From her dance roots to leading roles, the actress shares how discipline, purpose, and community shape everything she does.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00And I also read that you worked very hard
00:03to earn the role of Erica Rollins.
00:05Can you take us inside the audition process
00:08and what it meant to you to finally land that part?
00:10Yes, wow.
00:12So I went in four times for this.
00:18Three of those times, I didn't officially have it yet.
00:21And then the fourth time was it,
00:22I did already have the job,
00:24but then needed to do chemistry reads with some guys.
00:28But it was an amazing process.
00:32When I first went in,
00:33it was with Aaron Korsh, the creator of the show
00:36and the original, and with Dave Vardis,
00:40the original producer,
00:42and also the original casting director as well, Bonnie Zane.
00:47And so this was my first time in front of people
00:51in a very long time,
00:52since I wanna say before the pandemic.
00:57So a lot of our industry has changed.
00:59A lot of it's, I mean, the reason we can Zoom now
01:02is everything has been either send a self tape
01:06or get on a Zoom.
01:09And so I remember showing up and walking into the room
01:13and just to break the ice,
01:15I was like, I'm just so happy to be here in person.
01:17Like, thank you for showing up for work today
01:19because this doesn't happen anymore.
01:22And we all kind of like laughed together
01:23and was like, yeah, that is really amazing.
01:27So just got that out of the way
01:28and then was able to focus on the work at hand,
01:30but it was an exercise.
01:33I remember describing to a friend of mine,
01:34like it felt like a masterclass
01:36of just really stretching me as an actor,
01:40really throwing me massive adjustments and direction
01:46and trying things because we have the time
01:49to try new things and taking out a line and adding a line.
01:53We were in there for some time
01:56and it'd been a while since I had to do all of this
01:58in person and so I ate it up.
02:01I love peeling off energy and being in the room with people
02:05and I think they could feel that too.
02:07And it just, they were very warm and welcoming to me.
02:11And eventually got called back and had to do it again.
02:15And I did a chemistry read with Steven
02:18and he was lovely from the jump, met him.
02:21And I'll never forget, he was wearing like,
02:24I don't know, like sweat pants and a beanie,
02:26like to our chemistry and I'm all like dressed up
02:30in the few business attire items I have in my closet
02:34because I'm not corporate whatsoever.
02:37And we just got straight to it.
02:39And he was awesome to play with from the beginning.
02:44So yeah, it was definitely, it was a lot of steps to it.
02:47I think in that chemistry,
02:48I also met Victoria Mahoney for the first time,
02:50who was the director of Pilot,
02:53who is also a powerhouse and a fabulous woman.
02:57And so just having the opportunity to be directed
03:00in the room with her before even getting the job,
03:03I was just grateful to be in there,
03:06to be even to be side-by-side with Steven Amell
03:09and in his portfolio is what it is.
03:12So I just, just trying to remain in the present.
03:15I remember vividly that after one of these times going in,
03:22I was waiting for my Uber outside of the casting office
03:25and took a selfie because I wanted to remember that moment.
03:29And that was the moment I felt like it was mine.
03:33And that moment just popped up in my phone
03:36as a one year ago today reminder, like a few years ago.
03:39And it just made my heart sing
03:41because I remember that feeling of being there
03:46and being like, wow, I think my life might change.
03:50And I got the call that I was Eric Carollins.
03:53So been on, been rocking and rolling ever since.