Heroes in Business - Carolyn Hennesy, Emmy winning actor, General Hospital over 500 episodes, True Blood, NCIS, Nickelodeon show Jessie, Author Pandora

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

A deep dive into the world of acting. Carolyn Hennesy, Emmy winning actor, General Hospital over 500 episodes, True Blood, NCIS, Nickelodeon show Jessie, Author Pandora is interviewed by David Cogan founder of Eliances and famous celebrity host of the Eliances Heroes Show broadcast on am and fm network channels, online syndication and on over 100 TV channels.   Chat Directly., Hire Quickly., using the First chat-based hiring app for start-ups. Chat and interview candidates anytime, anywhere. Download the .

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now, here's your host flying in,id cogan founder of alliances well we're back again and this is david coming with the alliance's hero show we're gonna have an incredible interview i know already and stuff so uh as you know make sure you go to alliances.com that's e-l-i-a-n-c-s why because it's the only place where entrepreneurs align. And we have with us the one and only and truly amazing Carolyn Hennessy, which I'm sure she looks familiar to.

She has been in, I don't know, how many different movies and TV shows? Lots. Tons. Tons. Yes. In fact, you've been on General Hospital, but you started on General Hospital, or you're supposed to be there only twice, right? The character of Diane Miller was, I got a call from the casting director, Mark Tishner, who's a very dear friend and has

followed my career forever. And he said, you know, we're looking for a lawyer. It's just a couple of episodes. You interested? And I said, of course, absolutely. So I went on and that was 14 years ago and over 500 episodes. So I'm really the lesson of there are no small roles because you never know what something is going to be. And the thing is, is how many people may have said, you know what, I'm busy or I'm not sure. And if it's only two days, is it something that I really want to commit to? Right.

A lot of people. Right. Well, and then, but there are more people that would have said absolutely yes. But a lot of people, you know, who are constantly working, you know, fortunately the way I'm working, what might've said soap opera, not understanding that soap opera is one of the backbones of the

television industry so you just don't know and then of course it leads to other things and exposure oh absolutely absolutely tremendous fans some emmy nominations and an emmy award so how did you know you wanted to even go into acting? Oh, that's very simple to answer. I was a studio brat. My father was a motion picture production designer and Academy Award winning motion picture production designer. Won his Academy Award for Fantastic Voyage but also designed Logan's Run and Young Frankenstein and Dirty Harry and King Kong with Jessica Lange. Many, many other things. And so I grew up wanting to always visit my dad at whatever studio he was working at. But when I was four, my mother took both my younger brother and I,

and we went to 20th Century Fox, and we went to the soundstage where they were filming Fantastic Voyage. And I remember very clearly walking in to this huge dark room, which was almost completely black. And there were people kind of milling about, but off in the corner, there was a beam of light and there was a frantic amount of activity around there. And I thought thought I don't

know what goes on here but whatever it is I'm going to do it and it just so happened that I have I have a bit of talent for it I want to be in that light I must be in that light and that's what sort of propelled me throughout my life and i studied and studied and studied and when i came home from london i was fortunate enough to attend the royal academy dramatic art when i came home from london um i started pounding the pavement and started earning my living as an actor in my early 30s so that's um i didn't have to you know take any other jobs all right it's amazing what are some of the secrets to being able to actually earn those roles and get those roles? I mean, Carolyn, you're competing with how many?

I don't even let my mind think about how many because that's almost sort of a self-defeating thought. What you have to learn very quickly is you can take nothing personally. You have to let the word no become your best friend because you're going to hear a lot. It's going to live with you. That you are auditioning not to get the role, but to show who's ever in the room that you can turn on a dime and make bold choices. And you're the one that they need to solve their casting problem. And that you cannot please everybody in that room. And so you have to show them that you've done the work and be happy with what you've done when you leave the room. And also the big thing is that you control 5% of the audience.

That's, and the other 95% is totally out of control. That 5% has to be operating at 100%, but you only control 5%. Now, once you're on a soundstage, my mantra, which I think is very rare in Hollywood, is that my job, if they've cast me, they're confident I can do the job, I'm confident I can do the job to the best of anyone's ability. But my mantra and my creed is my job is to make everybody else's job easier. Period. That goes from the craft service guy all the way up to the executive producer. My job is to make their job easy. How can I help? What can I do? Because I got this acting thing done.

