or even in daf State being a
business successful homeowner wife that's still a huge success, right Like,
I always want to take those roles where you know
it's moving the culture forward and that young people of color,
but especially girls, can see that all of our rage
(28:41):
is valid. Being a romantic is valid. Because I play
so many different characters that I'm not typecast knock on
wood yet that overall in my career with my different performances,
I just really want to inspire young people of all
colors truly to use your imagination, and that is not
(29:06):
all the time needed just to perform. Use your imagination
and relationships, Use your imagination at work, whatever that job
may be. But like, don't get rid of your inner child.
Allow that inner child to lead. And that's what I
learned when I was working corporate New York. I literally
(29:27):
was sitting at my cubicle daydreaming and I saw this
like twelve year old version of me sitting on my desk,
kicking my file cabinet with her heels, just looking at
me and discuss and just kind of like, this is
not what you promised me. And I remember daydreaming that,
and I was just kind of like, no, it is not.
(29:48):
This adult shit is boring. Let's go have fun your turn,
and I let the inner child just lead. And if
it wasn't for that inner child's imagination, I would not
be able to perform upfront of camera. I would not
have been able to start at twenty eight with no
formal training, no agent, no union, no resume, and be
(30:13):
able to be working on films like Daft State and
working on TV shows like Matt Lock Withcathy Bates without
an agent. If it wasn't for my imagination and my
belief in that and my belief in myself. But in
order to believe in yourself and tap into an imagination,
you really have to be unrealistic in the most beautiful way.
(30:34):
So build a vision board. Put it on the wall,
because when you put it on the wall, you are
now accountable for it, and you have to actually see it.
Don't just know it and just journal it. Look at it,
be able to actually see it. If it looks ugly.
Put the pictures in picture frames. I don't care. Do
whatever you got to do, but put it on the wall.
Because you know how they say your connection to creating
(30:55):
is like what they call a frequency. A frequency is
what you frequently see, so you have to keep seeing it.
When you keep seeing it, that's what's creating this constant desire.
And then once you do that, you will be confronted
with like your deserving feelings, right, like do I deserve it?
That's the yummie part you have to work through. And
(31:16):
the only way to work through that is don't be
sad about starting from the bottom. I did. Survive until
you thrive. Don't fake it till you make it. Just
survive until you thrive. And I just came up.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
With that sky. If I didn't know better. I would say,
you were a preacher's kid, you really have a word.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
You know what it is. I genuinely feel like if
I wasn't an actor, I probably would have been a
therapist or like a life coach, because it's not something
that I can ever prepare. I cannot prepare for interviews.
I literally have to just trust that the connection will
happen if I'm with a great interviewer such as yourself,
(31:56):
and I just have to trust that whoever registers with
it'll with. But in the process of trusting, I end
up having like a lot of fun and learning from
things that are also coming out of my mouth. So
it's funny that you say a preacher because that is
what happens with them, and they call it the anointed,
and I don't know. I sometimes believe it could be
(32:17):
a gift that things will just kind of fall out
of my mouth. I hope it helps people, and I
even take from it myself. That's the riddle to life
is learn from each other. But then don't just romanticize
about the dream and then dread the execution, romanticize about
all of it. Enjoy the execution, and actors that are
(32:39):
given themselves these tight timelines. With that type timeline, I
believe you can accomplish it, absolutely, but you better not
dread one second of that execution towards that timeline. Don't
you dare otherwise? What's the point?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I feel lucky. Part of my job is to learn,
so I get to learn from a lot of wonderful people.
But it's rare that I walk away feeling inspired. You
are one of one. I'm so glad I got to
meet you, and I'm so grateful for your time.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Okay, you know what.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Time it is. Today's a good day. To have a
good day. I'll see you next week.
No one has all the answers, but when we ask
the right questions, we get a little closer, closer to truths,
closer to each other, even closer to ourselves. I'm journalist
Danielle Robe and each week, my guests and I'd come
together to challenge the status quo and our own ways
of thinking by daring to ask what if, why not?
(00:28):
And who says?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Come curious, dig deep, and join the conversation. It's time
to question everything. Hello, I hope you're having an amazing week.
I just got back from New York and it was
such beautiful weather and I was sitting outside at dinner
one night, and I love how in New York the
(00:52):
same thing happens in Chicago, but not often in LA.
