I was a little nervous so I brought her a present. (OK, I
was sucking up a little.)
“I went into this to
be an actor—
not to be beloved.
You want to be
able to connect.”
LAURA LINNEY: Oh yes, oh yes. They’re rattlesnake
gummy candy! I’m a gummy candy fanatic.
MO ROCCA: I heard that you love Swedish fish.
I do.
But the place I went to had them in a bin where
you have to put your hand in with a scooper and
I felt like since we hadn’t met before that would
be a little impertinent.
Well, thank you.
So I’m wondering, do you like musicals?
I love musicals. I grew up around musicals and I adore
them.
OK, great. So I’ve heard you love musicals.
Well, I grew up in Manhattan. Pippin was the first show
that I saw. I begged my mother to let me go. I’d bought
the album. I knew every single lyric.
I only know Corner of the Sky from seventh-
grade chorus.
That’s right. And everyone did it in sign language. …
and I begged and begged. And she finally relented. And
I was so small that the seat had to be folded up and I
would sit on the top of the seat.
Do you remember how to sign Everything Has Its
Season?
Everything has its—season … (sings and signs.)
You should do a musical. You’ve done everything
else, except star in a movie based on a video
game.
No. But I did do Congo, which is pretty close. I have an
DRESS: ZERO MARIA CORNEJO; SHOES: PRADA; RING: SHERY SHABANI; EARRINGS: MORI TZ GLIK
action figure.
You have an action figure?
There’s a Karen Ross Congo action figure.
So, it takes a lot of actors decades to get to that
“beloved” status. But with your first big role
(Mary Ann Singleton in Tales of the City), you
were beloved. Does it make you reluctant to play
somebody who’s truly wicked?
No, no, no! I went into this to be an actor—not to be
beloved. You want to be able to connect. That’s much
more important to me. If you can connect, then that’s
great. Liked is—
For politicians?
Yeah. And damaging a lot of the time—and it’s a little
generic.