I mean, that's that's sort of down. Unless I encounter a problem, which I see them sometimes do. But other than that, it's how do I make your job easier? And then and then I take that with me into my everyday life. How do I make your job easier without getting run over, without being a doormat, without being used or abused? But but how can I what can I do? How can I help? We're going to talk about some of the roles and various things you've played.

One of the things is, though, when you are acting and you're doing a role, is it required that you have to do word for word of what's on that script? Sometimes, yes, and much of the time, no. Sometimes, I mean, for instance, General Hospital, there's one actress on General Hospital, Laura Wright, who plays Carly. And she's almost a savant at saying

exactly what's on the page. And she grew up doing soap opera. And she says, well, you know, the writers wrote that, so I need to respect the writers and say exactly what's on the page. Just like, good girl. But mine, I can't remember. I can't remember it word for word.

So then how do you go about doing it? Have you been successful? I have been blessed with producers, directors, and other actors that allow me a little leeway to improvise a little bit. And sometimes if I'm coming up against something and I can't remember exactly the right word, if I can pull a word out of my vocabulary that means exactly the same thing or sometimes, sometimes better, they love it. Also, my character, Diane Miller, is not like any other character, I think, on the show. She's smart, but she's sassy, and she's what I consider to be the Greek chorus on General Hospital.

She can say to other actors what the audience is thinking and is screaming at the television but can't say it isn't heard so I can say that so so there's a tremendous amount of of of personality and with that personality with Diane you know kind of infusing it with my own personality there's some there's a little snark there's a little sass there's um you know there's a bit of dry humor and that lends itself to sort of improvising a little bit. You know, there's some harumphs and some chortles and some things that kind of go on that aren't written on the page. But the writers now have actually started writing for Diane and that's tremendous. That's a lot of fun because they know Diane so well, as does the audience.

they know Diane so well, as does the audience. Now when you do have to, you know, memorize those scripts, is it in small batches or do they say, here's the script, your role is xyz, go through the whole thing? We used to get the entire script for the entire episode, along with a synopsis breakdown of every act. We no longer get that. I only get my, what are called sides or my scenes. And I will get, if I'm working for instance, three days in a row, I will get usually that batch, maybe about a week ahead of time. And I memorize the first day,

the first day that I'm working, everything that first day, because if I memorize for all three days, it starts to get very jumbled because in soap opera, you're repeating sometimes a lot of the same information. So it gets very jumbled. So I have five, six, seven days to memorize that particular day. And then that night I memorize the next day.

And that night I memorize the next day. So it's kind of a wonderful grace period. And then it's, you know, cramming as much as possible. I think that anybody who's not in the industry, though, doesn't realize the amount of work. Because not only is it that, but then you also have to figure out how your movement's going to be, the expression. You're told a lot of your movement. First of all, a lot of the movement's based on the camera and what angle's going to be best. And, you know, you've got to find yourself on best. And you've got to find yourself on camera three,

or you've got to find yourself on camera two, and you don't want to create shadows on anybody. So that's where the director and the camera people come in. But the expressions and what you infuse into that script, that's pretty much all of you. That's all of you. It becomes you. Yeah, of course.

Yeah. Now you've been in so many movies again and TV shows, what Terminator and Click opposite Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler. And it was actually Terminator 3. Terminator 3. Yes. I used to love to go into schools when I would do my book tours because I've written a book, I've written a series of novels for young adults and I'd go into schools and say, I was the first human being killed in Terminator 3. That's what I played.

There you go, there you go. And all of a sudden you'd see these little young boys go, what? What? There's their attention. They'd be like, yes, I really did. So what are some of the movies or roles that stand out because you've been in so many?

Well, the ones, the series that I've done, Cougar Town, playing Barb on Cougar Town, that was one of the best times of my life because they would write these little comic atomic bombs for Barb. And I'd run in and I'd say something to Courtney Cox or Busy Phillips or Danberg, and then run away, and just watch the destruction. And it was so much fun. Barb was wonderful. Revenge, Penelope Ellis on Revenge was wonderful. Rosalind Harris on True Blood. That was like, that was just a gift all of season five.

