Drama Queens - Jerry O'Connell - Part 2

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Sophia's conversation with "Summer's Last Resort" co-star Jerry continues with real talk about imposter syndrome, raising twin teenage girls and even the wild result of going under hypnosis. If you've ever wondered what actors talk about during their downtime on movie sets, this is it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hi, everyone. It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome back to Part 2 of Work in Progress with the lovely Jerry O'Connell. Now we're sitting at work at Base Camp in my trailer. We ran out of time. Sophia's driver was coming and asking for her to come.

And I came into our hair and makeup trailer and I said to Sophia, Oh, God. So that chat we had, it's got to be top, top two. Top two of work and progress. And Sophia didn't even look away from doing her eyeliner. And Sophia said, no, no way. And I went, top three. Sophia went, dude, we've had Michelle Obama on this show.

I said, I said, that's very hard for me. I don't really have top persons because there are so many different categories of people who come on the show. I said, I put you in the incredible comedian category along the likes of Chelsea Handler, Whitney Cummings. Oh my gosh. Yeah, Connery O'Connell. Okay, yeah. And he was like, I really can't believe you don't just think I'm one of the best, like, who is. And I said, okay, Michelle Obama.

Comic guests. Yeah. My top two. Absolutely. You're in, yes. You can have it. You can have it. You're wonderful. Okay. We were, we were mid-interview laughing and amused in such a fashion that as you explained, I absolutely missed my pickup time, which I do not do. But luckily I wasn't. I was actually ready early. I was ready before camera was ready, so we were fine. But I don't like to be late to the van. Currently, we have time to finish this because if you can see from the open door of my trailer, the daylight coming in, The scene we're shooting is a night scene and it is an exterior. So we're literally waiting for dark.

Do you want to know the thing I'm most embarrassed about this film about? Okay. These shoes that I have to wear. I'm showing, if you're listening to work in progress, my character wears these sandals. I can't believe you're giving people free feet on the internet. I would never. Oh, yeah. I need that following.

Oh, my God. But they're super gross. I hate them. And it really is. honestly this is the hardest acting I've done is wearing these around like I'm a person who wears these shoes they're your principal shoes they are very sturdy responsible burkenstock adjacent but not as cute as a burkenstock I'll give you that don't like men in sandals not my thing don't believe men should wear sandals sorry to assign gender and to assign footwear to gender

don't believe men should wear sandals okay that kind of fascinates me yeah I'm sorry Um, I'm so sorry to assign gender. It's okay. I think women wearing open-toed shoes, I think that's a lot of fun. Wow. Um, I think, uh, when I, I'm just not a man who wears open-toed shoes. You never know if you have to run, kick. Interesting.

Well, then how do you feel about being barefoot? Like, you're a barefoot at the beach guy. Well, if you're at the beach, barefoot is fine. Okay. I'm just checking because we're shooting at a beach, so I don't, I don't. I realize I don't know about your foot preferences. I do have a question for you because, you know, this is breaking news, friends. You've heard it here Jerry's foot presence preference, rather.

It's not a typical thing a person would think about. Something that is not a typical thing, I think, for people in our industry to do, but something I've always kind of wanted to do is a thing you did. You went to law school. Oh, yeah. This is crazy. Yeah. When did you make that decision?

Why did you decide to then, you know, go to law school but also come back to acting? Yeah. And were you ever caught in a pair of sandals whilst at law school? No, never sandals at law school. Okay, just checking. I, uh, you know, I was acting and then it got very slow for me acting. And my wife was very busy. And, um, we just had two children.

We have twin daughters. Yep. And they were about one. And I applied to Knight Law School at an accredited law school in Los Angeles called Southwestern Law. It's good law school. It's in that old Bullock's Wilshire building right there. Okay. And I had always wanted to go to grad school.

And I was like, oh, well, well, my wife was working. I'll apply to grad school. And I was like, what do I want to apply to? Like, what kind of grad school? And I was like, I mean, the only thing that interests me is like law school. Like I didn't want to go to English. I didn't want to study English. I didn't want to study film.

Wow. I was like, let me just go to night law school. Let me see if I get in. So I took the LSATs and I applied to two night law schools in Los Angeles. And I got into one. And I went to night law school for a year. And then what? Ironically, it's funny.