In New York, strangers talk to each other. And so
I was sitting outside at dinner and there was a
couple sitting next to me, and the guy said, what
brings you here? And I was saying, you know, a
little bit of work, some meetings, a little bit of fun,
and he was like, oh, I just come to New
York to walk and his wife or his girlfriend laughed,
(01:15):
and I thought that is so brilliant. Everybody just comes
to New York to walk. I walk so many miles.
I have to go look, I need one of those
R rings or something or a whoop. But I guess
I could check my phone. I want to see how
many miles I walked to New York. It is so
fun and so wherever you are today, I hope you
have time at some point this week to just go
(01:36):
for a walk. It felt so good. Anyways, today's episode
is deeply inspiring. And I don't say that as sort
of a turn of phrase. I was listening to our
guest in complete awe. What do you do when you
want something that feels out of reach? A lot of
(01:58):
us freeze big, and then we get stuck at the
starting line. We just don't know where to begin, or
we're waiting for permission, or we question whether it's possible
or if it could really be ours, even realistically right.
But what if we didn't wait? What if we mapped
the vision, built the plan, studied the players, and worked
the room until it was ours. That's exactly what sky
(02:20):
P Marshall did.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I had a resume, I wasn't in the Union, I
didn't have an agent. What I did have is manifestation.
And in Manifestation, there's the starter kit was the secret.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Sky is an actress you might know from CBS's Matt
Locke and good Sam or the new indie psychological thriller
daa State, but her story didn't start in Hollywood. She's
a US Air Force veteran, a former marketing exec, a
woman who once worked in operating rooms, and now she
plays surgeons on screen. And what's most inspiring is she believes,
(02:58):
truly believes that nothing is out of reach. And in
this episode she walks us through exactly how she made
the impossible happen, from background gigs and catering gigs to
lead roles. Here's what I love about her story. She
has tangible examples. She didn't just manifest, she executed with
the precision and discipline she learned in the military.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Don't take it till you make it, just survived until
you drive.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
The question we're circling today is what does it mean
to thrive on your own terms? And what does it
take to get there? The thread running through this whole
interview is the pursuit of a life that is both
self authored and deeply purposeful and directed, not dictated by
timelines or status or external validation. And I want you
(03:44):
to listen for one of my favorite parts of the episode.
It's when Sky talks about fear. She said it's biological
and while she was in the military, she learned how
to channel it and use it. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I ate that part up.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I think you will too. So if you're sitting on
a dream but you don't know where to start, whether
it's small, medium, or large, use this episode as a
roadmap and inspiration. Because Sky didn't just chase the dream,
she engineered it. It's time to question everything with Sky.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
P Marshall.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Sky, you are a Chicago girl. Are you living in
LA now?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I'm currently in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay, So what's the most Chicago thing about you? And
the most New York thing about you?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I think the most Chicago thing about me is I
still say pop and do you want to go to
the show instead of the movies? And I still go
really hard for like good house music, and I still
love couple dancing and no one does couple dances anymore.
But in Chicago, I grew up where people were like
stepping and like that was a part of our culture there.
(04:55):
And then I got to La and New York and
all these other cities, and I'm like, wait, so nobody
as a girl and does a two step.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You gotta teach him.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I know I do. And I love teaching people how
to step because as soon as they see me step,
suddenly it's like the Avengers. Every Chicago person in the
room suddenly emerges and meets me on the dance floor.
And so that's always pretty nice.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That's amazing. So we were talking about how you are
on your eighth or ninth life. I'm curious when you
were a little girl in Chicago, if you thought about
doing all of these different things, or if you thought
about the air Force only, Like, what did you think
about late at night when you were in your room
(05:37):
staring up at the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Luke Perry honestly same. You know. I was a nineties kid,
so I was obsessed with not a tono. But anyway,
I've sidetracked it. But I did have a very vivid imagination.