And especially getting to go for 36 hours to my favorite city in the world, which is New Orleans, and film on Bourbon Street. And then film-wise, I think maybe my, the most fun I've ever had was something that was completely antithetical to who I am as a person, and that was playing Mother Superior in a film called St. Agatha,

which was my first horror film where I was the lead. And it was directed by a man named Darren Bousman, who directed Saw II, III, and IV, along with some other crazy films. So his penchant for blood and gore was evident. And I got to tap into that a little bit because, again, I played Mother Superior in this film which is about a woman who becomes pregnant and it's a 1950s young girl and she has to she can't your society

starts shutting her so she goes to this convent that takes in young girls um during their terms of pregnancy and it all goes south from there But Mother Superior had to be very controlled, very calm, very subtle, and excruciatingly cruel, extremely evil. And so I got to tap into places that I normally don't go. Well, that's the thing is, how do you actually become that person to block out your life? I guess if I could describe how actors do that, everyone would act. Everyone would attempt it because it's a...

Because you're becoming another person. You are that person. Well, you are not yes and no you are tapping because let's not forget we all have we are all multi-faceted we all have almost an infinite number of facets to ourselves and all you're doing is you're plumbing your own depths you are turning certain facets to the light. You're not, because if you think you're Juliet or you think you're Lady Macbeth or you think your mother's superior, then you've crossed over the line and you've gone insane. So you're simply digging into

that part of yourself that can be an ingenue, can murder your husband, can, you know, you don't want to ever turn them to the light in your own life, but you've got them. We're all, for better or worse, we all have these facets. And to deny them, that's when the trouble starts. And that's when people go home and they, you know, they kick their dog if they've had a bad day, or they, people go home and they are abusive to this, or it comes out in, you know, explosive behavior. To understand that you have it within you

is the first step to managing it and controlling it and not letting it get the best of you. So for actors, we are able to tap into it and get paid. So we don't have to, you know, at least if it's done correctly. Sure. Talk to me about some of the physical scenes, like kissing and stuff. Have you kissed? Yes. How does that work?

You just pray someone has not eaten limber dishes before you kiss them are there feelings though if you're kissing someone even though it's acting and it's on camera for me no um the character obviously has feelings but the actress doesn't and so yeah i'm able to i'm able to separate and it. And it's usually everyone's kind of very tacit, and they're very gentle with each other. Unless, of course, you know, the two actors have actually fallen for each other. And then all bets are off. And it happens.

And it does happen. Does it happen to you? No, no. Those are called showmances. Yeah, yeah, they're showmances. And sometimes they last for the length of the show. And sometimes people are married. And we just don't even want to go there.

But my first big kissing moment was with George Hamilton. Yes. On a show called Jenny. Series, her scripted series that she had many, many years ago. And again, I played another lawyer, Chase. And I, Chase and George Hamilton, who was playing Jane McCarthy's father, had this big kissing scene. And I just went, oh, where these lips have been. So, but i kissed him anyway how do you not feel anything afterwards you must feel something i know george hamilton i just kissed

george hamilton yeah it's um you know i just made out with george hamilton but it's not i don't i don't i'm not in love with george hamilton and he's a wonderful actor and he's fun and he's a tremendous guy. So that makes it a little easier. But no, there are no feelings. No feelings. Chase has tremendous feelings for him. And so I was able to kind of dig into those moments when I did have feelings for someone and channel it into that.

But, you know, I was just sort of impressed with myself that I was kissing George Hamilton. channel it into that but you know I was just sort of impressed with myself that I was kissing George Hamilton so when you get booked for a show or tv do you typically know the time point of it and the second part is is while you're filming you're always looking then for the next role of what's going to take place right so you're are you always continually one going on auditions so that yes yes when things are not directly offered to me um which has happened which is happening a lot um but yes yes i'm absolutely auditioning um usually you've got i mean you've got representation that are out there sort of looking for you and they will let you know they're handling that aspect so that you can concentrate on the creative aspect and i i

personally am not out there you there going over the breakdowns, submitting, submitting. I've got representation for that. Thank you. But usually, yes, you do know the timeline. I mean, unless you don't. Two days on general hospital, 14 years on general hospital. So you think you know the timeline,

and then God comes down and does a little dance around you. And, you know, you get to work longer. But, yes, usually you know the dates and your representatives know the dates so that they can say, yes, no, she can't work on that date. But she's done on this date. She can work after that. So, yeah, yeah usually there's usually a finite period of time why is it that everybody believes it to be so glamorous many want to be the star because that's all they see that's all that's all that hollywood usually allows them to see you the things that are televised are a A, the finished product, and then the award shows, and then the premieres,

