In The Envelope: An Awards Podcast

One of Hollywood’s most prolific figures working today, Reese Witherspoon has created unforgettable female characters onscreen—and offscreen, with her award-winning media company Hello Sunshine. From Tracy Flick to Elle Woods to Madeline Martha Mackenzie, few actors have as many household names in their body of work as Reese does. How does she approach such roles? “It’s almost like being an anthropologist,” she tells Backstage. “You are studying contemporary behavior and how people interact and then applying it to character.” And her advice for fellow artists is evergreen: “You’re never gonna lose anything by trying. So dare greatly.” An Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and Academy Award winner, Reese began appearing in commercials at a young age in Tennessee, taking odd jobs in film production before dropping out of school to pursue acting. She broke out in “The Man in the Moon,” “Cruel Intentions,” and “Election” before starring in the “Legally Blonde” films, “Walk the Line” as June Carter Cash, “Wild” as

How has Melanie Lynskey persevered in the entertainment biz and become one of its most compelling screen actors? Through a combination of hard work, passion for the craft, and learning—often the hard way—that originality trumps imitation. Rather than striving to deliver what the industry might want, she’s guided by a principle other working artists can live by: “There’s one me. As soon as I learned that lesson, things got a lot easier for me.” Melanie had an improbable career breakout, cast in her feature film debut as a teenager in Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures.” From working and studying in her native New Zealand, to eventually appearing to American audiences on “Two and a Half Men,” she’s steadily risen through Hollywood’s ranks, appearing in “Ever After,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Hello I Must Be Going,” “Togetherness,” and “Mrs. America.” Now, she’s earned SAG ensemble award recognition for Netflix and Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated “Don’t Look Up,” plus a Critics’ Choice Award nod for h

There’s a lot that goes into what Jared Leto calls “immersive” (rather than method) acting. The Academy Award winner is well-known for his full-bodied screen transformations, and here reveals his thinking behind them—even though each has involved a completely organic approach, borne out of an obsessive curiosity around characters. Jared’s top tip for working actors? Don’t ask for permission to take risks and embrace failure. “Everyone’s got their process,” he says. “People should explore and experiment—you’re artists. Be bold, be brave, break some shit. And never, ever apologize for it.” Born in Louisiana and a student of visual art and filmmaking in Washington D.C. and New York City, Jared moved to Los Angeles in 1992 with only a couple hundred dollars to his name. After breaking into Hollywood with “My So-Called Life” and starring in “Prefontaine,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Panic Room,” “American Psycho,” and more, he took a years-long break from acting to focus on writing and producing music with his band,

Actor, writer, director, and voiceover artist Kayvan Novak became a combination of all those things through plenty of trial and error. And it was the errors and rejections that ultimately taught him about his artistic skills and tastes—but also his own personality, on and off camera. “It was through the endless nos, the brick walls, that forced me to change my approach and forced me to think out of the box,” he tells Backstage. “Thank God all those people said no to me, because it kind of made me who I am.” Kayvan is best known for his Critics’ Choice Award–nominated performance as vampire Nandor the Relentless on FX’s mockumentary “What We Do in the Shadows” from Jemaine Clement. A BAFTA TV Award winner for “Fonejacker,” the British prank call comedy he created and starred in, he’s also appeared in “Syriana,” “Four Lions,” last year’s “Cruella,” and “Toast of Tinseltown.” To read about the recently announced Screen Actors Guild Awards, head over to backstage.com: https://bit.ly/34EBUpr --- Backstage has bee

Award-winning actor and producer Alia Shawkat broke out in Hollywood as a teenager, which proved to be both blessing and curse. Like any struggling artist, she’s had to challenge the industry’s preconceptions as well as her own, folding each new endeavor into her evolving artistic philosophy. She has several rules pertaining to acting: One is to watch everything you appear in, but only twice. Another is to reassess what you want out of your craft and career every few years. “You have to keep falling in love with it,” Alia says. “There’s a timing and a luck to this. And then just perseverance.” The California–born Alia became a breakout child actor, on first “State of Grace” and then as Maeby Fünke on the long-running, SAG Award–nominated “Arrested Development.” She has appeared on “Drunk History,” “Transparent,” and “Broad City,” and starred in “Whip It,” “The To Do List,” “The Final Girl,” “Blaze,” “Duck Butter,” and “Animals.” Alia produces the TBS-to-HBO Max mystery series “Search Party,” starring as Dory

