Chris Diamantopoulos was always an actor. Never held another job. He was working on the stage at an early age—touring companies, Broadway—then transitioned to television, film, and eventually voice overs. Never stopped. Some highlights: Russ Hanneman on “Silicon Valley,” Reinhold on “Community,” Moe in “The Three Stooges,” the official voice of Mickey Mouse, and right now you can see him playing bad guys in Netflix’s “Red Notice” and “True Story.” We recorded this interview hours before he started a new job and he takes us through what’s on his mind on the night before day one. He talks about how the voice is always the aspect he starts with when building a character, why going back to Broadway in a musical after many years was so challenging, the importance of keeping himself at a place of healthy neutrality, plus lessons learned from Brian Cranston, Kirk Russell, David Fincher, and much more! 

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“The Girlfriend Experience” put Riley Keough on the radar, and she’s been giving us multi-layered, deeply-rooted, captivating performances ever since, mostly in indie films like “American Honey,” “Under The Silver Lake,” “The House That Jack Built,” and now this year’s “Zola,” where she brilliantly walks the line of authentic nuance and absurdity in the role of Stefani. In this episode, she talks about the touchy endeavor of building the right approach for that character with director Janicza Bravo, the importance of knowing when to tighten up on prep or leave it loose, why she hates auditioning, how her spirituality enriches the work, why she’s not willing to risk her mental health for the job, and much more! 

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Léa Seydoux was a talented young French actor when she reached planet-wide stardom with her incredible performance in “Blue Is The Warmest Color” (she even shared the Palm d’Or at Cannes, which had never been awarded to actors before). Since then she has invaded Hollywood, starring in James Bond movies and Wes Anderson films, but also continuing to turn in exceptional performances for international directors like Yorgos Lanthimos, Arnaud Desplechin, Ildikó Enyedi, and, for her latest film “France,” Bruno Dumont. In this episode, she talks about the “sweet craziness” of working with Dumont, the importance of learning the “language” of the director, why their differences of approach are actual what appeals to her, how cinema saved her life, and much more.

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Looking back at Scott Speedman’s work in the early days of “Felicity” is a bit surprising. His acting had a wonderfully nuanced authenticity even then. Two decades later, that natural artistry has grown into a charismatic intensity and assuredness. It’s on display this year in the third season of “You,” the eighteenth season of “Grey’s Anatomy,” and the charming indie film “Best Sellers.” When we spoke he had just wrapped films with David Cronenberg and Lena Dunham. He talks about working with those two very different directors, the secret to good onscreen chemistry, how fatherhood might deepen his work, and much more. 

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(photo by Ben Duggan)

Rebecca Wisocky plays Hetty Woodstone, the deceased Lady of the Manner, on the new CBS series “Ghosts,” where she’s a stand-out among stand-outs in its impressive comedy ensemble. In this episode, she talks about the absolute pleasure of working on that set and the interesting ways in which the large cast, who more often than not act together in the same shot, find the “music of the scene” together. She has pretty much mastered the art of the guest star role, and has played more than her share of villains. I get her to breakdown her latest in a recent episode of “Dopesick.” She talks about walking the line of behavioral specificity and story function. Plus we chat a bit about actor’s safety post-“Rust.” And much more! 

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Shakespeare on the stage is his first love, but Alex Hassell loves the camera and it loves him back. Currently he plays Vicious in “Cowboy Bebop,” the live-action remake of the popular Japanese anime series. On this episode, he talks about being attracted to roles that are difficult, how years of stripped-down live theater work at The Factory formed him as an actor, why he’s more at ease when he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, his valuable contribution to Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” and how the particular challenges of acting on film excite him. Plus much more! “Cowboy Bebop” is available now to watch on Netflix and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” will premiere in select theaters on Christmas Day and globally on Apple TV+ on January 14th.

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(photo by DWGH Photography)

From “The Walking Dead” and “Punisher” to “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Small Engine Repair,” “The Many Saints of Newark,” and this month’s “King Richard,” Jon Bernthal has established himself as the hard-working, all-in, go-to, actor’s-actor of the moment. In this episode, he talks about some of the elements he uses—generosity, energy management, isolation, fear-as-fuel, group strength—to do his work, the one thing all great directors have in common, why he’d be just as grateful doing regional theater, plus much more!

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Ruth Negga loves words. And even someone who doesn’t particularly love words falls in love with the ones spoken by Ruth Negga. It’s not just her Irish accent. She uses words like a master craftsman uses tools. A profound humbleness. No pretension. Just the right tool, used at the right time, to make you understand, to make you believe. Obviously this goes for her acting work too. But, in true master-craftsman-style, there’s no sign of craft. You just believe. “Loving” got her an Academy Award nomination, her “Hamlet” got raves on both sides of the pond, and now “Passing,” Rebecca Hall’s stunning debut as a director, has them talking about Negga’s work again, this time opposite the wonderful Tessa Thompson. In this episode, she talks about the importance of gauging the atmosphere of the project, following instinct when it comes to trusting a director, the secret of playing an intoxicating character, and much much more.

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After 30 years in the business, with credits ranging from "Angels in America" to the "Harry Potter" films and everything in between, Jason Isaacs has cultivated an approach to the craft of acting aimed at bringing himself fully into the moment. As he talks about in this episode, that approach involves not memorizing his lines, erasing all descriptors in the script, making no decisions before seeing what the other actors bring. “I try to do nothing. I try to be an empty vessel.” In Fran Kranz’s "Mass"—a real-time, one-room, four-hander where every actor shines—Isaacs plays a father of a child killed in a school shooting. He gets to play with sadness, sarcasm, vulnerability, rage, restraint, revelation, and manages to ground it all in a solid emotional realism that leaves the viewer rocked and changed. What does Isaacs have to say about how he created this amazing performance that just might be one of the best we’ve been given this year? “I don’t remember…It’s like a black out.”

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He already had an Olivier Award for his amazing performance as Miss Trunchbull in “Matilda” when Bertie Carvel made his Broadway debut in that unforgettable role. He went on to win a Tony the next time he stepped on the New York stage, playing a young Rupert Murdoch in “Ink.” Notable recent television credits include the BBC series “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell,” “Doctor Foster,” and in November he stars in “Dalgliesh” on Acorn TV. In this hour, I get him to reflect objectively about his process and philosophically about acting in general. He talks about why collaboration (or even the illusion of collaboration) is the key to unlock an actor’s potential, how sometimes a director’s “arrogance of ignorance” can actually be helpful, how he navigated the urge to share his ideas on the Joel Coen production “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (which will be out later this year), why he  believes a good actor can elevate mediocre material, plus MUCH more. 

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