Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here.
Thanks for listening to another episode
of Hey, Human podcast.
This is episode 455,
and my guest is Louisa Kendrick Burton. Louisa
is a former Radio City Rockette, a writer,
producer, and actor.
You've seen her on shows like Dirty Sexy
Money, As the World Turns,
Medium. She's been in the movies, like, Seven
Pounds, Bridge Across Forever.
And on stage in Beauty and the Beast,
A Christmas Carol, Jesus Christ Superstar,
lots and lots of stuff. I met her
when she came to do a table read
for a script that John Penny and I
wrote. She's a friend of John Penny's, and
now I consider her a friend of me.
And she's great, and I'm excited for you
to hear this episode.
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And thank you for listening.
Be well. Be kind.
Be love.
Here we go.
Louisa Kendrick Burton, welcome to Hey Human.
Hello,
Susan.
It's so nice to be here.
Lovely to see you. Thank you again for
being a part of the table read the
other night. That was awesome. Of course. I
was so happy
to to play that part and to be
a part of that reading and
loving. Like, when I said I was fan
girling over your script, I
was
full on
in love with this story that you crafted.
Thank you. And I just I wish you
all the best things
when it comes to getting that made and
all the things. I can't wait to see
it in the theater. I can't wait. I
appreciate it. It's so it was so lovely
to have all the actors reading because
it is true that when you read something
over and over again and as an actor,
you must because you get a script, you
read it, but then you start saying it
out loud,
and it really changes
everything. Yes. And so hearing the the language,
the dialogue, even the action
in my brain while it was going like,
okay. That gets to get moved here. I'm
gonna cut that. You know? So yeah. It
did as an actor so you're actor, producer,
writer,
and former Rockette, which what? So cool. We're
gonna get into all of it.
But I just is that true though that
when you are reading a script and then
you start saying out loud how it changes
for you? It does. It really does. It's
so funny because a lot of times when
I'm preparing,
I'll do a couple of read throughs. I'll
just do speed read throughs one after the
other, one after the other.
And then I've got to say the words
out loud before I say them either in
an audition or onset that day. I just
need to
filter it from my brain's eye
out
to,
you know, my ears, because it always sounds
different. And I trip up on words that,
you know,
I've never tripped up on before, you know,
but I like to filter it through
at least once.
But hearing it out loud is just a
totally different thing.
Yeah. It becomes more poetic too, I think.
It does. It really does. Aaron Sorkin, I
always bring him up. Hearing
his his writing, it is like listening to
a sonnet or some sort of poetry as
it flows along.
It really is. Like and and even, like,
I've never auditioned for one of his shows,
but I can't even imagine
what that must be like. Right? Because you're
right. It's like a sonnet. And because of
that, it has a pace. And I feel
like sometimes you either get it or you
don't. You know? That's someone I would love
to work for. Yeah. Wouldn't that be fun?
Although, I I'm sure he's super intense. Alright.
Let's get into you and your life. Yeah.
What shaped you into you?
Oh, wow. So I grew up in The
Bronx
in New York. I mean, I don't know.
I feel like I grew up,
a latchkey kid. I like to say that
because I don't think we have those anymore
really, but I had a lot of family
around me. I have, I don't know, 40
cousins. I have so many cousins.
It's awesome. So I grew up
with this sense of community. At least I
felt that way, right? I mean, I had
family that lived nearby.
I had friends and we knew
their parents, we knew their siblings, right? There
was a sense of not
on our block, which is not to say
things weren't happening that were, you know,
crazy,
but it was us in our block. Right?
And so I think growing up that way,
even though The Bronx was just
a wild place and a wild time
in our country's history and New York's history,
I felt safe.
I felt safe to be who I was
to
grow as a kid, you know. I felt
okay with being a tomboy and
getting around on roller skates or skateboards and
playing Skelsey at the park, you know, I
felt safe to just be a kid, you
know. What's Skelsey?
So it's like this top game. So we
would,
you get a top, a bottle top, or
a cap. Metal is better, but if you
can only get plastic, you get plastic. And
you either melt wax in it or you
put clay in it to give it some
weight.
And and it's just like this game that
was spray painted
on the ground at the playground, and, you
know, you'd have to get all the numbers
and you would flick you would, like, flick
your top
to and from, and you can knock somebody
out.
I mean, anybody who knows it probably is
thinking, oh my gosh. She she's not even
seeing it. Right? But it was just a
a a a playground game. You know? Like,
we had hopscotch. We had Scalzi's. We had
all the things that were even made up.
You know? We would just make things up
because that was our
computer time. Right? We didn't have that really.