Before Michael Keaton became the chameleonic screen star he is today, he intuited that the life of a performer is full of uncertainty. So taking risks, as first a stand-up comedian and then an actor, became a key part of his artistic mission. “I told myself, you’re never gonna know if you can do this until you just try to do it,” he remembers. “I certainly had many moments of going: Oh, boy. This is a nervous time. I’m not feeling too secure right now. But desperation will kill you.” In his podcast interview, Michael reveals the thinking behind his characters—big and small, brashly comedic and quietly dramatic—and explains why actors must pursue the truth, both in their performances and in life. A Pennsylvania native, Michael has repeatedly reinvented himself in big-screen projects, from his breakout in “Night Shift” all the way to playing Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s “Batman,” a role he is reprising in the upcoming “The Flash” and “Batgirl” movies. His background in theater and as production assistant on “Mi

Nicolas Cage became one of the most prolific film performers of his generation thanks to a philosophy other actors can live by: “Work as much as you can,” he says. “Good or bad, fall on your face or stand up—but get so in tune with your instrument that you know it so well, that you know when it’s working or when it isn’t working.” The actor-director-producer reveals all in his podcast interview, from the ongoing mission to find “eclectic” roles, to the keys to great on-set collaboration and tricks of the trade stretching back over four decades. Born in Los Angeles in a family of artists and filmmakers (including aunt and uncle Talia Shire and Francis Ford Coppola), Nicolas realized on-camera performance was an art form upon seeing James Dean on the big screen. He starred in “Moonstruck,” “Raising Arizona,” “Vampire’s Kiss,” “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “The Rock,” “Face Off,” “National Treasure,” “Mandy,” and much more. Along with Oscar-nominated work in “Adaptation” and his leading actor Oscar win for “Leaving Las

Ruth Negga has had a clear mission statement since her early days as an actor: “What I wanted as an artist was to sort of shift things—disrupt, maybe,” says the Irish star, illuminating for listeners the nuances of her creative process. Curiosity and quiet introspection are key ingredients, she says, and fellow actors should find their particular means of inspiration. “Acting isn’t just a job for me. It’s a soul vocation. It’s something that I think is helping me understand myself, my place in the world, and others.” Born in Ethiopia, raised in Ireland, and schooled in London, Ruth studied stage acting at the Samuel Beckett Centre at Trinity College Dublin. Her breakout film roles in “Capital Letters,” “Isolation,” and “Breakfast on Pluto” led to theater and TV work on both sides of the Atlantic, including “Personal Affairs,” “Shirley,” and AMC’s “Preacher.” She then won accolades aplenty including an Academy Award nomination for playing Mildred Loving in “Loving,” and led an acclaimed production of “Hamlet”

Beanie Feldstein, a theater kid through and through, now finds herself a veritable film and TV star. While the approach to stage and screen might differ, her philosophy is always the same: her most inspired work stems from bonding with collaborators who can’t help but become family. “Every opportunity is going to fill you up in certain ways and deplete you in certain ways,” she says. “I always just feel like I can go my deepest and do my best if I know the people around me.” Born in Los Angeles in a family of Hollywood professionals (including brother Jonah Hill), Elizabeth Greer a.k.a. Beanie grew up performing community theater and studying at the Stagedoor Manor theater camp before attending Wesleyan University. Her breakout roles in “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and the SAG-nominated “Lady Bird” led to an award-winning turn opposite Kaitlyn Dever in Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart,” as well as “How to Build a Girl” and guest appearances on “The Simpsons,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “What We Do in the Shadows.” Thi

Once Caitríona Balfe made the leap from modeling back to her original dream of acting, she began studying the craft and working her way toward leading roles. In commercials, web series, and eventually on the big screen, she developed on-camera instincts that became her basis of approaching both auditions and creating characters. Caitríona’s work demonstrates how important it is for actors to have confidence in their unique charisma. “Sometimes the reason you’re cast is because there’s something innately within you that you can bring to the role,” she says. “If you kind of let your instincts lead you, then that’s also a really great place to go.” Trained as a model in her native Ireland and then around the world, Caitríona made an uncredited appearance in “The Devil Wears Prada” before moving to Los Angeles and starring in “H+: The Digital Series,” “Money Monster,” “Ford v. Ferrari,” and more. Her breakout role as Claire on the Starz series “Outlander,” adapted by Ronald D. Moore from the hit Diana Gabaldon n