And I've always loved being a performing artist. That was
always a part of my life, but it was never
considered to be a profession. That was a hobby. It
(05:58):
was therapeutic for me. Mom had me into tutu at
the age of five, and I was a part of
a lot of hip hop dance troops in Chicago where
we would battle other dance troops and footwork all across
the city. And so that was something that not just
allowed me to connect with the community, but it also
taught me discipline, taught me formation, taught me how to
(06:21):
be an athlete. I was being an athlete without even
knowing it, and so when I became an adult, I
just always remained pretty fit because I grew up athletic
through dance performance in Chicago, which was huge in the nineties,
and so I had to then figure out, Okay, what
am I going to do with my life as a
(06:41):
career because they put all that unnecessary pressure on teenagers
in high school to just know what you're supposed to
do for the rest of your life and then immediately
throw you in debt once you go to college and
force you to just pick a major. I felt this
uncertainty about what I wanted to do and who I
wanted to be as an adult when I was sixteen
seventeen years old, because I graduated high school at seventeen,
(07:03):
and so one thing I definitely knew I didn't want
to be as a twenty something year old with thousands
of dollars of debt from college because I remember hearing
my parents like, really go through the complexity of having
to balance life, family and loan, and I remember thinking
that Sally May was some chick down the street that
(07:26):
was mean, aggressive and kept trying to come for your money.
I thought she was an actual human being that my
family knew and just did not mess with. And I
was like, let me tell you about any May. I
want nothing to do with that chick. And so early
on I decided that debt was something I didn't want
hanging over me. And that is what motivated me to
(07:46):
go to the military, is because I knew that I
had a goal to have a college degree, because again
I didn't think that acting or performing arts was a profession.
But in order to get that college degree, I had
to get Uncle Sam to be my sugar day and
pay for it. And that's exactly what I do.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That's a really smart outlook, especially for a young person
to have. People don't think like that most often these days.
You know you mentioned the word discipline. I think that's
the word that comes up for most people when they
think about the Air Force, And then I think about
acting and it is a discipline in itself, but it's
actually so much more free flowing, and a lot of
(08:24):
times creativity can come to you at unexpected moments. I
think a lot of people could say that your life
in the Air Force or the military and your life
as an actor could be worlds apart. But I have
this feeling that you bring a lot of discipline to
your acting career. Has it shown up in expected or
unexpected ways?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Oh? Yes, you know, as actors, there's a lot of
people that have made it to where I've managed to
arrive as like a lead on a TV series or
a studio film, and they're always asked like, so, where
did you train? And I believe my formal training was
in the US Air Force, because a large part of
(09:05):
being a successful actor is allowing to process your fear
going into the auditions. The auditions are the hardest part,
and that's where we really can self sabotage, and we
can really cripple our choices because we want to get
it right and we want to nail it, and we
want to guess what they want. And during that mental processing,
(09:27):
we're sitting in the waiting room amongst other actors, and
then we feel this fear kick in, and we were
never really properly trained. I feel as young adults on
how to move through the fear. When people say I'm fearless,
I feel terrible for them, because fear is given to
us to get us to our highest potential as a
(09:52):
human being. It's why we are capable to either fight
a saber tooth tiger or run as humanly fast as possible.
That's what fear was given to us as a gift,
is to transform into this like avenger version of us.
Our brain was not upgraded from the first human being,
(10:13):
you know what I mean? That process is the same.
And so what the military taught mean was how to
use fhear, how to know that when you feel that shake,
when you feel that trember, when your stomach your bowels drop.
That's why a lot of people have to go to
the bathroom before a big speech or a big talk,
(10:34):
or like they meet someone and they're like they feel butterflies,
like they don't even know what to associate that feeling,
and the gut is but what's happening is a chemical
reaction takes place when our brain identifies something to be
danger or a threat. In that chemical reaction in our body,
our bowels do literally shut down. Why because the gut
(10:57):
uses most of our energy, right we don't have to say,
think about breaking down foods or moving like one to
the waste, the other to the nutrients here and there,
and so it shuts that down. That energy goes to
every major muscle in our body, so that again we
can fight a tiger or run as humanly fast as
possible as why you can see moms lift cars off
(11:17):
of their children. And so I personally believe the one
percent allows us to think that this means I'm not ready,
I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna mess up, I'm nervous, But
really you're just being activated. And in the military they
teach you that like, oh here we go, like imagining
(11:41):
yourself transforming into your highest potential. And that's why when
we sense danger or threat, we're not taught with our
m sixteens to run the opposite direction. We are programmed
and the most sophisticated way to go exactly towards what
we're scared of. And when I decided at twenty eight
to pursue acting, that was the thing I saw most
(12:03):
common amongst artists, this fear that was just like paralyzing them.
