Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Golda Rosheuvel

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

More of my interview with 'Bridgerton’ star Golda Rosheuvel. Golda talks picking jobs that challenge and provoke, and I share my meet-cute story with my husband Justin. Plus, we share our tips and tricks for memorizing Shakespeare. This episode was recorded at The Begging Bowl in Peckham, London.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows.

Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Hey, it's Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinners on Me. This week I dined at the Begging Bowl in the Peckham neighborhood of London with the extraordinary Golda Rochelle. Over a delicious Thai meal, we talk about prioritizing challenging projects, being openly queer as a public-facing person, and the creative tools she's developed as a dyslexic actor to prepare for roles on stage. stage and screen. Now, to get back into the conversation, I was just telling Golda about how I'm bringing my show about Truman Capote from New York to London. Was that your first one-month show? No. I've done it twice before. I did a David Sederis piece called Sandaland Diaries, and then I did this play called Fully Committed,

in which I play like 40 different parts, which was a whole other challenge to be in dialogue with yourself. You know, the truth. Camacopi plays a breath of fresh air for me. I could just stay with one character and kind of dive deep. Great. But I've done. I shall be coming, by the way.

Oh, well, please. My God, I'd be thrilled. Yeah. Let's have a one moment to show you. So it's interesting, because I don't know where your head is at, and it sounds as though you have the same kind of ideas about storytelling as I do. You know, you get offered a lot of wonderful,

wonderful, wonderful things. But they never speak to the footprint that you want to leave. Do you know what I mean? In terms of the challenge, the dialogue, the political dialogue, the political challenge, all that kind of stuff, do you know what I mean? It's very rare when all that links together. And I think my choice is now,

because I'm able to choose, what I want to do are more about political dialogue, what's going on in the world, stories that can challenge, that people can go out

possibly hating. Do you know what I mean? Possibly having that emotional reaction to it because it's so like out there that they don't understand it, they don't want to understand it. I'm interested in doing that. Yeah. You know, I'm interested in that

that kind of discourse of imagination, storytelling, bringing, just shaking it all up a little bit. Do you know what I mean? No, I do. I mean, it's a great challenge, I think, of, you know, getting opportunity and, like, having, you know, obviously something like Bridgerton, I'm sure, has offered you the opportunity to do many other things that you might not have been on the list of things to do. Like, I know I have opportunity to do things because of modern family that, you know, before I would have had to fight for and maybe not get.

And, you know, the excitement about me being in it is enough to sometimes give me the role, whether or not, you know, if this was over from my talents, it was like, I don't should be playing this part, but, you know, they need me there because of whatever. But because of that, I think there is a more response. for, I feel this way for myself, to choose things that, I'm not just taking whatever is given to me. Like, I have to start to create a narrative, but like, almost like a mission statement. That's 100%.

What I want to put out there. Because it's starting to get to a point now where it's, the footprints that I'm putting down are like a little bit deeper and, like, they're being noticed more. And I can't, I have to be more thoughtful. Yeah. So I think that's great. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, that doesn't mean to always be serious and like always be heavy-hanging. No, absolutely.

I'm very good at comedy. Yeah. No, absolutely. But, yeah, I think it's, and it's taken a while for me to be brave enough. Mm-hmm. To not go with what you're supposed to do. Yeah. You know, I remember my agent going, well, that's not going to be in a living.

a nominating thing. And I'm like, am I doing it? Am I doing it for that? Right. You know. Right. Sometimes when I get pushed back, it's when I feel like that's when I actually should be doing it.

You know? That's when you should be doing shit, baby. Yeah. Definitely. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, we talk about Golda's wife. We also get into her qualms about the word advocate. And I share my gym meetcued with.

Justin. Okay, be right back. On days off from Jesus Car Superstar in London this past summer, we would head out to the English countryside for a little family reset. The boys were in heaven. They were running around, looking at farm animals, getting as muddy as possible. Justin was, you know, thriving, taking runs in the morning. And I finally had an excuse to sit quietly with my Kindle for a few minutes without feeling guilty. Now, trips like this always remind me that vacations aren't exactly cheap. So here's something I really didn't think about until Airbnb. While you're away, your home could actually be working for you when you listed on Airbnb. It's such a practical way to bring a little extra income and put it towards your own travel plans. And if the idea of hosting