And
so you're just out all day. You know?
It's a great way to foster imagination, which,
as much as I think computers
do that in a certain way for kids
today, it's just Yes.
Not the same. It's not the same. Is
that because they're old now? No. But, like,
I look at my kids and how they
play and,
yes, their imaginations
are peaked. Right? At least my kids, they
like to create and they only play games
that are creative or mostly creative,
but I'm like, guys, just go out in
the backyard and like, I don't know. They're
like, what are we gonna do? And I'm
like, anything. You could do anything
except climb the fence. I don't know. Just
make something up. And I
they're having fun. You know, like, my my
son would always say, mommy,
I get it that it was different for
you, but we're enjoying ourselves.
And I'm like, okay. Well, I guess that's
all I want is a mom. Right? You're
you're having a good time. Yeah. We're all
Sitting next to your friend on a computer
playing a game together. I don't understand.
Big cousins, lots of my my dad's from
The Bronx too, by the way. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Did we talk about this? I don't
know that. I don't think so. No. The
weird I mean, I don't know. Like, what
part of The Bronx? And this is a
bazillion years before you. So but I'm sure
it was in the Jewish section because he's
Jewish. So Yeah. And I think back then
when he was growing up, it was probably
divided into, like, the Irish parts and the
Jewish parts and the black parts and the
is my god. It was definitely a little
a lot segregated, but I think maybe I
came up at a time
when, you know, The Bronx was in huge
transition before me.
Huge transition.
And I wanna say sometime in those early
sixties, maybe, you know, I found this out
after the fact, I don't remember this to
be true, maybe the aftermath, but
I found out that
landlords
were paying people to burn down their buildings
so that they could
get insurance
money,
So that they could get out
the brown people or whatever and raise rents
and stuff like that. And so it was
just America's full of bad history,
bombings. So full of bad history. And and
Burnings and floodings.
And hiding it. Right. And when I found
that out, I was just like, wow, so
much made sense. Right. Because when you think
of you're paying rent at a place where
they have no desire to fix it up,
they don't care how safe it is, how
clean it is,
you know, how functional it is. And I
just never understood that, right?
And that's
what it was, you know, we were in
a weird state of transition
in New York, gentrification,
and
it's so interesting to move to LA. I've
been here twenty years now,
which is a lot of years
and to see it again, it's like, okay,
like, you know, this is something that I
don't think I ever realized
was part of our circle
of life, right? This
idea that this is the place to be,
and then
it cycles through and there's a change of
people, a change of government, a change of
feeling, a change of
popularity
that happens.
And to see that even in LA has
been extremely interesting,
because I don't remember it from growing up,
you know?
Yeah. History does tend to repeat, unfortunately.
It does. Yeah. We're slow learners. We humans.
We're still learners.
We haven't gotten it. That's the thing
about
aging and and learning. It's like, I feel
like we don't get it. You know? You
can't
you can't hide away the past because then
we never learned from it.
Arabs. Okay.
That was it. That was the only thing
I've been doing. That's so true. It's so
true.
Did you
did you go to school in New York
for acting? I mean, you started as did
you start as a rocket? How did that
happen?
You know, it's so funny because my mom
pulled me out of
public school.
Because even back then they were horrible. And
I find them to be struggling even today.
My mom pulled me out and put me
in Catholic school. And the school that I
went to had an orchestra
and theater.
And our orchestra was subsidized by Paul Newman.
And so we had instruments
and I played first violin
and that was an exciting time.
And, we had theater and I feel like
I had always been
theatrical.
I'm an only child. I entertain myself a
lot,
alone.
That started relatively early for me. Like I
had taken dance and I had taken all
the things. My mom exposed me to everything
because she believed that,
an idle brain, you know?
And then when I went to college, I
actually went to college for comp or applied
as a computer science major.
And because I was really into coding and
computers and I was pretty good at it.
But something about going to Syracuse,
just, I was like, I, I wanna pursue
the arts. I wanna, this is something I
wanna do. So I changed my major second
year.
And then like my love of theater and
movement
changed at that point. I mean, I still
wasn't a dancer. I hadn't been dancing all
my life, like a lot of my friends.
But when I got out of college,
I had a teacher
and I feel really bad that I don't
remember his name in this moment,
but he said to me,
you can't play catch up with people who
have been dancing
all their life.
All you can do is work on your
skills.
And he said, you're tall.
He's like, this package is a dancer's package.
And so I worked my butt off. I
mean, I was taking two classes a week.
I was on scholarship. I was working in
the front desk. I was bartering
classes so that I could just
be good enough to stand next to people
who had been dancing all their lives.