where everyone is all dolled up, and everyone is in great gowns, which they've usually borrowed and have to give back, including the jewelry that they're wearing. That's the glamour of Hollywood, you know, harkens back to the age when the studios wouldn't let anything else, you know, the Joan Crawfords and the Vinnie Davises and the Katharine Hepburns, and the studios managed that to always be the epitome of what you should want to aspire to. Now with social media and backstage and you can, you know, and of course all the trouble

which the actors and actresses get into which of course was usually managed by the studio back you know in the past um the audience the fans the general public can see a little bit more but basically it's this sort of false ideal that people have about hollywood i can't tell you how many times I've been, you know, in a field at 2.30 in the morning shooting a scene and it's bitter cold or on the beach shooting a commercial and it's 6 a.m. January in Malibu and I'm just, you know. And how unglamorous it truly is.

How much hard work that nobody, almost nobody knows. And actors have it easy in that the real heroes of any show are the members of the crew. They work harder in a day than I will in a year. They work harder in a day than I will in a year. They are, you know, they're there sometimes hours before the call of the actor, you know, the set call of the actor. They are smarter and better educated and better people than a lot of us. But having said that, we work hard, too. We really work hard. And part of that work also goes into studying

and learning your craft and understanding how to behave on a set, understanding why the people that get asked back are the ones that, first of all, don't talk about acting when they're sitting in the director's chair. The ones who make themselves the ones that people want to be with. You know, that's skill in and of itself.

Understanding respect for your fellows. Sometimes it can be hard work. But also standing out in a field at 2.30 in the morning with, you know, wearing high heels. Oh, my. You know, shooting some crazy scene. Yeah, it can be hard work. Is it surreal when you're watching yourself on TV, when you see yourself on TV or see yourself in the theaters?

I think it started out as surreal. It's not surreal anymore. I, you know, I'm desperate to see myself. One of my goals is to do like a film for like Paramount or Universal and have that big logo, you know, that, that, that, that hallmark, that precursor, that trailer come and know that I'm in something that's of that magnitude. And I was able to do that with Terminator and a few other films. But it used to be surreal, it's not anymore. It's now, you know, and I actually, I'm one of the very few, I love seeing myself on screen because sometimes I do things that are very funny and I love seeing that. What about with fans from, I mean with soap operas especially, don't you see fans coming and seeing that person,

the actor being that person, living that person? So when you see fans in public and you've been on so many episodes, don't they just expect you to be that person? Well, for instance, with soap opera fans, I'm very lucky in that I was able to participate almost fully in the creation of Diane Miller. Because again, they just picked her to kind of come on and off. So when they decided they wanted to keep me, participate fully. So very much a lot of Diane Miller is me. So fans aren't usually disappointed when they meet me. They say, oh, well, she's just as, you know, sassy and spunky and fiery as Diane Miller.

So they're not usually disappointed. What they usually say is, you're much thinner in person. Great. Wow. Nice. Very nice. Which is great. So no, they're usually not disappointed at all.

And also, I worship soap opera fans. And I worship my fans, because without them, I don't have a job. And so I try to be as kind as is humanly possible to my fans, understanding that we are more family to them, because we're on five days a week, an hour a day. And so we're not once a week, you know, Chicago Fire or NCIS. We are family, sometimes more than biological family.

And they trust us and they love us. And for some of the villains, they're angry with them. And those actors sometimes feel that wrath. And all they can say is talk to the writers. That's all they can say. I'm paid to do this. But for Diane, people love Diane. Diane is a big fan favorite.

So understanding that, again, without them, we don't have jobs. Sure. Now, again, you've been in TV, film, commercials. What do you like more? There's no answer for that. There's absolutely none. And I don't forget, I also do theater. Theater, I mean.

So the live experience. You've done all that. What haven't I done? Stand-up. Okay. But maybe. We'll get you booked for that. Maybe we'll see. I've experienced, what haven't I done? Stand up. Okay. But maybe. We'll get you booked for that. Maybe we'll see.