I had a TV show that was canceled abruptly. Okay. And I was like, that's it. My career's done. Like, it's over. I know, but you know how it feels. I know. It's jarring every time.

And so then about a year passed. And I started to audition for TV shows again. And I got a TV show for CBS, ironically enough, playing a defense attorney. Oh, my God. And I think they hired me. A lot of it had to do with, were amazed that I was, that I was in law school. That is so funny.

Yeah, it was, it was funny. Okay. But I'm a law school dropout. I dropped out because I realized you can make way more money playing a lawyer on television than actually being a lawyer. But, you know, I might, I might go back. Yeah. School is really fun for me. Me too.

I want to say what's really fun about school is, A, you're around. people who want to learn, which is fun, you know. And by the way, the fun thing about night school, I thought for sure I was going to be the oldest person there. I wasn't. I would say in the middle? In the middle. Wow, I love that. Like grad school is something that people do late in life.

Yes. And so don't be afraid to do it if you're like me and an oldie and like, oh, God, I don't want to be the oldest. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I was right before the holidays in December. I went and spoke at Harvard and I was on campus doing various things for two days. And I just was like, I want to go here. Yeah. I want to be back in school.

I miss school. Yeah. You know, if I can make a suggestion, you're residing in New Jersey now. Rutgers is like an incredible school. It's right there. Yeah. Like anything, you're smart. and it's like you're going to find something and be like,

yeah, you know what, I'm going to study that. And you can call them up and go, you know. It would be very cool. When you talk about, you know, pursuing a passion when work was slow, it strikes me as a really proactive thing to do. You know, I like to be a proactive person and also sometimes things feel really hard. And I'm curious, when you think about the times when success felt easier and the when success felt harder.

How do you grapple with that? Like, are you a person who experiences imposter syndrome and says, well, I got to get over it because I got to live and move on? Or do you have sort of more specific, like, tactics and tricks to get you through things? Being in the entertainment industry is really all I know, so it's all I can speak on. Yeah. And it's crazy because when you're younger, you're busy all the time. It's just, it's a young person's medium. Like, they're the ones who are in demand the most. There's the most amount of roles for the ages of 20 to late 20s, you know? It's just, it's what they make. They make young people, young people are in TV, you know? Right. So that's when you're in the most demand. It's funny, when you get a little older, you feel, and, and, and, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. there's not as much opportunity. I'm not saying, you know, I'm happy with the opportunities that I've had, but there's not as much, you know.

You do, like, I did start to panic a little bit. I don't know if it was having kids, definitely insecurity. I think mostly feeling like I had no control of something. And now that I'm old, I've come to terms with, I have no control over anything. I have no control. I, as cheesy as this sounds, I now, if I realize I have no control over something, I really don't worry about it and really just try to, because I do have, we talked earlier

about like having, I'm not diagnosed with obsessive. compulsive disorder so someone told me i'm not allowed to call myself that but if i have obsessive thoughts i try to i try to navigate them towards solutions like that's how i feel about my sprout i try to obsess i can't control it i try to obsess over solutions yeah i think that's really you're allowed to obsess about the sprout no i'm not we'll be back in just a minute but here's a word from our sponsors 2010s the decade To the days of huge hits And unforgettable albums

A nonstop stream of the biggest and best Drake, Rihanna, Beyonce Katie Gaga, the weekend And more All your decade defining favorites All in one place Hi, it's Katie Perry Hey, it's Brunumars

This is Kesha Find 2010's The Decade On the free Iheart radio app Preset the station So it's always one tab away You are a very dedicated person I've come to observe like I watch the way you talk to your kids.

I watch the way you are a family man. They're clearly so comfortable coming to you, telling you anything. You are at once, like they're a safe person. And also you manage to make light of things. You keep things funny. You have this really interesting blend of humor and real vulnerable honesty in your life. And you do it in public. Like, you know, you do it on social media.

You definitely did it on the talk show. That's exactly what we have to do as actors, even though we're not playing ourselves. Do you think you're actually both self-deprecating and really confident? I think I really, I try and live my life with humility, for sure. Yeah. I try not to think, yeah, we got to call him in. Get in here.