And
I I feel like I know one thing
was true about what I had to offer.
If I could keep you looking right here,
right here,
you might not notice that my toes aren't
pointed.
Yeah. You got a good face card as
the kids say.
This is where the money is, but not
just not just my face, but just my
love and my passion
and my ability to
perform
instead of just
making movement. Right?
That served me very well. I could sing.
So that was very helpful.
Radio City was just one of those things
where I didn't think I was ever gonna
make it. You know, like I auditioned, I
must have auditioned
six times for the shows in the other
areas, the regional shows,
once for Vegas, I think.
And it was my second time auditioning for
the New York show.
And
I was just over the moon when I
got that, right. It's a part of history.
It's a part of New York. It is
like, it
was like being a rock star, you know,
like performing at Radio City was just the
ultimate thing.
I was so excited and happy when I
got that job, and it is probably one
of the hardest jobs that I've ever done.
But, yeah, that's how it happened. So I
don't know. I put in my thousand plus
hours, and
I really kinda changed my life. It was
the first time that I actually worked hard
for something,
my life to look like. And that is
non traditional, right? No one in my family
had been performing
for a living, you know?
And so I didn't have a role model
for that.
And I, but I just said, you know
what? I feel the first time I walked
out on a stage and did a skit
in a play and people laughed, I was
like, I think I can do this. I
don't know. That applause is infectious.
It it was my drug. You know? Oh,
yeah. It's intoxicating.
Yeah.
Yeah. Tell me about being a Rockette. What
is that experience like once you're immersed in
it? It's a hard job.
It's harder than you think on your body.
It is
socially
a very interesting
job. I did not have the best time
doing it. Were there many black people, as
Raquettes back when you were doing There were
there were two of us on the line
at the time. Out of 40
Out of 36. Yeah. Okay. So you have
your two lines. Yeah. The daytime and the
nighttime. It's a lot of shows. I think
I was, I was the first cast, the
blue cast. So I I think we were
doing, like, 17 or 18 shows a week.
That's a lot. Maybe more before, like, so
much of this is out of my head,
but it's a lot of shows.
And it's three in a row, sometimes four,
five for some girls. Right? Like, the girls
that did all the shows
did a lot of shows, you know, 30
shows. And it's just hard on your body.
I can't even imagine getting enough calorie intake
to put up with that. I mean, you
had to have a system. You know? It
was like breakfast, stretch, dance, sleep, dance,
lunch,
stretch,
sleep. Like, it's
all consuming, you know? And at least it
was for me because I wasn't used to
that. So before that, I had done a
Christmas carol at Radio City with Tony Randall.
And, and that was I think we did
12 shows a week. So that's still not
a regular Broadway, you know, eight, eight shows
a week, you know? But at least you
had your days free
and, you know, you did
two shows, mats in a day.
I was not ready for the stamina that
is three or four shows a day. And
because when you're not dancing, you're changing. It
was really hard on my body.
I stayed in bed for two weeks after
that. Like my body was just hurting. I
had lost
seven or eight pounds and I was already
like, I was one hundred and twelve, one
hundred and
fifteen at the time, and I was down
to a hundred and eight. And I was
worried. Everybody was worried, but, you know,
had to keep doing it. I don't know.
There's something about your body. I mean, I
imagine the headdresses you wore weighed as much
as a hundred
pounds. It's crazy. Those things are huge.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know. You just
your muscles
just support a certain lifestyle. Right? And then,
like I said, when I was done,
I was in bed for
two weeks. I literally don't think I got
out of bed.
I think to eat and, you know, other
things that you need to do. Was there
a sisterhood amongst the women,
or was it more competitive?
Gosh. You know, I don't think I felt
the competitive nature of it. I had a
lot of friends in the show. I had
a lot of people that I knew, but
it definitely
there was definitely, like, an air of sisterhood
for some people.
I don't think that everybody
got that. And I think I was aware
of that. And I'm and not just because
there were only two black girls in my
line. I think there were five or six
in the line, the night line. It was
just really hard. Like, I remember the first
time I don't know, some of these stories
are crazy, but I just remember the first
time that I was aware
that it mattered that my skin was dark,
you know, because
there's few sets of dark legs, you know,
and so
you stand out in a way that maybe
they didn't want you to stand out.
And it is very much a job about
blending in.
And I don't think I was that kind
of performer, you know, like
you're asking me to blend in and be
alike.
And I had before that been shining.
