半岛体育

Younger鈥檚 鈥淟auren Heller鈥� was originally a six-line part, Hilary Duff鈥檚 character鈥檚 over-the-top best friend who works in PR and takes her top off in Bryant Park to make a splash on #ToplessTuesday. But thanks to actor Molly Bernard, Lauren has become a series regular. Premiering its fourth season June 28, audiences can continue to live vicariously through her full-out, tour de force approach to New York City life.

Bernard has always been attracted to 鈥渨ildness and precision鈥� in theatre, so it seems appropriate that her TV breakout role is exactly that. 鈥淸She] unconditionally, boldly, irreverently fucking loves herself,鈥� Bernard told 半岛体育 in an interview before the Season 3 premiere. But Bernard鈥檚 commitment and audacity come from deep roots in theatre. 鈥淚n acting training, you stay on your objective and you play to win,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou have to go all in.鈥� Aside from the fact that her grandfather (co-founder of the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute) was the man who introduced her to theatre, Bernard earned her MFA at Yale School of Drama; she wowed audiences and critics with her performance in Soho Rep鈥檚 Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. and recently assistant directed a show at SITI Company. Here, she digs into her stage background and shares lessons from acting greats Judith Light鈥擝ernard played the young Shelly on Transparent鈥� and Younger鈥檚 Sutton Foster and Kathy Najimy.

What was your first professional job?
Molly Bernard: I was 11, and I shot a movie called Pay It Forward. I was a kid in the classroom First stage job, if I鈥檓 remembering correctly, I understudied a one-woman show in New York, but I don鈥檛 think I ever got paid for that. It was called Washing Machine. They gave me one performance and everyone I knew came so it was a sold-out house but I don鈥檛 think I got paid for that. I think the first time I got paid was when I was hired as an actor for the Yale Summer Shakespeare Festival that was going on at the Yale cabaret. I played Miranda and I played Celia in As You Like It. I was able to buy shirts, shorts, summer things, because I made money!

What was the stage show that has most influenced you?
Obviously, things interested me much much earlier, but some shows that blew my mind are the following: I saw Isabelle Huppert in Quartett when I was in college and I was like 鈥淗oly moly.鈥� I鈥檓 really into wildness and precision and when deep practitioners of form break the form; we only have forms and rules so we can break them. I鈥檓 very into that.

I also saw [Marie Antoinette] with this actress Brooke Bloom. I had never really seen a female actress be kind of messy and kind of brave and not a classic. She wasn鈥檛 pretty, she wasn鈥檛 blonde, she wasn鈥檛 simple. She was all of her and it really changed how I then proceeded with my Yale training. I stopped trying to be a pretty, simple girl and was like you know what, I鈥檓 kind of uncompromisingly who I am and my grandfather always told me to do that. Those were some performances that teach you how to follow your bliss.

Is there a stage moment you witnessed (from the audience, from the wings, in rehearsal) that stays with you?
My first year at Yale we were studying Angels in America and one of the best ways to teach the concept of objective is through Angels in America. In a well-written play basically all characters have the same objective; the working objective in Tony Kushner鈥檚 play is freedom. When I saw Michael Urie as Prior he was unbelievable. I just felt like he was free and he was doing something onstage that I had never seen. He was so alive and active and gorgeous.

What鈥檚 been the most rewarding experience onstage for you?
I had the great fortune of playing Richard II when I was at Yale. It was my third year at Yale and I had never played a leading role. I had only ever played these smaller parts, which I loved. I鈥檓 a great supporting actress. You don鈥檛 audition at Yale, they just assign you roles based on what they think you need. I scheduled six meetings with the department head of acting at Yale and I was like, 鈥淚 really want to play this part. This is a play about a man who plays to win the entire time and he loses and I want to have that experience.鈥� It ended up being the greatest thing onstage I鈥檝e ever done. It was the hardest [but] most rewarding. I felt it first-hand: this play is not about me. It鈥檚 about this guy Richard and this dire situation he鈥檚 in and how can I help him win. To be able to learn that lesson not in a classroom but only with the help of an audience taught me more than I ever learned about acting.

Who is a collaborator from theatre who has made you better?
I learned how to read at one of my grandfather鈥檚 acting classes. He gave me the gift of theatre and he formed me as an adult, and as a woman, and as an artist. Hands down SITI Company and Anne Bogart have played a major role. I remember I was in class with them, and I got mad. [Anne] just stopped me and was like, 鈥淵ou are a monster actress. You are not your size. You are a big huge whole person. You are not cute, you are funny, you鈥檙e smart, but you鈥檙e also sexy and fierce and you have a lot of experience and you鈥檙e hungry. You are not a simple small actress. You are a monster.鈥� That changed everything. I have a ring on my hand that I wear every day that says monster. Be careful what you tell someone who鈥檚 hungry because they might just steal it.

Tell me about something that you鈥檝e learned from your co-stars鈥擲utton Foster, Kathy Najimy, and Judith Light, specifically鈥攁bout straddling this line between theatre and TV.
First of all, TV is amazing right now. TV is unbelievable. I think five or six or seven years ago I wouldn鈥檛 have even been interested because I didn鈥檛 want to be on a sitcom or something cheesy; I wanted to do something meaningful. But, I think the thing I鈥檝e learned both directly and indirectly is that the discipline from the theatre really really works in your favor in TV. I sometimes experiment鈥攏ow that I鈥檓 a series regular on Younger鈥攚ith trying to be less prepared and seeing what that gets me because sometimes I show up and I鈥檓 really just doing my homework. I鈥檓 not actually acting. Working hard and listening and being light and serious at the same time, while being kind, is the thing that these amazing women in theatre have taught me.

What is your favorite part of doing TV that鈥檚 different from theatre?
I kind of love that you don鈥檛 rehearse it. It used to freak me out and I used to not like it. Now, I think it鈥檚 kind of awesome. You have to show up prepared and then you talk and you listen to the person you鈥檙e doing the scene with. It鈥檚 a crazy kind of stamina and endurance and it鈥檚 amazing. On Transparent especially the first time when I shot Season 3, when I had my first flashback, Andrea Arnold, the director, was like, 鈥淪o you know the script, yeah?鈥� I said 鈥淵ep,鈥� and she was like, 鈥淥K so stick to it or not.鈥�

What do you think is the key to succeeded as a supporting actor?
You have to know what world you鈥檙e in, what play you鈥檙e in, who you鈥檙e onstage or in the rehearsal room with, or on camera with. I think you can never play a bit part and call it a bit part. You have to play the bit part like it鈥檚 the part鈥攖he old-school theatre training of 鈥測ou should be alert through your whole body鈥� and energy.