Wrestling was the first time I thought, 'My leg is the thing that functions in this way to do this move, to get from A to B.' Instead of, like, 'My body's purpose is to suck it in so the male showrunner thinks it's attractive.'
With all the stuff that's going on in the world - after I watch the news, read the news, and listen to my podcasts, at the end of the day, am I really going to watch an episode of murder and time travel?
I was scared to film 'GLOW' for many reasons. As an actor, as a wrestler. It was just a very scary and intimidating experience.
There's not a ton of roles out there for the insecure, loud Britney Spears type.
I kept feeling like there were no parts for girl who want to play to the mezzanine.
Getting to work with Edie Falco and watching her be a quiet presence - but a very powerful presence - and so brilliant and free? That was the first person I saw where I was like, 'I want to emulate that.'
Both of my parents are actors, so I grew up backstage with them. I would see some of their shows 30, 40, 50 times. I would have it all memorized. I loved it.
In previous roles, I have thought of my body as 'Betty's body,' and I try not to eat too many dinner rolls - please don't fire me! I'll make crazy choices from the neck up, but from the neck down, it's just me trying to suck it in. And in 'GLOW,' my whole body was required to do a function and not just to look as good as possible in a costume.
The rule was I had to go to college, and I couldn't even go to theater camp.
I wasn't allowed to audition for anything professionally until I was - I guess I cheated a little bit and started when I was in college, but I graduated! Barely.
I've done plays where you get into the run and can go to auditions during the day, or can have lunch with someone, and then you go to half-hour and show up.
I spent a lot of time in college studying theater of the absurd and Beckett and Genet, and then I spent a lot of time after that at 'Gossip Girl' auditions, thinking, 'Wow, I really wasted my money.'
You would think that wrestling has so much to do with being aggressive and having a big ego, and it's exactly the opposite.
Growing up, I was a self-loathing Igor who carried the queen's books. My job was to be the sarcastic sherpa, quietly providing the farce and adoration, then becoming part of the wall when cued.
I won't name names, but sometimes a TV set can be a shame-and-fear obstacle course for an actress.
My mom used to play a lot of super character-y parts... so I was sort of raised to be a clown.
Wrestling really is kind of the highest form of theater.
The smell of a perm is this special kind of Chernobyl-grave soup smell.
When I read what 'GLOW' was about, it just felt like something where I could make as many faces as I wanted, and it would totally make sense!
I went to theater school where there is a lot of holding each other's faces and crying, and a lot of kid gloves.
