Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 9: Margot Bingham

Episode Date: April 20, 2016

Actress and singer-songwriter Margot Bingham has moved from playing the role of jazz singer Daughter Maitland in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" to a highly-respected detective in ABC's "The Family," but in working through these complex roles, Bingham said she finds comfort through practicing meditation. Bingham sat down with Dan Harris and talked about her career, how she dealt with the heaviness of her "Boardwalk Empire" role and how she found meditation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It kind of blows my mind to consider the fact that we're up to nearly 600 episodes of this podcast, the 10% happier podcast. That's a lot of conversations. I like to think of it as a great compendium of, and I know this is a bit of a grandiose term, but wisdom. The only downside of having this vast library of audio is that it can be hard to know where to start. So we're launching a new feature here, playlists, just like you put together a playlist of your favorite songs.

Back in the day, we used to call those mix tapes. Just like you do that with music, you can do it with podcasts. So if you're looking for episodes about anxiety, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes. Or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes, or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist for that. We've even put together a playlist of some of my personal favorite episodes. That was a hard list to make. Check out our playlists at 10%.com slash playlist. That's 10% all one word spelled out..com slash playlist singular.

Let us know what you think. We're always open to tweaking how we do things and maybe there's a playlist we haven't thought of. Hit me up on Twitter or submit a comment through the website. From ABC, this is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. So yeah, I'm supposed to be this like evangelist for mindfulness and meditation and everything, but if I'm being honest, one of my absolute favorite things to do in the world is to

sit with my wife and turn my brain off and watch a lot of television. In fact, this is super pathetic, but here's what we did last New Year's Eve. After we got our environment to go to bed, which took a while, we put on matching sweat-suit onesies, which we got from Tori Smith over at, Tori Johnson, rather over at GMA, eight cookies and watch five hours of making a murder. That was New Year's at the Harris Household. Anyway, one of our favorite shows in recent years has been Boardwalk Empire, which aired on HBO, and one of our favorite characters on that show was

Daughter Mateland, the 20s jazz singer who is incredibly talented, beautiful, mysterious, confident, and wounded all at once. And then recently I found out that the woman who plays Daughter Mateland, whose name is Margot Bingham, is a meditator. So here she is, sitting right in front of me. Here I am. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for that intro.

It's my pleasure. You're a pretty happy one. And he's making a murder, huh? Yeah, we was not the most relaxing way. I mean, it was relaxing physically, but not psychologically. Right, I can imagine. No, I tried to stay out of it when we were filming

for the most part. Right now, I'm just trying to catch up with everything else, my house of cards and the happy valleys of the world and. Happy valley. I'm obsessed with. Obsessed with. Please don't tell me anything. I'm not going to tell you.

I didn't even know that there was a second season until like two months ago. That's really clever. That's really clever. It was, it honestly, like I was screaming and it was, it was crazy. Sarah Lancaster, the star, we're way off topic here, but I'm just gonna go with that. Sarah Lancashire, the star of that is. Yes, fantastic. We're rockestly talented individuals.

Fantastic. And that's, I mean, I can't speak enough about her. She was so inspiring to me as Nina Meyer on the family for ABC. I mean, there was everything about her. Oh, wait, she's on the family? No, she's not, but she, like, I was so I watched that before we went into the pilot last year.

I forgot that Nina Meyer is the, I should say this, cause I didn't say this. Nina Meyer is the name of your character on the ABC show, The Family, which is what you're doing now. Yes, which is what is airing now, ABC. Yes. But no, she is, she's fantastic.

Everything that she was, it was not, it wasn't your typical procedural Cop kind of officer thing. She shares so much about her family. She's so personal and open and she and yet she's so tough But she's not guarded. She's she's magical to me. She really is and there's moments where she just flashes a looking Just like see this fear of looking her eye, but then you know also that she's incredibly compassionate and terrified. And terrified. Yes. And terrifying. Which is because many of our listeners and viewers have probably no idea what happy

value is. It's a joint production with BBC that airs Netflix. And Netflix. And airs on Netflix here or air. I don't know if the airs is probably not the right word, whatever you available on that. And it's in the second season and it's completely brilliant. But anyway, we're here to talk about you. available on the bail. And it's in the second season and it's completely brilliant.

But anyway, we're here to talk about you. So I want to ask you a million like geeky questions about four walk-in pair. But I'm going to hold off on that because tell me about meditation. When did you start meditating and how and why? I think I started meditating. I'd say probably three years ago.

For the most part, I try to be as holistic as possible. And I do a lot of the natural homeopathic ways of kind of gearing back to my health. And I've really been on that road strongly for three years. I'm recently a vegetarian three years ago. I guess that's not so recent, but time flies. And I was getting tired all the time, and always lethargic after my meal.

So I went in and saw an endocrinologist, got my blood type tested, and he was like, I really recommend this book, eat right for your blood type. And I thought, okay, well, I guess I'll check it out and I knew I was a positive. So I got the Dr. Diama book. And a positive blood types are gardeners where we're not supposed to be eating heavy meat.