Mike Mills is a screenwriter and director, but could be considered first and foremost an actor’s collaborator. Not only have his films produced some of the most naturalistic performances in recent memory, he’s the kind of filmmaker who follows actors’ leads, singing their praises at every step of the page-to-screen process. “Whatever feels real and alive to them, that’s where I’m gonna go,” he says in this revealing interview. He also grapples with the mysteries inherent in filmmaking: “As a director-writer person, one would think you know everything about your movie...and you don’t.” With a background in visual art that transitioned to music videos, Mike is best known for his award-winning feature films “Thumbsuckers,” “Beginners,” and “20th Century Women.” He’s turned elements of his life into autobiographically inspired stories, including the newly released “C’mon C’mon” from A24, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, and Woody Norman. In this episode, Jack is joined by Backstage senior staff writer C

Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac go way back. They’ve reunited several times onscreen since meeting in the halls of the Juilliard School of Drama. Jessica calls acting “a way of getting to know myself on a deeper level.” For Oscar, the approach must be “expressive and not communicative—not getting too caught up with some idea that I want an audience to feel or to think.” The two reveal to Backstage many of the technical tricks up their sleeves, and provide their fellow artists plenty of inspiration. Jessica, who mounted mini theater productions growing up in Northern California, is two-time Academy Award nominee for “The Help” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” She’s led “The Tree of Life,” “Interstellar,” “The Martian,” “Molly’s Game,” Broadway’s “The Heiress,” and this year, Searchlight Pictures’ “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which she produced with her company Freckle Films. Oscar, born in Guatemala and raised in Miami, acted and performed music onstage before moving to New York. He’s earned awards for his work in “Bal

Corey Hawkins’ training at the Juilliard School of Drama, and background in singing in church, set him on the path toward becoming what he calls “a well-rounded artist”—and he has a Tony, Emmy, and two SAG Award nominations to show for it! Speaking to Backstage, his go-to resource during post-grad years in New York City, Corey offers fellow actors plenty of valuable advice, particularly when it comes to auditions. “To go into a room and literally just have an opportunity to act, or sing, or dance, or do whatever you do, you get to showcase that and share it with somebody for that little bit of time. And that’s a joy.” Born in Washington, D.C., Corey made his Broadway debut in “Romeo and Juliet,” which was followed by an award-winning revival of “Six Degrees of Separation.” After a Hollywood breakthrough in “Non-Stop,” he appeared on “The Walking Dead,” “24: Legacy,” and “Survive,” plus in “BlacKkKlansman,” “Kong: Skull Island,” and as Dr. Dre in “Straight Outta Compton.” This year is Corey’s most impressive

Rebecca Ferguson has combined backgrounds in music, dance, short films, and soap operas in her native Sweden to become one of today’s most versatile and compelling screen stars. From life advice (“Lay your own path and have other people follow you!”) to technical secrets (she gets into character by creating a silhouette), her “In the Envelope” interview has endless value for artists at any level. “It’s a really, really difficult job and it takes a lot of time,” she says of an acting career. “The more you get to know yourself, the more grounded you can be in this world of scrutiny.” After dabbling in various performing arts, Rebecca earned a Golden Globe nod for playing Elizabeth Woodville in the BBC’s “The White Queen,” which launched her into a screen career on both sides of the Atlantic. Tom Cruise cast her in the “Mission Impossible” films as Ilsa Faust, and then came “Despite the Falling Snow,” “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “The Girl on the Train,” “Life,” “The Greatest Showman,” the award-winning “Doctor S

Alessandro Nivola’s career trajectory is proof that artists, especially actors, must continue to adjust ambitions and dream big. On first the stage and then the screen, Alessandro carved out a character actor niche, morphing into roles “very unlike” himself, as he tells Backstage. “It’s part of staying alive, always having new cravings and goals and longings.... One has to battle those feelings on some level and try and feel grateful for what you have.” A Boston native who studied acting at regional theaters and as an undergrad at Yale University, Alessandro fulfilled his dreams of a stage career as a young adult, award-nominated for his Broadway debut opposite Helen Mirren in “A Month in the Country.” After watching his theater peers cross over to Hollywood, he did the same with “Face/Off,” and appeared in “Laurel Canyon,” “Junebug,” “Selma,” “A Most Violent Year,” “The Wizard of Lies,” “Disobedience,” and in many more character roles. Tony-nominated for “The Elephant Man” and a SAG Award winner for “Americ

