Irish actor Niamh Algar has been making her mark in the UK of late portraying women dealing with their intense pasts, like Dinah in Shane Meadows’ The Virtues and Ursula in Calm With Horses (which just opened in the States as The Shadow of Violence). The intensity continues with her latest project, Raised By Wolves, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series for HBO MAX (which drops on September 3th). In this episode, she talks about following her gut, why she asks questions early, adapting to the director, the importance of not taking yourself too seriously, and much more.  Back To One can […]

She’s barely in her twenties, yet Daisy Edgar-Jones has given us a 12-part acting technique masterclass in the form of her portrayal of Marianne in Hulu’s hit series Normal People.  Every state of emotion, every point of transformation is reached with striking authenticity, stemming from this complex character. It’s a timeless performance for the ages. In this episode, she breaks down some of that work, talks about her love of acting with accents, the importance of creative chemistry, how she manages her acting insecurities, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google […]

In these last 10 years, stage and screen veteran Peter Friedman has enjoyed a steady flow of work, more than the first 30 years of his career. Recently, he got raves for his Polonius in Sam Gold’s production of Hamlet at the Public Theater, had a recurring role on the Hulu series The Path, and now plays Frank Vernon on the hit HBO show Succession. On this episode, he talks about how being the “new kid in class” as a day-player on set makes him nervous, why it’s ok to dismiss work that doesn’t speak to you, how performing with […]

Miriam Shor is unrecognizable as Lorraine Ela in the powerful new Netflix film Lost Girls. It’s the kind of performance that doesn’t feel performed, that doesn’t get recognized often because it’s invisible. We talk about that phenomenon this half hour, and break down a hilarious moment from the show Younger, where Shor played the beloved character Diana Trout. She talks about the importance of feeling like she is in collaboration with a director, and how being cast in a role you don’t think you’re “right for” can help you grow. Plus much more! Back To One can be found wherever […]

Haley Bennett has given us some great work in films like The Woman On The Train and The Magnificent Seven, but her performance in Carlo Mirabella-Davis’s Swallow is so fully-realized, so ground-shaking, so important, it feels like an artistic re-birth. In this half-hour, she talks about facing the doubts and fears she had with revealing herself in the role of Hunter, the importance of the fruitful and freeing collaboration process with Mirabella-Davis, and how this truly emancipating experience changed her approach to the work. Plus much more! Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple […]

He got his big Hollywood break with Pitch Perfect, but Skylar Astin had already made it to Broadway in the musical sensation Spring Awakening. Lately, it seems he’s been in every television show that features people breaking into song — Glee, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and now the NBC hit Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, where he plays Max, Zoey’s best friend, who is secretly in love with her. On this episode, he talks about the hard work that goes into making that show, being bribed into his first audition as a kid, and how his stage experience continues to pay dividends in […]

I remember when I first saw Zach Woods. It was in the Armando Iannucci film In The Loop. His comedic sensibilities matched so perfectly with what I demanded as a consumer of comedy—bold choices, molded in subtlety, grounded in reality. He has continued to morph and advance his style with unforgettable roles on The Office, Silicon Valley, and now again for Iannucci on Avenue 5, where he plays cheerful nihilist Matt Spencer, Head of Customer Relations. In this inspirational episode, we have a far-reaching conversation on his approach to the craft and the industry in general. Summary: the greatest comedic […]

It’s time we stop taking the preternaturally gifted British actor Andrea Riseborough for granted. She transforms so completely into her characters (appearance, accent, posture, mannerisms) that it’s easy to just believe she is the character and hard to measure her talents because we don’t know what “default Andrea Riseborough” is like. One thing is crystal clear though. She’s simply one of the best we have. On this, the 100th episode of Back To One, she talks about being surprised by the reactions to her chameleon-like abilities, how she uses the shooting environment (no matter how difficult) to fuel her work, […]

The brilliant British actor Lesley Manville has given us two of the truly great cinematic performances of the last decade, Mary in Another Year and Cyril in Phantom Thread (which landed her an Oscar nomination). But those are just two in a long list of living, breathing characters she has inhabited with subtlety, nuance and depth, both on the stage and screen. In this episode, she talks about her latest–Joan in Ordinary Love, her formative years with Mike Leigh, the necessity of director input, why she doesn’t want to take her characters home, and much more! Back To One can be […]

Zora Howard is a juggernaut. She stars in Premature and co-wrote the script with director Rashaad Ernesto Green. Her performance has an assured authenticity and a new brand of quiet desperation that is remarkable for a first feature. She’s been an award-winning creator for years though. Plays, poems, spoken word performances. Her play Stew just closed off-broadway to great acclaim. I gush about it and ask where her love of words began, and which of these various paths of creation she’s anxious to continue down. She talks about the necessary step of taking off the writer’s hat in order to […]