And really Turkey is kind of on the neutral list. I don't know if you're familiar with this book. I've heard about the idea of using blood type as a true north for your... Dan, it's phenomenal. I highly, highly recommend. It's one of those things that you open the page and it says all of the things that you can't eat and you're like, well, I'm sure I could. And then there's like a thing that's in the neutral and it says why and what makes happen in your body and you're just kind of like, oh my god, that's exactly what that's actually what happens to my body. That's so weird, like could this really be a thing? So there were a couple things on the neutral list like turkey, ground turkey, but I am an extremist to the fullest. So which works professionally, but not so much for my personal. And I just, I literally just went cold turkey upon intended and cut it out.

And the next day I didn't eat meat ever again. I just couldn't do the like chicken sometimes, meat sometimes, and then do a bite of turkey. I just, I couldn't kind of do that and juggle. But after that, I really felt a lot lighter, I felt better, I never felt tired after my meals. And then I started getting into a little bit more to the yoga practice and or practice of yoga and acupuncture and more of just like a very clean lifestyle and that came with meditation, obviously with the stress of the career that I'm that I chose, which I can't complain about because I chose this and this is my dream. You're in a safe place, you can complain as much you want here. Thank you very much, oh my god.

But I definitely have moments where I feel really stressed out and and my anxiety is not the best at times and the people closest to me know that and know how bad I get and the best thing that I could possibly do is really take a second to myself and gather my thoughts and get in the best mind frame that I possibly can. As far as patients dealing with directors or different egos in this industry, you know that it comes at a high risk. And there's many different personalities in this world that we live in and that is our everyday.

So we have to kind of go in with the best gear and tools that we can in weapons. And I think that the best weapons that you can have is patience and meditation. Who's the most difficult, famous person you've ever dealt with? Oh, I can't. You don't have to answer that. I was total joke. It was a trick. I was about for two.

I would, I would love to know the answer, but I don't want to. When you're free right now. So what kind of meditation, how did you find it? So I'm a huge fan of Oprah and a huge fan of Deepak. I used to listen to music when I would fall asleep as a baby. It was just something that had to be on or else I couldn't fall asleep. And I think because of my musical ear, that was just something that caught me and that I had to have.

But then it turned into more meditation music, more spa music, more raky and more chakra music. And then I started getting my parents into that a little bit more. So now, like their night, the regiment is turning on like the chakra for the heart. You know, like- Your dad is the former linebacker for the pitchers.

Yes, he is and now he listens to raky meditation every night. So he's definitely getting his raky on. But yeah, they, I mean, they both love it. It's very relaxing music. And I guess once you get into the, the, the, the, the, I don't know, the, once, once you get into really allowing your mind to open up at night and you can just easily, it's not so easy at first.

Obviously, you have to really release all the stress and all the things that you list daily and that are continuously going on in your mind and really relax. But once you do get to that relaxation point, it's magical what you can feel when you really allow that music to kind of set in for the rest of the night and you can get it an unbelievable sleep. But it's the trick of getting there. So, I would really get into Oprah and then Oprah has the 21-day meditation challenges with Deepak. And I would send that out to my friends as I still do. And it's challenging to commit to 21 days.

It's unbelievable how challenging it could be to just commit to 15, 20 minutes of your time. For their meditations, it's 21 minutes for the most part rounded to 22 because of the 21 day meditation challenge. But it's great because Deepak really guides you through it and then allows you to kind of take over and Oprah kind of gives an overall idea where you should be at that particular time or just like an example of setting your mind and then Deepak can set your intention. So that's really nice.

Something that I personally struggle with still is really setting the right intention, becoming really simplistic in my intention and just being pure and just kind of keeping it very simple. It's really hard to not go into meditation with like the idea of, okay, this is all that I have to do in this meditation in this 50 minutes. I don't have any other 50 minutes to myself. So this is like, I need to cover all basis. Or I've got to get as calm as humanly possible.

Right. Right. Which you really, you don't. It's just a daily thing. The worst thing you can bring to the meditation party is expectations. It will screw everything up. Absolutely. And I, that is a personal struggle that I deal with constantly. So that's actually where I am right now.

Uh, me and my guy just started getting to headspace, which is something new that I'm, I haven't been familiar with because I'm, I've been doing it for a little bit and he just started doing it So he likes more of the guided route and that's cool because that's something that I struggle with anyways So I kind of like to try all different types. I just am a huge fan of taking 10 to 15 minutes to yourself Regardless if you call that meditation cool if you call that meditation, cool. If you call that like a moment of silence, cool. I just think that it's really great for our minds, especially people that are working more than nine to five's and that aren't really allowed to turn off their phones and computers at the end of the night. My mom is one of them and she's watching right

now. So yes, I'm talking about you mother. And it's important to take time for yourself because nobody else can give you that time back. So that's kind of, that's where I started knowing that I needed to do that. Those just drilled down a little bit. When you were doing the Deepak meditations, I, sometimes people get nervous when I talk about Deepak because I make fun of him in my book a little bit, but I actually really like Deepak and the kind of meditation he teaches is completely legit. It's this mantra meditation. I assume that's what he's doing with...