And so
it wasn't
the best thing for me. I mean, I
don't know. My whole idea was, like, if
you don't want my brown legs to stand
out, then hire more brown legs. I don't
know what to say. Yeah. I mean, definitely.
And because it is all it's all synchronicity.
Right? That you're ready. Synchronicity.
Yeah.
Yeah. And it's learning how to that that
kind of precision dancing is also not for
everyone. It is very difficult. It was very
it was a hard job. It's harder than
I think people believe it to be, but
I did enjoy so much of it. I
mean, when you make
every night, like imagine this, right?
You come out of the Christmas tree, The
curtain is coming up. The tree is growing.
You come
out, and kids are screaming.
Like, you literally are rock stars.
It is the best thing. You know?
It is the best feeling. Like, you could
be sick or tired or angry.
You come out of that tree and everything
is so beautiful and right with the world.
And you're getting to do what you love
in a city where not everybody gets to
do it. Like, and
so I think I appreciated
so much of that
about it. Right. You know, I got to
do, they do an animal load in and
they bring the animals, they march them down
Fifth Avenue and they come into
the music hall and I got to do
that. And I got paired with a donkey
and I was like,
this blows, but I'm gonna walk this donkey
down the street.
And it I don't know if it liked
my lotion, I my perfume, my hair product.
I don't know what it was, but it
kept trying to lick me. It was just
kinda like
reaching over and trying to lick me, which
was just I mean, I mean, it was
weird and crazy, but it was tickly and
People pay big money to see that. Yeah.
Well, guess what? It made it into the
daily newspaper. And I was just like, awesome.
I made a paper
and it's a donkey licking me and it's
the cutest smile, I guess. But, like, I
was like, that's great. I I yeah. There
you go.
But that kind of joy
that kind of joy
is what I held on to the whole
time when I was performing, like, through the
exhaustion
and the pain and the politics and all
of the things, that joy, Christmas is my
favorite time
of year, and Christmas in New York is
magical. And I think back then I was
really good at holding on to, I get
to do
this. Like, this is my job.
This is what I get to do. I
get to bring joy to people, and I
get to feel that joy for myself.
I did Radio City one year, and that's
mostly because,
again, I I like singing. I like playing
roles. I like acting. I like
word, the written word. I like to perform
those things, and
I'm glad that I did it. I'm I'm
I'm so happy, and and I still have
friends. And as a matter of fact, just
in LA, I met another woman who had
been on the line, we missed each other.
And, and that was fascinating
to me.
And,
but it wasn't really
all I wanted to do. It was a
thing that I got to do and I
enjoyed it,
but it wasn't something that I thought I
would like to make this my long term
forever gig. I think that's one of the
things about,
I was searching still for something,
and having gone through that and done that,
I wanted more. I wanted more than that,
you know? When did you make the decision
to move to Los Angeles?
I had screen tested for
a, a soap opera
and I had never screen tested before. It
was just like, you know, you have all
these auditions and audition, you keep going in
and it's like, oh my God, how many
times am I gonna have to do this
scene?
And I got to screen test and it
was me and another person and I didn't
get it.
But my my agent said to me, she's
like, you know, you might wanna
explore this. I'm moving to LA and
you could be in LA and have an
agent, you know, think about
what that would be like. And
I had turned it down once before, because
I had friends while I was on tour
with Jesus Christ Superstar
who were in LA and they were going
to LA and they were like, you should
come. And I was like, no, I'm scared.
And I'm gonna just go back home and
be in New York.
This time I thought, oh, wow, this is
the second time this kind of opportunity
has presented itself. And so I did it.
I
sold my apartment in New York and I
moved
to Los Angeles, like, just
grab my bags and a plant that I'd
gotten from my mom,
moved to LA.
Was it a major culture shock, East Coast
to West Coast?
It was, but it it wasn't that way
that the year I moved, I moved in
like January.
And the year that I moved
was probably
one of, or at least the, I went
to LA
to see it and visit it, but it
was one of the most brutal,
brutal winters. I was working at a bar
and I had to put on my boots
and my long johns
under my dress and then a sweater and
a hat and the gloves and all the
things. And then I get to work and
I'd have to de robe down to this
little outfit that I had to wear even
in the winter. And I just
thought, you know, I think I'm tired of
the snow.
I think I'm I think I'm done. The
first thing that happened when I got here
was like 75 degrees.
And, I had a friend that lived there
and he was like, hey, you wanna play
tennis? And I was like, yes, tennis in
the winter? I love outside.
I think when I finally did move, I
was here for maybe a month and I
changed my phone number
and my driver's license. And I was like,
yeah, I'm here.
And this is where I'm gonna be for
a while.