Come on. Hi, guys. We're finishing our podcast. Come here. This is the star of our movie. Come say hi on our little video feed. This is the star of our movie. Have a seat right here.

Mom, too. Get in here. Mom's important. Say hi to the people. Hello, everyone. This is your microphone. This is very. Oh, my God.

I love this. Wait, now you're scoot this over, Jerry, so you're still in frame. I meant the iPad, not your body, but you can do that too. Yeah, I can get in here, come. Wait, this is so few. This is the star of our film. This is Violet. Guys.

What have you learned from watching, from, what wisdom have you gotten from myself and from Sophia? I don't know. She's like, you guys aren't wise. How have we blown? your mind and help you grow. You guys are really good at improv. Oh, okay. Like, really good at improv.

I've learned a lot from both you guys from improv. It's so fun, isn't it? You know, now I'm going to take this moment to say what I've learned from Violet. Okay. You share your microphone. I've learned that if another actor throws a drink in your face in a scene to, you know, to be, to not like be visibly upset about it and be okay and realize that that's part of it. I had to throw a drink in Violet's face yesterday.

And I want to say it is the hardest thing I've done as an actor. I just had so much trouble. I don't know if it's because I have daughters. I had so much trouble throwing a drink in a 14-year-old space. It's okay. I love that. I was like, no, it's great. It was a team effort.

We both did it. You guys actually, you made the accidental spill look very naturally accidental. Great. You did great. No, by like, you're such a great actress. It's so fun working with you. It really is.

You know, Sophie and I've worked with young people for years and you have a real talent. Thank you guys. Thank you. You're a special one kid. Thank you guys. Thank you. I just want to clarify, she is my child in the movie. You are soon to be stepchild.

We, she's, we're, we're special babies. We are. Yeah. It's okay. All right, get out of here. Thank you. Let me finish my interview. Oh, you guys see what?

What was I saying? I was saying, oh, yeah, that I'm, that I, that I, that I try to, uh, humility, um, mostly because, um, it's funny, acting has really taught it to me. Yeah. And in the sense that, um, you're, the, you, you are, are one job away from, never working again. I mean, I hate to say that, but like, you know, when you've had, like, professional failures, okay, it, it is hard to get a job immediately after that.

And so you have to sort of believe in yourself. And so I try not to think I'm really that important, really. Yeah. It is funny. I have daughters, specifically one daughter who's getting. into the entertainment industry. Yeah. So it is fun to see someone, she gets a lot of auditions just because there's a lot of roles

for teenage girls. Totally. And I really hope, it's fun to sort of give her the tricks of the trade, you know? Yeah, it's really sweet. It's really sweet. Do you think, you know, I think about this a lot. You know, your kids are teenagers. 17.

And they got wasted last night. Oh, God. They went to, they have fake ID. They went to a bar. You can't control it. They told it to me. They got, I haven't talked to them, but I think they got drunk because they wouldn't answer my Snapchat.

I Snapchat with them. If you want to talk to a teenage girl, download Snapchat, they have fun filters. If they're your teenage girl. Yeah. Not strange teenage girls, 100%. But, you know, what can I say? Like,

and, you know, some of the parents are going to read this and be like, you should punish them, you should come down on them. Just like,

no drinking and driving girls, you know, like, please, like, if it becomes a problem and we're starting to do it too much,

you got to let me know, you know, obviously no drugs, no drugs, hell no. Yeah. You know, no nicotine,

please, it's so addictive. It's so addictive. It's so addictive. You know, I struggled. I struggled with nicotine for decades. Struggled with it. Had to get hypnotized.

To quit. Yeah. Haven't had a siggy in like 14 years. Good for you. Also, my wife said she would not touch me if I smoked. And that lasted about two months. And by the way, no contact. My wife said, I'm not touching you anymore until you quit smoking.

Wow. And I thought it was a joke. Good for her. And then after like two weeks, there was no, physical contact. Wow. After about three and a half weeks, I, uh... You realized it was serious.

This is game on. And I was like, I got to do something. And I tried to quit and I couldn't quit. Wow. And then you got hypnotized. You know, I knew a girl who had quit smoking. And I called her up and I said, how did you do it? And she said, I'm going to give you the number of this lady.