That's what he does. So you take a word, it can be any word really, and just repeat it silently to yourself on the in-breath and the out-bra. And do you find that that worked for you? It does. But I do have to say if my intention doesn't match the word for the mantra, the mantra is out the window.

I really don't remember it. Even in like the five seconds that he says it, he could say, you know, love, love, love. And I'm like, would, you know, and I just like kind of space out, but that's again, concentration on my part that needs to do better. But I like it because it kind of breaks down the intention a little bit more clearly. And again, it's getting back to the simplistic way of thinking, which is something that I need to work on.

But I definitely, I take that kind of idea into my acting world because as an actor, you should... kind of idea into my acting world because as an actor you should, there's something that my teacher, actually a couple of my teachers have taught me that you should have an objective to go into a scene or whatever. And that's something that you just know as an actor that that's something that you learn you, you walk into a scene or a room with your objective. And I've always had a hard time breaking down my objective. I can tell you exactly what I'm going to do in the scene, but that's not really your objective. And I've always had a hard time breaking down my objective. I can tell you exactly what I'm going to do in the scene, but that's not really your objective. So if you can't break it down to the word or the simplest form, then you don't really

get to where you're going. You eventually do, but you go this really far around about way. So that's something that I actually enjoy on his part, but I just think that some of the words don't always Match the intentions that I need. So this is gonna expose my own ignorance because I've never done the Oprah D. Buck 21 day challenge What is the what is talking about the relationship between the intention or whatever that is and the mantra will just walk me through a Super basic terms. So say we're talking about just walk me through a super basic terms. So, say we're talking about, say we're talking about choosing your happiest life, you know. That's like the theme of the whole 21-day challenge

is choosing your happiest life. And you go into the meditation with Oprah starting out the meditation, and she'll talk about her personal story about saying, I don't know, this is totally not an example. So I'm just just making this up. So please don't quote me on this. But she'll go into it and she'll say, you know, I remember when I was working in a radio station and I wasn't happy with myself and I needed to change. I needed

something more and everything that I walked into, it just wasn't enough and I needed to change. I needed something more and everything that I walked into, it just wasn't enough and I needed something more. So I looked inside of myself and inside of my heart and realized that it wasn't the things that I needed to fill it. It was the beauty inside of me and finding happiness within myself. So she'll start with something like that and then she'll say the intention, or well then it will go over to Deepak. It will fade out with a beautiful musical chime. And then it will go into Deepak, and he'll say, you know, the intention for yourself today is to know the beauty inside of yourself.

And then he'll repeat a word and, and he'll just say like intention or love, love, love, or beauty. And you will then use that silently to repeat yourself love as you breathe in and he'll just say like intention or love, love, love, or beauty. And you will then use that silently to repeat yourself love as you breathe in and love as you breathe in. Yes. But sometimes there's a disconnect in your mind

between what the intention is and the word, and then that's where you get a little bit. Well, sometimes I wouldn't have chosen that word, but maybe it's, but again, maybe it's because I just can't get there directly yet. Here's a hack. Okay. Ignore the word, just use whatever word you want. Because it really doesn't matter. I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess if you have like, if you have the idea and you have the space where you're putting yourself, I guess it doesn't matter.

The point is to you're basically just giving your mind and your brain a break. Because when you get concentrated enough on the, on the combination of your breath and the word, then all of the nasty margot thoughts quiet down. They'll come back and then you'll notice that you've got distracted and you'll start again and again and again you'll have to just do that over and over a million times. But eventually you get good enough so that you may have a couple of seconds at a time where margot is not there anymore. You're just feeling the mantra and your breath,

and that's the point. So really doesn't matter what word you choose. At least, I'm a little bit out of my lane here because this is not the kind of meditation I do, but having read enough about it, I think it doesn't matter what word you pick. I agree with you. I mean, unfortunately, this is kind of the only I'm starting to learn about other meditations because

um a couple of my friends don't like the style of the challenge and they like different kinds of things. So again, getting into head space and different kinds of ways of meditating. I'm starting to learn that too. So there's definitely some ignorance on my end as far as other types of meditation. But I just think that it's important to do regardless and I try to practice it as much as I can. I'm definitely not good at it. So I won't go on about how amazing I am. Well, anybody who tells you they're good at meditation, you should be really suspicious. Because it's not like chess or doing juggling or something like that.

It's a so countertuitive for type A people like the two of us because you don't, you can't, you shouldn't go into meditation thinking you're going to win. It's really about the failure, which is getting distracted and then starting over, that is success. Right. And that is really hard for people like us to kind of, to bake into our expectations. What, to let go? Correct.

Exactly. Exactly. Well said. Well said. So, headspace, just for those who don't know, is a really popular and terrific app that teaches people how to meditate. So, you've been using that a little bit as well? We're starting to get into it.