I'm like, we're not doing open heart surgery here, like
no one's going to war, but the fear is the same.
And so I would try and help my friends with
the training that I received from the military. But that's
the hardest part is that fear during auditions, fear during
(12:24):
wanting to be chosen.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
So what do you say to yourself in those moments?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Honestly, when I feel it, when I feel my palm sweating,
when I feel that like I'm gonna throw out, you
feel it physically first, and then if you really pay
attention to your senses, I can literally hear the girl
in the audition room's choices. Your senses literally, if you
pay attention, they actually do get heightened. If you really
pay attention to your senses while you're in that state
(12:51):
of fear, you'll realize you actually are at your highest potential.
And so that's when I sit there and I'm just like, oh,
oh shit, Like I actually get excited, right because if
it was easy, everybody be doing it. It's on the
other side of that fear. Then what I do is
with that fear because you can't hide it because I
(13:13):
can't run and I can't kill, so my body is
still physically like. I bring those stakes to the character
because if they chose that audition scene specifically, that means
that they want to see the stakes involved in this character.
Whatever they're fighting for. We're always fighting for something, and
so I use it. But when you're like I'm fearless,
(13:35):
I am centered, then good luck.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I'm sure other people have said this, but Will Smith
is the person that comes to my mind.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The only thing he fears is s fear himself.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And the best things in life are on the other
side of fear. And I know that to be true
in my life, but I actually haven't quite understood why
until you just said that. It's because you are at
your highest potential.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You really are, and that's why. Will Smith has also said,
if we're both on a treadmill, either I'm gonna win
or I'm going to die, but I'm not getting off.
And on YouTube, I remember when I first started acting.
I would go to YouTube and I'm ad type in
Will's wisdom and I would watch that five minute clip
of multiple interviews of Will Smith, and it really helped
(14:20):
me just stay grounded in the unrealistic expectations that I had,
because what's the point of being realistic.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
There's one Kid's Choice Awards speech he has and he
says every answer is in a book, like there's nothing
that you've gone through that somebody else hasn't gone through.
And then he talks about the treadmill. He's like that feeling.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It's the energy, right, it's just exerting that energy. But
he's not gonna get off. Either you're gonna get off
or I'm gonna die, right because you are at your
highest potential. And you know, he's so great at also
helping me understand that you don't set out to be
build this big wall, right like I'm gonna build biggest,
baddest wall. You lay one brick as perfectly as you
(15:06):
can possibly lay a brick every day, and eventually you
have a wall. And so that's why they say it
takes ten years to be an overnight success. And that's
pretty much what my story is.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I was just going to ask you that, So can
you take me from twenty eight when you decided to
be an actor to the moment where you got your
first yes? What happened in between?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah. When I decided to pursue, I was working in
the corporate industry at a pharmaceutical marketing firm, where I
realized a cubicle was hell on earth.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I've known you for about eight minutes, and that is
so not you, that is not me right, it.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Was so sterile you can only imagine. And I convinced
my boss to lay me off so that I can
get unemployment for two years. And so once I finally
convinced him, I had two years to build a foundation
in an n the street that I knew no one.
I had no resume, I wasn't in the union, I
(16:04):
didn't have an agent. What I did have is this
new found deep interest in the buzzword at the time manifestation,
and in the manifestation, there's a starter kit was the secret.
That's when it first came out. Remember it was all
the rape. They were all on Oprah, they were everywhere.
(16:27):
I took it very serious. So that's what I came
out with, this belief system that there was a new
way to generate what I wanted, and two years of unemployment,
and so the first thing I needed to do is learn.
I became a background actor and I ended up being
(16:47):
a background actor for almost seven years into my mid thirties.
Then I was also a cater waiter because I knew
that I couldn't get into these big, fancy studio parties,
but if I tray passed, I could. I didn't care
that I had a college degree, came from the military,
blah blah blah. Another thing that helped was pushing my
(17:09):
ego to the side. I think that's challenging too for
a lot of like I'm not going to cater or
like I'm not doing background. Yeah, okay, then you're missing
out an opportunity because it's not going to just be
handed to you. You got to put yourself in the
trenches and you got to get some dirt under your
nails sometimes. And thank god I did that background work.