The the weather got me, you know, the
driving was hard because I had never had
a car. So I had to get a
car and
my driving was, you know,
my driving skills weren't tested or honed in
any way.
Yeah. New Yorkers are lucky like that. But,
yeah, you have the winters from hell, but
not as bad as Chicago. That's No. Not
as bad as Chicago. I spent some time
in Chicago. Yeah. And that is
Yeah.
And that is just brutal.
That's a brutal winner. Like, that for me,
it was like, yeah. I'm definitely not moving
to Chicago.
Yeah.
If the weather was better, I might be
living in Chicago because I love it. It's
such a great city. The people are incredible,
but
I can't do that winner. It's only the
last nine months.
Mm-mm. I don't know how anyone did it.
Does it? I don't know. And I've been
there
three times
with shows. And more often than not, if
I did a show,
it was an early tour, so we would
spend a month, six weeks. You're like practically
living there. Yeah.
And we were in Chicago, and I was
just, like, I hope we never come back.
As much as I love the city,
there's so much to see and so many
things to do. I loved living there. Yeah.
I was ready to go. Yeah.
It's a different kind of cold that Lake
Shore, man. It's it's gets under your wind.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. It's a lot. It's in New York.
At least you sort of popping in and
out of buildings nonstop or I don't know,
it's just different. It's a different And the
subway is underground most of it. Right. So
you're just going from building to building.
Yes. And if you're smarter about it, you
know how to go from building to building
without having to go outside. Some, there are
some ways that you can do it or
to cut down your foot traffic by an
alternate exit to the subway. You know, you
could get a good three blocks if you
did that.
I feel like the ultimate,
if
that sort of thing, if you won the
lottery, there'd be signs. It would be an
apartment in New York, an apartment in Chicago,
an apartment in LA, an apartment in London,
and then a house. Oh, a house in
Hawaii. Or something. Yeah.
Somewhere that's just constant
weather. Yeah. Yeah. Good weather. Yeah. Exactly.
I saw on your IMDB page that you're
in a movie that I loved, seven pounds.
I love the philosophical nature of that film.
Yeah.
When you
are drawn to roles,
do you I look. I understand actors are
like, I just wanna roll, but I imagine
there is a process of when you're reading
the scripts or the ideas of the shows,
some are more of a draw than others.
And just because I love that movie so
much, I'm curious when you read that script,
the what you what drew you in?
Right. You know, quite honestly, here's the thing.
That was one of my favorite roles and
one of my best experiences
in my career. And
I feel like there's
little coming back from that. So I'll explain.
When I originally auditioned for this role, for
this, movie,
I was a clerk. It was some,
some other scene
and, and it was fun. Like I look,
I look for roles that I immediately understand
what this person is doing, my purpose in
this
movie or in this scene.
When that is really clicks for me, I
can have fun.
And I had fun.
And then I got this heart crushing call
that that scene had gotten I was cast
and the scene had gotten written out of
the movie.
And and I was like, oh, man. I'm
so devastated. Right? Then a couple like, a
week later, maybe, there was another role that
they were calling me in for because
casting liked me and the director
liked me, and I was just, oh,
so excited. So my agent was kind of
being strange about it, and she said
she's like, so
the role you play tennis. And I'm like,
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I could play
tennis for a short scene. I could at
least make it look good. You know? And
she said, so the description
is Caucasian blonde trophy wife.
And how That's perfect for you. So perfect
for me.
My God.
So I get into the audition and,
and they're like, thank you for coming back.
We really appreciate it. And I said, I
can't even believe this came out my mouth.
I said, oh, no. I can play Caucasian
blonde.
And I feel like,
you know, like, there are those opportunities
where,
you know, the sass comes out and it's
appropriate
at the time, And you're already in with
a group of people who actually like you,
right? They're calling you back in. They changed
it to golf. They were changing it to
golf. And I was like,
look, I'm good. You know, I just want
to be in this
scene. And I was great. Like the audition
was great,
but the day was the best day. It
was the best day because it was me
and Will Smith and Barry Pepper on a
golf course.
That's it. Like Video Village was like way
across the other side.
And it was just, this was like one
of the few moments that as a guest
or co star, a small supporting role,
I felt part of the team,
and I had never felt that. Like, there
were other roles that I play, you know,
I have my one line or my five
lines, and I come in and everybody's like,
okay, whatever, she's just here for the hour
or the day.
I
felt like I was part of a team
and that we were making this film.