This is you and your boyfriend. This is me, my boyfriend, yeah. Okay, so starting again is that. Starting to get into it. Let me, let me, I love headspace. I think it's great. And the guy Andy, the voice you hear is a guy, I've spent a little bit of time with,

is a fantastic guy, but let me, yes, he's really cool. And the real deal, he was a monk for 10 years, so he actually really knows what he's talking about. Oh, wow. But there's talking about. But there's another app called 10% happier and you should check that one out. Yes, that one.

You're she's pointing at a sign that says 10% happier. 10% happier. I will arrange it so that you can taste test that and see what you think is what. I love it. So the whole goal of this of my app is to do it with a little bit of sense of humor. Okay. Because I'm a wiseass. So, and I think my-

It's perfect for my guy. My suspicions, especially for men, but for a lot of women too, that if you deliver this with outpan flutes and without, you know, any talk about chakras, none of which bothers you, but for some people it's like a turnoff, that if you deliver it in that way, that you open the door for other people who, you know, might reject it. Okay, perfect anyway. I'll hook you up I love it. So let me ask you Let me ask you about acting stuff because your story is phenomenal. So you grew up in Pittsburgh I did your dad's a former linebacker. Yes, and your mom does what she is a really busy real estate agent

Okay, so you went to a performing arts high school and then talking to me about a little bit about what happened after that because then you not it was pretty quick. You kind of like got pretty big, pretty fast. So what happened in the interim? Yeah. I guess so I went to I went to Kappa in Pittsburgh, creative and performing arts high school. Still there. It's in downtown Pittsburgh and graduated,

then went to Point Park University for two years, and then I did not graduate. I left school. I was on full scholarship and working a lot of jobs, and I wasn't really doing very well at school at the time because I was juggling so much, and then I was still touring a lot with my music and Pittsburgh and doing like a lot of opening acts and everything for nationals that would come into town. And national acts, yeah. National acts as far as music acts. At the time, I was more in the pop R&B world with my music.

So I did the Nellie Frittados of the world or Wale's or Black IP's or whatever. So I was doing that while I was in school full time and I just wasn't I Something had to give So I I talked to my mentor my teacher and at point park and She was like, you know Margot. We we study to to make people work We that's what we give you the tools to work and I was like, I know she's like well, you're working sweetie I was like I know but it schools important like, well, you're working, sweetie. I was like, I know, but school is important to me.

And it's very important to my family. She's like, just try it for a year. My parents agreed. And they let me, they gave me one year in New York. And they were like, you have to do. She went from Pittsburgh to New York. Pittsburgh to New York. At the time, I was touring with Jason Morass.

So I moved when I was 20, I think, to New York City. I was moved when I was 20, I think, to New York City. And I was touring still a little bit, so I kind of had a couple months here where I was in and out. And my parents just kind of gave me one year to get things done, whatever that meant, just make something happen. I didn't really have any friends here. I didn't know anyone here. My dad had one contact here.

My family lives in Connecticut, so I did have people close and obviously Pittsburgh is really not that far, but I really was completely alone. And I just had to figure it out. So I did. So I kept doing open calls and I found one for rent on play bill and They were having like a last minute open call. So I went in the off Broadway revival of yeah, so I went in Around 6.30 in the morning was at 9 o'clock call and I I got I made it past the first four type outs, which is basically when they just walked on the line and like, no, yes, no, yes. Oh, you're not the right type. Yeah, just what a typeout is. And it honestly could probably be an intern.

It could probably be like a student that's just walking down the line, not even casting yet. Like you don't even get in the room with casting. It's just brutal. It's pretty brutal. This is why I can see why you're attracted to meditation because it's hard.

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard hard pretty hard So we did so I did I made it past the first four type outs and then Got in the door and then saying my eight bars which for any musician, you know It's like it's literally like and then it stops and that's like that's pretty much like and it's like got it nailed it Nope didn't so I made it past the eight, and then I got to the 16 bars, and then there were like six auditions that day. And then I think there were,

I think I auditioned nine times for rent, and then I got it, yeah. But I was the only one in the company that came from the open call, and I was number 719. And there were still hundreds of people behind me. So it's, it's pretty incredible to think that that's kind of how my career started was, was through that. And then I got an agent off of that and then rent closed. And then I was unemployed for eight or nine months.

Whoa. And, uh, which is always scary as an artist. And, um, and I was getting nervous that nothing was going to come back or come up and I needed to kind of look for my plan B again. And then I got the call to go in for a boardwalk and they were looking for just a jazz singer in the background for like a day player role or something. And a lot of my friends went in, we were all the same type, you know, light skinned brown girls with jazzy voices and that was us. And so we all went in and it's like, yeah, I could sing some jazz. And when in saying the song, St. Louis Blues, which I ended up singing on the season later on in

the season, around like six in the season. So that was full circle. So I sang my audition song on the show, which was pretty cool. And I got the audition. I think it was, I think it might have been nine callbacks for that as well, maybe eight or nine callbacks. And that was out at the Navy Art and at the time I was living in the Navy Art here in New York in Brooklyn. Yeah. So I was kind of schlepping back and forth every once in a while. And it was about an hour and a half to get there and then an hour half back. So every time that I would go there, I was like, oh man. I really hope this is the last time

and then I would get another call back and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go back out again. But this is what I wanted. I'm just hearing this story. It's totally, yeah, it's, yeah, it was definitely stressful. But then I got it and then they kept calling me back and I don't think that this was, that was anything that anybody expected for sure.