In an extra-special (and long-overdue) discussion episode, Backstage’s senior staff writer Casey Mink and industry news writer Diep Tran join Jack to discuss the state of the theater industry in 2021. On the heels of the 74th Tony Awards finally presented Sept. 26 after almost two years of uncertainty on Broadway and beyond, this team of experts is asking and answering many of the questions on the minds of thespians everywhere: How exactly did COVID-19 affect the live performing arts, and what role do vaccinations play going forward? How has the state of New York City theater changed, from the pandemic’s disruption to now? What are the facts and resources that casual listeners and diehard Broadway fans alike need to know? Many such resources are being covered by our editorial team, so for up-to-date reporting on the theater industry’s gradual reopening, head to backstage.com: https://bit.ly/3zXx2ps To read about the 2021 Tony Awards honoring the Broadway of 2019–20, including top winners “Moulin Rouge!” and

Actors and comedians at any level can study Ken Jeong’s trajectory through the entertainment industry—particularly those breaking into it later in life, as he did at age 37. The fact that he’s also a licensed physician who left a career in medicine to pursue the arts makes him truly one of a kind. Naturally, Dr. Ken is something of an expert on balancing work and life, approaching any venture with a student’s mentality, and infusing personal experience into scripted and unscripted projects alike. “It really boils down to passion,” he tells his fellow performers. “A career, like your life, is a series of moments.” After growing up and studying medicine in North Carolina, while also dabbling in improv and stand-up, Ken committed to acting full-time upon his breakout role—as a doctor—in “Knocked Up.” More Judd Apatow films followed, and Ken stole the show in the “Hangover” trilogy, the comedy “Community,” his writing and producing debut “Dr. Ken,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” multiple voiceover projects, a comedy speci

How many actors can claim they launched a thriving screen career by playing a washed-up, unemployed actor? That distinction belongs to Richard E. Grant, whose road from cult classic “Withnail and I” to an award-winning oeuvre began with what he calls a “fuck you” attitude. From tips on playing drunk to his instinctive acting techniques (hint: they involve a character’s sex life), Richard has plenty of advice for his fellow performers. His thoughts on forging a career in the arts are evergreen: “Never give up. If you feel that it is something that you’re compelled to do, you will know that. And if it’s not, then don’t waste your time and energy because there are too many people that want it more than you do.” Born in the Protectorate of Swaziland, now Eswatini, Richard performed onstage as a child and studied at the University of Cape Town. After landing the titular role in Bruce Robinson’s “Withnail and I” thanks to casting director Mary Selway, he amassed onscreen credits in the UK and Hollywood, collaborat

Michael Shannon can give a quietly nuanced supporting turn—or flat-out steal the show—all in service of whatever story he’s helping tell. What are the secrets to his endlessly compelling performances? “Usually if you want to have a career in this business, it’s gonna involve doing a lot of things that scare you, and at first may seem unwise,” he tells Backstage. “But you just have to be willing to take those risks, I guess.” Although wary of putting a name to his techniques or giving ironclad, how-to advice to up-and-coming artists, Michael does so with clarity and generosity. With roots in Kentucky and Illinois, Michael got his start on Chicago stages, collaborating with Tracy Letts and founding A Red Orchid Theatre. His theater work eventually led to a Broadway career, including a Tony nomination for “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” while his on-camera work went from appearances in “Groundhog Day” and “8 Mile” to star turns in “Kangaroo Jack,” “99 Homes,” “Take Shelter,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Man of Steel,”

Talent agents: What do they do? What do performers at all career levels need to know about their central function in the entertainment industry ecosystem? And, of course, how does one reach representation, and therefore opportunity? “In the Envelope’s” latest deep-dive on a particular aspect of the biz features interviews with first Shauna Perlman of Creative Artists Agency, then both Jason Rodriguez and Ricardo Sebastián of the recently launched Arraygency. CAA is one of Hollywood’s oldest and biggest agencies, managing A-list actors along with writers, directors, hosts, sports and music stars, and other creatives. Shauna Perlman got her start at United Talent Agency before eventually coming to CAA and representing the likes of Rachel Brosnahan, Anthony Ramos, Teyonah Parris, Sebastian Stan, and Henry Winkler. One of her many points to talent looking for representation? Representation is on the lookout for talent. “Putting out the work is everything, keep staying focused on that,” she advises. “And you will