(17:29):
I did background work at Paramount Studios where I'm currently
filming that lock. I did background all over the place.
I made so many great connections and relationships with people
because I was taught at a very early age and
it's not about what you're doing specifically, it's about who
you're being while you're doing it. And so I could
have gone in there and I could have just been like, oh,
(17:49):
I'm just a background actor. Oh, I'm just an extra.
But instead I went in there and I was like,
oh no, this is a paid internship and I'm here
to learn. And I showed up that way and they
knew it. I was like, excuse me, what is banana
around the camera?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Mean?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I was asking so many questions because all I knew
was stage. I didn't know anything about television. I didn't
know what Martini shot was.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You were going to grad school?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, and I'm getting paid to learn. So why would
I not be excited to be there? Right? Why would
I not grab the call sheet that the creative team
is getting in research who the writer of the next
episode is going to be? So that could properly introduce myself, right,
Like I was showed up like a paid intern rather
than just sitting and holding on my phone because I
(18:33):
was just doing background where that wasn't who I was.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
So how do you come to the table in that
way so vibrantly and not come off too eager?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I did a lot of research, So, for instance, I
had these index cards where like on the front of
the index card, I would have faces of people who
I wanted to work with. I didn't know what they
looked like. Like, I didn't know what Ron Howard looked like.
These casting directors. I was a corporate New York woman, like,
I didn't know who these casting directors were. I didn't
(19:04):
know who their assistance. I didn't know. And lord forbid,
I'm carrying an event or I'm doing background work and
they show up and I have no idea. So I
would sit there and quiz myself. And what I would
do is on the back, it would have like where
they're from, credits that they were known for. And to
give you an example, Anthony Hemingway, who I absolutely adore,
(19:26):
who's an incredible executive producer and director. I was the
extra on CSI New York and he came in to
direct and I knew he was coming because I already
checked and so over by the crafty table where the
snacks were, I'm kind of next to him and they
had some pizza there and I was like, I don't
know about this pizza. It ain't Joe's. He was like,
what you know about Joe's. I was like, what do
(19:46):
you know about Joe's? I already knew he was from
New York, right, So it's about being clever but not
being an opportunistic and there is a difference, and I
don't ask for things. If I do ask, it's like,
so I've done this and this and I've hit a wall.
What would you recommend I do next? If I do
reach out to someone of my contacts, half the time
(20:08):
they're like, you know what, don't worry about it. I
know someone and then they offer or they're like, Okay,
I see you've done your work. Here's another step. And
just to share, these are all things that I learned
while working marketing in New York City on how to
connect with your client, how to connect with people who
you want to work with without being opportunistic because they
(20:29):
can smell that a mile away. Until today, I do
not have an agent. Even Matt Locke came through somebody
I knew, and the credit I had before that came
through somebody I knew, and the credit before that came
through somebody I knew. And it's been a lot of
majority amazing women passing the baton to another woman. But
it's because of not what I was doing when I
(20:49):
was working with them, but who I was being. And
so my very first credit was like an indie film
horror movie in Joshua Tree and I went in and
on auditioned and that was my first time on to
set a movie set, and that was in twenty ten,
and from there on, they kind of connect with each other.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
A lot of actors I've interviewed give themselves a timeline
and they say, Okay, if I don't make it in
ten years, I'm gonna try something else. It doesn't seem
like you gave yourself that. And you're telling me you're
in your mid thirties cater waitering. That's tough. I know
that you are tough, but that is a really tough
thing day to day when you're living it. What makes
(21:33):
you say I'm gonna still do this?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I think it is tough. If you give yourself a timeline,
where are you going? You're an actor? Where are you going?
Are you gonna go to college? No? How many actors
are like, I'm giving you three more? Yearears? Six years
later they asked, still there, where are you going? You're
not going anywhere? Right, So now you're just putting all
this unnecessary pressure on yourself. So every side job feels
like absolute hell because you're not even seeing the intention
(21:57):
as to why you chose that job in the first place, right,
Like if I chose hatering, it's because I need to
get behind the pearly gates of Warner brother Studios in Paramount,
and you know ari Emanuel's house and seand Rihime's backyard.