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So just a step back just a second, because I'm worried that I may have insufficiently explained what Boardwalk Empire was for those who don't know what it, who we never watched it, but it was this show as I mentioned on HBO, Bushemi was the lead. It's no, it was, it's no longer on. It had its finale about a year ago, a couple years ago, a couple years ago. It shows you how I've lost the conceptions of time. No, it's, trust me, it's the same thing. There's a great critically acclaimed show said in like 1910s and 20s. 1920s, yeah. 1920s. And Steve Bushembe's basically a local mobster, but it brings in all sorts of crime, politics, arts, bootlegging, race relations. It's a very interesting show.

And really what I thought was so, one of the things I thought was so great about it is it really helped you suspend disbelief. I felt like I was seeing stuff that happened a long time ago It really transported very very effectively. So you knew about the show. I assume either Before you started going for auditions or after you started watching it and probably saw how good it was So there's a lot on the line here as you went back for these callbacks, I would imagine. Well, there was also this on the line. My brother was obsessed with boardwalking.

And still is, but that was one of his favorite shows at the time. So when he found out that I was going in for the auditions, he literally told me that if I don't get this part, then I don't get to come back home. So, and there was a piece of him that was probably very serious. It was only part kidding, yes. There was, he was only maybe a quarter kidding.

And when you got the job, my understanding is the thought was, it was just going to be a background singer? Yeah, I thought that it was just going to be a day player role that I was going to be there for a couple days and then I was going to be out. I definitely did not think that I was going to have spoiler alert if anybody didn't watch. If I was was gonna have a love affair with with Chucky and Take his family away and go into this and have the the background of Jeffrey like I mean everything just That was all that was all just happening as it as it happened So let me just fill in some of those details their Chucky white is the The sort of top of the criminal food chain in the African-American community

in Atlantic City, where boardwalk empire takes place. And he's a married man with kids. You come into town and start performing at his club, the Onyx club. Yes. And he falls in love with you. Yes. But the complicating factor is you were,

you're this probably a nice way to put it agent who's Dr. Narcisse played by Jeffrey, Jeffrey Wright, and Chauke is played by Michael K. Williams, two brilliant, brilliant actors. And I want to talk about Michael specifically in a minute. So Dr. Narcisse is your agent slash handler who also happens to have killed your mom. And is my keeper. And is your keeper and B2 and psychologically abuses you. So, it's a pretty toxic. It's a very light role.

Not at all. Not at all. So, you go in, you think you're going to do a day player role. At what point does it done on you? Actually, you think you're going to do a day, day player role. At what point does it done on you? That actually, you've got a big role. Luckily, it didn't until maybe eight episodes in. Eight episodes in? Yeah.

I really didn't have much chance to think about it, because which I'm really lucky, because as I told you before, I get really anxious. And if I would have known the size of that role, I definitely would have put it on such a pedestal that I probably would have screwed it up for myself. You did not screw it up. Let me just say that.

You nailed it. So did the producers and the writers of the show know without telling you that it was going to be a big role? Or were they so sort of enamored by you that they grew the role because they started to like you? I honestly don't know. At the time, my agents weren't really, they weren't really filled in with what was going

on. Everybody was kind of, it was, it was just, I think it was a fluke, I don't know. I really didn't know what was happening. Nobody really did until I got the scripts for the following episodes the next week and the next week. And then I kept reading and I was like, wow, she's in this episode again. She's in this episode again.

Oh, she's in this episode. Oh, okay, that's weird. And then I would read the scripts and I was like, oh man, these are, okay, my talking part is getting bigger. Oh man, I have a really big scene with Michael coming up. Oh crap. I have a really big scene with Jeffrey coming up. So it was like all of these things that just kept building and I was totally caught by surprise. But the good thing was so when I would get the scripts or I would get

notice to put myself on hold for the following week again, we get the scripts. But then as soon as the scripts would come in, then I would get a call from the music supervisor saying, you need to come in and I need, you know, five of these songs to be recorded. Can you come in maybe tomorrow or the next day? So I would work on the recordings on my own with Vince Giordano, who also still plays in New York with Vince Giordano in the Nighthawks, and they were the boardwalk band. And they had been a band for nine years prior to boardwalk and they still are. But we would go over the key of the song, just the two of us on the phone, and then I would

go into the studio and record all these songs, and we would do them in different ways, and then we would do outros, and we would do them sped up, and then we would do them in different keys, and just play with them, and work on that. And then by the time I was done with that, then I would have to go in for a costume fitting and then I would be back on set. So that would take up my whole week. So even if I wasn't filming with Boardwalk every day of the week I was doing something Boardwalk or something daughter. So I really didn't have much of a chance to think about it other than just work on the scenes with my acting coach and get the dialogue dialect as best as I possibly could down