Barry Pepper was such an amazing
person to work with. We had conversations that
I don't, nothing stands out to me. I
just
geeked out with just
being
a person, a human
like being, and that we were
finding ways to connect and spend our time,
as opposed to me sitting there next to
somebody who's
not the least bit interested
in being there with me because I'm not
a star, you know, and it was, it
was the best. And I got to hug
Will Smith, like, I don't know, 20 times.
Love it. That's so great. That was a,
it was a really fun movie. I love
that. I love that movie. I really I
I remember at the end, and I was
just sobbing. I was like, wow. There was
just so many
layers to it in my for me
Yeah. Watching. Yeah. It's a beautiful movie. And,
you know, so so back then, it's so
funny because I think that was around the
time of that first writer
strike. Though
I didn't I never got the script
until
I got cast as that one role. And
then I I did get to read the
script, and and I just I think I
sobbed,
you know, after reading it, and I was
just so happy to be a part of
this thing.
And I'm not I'm not gonna give a
spoiler because if anybody hasn't seen it already
Oh, you definitely you need to see it
if you haven't seen it. Stop now, see
it, and then come back to this podcast.
But there's a part where my character
is from his life, his old life.
Right? And he's coming back.
It is just really so great to be
a part of the intricacy
of that story, you know, the layers that
it had, like you were saying, that was
just, that was one of my best on
set times. And then that's top down, like
just everything about
that production and and how it was run
all the way up to the top to
the bottom. You know? Like, the props guy
took me out on the golf course, and
he's like, I'm just gonna teach you how
to swing.
So that it at least looks good.
Ask me shooting from the, I love that.
But for me it's like choreography.
Right. And like, you know, he was like,
you sure you've never played golf before. And,
and I was like, I haven't, but I'm
a dancer. And so what you're saying to
me is my hips proceed the swing and
then I twist and I hold, like, I
understand
all the mechanics
of this. And actually I now I play
golf. It was just a very well
run, very
warm, inviting
place to be for me, and I've been
chasing that ever since.
And not really it's not realizing that it
that was a little bit of a unicorn,
Right? Because
at the level that I am,
was,
am,
you don't always get that. You know? Yeah.
I've not started anything big. I have Yet.
Yet. I've not started anything big yet. I
love that growth mindset. I love it. But
like when you like I said, when you're
just a guest or a day player, you
have your line,
you're just coming in and out and relationships
are built and not every time
are you able to fit in.
And it and it's it feels like you've
got all this energy and excitement about this
day,
and then it's over and,
you know, that it all dissipates. Like, kind
of coming into a
school as a senior where all the kids
have grown up to each with each other.
Yeah. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. And
then when it's over, it's like you dropped
your ice cream cone on the ground and
you're like,
I really wanted that ice cream. Yeah. You
know, it's it
the life of an actor
in LA, especially, I think because I feel
like LA, there is so much more gain
to it than it is in New York.
You know? I I feel like New York
is very craft oriented.
You know? You're you're studying the craft, and
you have friends, and you're moving about and
helping each other. And, like, hey. I hear
they're looking for, you know, they're looking for
your type for this A Caucasian
housewife.
Yeah. I live for Caucasian blonde. Trophy trophy
wife. You should go over there.
I feel like it's much more of a,
what's for me is for me, what's for
you is for you,
kind of sister brotherhood of actors. We are
all actors. And I don't know if I've
really felt that in LA. Like, I feel
like LA is very much like, don't tell
anybody where you're going because they might get
the part or whatever. I'm in the writer's
side of all that. So for me,
the it feels the opposite. It feels like
everyone's
really hoping that everybody gets something so that,
you know, we can all Yeah. Lift each
other up, and
we survive a little bit on grants and
things. And so my friends and I are
always sharing grants. Right? Yes.
Somebody's gotta win it. Somebody else has gotta
get it. Somebody's gotta get it. Whoever gets
it buys dinner.
That is the duty of making that transition.
I feel like I've been in transition my
whole life. I haven't really
found the thing
that sparks forever joy.
Like I find the joy in the parts
that I have done.
And when I started writing, that was just
like another avenue,
right, of storytelling,
another
joy, you know, to to be able to
take ideas from your head and put those
on paper has been very exciting.
I read as I was looking you up
and digging in a little bit. I read
something that you had said, and now I
can't remember if it was a interview or
if it was offhanded. But
when I read it, I thought, yes. This
is exactly how I feel. And you said
something about
the a life where you just do one
thing isn't much of, and I'm paraphrasing, isn't
much of a life that you
are drawn to doing many, many things, the
mosaic of life and Yeah. Digging into all
sorts. And I thought, yes. It's so
that is such a fulfilling not to diss
anybody that isn't doing that, but it's such
a fulfilling
thing to just be in continual
discovery.