Theater, the connection is instant. And to know that you've got, you know, 600 people right in the palm of your hand, and the next moments are crucial to their well-being. I mean, you can rise the boats or let the boats sink. If it's a film, it's a little more luxurious. You can, you know, go back if you've missed something, and it's also a little more subtle. The combination of the two is a sitcom,

where the audience comes in, hopefully after, once we return to some sense of normalcy after COVID, we can get those audiences back in the studio. But you've got the immediacy of the audience reaction, and then you can take it again and hope that the audience still laughs. And a lot of times it's really funny they do. So you know that you're connecting, and yet you can do it again. The odds are so difficult to do what you're doing. I mean, it's got that one role. You hope that during the audition that they like you, that you fill that role. But with the roles that you may not have received, are you able to ever get

feedback from them of what you missed? Sure. Oh, absolutely. I mean, not so much now anymore, because I'm a bit of a non-profit. Right, right. So people will call me in knowing that I do what I do. They know what you could do better in your career. Yeah, absolutely. How do you learn otherwise? You know, so that they provide feedback. Yes, yes. If you've got representation that's bold enough to call and say, how did she do? They will say, well, she was too arch or she was too subtle or she was too this or too that. But very often, with a really good director, you'll be directed in the room.

I've had a lot of improvisational training so that allows you to make bold choices big choices to turn on a dime and if the director says um what I'd like to see this you're not in a position to say I just don't see it like because that they'll say see you um and if you're able to the big thing is to be able to take direction yeah yeah so do you recommend for someone who wants to get into it they see this world they want to be part of it should they be going to acting school absolutely absolutely unless you're a fluke like a James Dean, like a Tom Cruise, like somebody who started very, very young and just kept working and never actually had to go to,

a lot of those actually do go to acting school. But I would say absolutely. Find acting classes, find drama classes, read as much as is humanly possible, watch the shows that you really are interested in. Study, study, study. And always, always take an improvisational class. Take an improvised class. Carolyn, do you ever think about if you weren't doing the field, weren't in the industry that you were in, acting, actress, what you would be doing? I would probably be a chef or possibly a

trapeze artist which I kind of also am but like a professional trapeze artist or I would probably have been a more a more prolific author. Do you think you part of the motivation going into the field was based on your parents? Absolutely no. I also have an aunt who is an actress her name is Barbara Rush and a lot of your viewers may know Barbara Rush so she was my she's my mother's older sister and so I saw kind of in front of the camera from my Aunt Barbara but really my my character was developed from my dad behind the camera and watching behind the camera. So what did your parents think when you got it? Well, my mother, God bless her, she said, just learn to type.

Just learn to type because you can always, I said, I'll learn to type, but it's not because I'm going to be a typist. God bless. My dad was real, real insistent. He passed away when I was 19, but before that, when I was growing up and he knew what I wanted to do, he saw so much astonishingly bad behavior from the actors that were, and he saw a lot were and he saw a lot of he's on the wonderful wonderful there were actors he loved he loved gene wilder he loved you know marty feldman he was good he designed young frankenstein there were other ones that he loved clint eastwood but he saw a lot of bad behavior and he said just don't be a phony on screen, off screen.

And he's the one that instilled in me this, and from a very early age, this tremendous respect for the crew that are more important. Because without that, we're acting in a vacuum. So he said, I'm behind you 100%. Yes, you're meant to do this, but here's your behavior. And from a very early age, you know i that was instilled in me so again and then i and then i developed the how do i make your life easier not

just how do i stay out of your way how do i make your life easier and sometimes it's by staying out of the way so i imagine that you develop a relationship with something like oh you play Jesse, right? I play Mrs. Chester, the horrible Mrs. Chester. When the segment's over or the commercial or the amount of time that you've spent with the other actors and the whole crew is over, does it go into a thing of almost like a maybe state of change or state of depression, like, okay, this chapter's over? Oh, huge, huge.

Well, because you've certainly with something like Jesse, if you've had a miserable experience on a series, chances are you're usually gone, you know, after, after, unless the money is really, really good. But if you've, if you've had a wonderful experience, which is the norm, because you're thrown together and you become this family. You become the family. And various people take on various roles within that. You have your father figures, your mother figures, your stepchildren.