and then just kind of get in there and get it done and then it would be the following week. So none of that confusion and anxiety and the need for a coach to get the dialect right, none of that is perceptible to the viewer, which is incredible. And actually read an interview you did with Rolling Stone where you said that the first scene we walk on stage at the Onyx Club, you're wearing a big fur coat. And then you were shaking under it. I was shaking really bad. Shaking really bad, but it was so heavy it held me down. So and my ankles are so weak. I just shake all the time. I shake all the time. But I got

really nervous. Obviously, Jeffrey Wright is standing right in front of me, and I had to look as stoic as possible, and like it didn't matter. I was like, oh, where's the dressing room? You know, and we could just blew it off. And I was so terrified. You know, you have Michael K right here, and you have Jeffrey behind me,

and Terrence Winter is just walking around, and you know, he's the creator of the show. And it was just, it was so overwhelming. But thankfully, I had a big fox jacket on. And it was, it was real. It was vintage and it was, it was holding me down and I just kept, I just walked away. Good for you, not so good for the fox,

but good for you. Yeah, I'm so good for the fox. Was this premeditation? This was premeditation, yes. I wish I would have known more about it than because I definitely needed it at some point. I had never too late. Michael K. Williams, I've talked about my TV obsession. One of my, I would say probably my favorite show of all time is The Wire. And I got a chance to interview Michael a couple of years ago when The Wire was still

on the air. I walked through Harlem with them and he just people people were rolling down their windows screaming Omar And he's he's I mean president president Obama said that Michael K. Williams was his favorite character He's an incredible character in that show. He plays sort of a Emotionally complicated gay Hitman. Yeah. Super, super radical role to be playing. And then he's going on to have this amazing career and he plays Chucky White in Boardwalk.

This is a long way of me saying I'm going to ask the question that I always hate when interviewers ask Actors this question because it seems like I can't cliche question, but what was it like to work with Michael K. Well It was horrible now. He's he's so wonderful and so kind and sweet and nice and he would there's something that I learned from my go Which I I take with me So he would walk around with his big beats on his big headphones and he would literally just always walk, walk through the set with these massive headphones on.

And I would just say, Michael, like, when are you, you know, and he was like, just waved and just kind of, just like a knowingly wave and I was like, okay, that's weird, but whatever, do your thing. And then one day, I was on set and I was between the music supervisors and I was doing a dance scene with about 350 extras and it was like 12 dancers behind me

and it was like this big club scene. And the dancers were practicing and the choreographer was trying to grab me and then the second AD was saying, you know, Mark, we need you over here. And then I was finishing up at Seamwood jeffery and I was like walking through the scene with that. And we were we were marking that scene. But then directly after that, we were going to go into the big club scene. And I stowed in stretch yet. And I'd been like, I had been on sets since five in the morning. Because we were going to go into a dancing scene.

I see. Okay. And it's very important to stretch your body before you start dancing. Because if you pull something, Dan, it's really important. Don't want to pull a hammy. Don't want to pull a hammy. I never dance. Definitely don't, especially the first take in, because then you still got 25 after that or some.

So I needed to stretch and nothing was happening, and I was just getting pulled in so many different ways and everybody was talking. And somebody on, and one of the extras had made a comment to me on set and really got me upset. And I was so upset at a certain point, Michael saw me and he just pointed his headphones and he said, oh, I get it.

Now I got it. You just throw them on and you just zone out. So that was his own zoning out. And now sometimes I do steal a little bit of Michael K and take him with me and throw on some headphones. Not massive beat ones like he has, but but yeah, it's just something that I like to do. He's a pretty incredible guy. So you we talked about this a little bit, but you have this role you're playing this person with just who's experienced so much trauma, you know, in the throw, in the throw of this psychopath who had killed your mom and, um, uh, and in the middle of this really complex,

uh, love affair with a married man. Do you leave that on, on stage, or does that come home with you when you're playing that kind of role? I was lucky enough to learn from a great instructor through my high school and I continued to work with him. He's still based out of Pittsburgh, Billy Hartung. And I, he, that was one of the main practices that he taught me was to leave your personal at home and leave your work at work. So that was something that I left at Steiner Studios, which is where we shot out in Brooklyn. And I left all of the drama and things with Narciss and Chucky at the studio.

Unfortunately I took a lot of daughter back home with me, but I guess it wasn't unfortunate because I still needed to work on her and I still needed to create her. But there were different pieces of Margot that was meshed with daughter as I kind of like walk through my days off and I could feel it and at the time I was living in Harlem and so it really, really wrong true to me. There was something that was really kind of starting to become alive inside of me. So that was a different side of me that I experienced and even just the way that I would walk

or the way that I would wear certain clothes or certain things that I would say, I would catch myself, you know, talking to some friends and I'd be like, oh gosh, guys. And I'd be like, I'm sorry, what? What'd you just say? Like, oh, never mind. Just kidding.