Yeah.
I I love that about me.
Yeah.
You know?
I used to be apologetic
about it. Right? Like, why can't you just
pick a thing and stay with that forever?
But I wouldn't train my experience for anything
in the world. Like, yes. I have done
Radio City. Yes. I danced with Jimmy Buffett.
Yes. I've done
movies and TV and commercials and plays,
and,
you know,
I love those experiences.
And because in each of those moments, I
have found this beautiful joy
that brings this this there's a quote that
I have often said, you know, you know,
because someone said it to me,
a jack of all trades is a master
of none, but oftentimes
better than a master of one. I believe
that full, full,
full stop. 100%.
Because when I finally read the full quote
and not the half quote that everybody wants
to throw at you, It gave me the
validation to explore
more things that make me happy.
You know, I've
worked in an office.
I have worked in a restaurant, I've worked
in a bar and I've done all of
these things. And
not to say that they were soul crushing,
because for me, there was always something I
could get out of it. Right? You meet
interesting people.
But then after a while, I just realized
life is really too short to be doing
a thing that doesn't bring you joy. And
sitting in a cubicle with
fluorescent lights and no window,
working for some person at the top. And
like, I can't get time off to be
with my kids.
I don't wanna do that. Yeah. It works
for a lot of people, but yeah, I'm
with you. It wouldn't work for me. It
wouldn't It doesn't work for me. And and
I tried forcing it because look, that steadiness,
that income,
you know, all insurance, all those things. Yeah.
We should have those. Regardless
of the craft that you are pursuing, you
should have that kind of stability.
The hustle of acting and being creative
requires that you adapt,
right? Because the roles you play at 20
are not the roles you'll play at 40.
And then it's almost over for women at
that point. Right? Which is the saddest thing
because
right now, women over 40 are crushing it.
Not a yeah. On my watch, I'm gonna
keep writing stuff that incorporates
older people because that is Older people.
Big frustrations.
Big frustration.
I've never been a a one egg kinda
girl. Like, I've had a lot of eggs,
and I have all my eggs in other
baskets. And I am fascinated
with the film making
industry,
and I wanna know why all of the
things work. I wanna know it. I wanna
know it, like, viscerally.
What is about the lighting that makes me
happy or sad or music? What?
I sit down with everyone. I'm like, I'm
gonna watch you do your job. I wanna
understand
your part. Right. You know, it's like you
just come up to a group of people
and you're like, I have some brown paper
and some markers.
What can we do?
I have a barn, you know,
my sister's a choreographer.
Like that spirit of my early theater work,
I bring that all in.
Also the spirit of playing in the yard.
Also the spirit of playing in the heart.
Higher gen
X people.
We are creative, we are imaginative.
And that idea of making something from nothing.
I mean, we played a game called kick
the can.
We made kick the can fun. Somebody got
a can of, I don't know, peas.
I don't know what it was. Open that
up, emptied it out, put it down on
the street, and we made up a game.
It just doesn't get and now we get
to do that for a living. How how
wonderful.
Yeah. And, you know, the people that sit
in the office when they come home that
are good at that kind of thing, when
they come home,
they wanna
turn off their brain and watch TV or
listen to music. And this is why
there needs to there needs to, in my
opinion, to be an understanding of the symbiotic
nature of art
and crafts and industry
and,
science and all that stuff is that we
all do work together.
We need each other. And so when people
are like, oh, you're an artist. Oh, you
know, blah blah blah. Right. And then it's
like, yeah. That you and you
take in art nonstop.
You need me. I am a We need
each other. Yeah. We're all important
to the community, to the world, to
our everyday lives. We need all of the
things. Yeah. I don't think AI should be
creating our art. I'm sorry. I do not
either.
I'll die on that hill for sure.
I have no desire, but you know what
it can do for for me. It can
help me figure out what to cook for
my kids, and it could clean my house
because that's what AI was that was the
promise
that we were made,
was that AI
would, you know, come in and do the
things that we don't wanna do. And I
and I recognize that, you know, they are
taking jobs away from chefs or drivers or
whatever. But I don't know. I don't wanna
get in a car that doesn't have a
driver. That gives me the the creeps. I
can't
Oh, I did it one time in Vegas,
but but there was a drive there was
actually a guy sitting there because they were
testing the autonomous driving taxi or Uber with
I I think it was a Lyft. Called
Waymo here, I think. Yeah. Yeah. We have
Waymo here. Freak I've not gotten in one
without a driver yet. I don't I don't
know if I can I can handle that?