sounds intimidating, Airbnb has this great thing called the co-host network. It's made up of experienced local hosts who can help manage your listing, take care of your home, and help your guests have a great stay while you're away so you can enjoy your vacation without worrying about what's going on back home. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. One thing I can always count on with Beckett and Sully, if I make them a good sandwich, I know it's going to get eaten. And honestly, when you're packing lunches day after day, that is a win. You want something your kids are excited about, but you also want to feel good about what you're sending them off with. That's why I love Boar's Head. At the deli counter, our favorites are freshly sliced and made with the quality I can

count on. Their maple honey ham and maple honey turkey are made with premium whole cuts and crafted with 100% maple syrup and grade A golden honey. So you get great flavor along with quality protein to help fuel busy school days. Pair it with their American cheese made from a hand-selected blend of 100% all-natural cheddar. And you've got a lunch that's simple, delicious, and one they'll actually finish. For lunchtime inspiration, visit boarshead.com slash back to school. They've got lots of kid favorite ideas to make packing lunches a little easier. And for Boershead, head to your local deli counter. And we're back with more dinners on me. Yeah, it's been wonderful. What is she? She's a playwright. She's a playwright, yeah. She's great. Absolutely amazing.

Have you worked together? Not yet. Do you want to? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we will. We will at some point. I was going to ask if you like her writing, but of course I'm going to say yes. I'm glad. I could tell you to. Yeah, but she's talented.

Yeah. She's really, really talented. So I have no, I mean, it's very easy for me to say. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful. And she, she's really interested, obviously, in gay stories, but stories that are, like, at the moment, she's working with a dance company

and they're working on a piece that do you know, Prues? I don't think you have them. People referral units. Basically it's kids or young adults who have been excluded from school. Okay.

And they go to this place, a referral unit where they're smaller classes. They learn basically like cooking, stuff like that to kind of, you know, to make life easier for them. Yeah. And they're usually like queer kiddies or neurodiverse or, you know, troubled kids, that kind of stuff.

Black children. Is it government subsidized? Yeah, it is. Some of them are. Yeah. And some of them are private. So she's working on creating a story, a play with this dance company. And they have, I think, four or five young people from the referral units that come in and kind of give a

advice and it's devised work. So, yeah, she does that. She does book adaptations, queer stories. Yeah. She does the good work, as I say. I mean, I've seen that, you've also, I mean, obviously, as a member of the LGBTQ community, probably that is a cause that you are very involved in. But it seems like you also have really put yourself forward as being an advocate.

someone... It's strange. I don't... I always shy away from that word, Jesse. Advocate? Yeah, I don't... I don't think... I earn that word.

You know, that to me is like for people who are out there and, you know what I mean, on the marches, on the things, and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Having said that, I understand why. And of course,

I'm very proud to be a queer woman. I'm very proud to be part of that community. And I'm very proud to just be, if that makes sense. And if that is advocacy to ride my bike here from home, to get on a bus, to try and be, and I really don't like saying this, but I think it's the only way to show normalcy within our world, our lifestyle that it's not scary. It's not unknown.

Everybody falls in love. Everybody eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Well, that's why I push back against you saying that you are not an advocate. I feel like what you just described is like advocacy and like the greatest purists of the word. That's why. I feel like, you know, being someone in the public eye and being openly, authentically yourself is so important. And I just, I mean, I don't know about you, but I did not have those people growing up when I was young to look towards to be like, I, that's a representation of something that I can strive for, that relationship or that ability to live openly and to ride my bike somewhere as I, you know, and to love openly and to, you know, to love openly and to, you know,

bring my full sense of myself into my work, which is being enjoyed openly and publicly. So I do feel like you're doing great by just being and being authentic. And I think that that is the advocacy and the purest sense of the word. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that, hon. You're welcome.

And that is that. And that is that? Well, you've got to tell me about your boyfriend. Oh, okay. Your boyfriend. My husband, yeah. Justin's... Oh, my gosh.

tell you whatever you need to know. What does he do? What's Star Sign? So he is, he's September 10th, so what is that? Oh my God. What is that? What is coming up soon? It is. Oh, he's a Virgo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I don't, I don't, the Star Sign thing for me is like, I don't know what any of that means and I don't hold on to it. But he, he's what, he's organized. He's very organized. He is a lawyer, but he doesn't practice law. He's producing right now. We're actually about to produce a film together. Oh, brilliant. He produces theatre. He loves theatre. He is wanted to be a musical theatre person, musical theatre performed, but then decided that was not for him. But has a deep appreciation for the arts.