You know what I mean, Like, it's intentional. Why I
would choose that. It's intentional why I would choose background work,
Right Because I get to be in proximity of video
(22:18):
village where a bunch of writers and producers and directors are.
And I'm not stupid. I know that I can have
chemistry with a fire hydrant. So you know, the side
jobs never became a hassle or a bore or unnecessary.
It was all a part of the process. Because I
would tell people all the time, I plan on doing
this until I'm sicily Tyson's age, So what's the rush.
(22:39):
I plan on doing this until I'm Betty White's age,
So what's the rush. I used to say that to
people all the time. I'm done. I did what I
thought I was supposed to do. I was in the military,
I did corporate New York, and I worked in the
hospital for six years. Three of those years I was
an O Rtech and then I turned around and played
an actual surgical resident on a CBS medical drama with
(23:00):
that information was able to come in hand, right, But
I'm like, where am I going? I'm not going anywhere.
So as long as I can survive, have great friends
around me, take good care of myself, pay my bills,
and consistently grow that tree of community within the industry.
What's the rush to get to what? And that's where
(23:21):
I think people are really seeking for the celebrity and
not so much the full bodied experience of being a
working actor and getting some real dirt under your nails.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Where did all this come from? Sky my mom?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I am a copy and paste of my mother, except
she just didn't have the opportunities that I have. You know,
she was born in nineteen forty four, so she saw
a colored fountain before there was no social media. I mean, hell,
when I started pursuing the industry, it wasn't really until
(23:57):
the Oscar so White hashtag happened that suddenly people were like, Oh,
what happened to all that diversity that was on television
in the nineties? Where did that go? Like in the
eighties and nineties, the Fresh Prince of bel Air Martin,
you know two to seven and family matters like where
did that go? It just all disappeared. And so I
(24:18):
think until Instagram was a platform where people can come
together and fighte for something that I believe gave me
an opportunity because I was like, oh, I came here
right in time, and then it just kept growing and growing.
And now that door I don't believe will ever close
again for all people of color in the entertainment industry,
(24:41):
because they see the numbers and they see what we
are capable of delivering when we all have a seat
at the table. But my mother had the dream but
didn't have the execution. I grew up and she would
put red towels on the floor and never missed an Emmy's,
never missed an Oscar's, never missed a golden glow. And
that was our red carpet. Was these red howels that
(25:03):
she would put out and we would get dressed up.
It was always the star of the community. Even though
she didn't have any money. She would never go out.
She would to go to the mailbox without her lipstick on.
She is just a glamor girl. Is she alive?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Is she able to see all that you've done.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
She has dementia and I'm her caregiver. So Matt Locke,
this new show that I'm working on gave me the
ability to buy her a house so she doesn't have
to go to a memory care home. And so that
came just in time to where I was able to
buy in a house and pay for caregivers. And so
now she has her forever home. And my duty as
a daughter is complete because my mission was always to
(25:41):
get my mother a house, and so this industry being
redirected to it at twenty eight allowed me to do
that literally just in the nick of time. And so
she knows that things that are going great for me,
but she's not really connecting with the actual accolades that
(26:02):
I have. But the most important thing was when I
had that one line on that one show, she'd get
the whole building together to come and screen it. She
was always my biggest cheerleader, so whether I had no
lines as an extra, but she spotted me or me
with Kathy Bays and CBS, she was always over the
(26:27):
moon excited for me and knew that I was going
to make it. But it does sting a lot that
I'm like, oh, man, I arrived and she's not connecting.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You want her to enjoy it with you.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I really do deeply, and I have to manage
my expectations every time something happens. But yeah, it's heartbreaking.
Grief is very heartbreaking, and dementia is the longest goodbye.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
It's also takes a lot out of you to be
a caretaker, even if it's an opportunity too.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
It definitely is a beautiful opportunity, but yes, it is
very consuming. And yeah, you have to watch somebody who
you love and who raised you have to now be
raised by you. And it's daring. But I'm at that
stage now where a lot of things that she says
and does is just absolutely hysterical to me and I
(27:23):
just laugh and I have dollar up and she has
an eightieth birthday this month, and so that's a huge
milestone that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Congratulations to you for being able to buy her a house.
That's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Thank you. Now I finally I can get myself one.