But when it's all over, yes, you're looking forward to the next chapter. But the idea that this home is being ripped from you, is being taken from you, is devastating to some people. And there are many, many, many, many tears and many solid friendships that have, I mean, huge number of solid friendships that continue, you know, after a series is over. But I've been to wrap parties where people are you know inconsolable because it's you know it's something that's leaving something right you won't see them as much as you've seen them right well sometimes never again but you take that experience with you and it only serves to enrich you if you if you if you let it and sometimes it makes for great stories well we're

going to share with our audience some of your stress relievers in fact you mentioned a little bit little bit of one of them. Why don't you steal a little thunder on that of what's in your house? I have a trapeze. Yes, I do. I have a static trapeze. Not the one in the bedroom, a one that- What? We're talking outside the front. Well, maybe a want to do better. That's another story in another segment. No, I don't. I take flying trapeze. I've been a flyer for about 20 years. And I've been a static trapeze aerialist, which you see this discipline a lot in Cirque du Soleil. You see it a lot in Cirque.

There's the rings and the silks and the straps and then the static trapeids. And I do that. I've done that for about eight years now. That's scary. No. But it's a stress reliever. Oh, huge. It's the only thing you're probably thinking about when you're out there. Hang on. Right. Hang on. Either with your feet or your toes or your ankles or your hands or your arms or your elbows. You just hang on. Either with your feet or your toes or your ankles or your hands or your arms or your elbows, you just hang on. Yes, yes, you really don't think about anything else. It's a serious focus tool. But it's also a stress reliever. It's also incredible exercise and gives you, you know, the core of a 20-year-old. So I have that built at the end of my driveway. And I do that four times a week.

Four times a week? Four times a week. Yeah, at least. And you're talking a full... No, no, no, no, that's the flying trapeze where you get caught. Mine, the... But it's big. I think I've seen some video or something on it. If you saw me swinging, that's the flying trapeze. John Gerstle PB, Peter Vitale PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John Gerstle PB, John the same ones, but there's words for the same. Karen, what do you think about most? What do you think about most?

What do I think about most? Well, it's not retirement because that's not going to happen. Oh, I think about family. My brother and sister-in-law and my nephews, more than anything, we were able to get together a lot during, in fact, more than we ever had during the pandemic. We had game night. I think about my animal advocacy. I think about restarting my podcast. That's a big big thing um i think about my legacy i think about what's my footprint and thus far i'm i'm i'm happy i'm i'm not satisfied but if i were god forbid anything should happen to me you know tomorrow i have a series of children's books that are all about taking personal responsibility for

your actions in a very witty and wonderful way. The Pandora series, look about it. Pandora gets jealous. That's the one. My body of work, I think, has been instrumental in making people happy, making whoever sees it happy, because there's just so much fun and humor and some wit. I like to I like to flatter myself, I believe that when people see it, they are energized. They are they they have a tremendous sense of fun. And, you know, the more you laugh, the longer you live. So I like to think I've extended some lives. The more you laugh, the longer you live. So I like to think I've extended some lives.

And I think about keeping myself in shape, living as long as possible because I've got more years behind me than I probably do ahead of me. Unless my Norwegian constitution just kicks in and I live to 150. And how do you keep healthy? Trapeze.

Trapeze and good nutrition. Should I have a trapeze? Everybody should. Well, first of all, everyone should take a swing on a flying trapeze at least once in their life. Because if you can do that, if you can climb up that ladder and hold on and sail yourself off that board,

you really can do anything in the world. You can do anything. And it's wonderfully inspiring um but what i think i think what i think about most is is saving as many animals as possible and why is that because why because they don't need us we shouldn't they shouldn't actually come into contact with us. But we need them. And when, as I think I've told you, we lose 150 species a day on this planet when they're gone.

How is that possible? Because of man's encroachment. Because of man's encroachment. 150 species a day? Sometimes it's small little tsetse flies or sometimes it's, you know. But we don't know what that can lead to. There's something else. Well, we do know. And it's an apocalypse, truly. We, about 10 years ago, we lost the last

West African, Southern African white rhinoceros, West African white rhinoceros. It's one of those two. But it's gone. So there you go. And we'll never again. Actually, here's the thing. That's actually not true. It's gone in the wild.

And there are no more wild spaces on this planet. Everything pretty much has been explored and discovered and ravaged. But the reason that I started my podcast, Animal Magnetism, is because modern zoos and aquariums are under such fire from radical activists who pretty much could care less about animals. They just want to make statements and they want to become, they act with a lot of feeling as opposed to understanding what's smartest and best for the animal. So I started my podcast, it's an advocacy podcast to combat that. And modern zoos and aquariums are the last bastions of preservation and conservation.