And I went to see her. And I had to bring a photo of my children and my wife. And I sat down on her like, like, uh, like a what do you call us beds uh those chairs a recliner and she put a headphones on me and there was like spa music and she was like i'm going to count to 10 10 9 8 and i fell asleep and when you woke up it was over i was like i had to pay her cash when i woke up i was like it was cash like how much though you want to know yeah like hundreds of dollars of dollars or thousands of dollars?

This was 13, coming up on 14 years ago, I had to pay her $800. $800 for an hour. Yeah. No, I don't know how long. I don't know how long it was. Wow. I don't know how long it was. It's a good gig if you can do it.

I woke up and I was like, that was baloney. What a joke. I can't believe I just gave some old lady $800. What a waste of money. And you've never had a cigarette sense. I walked to my car. I got in it. I had a pack of, sorry to give them a plug.

I don't want them to be a sponsor of the show. Marlboro Mediums. What a random cigarette. Well, I didn't want to, lights were too light and reds were too heavy. I'm not like, I'm not an addict. Mediums were just right. Got to my car, put the siggy in my mouth, brought the lighter up. And you just didn't want it.

And I, like, no, I wanted it so bad. No. I couldn't light it. No. I swear to you. I swear to you. I am a real, I've never been hypnotized for anything else. I know they do like everything, sugar.

Wow. I kind of want to do it. Sales. Sales. If you're in sales and you need to be motivated. Because I said to another buddy in mine who was a who was like a chain smoker. I told him what I did and he went to go get hypnotized. Wow.

He said, he works in corporate sales. He said, made him better at sales? The hypnotist said to me, if you ever want to come in for sales, let me know. No, he goes in for sales. Stop. Wow. That's insane. Okay.

We've been called to set. I had two more questions for you, but I'm just going to ask you my last and favorite question to ask everyone, which shouldn't be a surprise because it is also the title of the podcast. I want to know at this stage, whether it's work or parenting or coming up on 20 years of marriage or some other goal going back to law school, what feels like it's your work in progress right now in your life? This is going to be the best answer to this question. I can't wait. It's going to be better than Michelle Obama. Wow, it's going to make you the number one.

It's going to be better than Hillary, Adam Clinton. It is going to be better than Kamala Harris, Vice President Kamala Harris. All podcast guests. This is why he's saying this. if you've been living under a rock. My work in progress. Yeah. Is everything.

Everything is a work in progress. Fair. Everything. My marriage, my career, my health. Yeah. My relationships with coworkers. Yeah. Everything is a work in progress.

It never ends. It never ends. It's true. It's so funny. I'll say professionally as an actor. A big thing. they say to actors is, oh, you must not have to audition anymore. Of course, it never ends. No. It never ends. You just go up against better people. That's how you know you're moving up.

You just go up against better people. It never ends, man. Don't expect there to be an ending. Don't expect you to be cured. Don't expect, okay, I did the work. There's progress. That's it. The end. There is no the end. It's continual. Well, that's the goal, right? I mean, if it's the end, you're dead. So I would, I would much rather continue working on evolving. Everything. Practicing more patience. Sure. Look how nonchalant I was about Sprout. But I'll sprout. I mean, I talked to my wife while we're traveling and doing this film. And my wife was like, I think I said this earlier, you are like a stressful presence in our home. I'm not kidding. I actually thought about me like saying that out loud to you. I need to go home and be less of a

stressful presence. It's something I have to like really like think about. I'm going to say to my wife, like, tell me what I'm being, tell me when I'm stressing you out. Tell me when I'm stressing you. You just need like a code word. Like, you need a phrase. Sprout. Or she, I was going to say like, hey, six. Like, take it to a six.

Okay. You're at a 10. Take it to a six. I thought you said six. No. What? Okay. Four.

Pick a number. Sophia told me. Sophia sent this. That is definitely not my advice. Jesus age. Guys, this is why he's fun to improv with. And we have to go back to work. Yeah, let's go make a movie.

It's called Summer's Last Resort. That's true. It's going to be on Tooby. This summer. Really enjoyed Tooby. It's so fun. You're blessed. Well done, friend.

I hope we do it again. We're going to. First of many. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.