Yeah. It doesn't
it it's I have a hard enough time
when someone else is driving me somewhere long
distance.
So, wait, do you do all the driving?
You wanna do all the driving? I I
would I prefer yeah. I prefer driving. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
If I won the lottery, I think this
there would be signs would be I would
have a chef cooking me meals.
Yes. And
potentially
driving at night.
Yes. I don't like to drive at night
either.
Yeah. That's that would be my potential. But
regardless,
I am with you as far as seeing
the world as
nuts to crack open that I used to
be apologetic for it too of that.
People would say, oh, you do so many
things, and I would say, oh, I guess
I get bored easy. And then somewhere along
the way,
I realized that that was so negative to
say. And so now I say I get
curious easy.
Yes. I like that. I would like to
adapt that, adopt that. I'm going to do
it. I mean, there's just something really great
about
finding joy in something or something, a spark
and wanting to pursue learning that. I don't
think that there's anything,
pursue learning that. I don't think that there's
anything
wrong with with doing that. And you're never
too old.
And you're never too old. I I'd say
the one thing if I had to say
that I was disappointed about
society wise is how easily we discard people
past a certain age and, you know, that
it from industry to industry, it varies,
but there's always something to be learned.
And
that is our biggest problem. We're not, we're
not learning, we're not appreciating
the wisdom of people,
and we're not investing,
right, in them, right? Because
just because someone did not do this particular
job doesn't mean they don't have value
in this other industry
or insight
having grown as a person, right? And I
get technology, everything is moving faster, You know,
like one of the things that I still
wish we did was to reinvest
in ourselves, our lives in humans, right? Like
this is not life is not just for
the young.
We're all here on this earth. And by
all accounts, we seem to be getting older
and older year after year.
And so
I don't think that we should just kind
of like
call it a a death sentence. You know?
You're 50 now, so
sorry.
Whoever is listening to us talking right now,
there is no limits
except for those we give ourselves. So if
you have a desire, if you wanna do
a thing,
if you've thought maybe, I don't know, maybe
I'm too old, just do it because you're
gonna regret not trying.
You're gonna regret not trying. I believe that
to be true. Do you know what? I
heard something really interesting,
and I think it was the CEO of
Calm on Mel Robbins podcast.
He said,
butcher it because I often do, but I
took from it what I loved.
You are living your dream right now. And
I was like, I am. And then maybe
everyone isn't, but I am,
because I wanted to marry my best friend
and have children
and be able to spend time with them
and still pursue
my craft.
And I went, oh my God, I am.
Like, these are the things that I said
that I wanted and I have them and
I appreciate them. And so I've done it
once and I can do it again. Clearly
of the willingness to go after the things
that that you want. Yeah. And so I'm
living I'm just been so smiley and happy
lately because I, you know, guess there are
things that suck. You know?
In my life, there are hardships.
But then I when when I heard that,
I was like, wow. I am. I this
is what I said I wanted, and I
have it. And it isn't perfect,
but I have it, and I love it.
And now I would like to set my
intentions for my next journey.
Right? And these are the things I want,
and they feel daunting You
know?
But then I heard that, and I was
like, yeah. I did it once. Could do
it again.
And you could do it a dozen times.
Over a dozen times. Yeah. Isn't that great?
So I I, you know, I look back
on on all the things and all the
jobs, and and I pull the things that
I loved about each one, and and they've
all made me
the human I am today. And I look
forward
to all the other things that I wanna
accomplish.
I'm excited to try some. And if it
doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but,
like, I'm gonna try this and
and just take that joy into the next
thing. I'm really excited about that. Tell everybody
how they can find you. I'm on Instagram
at Louisa Kendrick.
I'm on Facebook, but I'm gonna tell you
right now, I go in there just to
update my family with my kids and stuff.
So don't look for me there. I'm on
blue sky.
I'm not I'm on blue sky, but I'm
not on blue sky because I really haven't
figured out how to replace The other thing.
The other thing, but I am on blue
sky at louisa kendrick. I don't know. I'm
on Pinterest if you have a board you
wanna send me.
Great.
Thank you so much for being on the
show. I am so excited. Thank you so
much for inviting me, and it's such a
pleasure to speak with you.
Absolutely. And stay in touch. We have a
lot of
friends. We do have mutual friends. Isn't that
exciting when you find someone and you're like,
wait a minute. I'd say just keep making
the world a little smaller any way you
can. And we need community more than ever.
So More than ever.
Yeah. And we need to create art that
heals. Yeah. Amen to that too. Thank you
for listening, everybody.
Bye. Bye.
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