They're the last arcs for so many species on this planet. I'm not talking about the zoos that are not accredited. I'm not talking about the zoos that are like roadside attractions. No, they need to be shut down and those animals transferred into accredited facilities. But because when the last apex predator, when the last mediterrestrial, the elephants, when the last metamorine, the orcas,

the whales, when they go, humans are truly, research shows, not far behind. We're not far behind at all. Like about 50 years. And then the swift decline of humanity. So my goal in protecting animals, those which truly have no voice, is in large part to help save humanity. I mean, there's nothing small about that. There's nothing small. So as much as I, as whatever I can do, and I'm just starting to now start speaking engagements about that, and why we need these facilities, and that they are in such large part more

concerned with animals, and in the best of all possible ways, than the activists could and would ever be. So that's why. And they are oftentimes so, the intuition, the love that they have for us, the curiosity that they have for us, they just want to be a part of our society when they shouldn't be. They don't need to be, but they want, that is so often undervalued and underestimated and taken advantage of and that's what just slays me so i still can't believe 150 150 roughly yeah right yeah it's just uh right it's when we start losing the bees that we all have to really worry right and they could they they can learn more about uh this me they can can learn. I have a YouTube channel, and it's Carolyn Hennessey, H-E-N-N-E-S-Y.

So look on my YouTube channel. Go to my animal magnetism category, www.carolynhennessey.com. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram, or the gram, as the kids call it. And I'm on Twitter. And there you go. There you go. So you experienced the Alliances Grand Team. I did. One of many experiences at Alliances. So talk to our audience and viewers.

What was that experience like of you experiencing Alliances? Well, it was, I'm not intimidated easily because I work in Hollywood and I wasn't necessarily intimidated yesterday but I did experience looking that way and that way down the line a feeling of I'm an actress who loves animals. What am I doing here? Because everyone was so involved with marketing and IT and leveling up and taking everyone's business to the next level. And I just have this, you know, this little podcast that needs some help

because I think with my pedigree and the people who, my fans who really do love me, I could level this up but I so but it's not a business yet you know so it was right and I'd like it to be so fortunately I found some some people but I was sitting there thinking I'm kind of like a bit of a fish out of water and yet everyone was so welcoming and so warm and so helpful. And I met some astonishing entrepreneurs there. And it made me realize that, yeah, I'm an actress in Hollywood, I work, that's great.

But there's, and I've reinvented myself in Hollywood in so many ways, but I can also reinvent myself outside of the scope of the industry and that was and on a much grand broader grander level that this could actually be something that does more than me just being an ambassador for American Humane and an ambassador for my wonderful Los Angeles Zoo and speaking in front of you know Marine Mammal Trainers Association and AZA so I can I can take it and really broaden my scope so it was wonderful and I mean everyone's just peachy kind of dreamy very glad that you came thank you thank you for inviting me absolutely

well we're out of time but Caroline it has been just absolutely amazing having you. Thank you so much. It's truly amazing. And how do you keep so young, too? And I've never gone under the knife, which is exciting. And hopefully I never will. Attitude. It's all attitude. It's all attitude. But you also have so much energy. I know. Where does that come from?

I know. Where does that come from? Just understanding that whatever your particular philosophical or religious belief, this is the only life we have to worry about right now. And there's only one of it. And I've got to make the most of it. I've got to be as much of an inspiration as I possibly can. That just sort of energizes me. Also, hearing people laugh is like oxygen to me. I hear that a lot.

So that's a lot of fun. I just, you know, what's the recourse? Listen, there are times when I sit on my couch and, you know, binge watch whatever, something on Netflix. I do that. Eat a Popsicle and sit on my couch and you know binge watch whatever's not something on Netflix I do that eat a popsicle and sit on my couch that's fine but you have to balance that out I mean that's that that has to actually be a very small part of your life for me so excellent well that's right make the most of your life again you've been watching David Cogan host of the Alliance's Hero Show along

with Carolyn Hennessy she can be reached at caroHennessy.com. Make sure you continue to stay tuned and watch our other episodes. Like, follow below and everything else. It's been a pleasure Carolyn having you on the show and we do look forward to keeping in touch and seeing you again. Why not? Absolutely. Amazing Carolyn Hennessy. She's got an IMDB list that is again make sure you check out make sure you go to alliances.com email I a and CES.com. You have been listening to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. Alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders,

celebrities, and startups. To present your superpower, visit www.alliances.com.