She was kidding. It wasn't. That was not me. She was kidding. It wasn't that. It wasn't that. It was not me. It was 1920. But so there were little things like that that would kind of, that would kind of come out at really random times. But other than like the really harsh things

that were going on in my mind, I really tried to leave them at home. Because I don't think that that's healthy to bring them home with you. Yeah, but certainly not healthy. The question is whether it's a hard thing to do. Yeah, sometimes it's really hard to not shut it off. And there definitely took me some nights

that I needed some extra time alone or I needed to stay at for another couple hours before I could fall asleep. But I just really made it a promise to myself not to fall asleep with that in my mind. I'm really interested in the ways in which meditation can play out in a competitive, stressful life, and you certainly have that. And there was something, there was a really interesting quote that you gave to Rolling Stone

about the Lewis Gossett Jr. who is in one of the, in one of the boardwalk empire episodes. And you said, and this is a long quote, I'll just read it. He was the most gracious man, and you would think that he just started acting yesterday. Just by the way that he would present himself, he was so nonchalant and very friendly, that's exactly the type of actor that I want to be. Someone that can be respected and so respectful and so humble. As soon as the camera turned on, he pulled you in, and it was just the easiest thing to act with him because he just steps your game up so much more.

He makes other people look amazing. To be an actor that can really highlight and elevate everyone else's performance just because of their own, what an incredible talent. I just struck me that quote, left out at me is the kind of thing that meditation could help you with. Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

I mean, I still definitely stand behind that. I don't know if he meditates, I don't know what his practice is, or what his daily routine is. He just may be a special dude. He just may be an incredible man, and he definitely is regardless of whatever his practice is. But the way that he made me feel the ease

that he brought to set with him, I think that that was really special. And I think that definitely, I think meditation would bring that ease for myself, and I wouldn't have to depend off of someone else to bring that on set. I now, thankfully, with experience, I don't depend on anybody else to bring me comfort. But there was definitely a time during boardwalk that that comfort was needed, so and appreciated. I can imagine for you being so young and having all this success happen pretty suddenly, and then being thrown into this world where there are, I'm sure, some pretty complex people that you have to deal with off camera and on that keeping your head in the midst of all

that must have been and still be a challenge. It definitely is. I'm really lucky with the group of friends that I have around me. It's a very small group. I know a lot of people, but the people that I really consider to be my closest are really, really grounded folks. And I'm really lucky that I'm very close with my family and they definitely keep me grounded. If there's any sighting of like me flying off or becoming something else, then they definitely

the dea word, the diva, then they definitely they pulled me back. And my boyfriend is actually from Pittsburgh, so he's very home to me. So I think that there's something about coming from a blue collar town that, you know, that was just kind of the work ethic that we had. I'm lucky enough that the career that I've had and the success of my career has kind of fallen on the later side of my teens and 20s. So I think if it would have been a little bit earlier in life, I don't know if I would have been ready for that, but because of the struggle,

and though you said it's happened really overnight, I've really been working professionally for about 15 years. I mean, I just, I started in music when I was 14 years old. Didn't feel overnight to you. Definitely was not overnight to me, and I was singing in bars at 15, 16, doing local gigs and not singing in bars to make it sound like, oh, I'm singing in bars at 1516, doing local gigs and not singing in bars to make it sound like, oh, I'm singing in bars. But because those were the music venues that I got a chance to play.

And literally, I was playing venues that they wouldn't even let me sit in the green room because I wasn't leaving high school and coming to the gig. And I was selling out these shows in Pittsburgh. And I couldn't even sit in the club because I wasn't I wasn't even 18 yet. So my band would sit in there and then I would stand outside and get ready to sing on stage. I mean it's crazy like when I think about it now it's like I don't I don't know how I just didn't walk out but but because of all of those experiences I've really I've only known this world and though there's definitely things that are adding to the world of the creative arts that I've always known and different parts like doing interviews with for. But that's not what I set out to do. What I set out to do was that I wanted to do my artistry and that's something that I've been working on for a long time.

So, though this is definitely a world that I'm not really used to, I just kind of take that practice of where I came from and knowing that I just need to continue to do better work and continue to do more and more work and knowing that I just need to continue to do better work and continue to do more and more work and work that I'm proud of. And I think that that's what kind of grounds me. I want to talk about some of the stuff you've done after Boardwalk. As we sit here on this day as we have this discussion, I believe it's opening day for the latest barbershop.

Yeah, it will. It opened last night. Okay. Officially, it's open to the rest of the world. And I read a really positive review in the New York Times. Oh, did you? Yes. I haven't heard of the review. Yes, very good review.

Oh, it's true. Very good review by Leo Eskato as a tough reviewer. So how do you feel? I mean, have you seen it yet? I've seen it twice now. Were you happy with it? I was very happy with it. It's incredible.

