Jessica Williams (“Shrinking”), Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), Niecy Nash-Betts (“Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”), Camila Morrone (“Daisy Jones & The Six”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”) and Joseph Lee (“Beef) gathered for Variety TV FYC Fest’s Supporting Actors Roundtable to discuss their roles on some of television’s most-loved shows. The panel was moderated by Variety’s Emily Longeretta.
They each shared their methods for getting into character, and subsequently, getting out of character.
In their most recent roles, these actors played serial killers or neighbors of serial killers, others a husband or a wife. One even played a restaurateur-slash-narcotics dealer. Whatever it may be, there’s a lot an actor can take away from the character they play on screen.
But first, these actors have to develop their character. For Nash-Betts, playing the neighbor of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was challenging because not much was ever documented about her. It became Nash-Betts’ job to fill in the gaps.
“I just wanted to make sure people felt her pain, her frustration and her fear,” she said.
Morrone also felt a certain duty when taking on the role of Camilla in “Daisy Jones & Six.”
“It was my first book adaptation, and I felt a sense of responsibility, especially if you have a character that’s loved and well-rounded,” Morrone said. “I just wanted to make sure I brought out the most important elements that made her so lovable in the book and then adding a little something.”
As for getting out of character, this proved a little bit more challenging for the actors.
Nash-Betts was lucky enough to have her real-life daughter playing the role of Glenda’s daughter which helped ground her during shooting. Nash-Betts was also filming “Reno 911!” at the same time as “Dahmer” and that gave her another source of positivity to look to once she left set.
“I tucked Glenda in and held her tight. I didn’t live there because it was too painful. Thank God I had a funny movie to do at the same time,” she said. “Love and light, those are the two ways I got through.”
Niecy Nash-Betts speaks onstage during Variety’s TV FYC Fest. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Variety via Getty Images)
Esposito has been practicing how to get in and out his character Gustavo Fring since his first appearance on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and throughout the spin-off, “Better Call Saul.”
“I use the same practice to get into the character to get out — my yoga practice,” Esposito said. “That’s where spirit lived for me. To be able to listen to my own breath and give time and space, that to me is god and goddess.”
“People ask me, ‘When you’re Gustavo, what are you thinking when you take that deep breath and look at something?’” he said. “I laugh, because I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to kill you?’”
To depart from the head space of Gus, Esposito says he takes his own temperature by asking himself how he feels about the script, his character and what a director is asking him to do: “This allows me to go deeper, but also to not forget that I want to get out, that I want to be Giancarlo again.”
Leaving the character behind also took some practice for Williams, who plays Gaby on “Shrinking.”
“After I wrapped, I was sort of an asshole,” said Williams. “Gaby says exactly what she’s thinking. She was somebody I needed to turn off a little bit.”
But as much as they try to leave them behind, characters can become lessons learned. Morrone found that Camilla taught her how to be a stronger woman.
“I realized I could learn so much from this character. The way that she composes herself and looks at life,” she said. “I thought, ‘I could take a piece of this with me as I grow into a young woman. She brought a lot to my life. People always ask if you’ll miss a character, but I think we can all agree that a character never leaves you.”
“It was kind of a meta experience for me,” said Lee, who played George in “Beef.”
“I started therapy in the pandemic,” he said. “Being a Korean American, the term ‘boundaries’ is not a word. There’s no translation for that. So going through that arc with George and then eventually him trying to establish boundaries for the first time, it was a lot of healing for me when walking away from that character.”
Giancarlo Esposito, Camila Morrone, Joseph Lee, Paul Walter Hauser, Niecy Nash-Betts and Jessica Williams. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Variety via Getty Images)