He's 10 years younger than me. Well? 10 years younger than me. My's 14. 14, yeah, yeah. That's the way it should be. You know? I do know. I do. How did you meet? Wait, we met at a gym. You too? In the locker room. Fully closed. Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. That's where the deliciousness is, that is very spicy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just gonna say. Nice though. It is nice, but it is spicy. In a gin, okay. Packs a punch.

That's very, no. Woo, baby. Right? I'm gonna have one more bite of it and then I might have to stop it out. I know. Maybe the rice will cool it down. So in a gym? In a gym.

I was also, much like you, had just recently broken up with someone and was trying very hard to break patterns. I've had that's also when you meet the person that you're gonna be with, when you like figure out like what you need on your side of, the relationship and you're really strict about making sure that that is aligned. I went into therapy going, I'd like this, I'd like that, I'd like this, I want this, I want that. And she was like, okay, that's great. But what do you not, what don't you want? Right, right.

It's like, what? And it's a different way of looking at it, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. It's a different way of looking at it. Yeah. Yeah, no, I definitely had, I had, I had. I had. had a deeper understanding about what I needed and what was not working. And also I was in this pattern of dating people where like I couldn't, let me know if this happens as much to women as it does to queer men, but like I couldn't tell if we were on a date for like weeks. I was like, are we dating? What is going on? It was so ambiguous and weird. And I was like, I don't like this gray area. I've heard that that's like an American culture kind of thing. It might be. It might be. It might be. It might be. I, um, anyway, that's all to say because when I, I, I, I finally asked Justin out,

he said, I have, um, I do have a boyfriend, but we can go out as friends. And I said, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't need any more. I didn't need, like, an ambiguous, weird relationship. Like, I'm attracted to you, but you're with someone and like, I, like, I, like, what is this thing that we're doing? So I just said, I'm good. And I didn't see him. I didn't hang out with him. And then I do, thank you. Oh my God. Ice in London? Yeah.

We might have the last six ice cubes in all of London. And finally, I went off to do a play. I came back. This was when I was doing Modern Family. Modern Family had just started. And I saw him again, and I was like, how was your boyfriend? He's like, oh, we've broken up. And it's like, great, let's go out on a date.

Yes. And that's how it all started. Yes. I love that. Not for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Golda shares how she approaches preparing for roles as someone with dyslexia. Okay, be right back. On days off from Jesus Car Superstar in London this past summer, we would head out to the English countryside for a little family reset.

The boys were in heaven. They were running around, looking at farm animals, getting as muddy as possible. Justin was, you know, thriving, taking runs in the morning. And I finally had an excuse to sit quietly with my Kindle for a few minutes. without feeling guilty. Now, trips like this always remind me that vacations aren't exactly cheap. So here's something I really didn't think about until Airbnb. While you're away, your home could actually be working for you when you list it on Airbnb.

It's such a practical way to bring a little extra income and put it towards your own travel plans. And if the idea of hosting sounds intimidating, Airbnb has this great thing called the co-host network. It's made up of experienced local hosts who can help manage your listing, take care of your home, and help your guests have a great stay while you're away so you can enjoy your vacation without worrying about what's going on back home.

Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. And we're back with more dinners on me. I want to ask a little bit about, you've been so open about being dyslexic, and I know that you have a lot of tools now with them. I'm sure there are a lot of great apps and stuff that help you you know with like learning lines and scripts and you know having to read things and uh but that wasn't

always the case you know what i mean i heard i think you spoke about it somewhere but you're talking about it does an app work winnith culture reads your scripts first of all have you ever met winnith paltrow have you if you ever do you must tell her okay cool i will she's i don't know her well but she seems like the type of person that would like really yeah she'd love to hear that yeah but like what how did you what were your tools that you used to help memorize lines and I mean you're such an accomplished stage actor as well

and so much your stuff is material that is difficult like Shakespeare and you know not easy to learn when you aren't dyslexic yeah Shakespeare has a lot of work obviously yeah so yeah which I mean I go I go full on

Because I have to. And I think I want to, I have to, I want to. So with Shakespeare, really, really briefly, I get the, what's it called, the Idiot's Guide. Oh, no fear Shakespeare? No fear Shakespeare. Oh, I only work from that. Well, I work from both. The art and like, yeah.

And the, and the text. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I print out a script. that has one side the text and one side blank paper, big enough so I can write every single no fear what it means in my own language. And I studied that and I studied that and I studied that. Because in no fear it's like plain English.

Plain English. But then I take that plain English and I put it in like Golda speak, do you know what I mean? That kind of thing. So you get like that. Because I think half of the battle with any kind of text is the emotion of it, where it comes from. Right?