But yeah, I'm really.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Thrilled you will that's coming.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
No, I definitely what we got to season two.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I have the think an agent is coming too, But hey,
you know what.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I'm not even worried because the train hasn't stopped.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I'm wondering years down the line, what do you hope
people remember about the stories you chose to tell and
who you are as a storyteller and a performer.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wow, that's a great question. As a performer, the roles
that I choose, I definitely want to move the culture forward.
I definitely want to move the needle, and so a
lot of the larger projects that I do, you know,
like Mattlock, or like good SAYD playing a surgeon, you know,
or a film that I recently also did where I
(28:20):
played a teacher, or even in daf State being a
business successful homeowner wife that's still a huge success, right Like,
I always want to take those roles where you know
it's moving the culture forward and that young people of color,
but especially girls, can see that all of our rage
(28:41):
is valid. Being a romantic is valid. Because I play
so many different characters that I'm not typecast knock on
wood yet that overall in my career with my different performances,
I just really want to inspire young people of all
colors truly to use your imagination, and that is not
(29:06):
all the time needed just to perform. Use your imagination
and relationships, Use your imagination at work, whatever that job
may be. But like, don't get rid of your inner child.
Allow that inner child to lead. And that's what I
learned when I was working corporate New York. I literally
(29:27):
was sitting at my cubicle daydreaming and I saw this
like twelve year old version of me sitting on my desk,
kicking my file cabinet with her heels, just looking at
me and discuss and just kind of like, this is
not what you promised me. And I remember daydreaming that,
and I was just kind of like, no, it is not.
(29:48):
This adult shit is boring. Let's go have fun your turn,
and I let the inner child just lead. And if
it wasn't for that inner child's imagination, I would not
be able to perform upfront of camera. I would not
have been able to start at twenty eight with no
formal training, no agent, no union, no resume, and be
(30:13):
able to be working on films like Daft State and
working on TV shows like Matt Lock Withcathy Bates without
an agent. If it wasn't for my imagination and my
belief in that and my belief in myself. But in
order to believe in yourself and tap into an imagination,
you really have to be unrealistic in the most beautiful way.
(30:34):
So build a vision board. Put it on the wall,
because when you put it on the wall, you are
now accountable for it, and you have to actually see it.
Don't just know it and just journal it. Look at it,
be able to actually see it. If it looks ugly.
Put the pictures in picture frames. I don't care. Do
whatever you got to do, but put it on the wall.
Because you know how they say your connection to creating
(30:55):
is like what they call a frequency. A frequency is
what you frequently see, so you have to keep seeing it.
When you keep seeing it, that's what's creating this constant desire.
And then once you do that, you will be confronted
with like your deserving feelings, right, like do I deserve it?
That's the yummie part you have to work through. And
(31:16):
the only way to work through that is don't be
sad about starting from the bottom. I did. Survive until
you thrive. Don't fake it till you make it. Just
survive until you thrive. And I just came up.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
With that sky. If I didn't know better. I would say,
you were a preacher's kid, you really have a word.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
You know what it is. I genuinely feel like if
I wasn't an actor, I probably would have been a
therapist or like a life coach, because it's not something
that I can ever prepare. I cannot prepare for interviews.
I literally have to just trust that the connection will
happen if I'm with a great interviewer such as yourself,
(31:56):
and I just have to trust that whoever registers with
it'll with. But in the process of trusting, I end
up having like a lot of fun and learning from
things that are also coming out of my mouth. So
it's funny that you say a preacher because that is
what happens with them, and they call it the anointed,
and I don't know. I sometimes believe it could be
(32:17):
a gift that things will just kind of fall out
of my mouth. I hope it helps people, and I
even take from it myself. That's the riddle to life
is learn from each other. But then don't just romanticize
about the dream and then dread the execution, romanticize about
all of it. Enjoy the execution, and actors that are
(32:39):
given themselves these tight timelines. With that type timeline, I
believe you can accomplish it, absolutely, but you better not
dread one second of that execution towards that timeline. Don't
you dare otherwise? What's the point?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I feel lucky. Part of my job is to learn,
so I get to learn from a lot of wonderful people.
But it's rare that I walk away feeling inspired. You
are one of one. I'm so glad I got to
meet you, and I'm so grateful for your time.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Okay, you know what.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Time it is. Today's a good day. To have a
good day. I'll see you next week.
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