It's incredible. It's super funny. It talks about community and it has a lot of love in it. You can laugh and cry and do everything. And there's many different characters that you can somewhere relate to and on some level. And I think it's really, it's really fun. It's really, really fun. Well, I've no doubt that it's fun and funny, but it's really coming out at a potent moment

in the national dialogue around violence and race. And as I understand it, the movie goes there. It does. Yeah. I actually didn't know. So obviously, we know what we film because we're in their filming. We got the script, but there are still things that are kind of tailored along the way of shooting something. It's just naturally kind of molds to whatever is happening. So there's a lot of the scenes with the kids and Cupid's kids and ice cubes kids. A lot of those scenes we weren't a part of, so I didn't really know what was happening, but once I saw the movie, there was definitely a moment that I was like, oh my god,

like they go there, like they are showing guns, they're showing like true colors, and this is gang world, this is that life. And it scared me a little bit, but it was, it's something that that I'm really happy that they took the risk to actually fully go there. And I think that there's so much exposed in today's society because of all of the media outlets and there's so much that kids see. And to be able to have a great platform and a voice like Ice Cube does and the other people associated in the movie and to actually talk on some issues that we have to and the people are to actually talk on some issues that we have to and the people

are scared to talk about and then make them loving and caring and actually make a point to say that things need to change. I think that that was, that was, I was really proud to be a part of something like that, which I didn't think Barbershop was going to be. Yeah, I was, frankly, a little surprised. Yeah. I hadn't actually, I'll admit, having, I hadn't seen any of the previous ones, but the review was glowing, un, unambivalent.

And I would be fired by my employer if I didn't ask you about the show that you're doing right now. The family, which airs on ABC. Yes, ABC Sunday nights. ABC Sunday nights. Sunday nights at night. Sunday nights at night. And to just tell us what it's about and who you are on the show.

So the show premise is about a kid that goes missing in a murder and kidnapping case 10 years ago. In Maine. In Maine. And shows up 10 years later. And the person, I played the detective on the show at the time when the case was first, when it first happened, I was a rookie cop. And I became a detective because of the success of the case and me putting away someone for the murder and kidnapping of this child and

When he comes back 10 years later, obviously the person that I put away for his murder and kidnapping is not the right person and The murder the kidnapper is still out there. He's obviously not murdered and the wrong person is in jail So I I definitely have to eat my words. Yeah, for their questions about whether the kid is actually the kid. Again, spoiler alert, if you've watched, or if you haven't watched, we do know now that that's not the actual kid. So that question is answered. That's one of the most amazing things about the show and the things that

the writers do so well with this show is you watch shows all the time and you're constantly watching for the next episode, the next and you're waiting for the answers and you're like, oh my god, why don't I get to it? I just want to know the kid the kid or what's happening. And the family tells you, like we tell you the answers, we tell you who the pop-markman is, we tell you who the kidnapper is. Literally, we show him making a new bunker for another kid that he's about to go kidnap and it's definitely goes there to that dark place and you can't tell us that we're not giving you answers. Are there more questions that come up every single week? Absolutely. That's what makes a good TV show.

I mean, this show comes right out of Shonda Land. She and her team know what they're doing. Right, but this is Jenna Bans first really steer heading her own success and I'm so proud of her. And she she doesn't unbelievable job obviously with the association of the other writers that have done an incredible job. But it's definitely the shonda world, but this is this is the Jenna Bans land. Good for Jenna and good for you. What is next for you? Well, there's a couple projects that are in the works right now that I can't talk about.

Can I talk about? Are you going to be in the next Star Wars? Oh, man, JJ would kill me. No, I wish, but I definitely, I have a love for the comic world and for the alien world and sci-fi world. So that's something that I would love to kind of venture in with. There's nothing coming up as far as that goes, but there's definitely some exciting projects that I just recently signed on to

that will be announced. Anything in which you sing? Yes. And actually, yes. I had to think about that. Yes, the next one is a singing role. It always strikes me when you're not singing that it's a waste of your talent.

Thank you very much. I wish you nothing but success and continued mindfulness and meditation. Thank you. Check out that app I told you about. Right. You can't go wrong with headspace. There they do a phenomenal job. Whatever meditation you do.

Something tells me I might like your app a little bit. Something about that voice. Yes. Well, you won't have to listen. I won't actually do the meditations. I'll just do the trash talking before meditation. So you're not my voice, I think would be a little annoying. Although I did actually do, I'm not a meditation teacher, so I try not to pretend I am.

But my wife asked me to make her a custom meditation, which I thought was cool. Oh, that's so cool. That was crazy. I would imagine your husband's voice would actually just stress you out, but she uses it. Oh, I think that's lovely. Make all sorts of inappropriate jokes in there.

That's awesome. And I mean, there's no judgements there because she's your other half, so that's great. Yeah, there's plenty of judges. Let me assure you, I'm not judging her. Sure. Well, anyway, I hope that she does skips this podcast. Love you, Bianca. Thank you so much.

It was such a pleasure to meet you. You do amazing work. I'm really glad to meet you in person. Thank you. Thank you for listening to today's show. You can find video of the episode and an article about it at ABCNews.com. Thanks as always to the producers of the show, Lauren. Ron Josh Cohen, Sarah Amos, and Dan Silver. You can hit me on Twitter at DanB Harris anytime you like.

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