Mm-hmm. So understanding the language and then, you know, having it simmer and then obviously producing it. All my scripts have to be read to me, first and foremost. So that becomes a radio play, which is really interesting because it creates the imagination. My imagination.

It brings, it lifts it for me out of the page and into this. So I listen and read at the same time. So I listen to Gwyneth on Speechify, it's called. So I download everything into the app. Listen first, listen first, listen first, listen first. just read the whole thing. I'll probably do that once because then I have a kind of photographic memory.

So then I take my seams out of the main script. I put them in a little book. I make all my notes, this, that and the other. I take that little book around with me, if I'm shopping, or whatever, I always have it with me, open it up, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then I go back and listen again. with the in-depth work that I've done

on my own scenes and my character. So then it opens up. It kind of makes it, what's the word, sit. Like it grounds it. It grounds it. It grounds it. Okay, let me ask you this.

So Bridgeton, I know with television, things move fast. Do you get your scripts ahead of time? Yeah. Okay, that's great. Yeah. Like you get the whole season? No, not the whole season. Susan. We'll get like too much to those.

How much time do you have? So I have a bit of time. We were supposed to do one scene yesterday, which didn't happen, so I had three, four days. Okay. But now, see, that's, you'll know this with modern family. The more seasons you do, the more they start writing for you, the more you go, okay, I understand what is happening.

And it's easier to learn, right? So the other thing as well that I learned doing Shakespeare and working with the RSC, every writer has their code. And once you unlock the code, it's easier to learn. Yeah. Good writers have better codes than bad writers, do you know what I mean? So that's what I'm looking for when a script comes in and I'm learning. I'm like, what is the code that they...

What's their cadence? How do they like to write? Interesting. So interesting. I have a very good friend who's dyslexic. And, you know, everyone has their own, first of all, there's different levels of dyslexia. Yeah, there is.

And it's very, very personal to that person. Yeah, I was going to say, and he has, I mean, he'll text me things. And, like, he always laughs at the way he spells things. It's like, he knows they're not right. Yeah. He's just phonetically sort of sounding out. And I've learned to, like, understand what he's saying. Yeah, great.

But it's... That's a good friend. Yeah, no, he's great. He's never spelled my name right. It's always with the Y at the end. But, yeah, he's, I've asked him about, you know, learning lines. And, you know, he can't do cold breeds, which I, hey, I barely can do a cold breed. Let me just be honest.

I can't do cold breeds. And I've asked a lot of work because of that. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. A lot of work because of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sad. Yeah, it's just, it's very interesting.

I mean, he works all the time too. I mean, that's the other thing, I think, you know, he found a way through. Yeah, you do, you do. Yeah. You do. You do. And I, you know, it's funny because I love language.

Mm-hmm. I love words. I love, you know, dialogue and community. Yeah. But God gave me this thing that I have to navigate around to be able to communicate. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And for me, I try, try to find the positive and the fun in it.

You know, because I've had those moments of darkness, being, feeling stupid, feeling less than, you know, why is it much harder than? Why is it much harder than, you know, for me than everybody else? Why have I been given this curse, this? I've definitely had those moments. Yeah. Definitely had those moments. And I know that they will come again, you know? They will come again.

Because, as I said, I lose out on jobs. Yeah. Because it's just not possible. But there are jobs that you say no to or that, you know, obviously it's not. Yeah, no, they're jobs that I have to say no to. It's not like people are not offering you work because, yeah. No, they're offering you to me.

Yeah. Which is amazing. Yeah. But it's just. I think it's really powerful also to know your worth and also know your limitations and know what is going to, you know, what you need to do the good work that people are expecting of you. And when that is not possible. Right.

I've had to like time for me is a big one. There are times that like I just don't have the time. to, and I'm sure it's the same with you. Like, if you're needing to learn something, you need a certain amount of time to do it. But I feel like I'm not going to produce what they want me to produce. Yeah, and do your best work. Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. And it's going to be horrible for everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a little more for my conversation with Golda Rocheville. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet,

make sure to check it out on Dinner's On Me. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at the Begging in Peckham, London. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her as First Lady, educator, and author. It's Dr. Jill Biden. We'll talk about the deeply personal moments

she reveals in her new book, View from the East Wing, what is really like to be First Lady, and the lesson she's learned along the way. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony music entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Additional production support in London from Valerino Serini. Special thanks to Tamika Balanced Kalasni and Justin Makita.

I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, You have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands of in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.cwalk.ca.