The best thing I ever learned when I first started acting is that you audition, and then you forget about it when you walk out the door. Even when you have a callback, you can't bank on things until you actually book that job, or your heart will just be broken over and over again.
— Allison Tolman
Whenever I've done a sketch in which I'm asked to play a mom, my brain goes to Minnesota. It makes the character seem matronly, warm, the kind of person that takes care of you and brings you Campbell's soup when you're sick. It's a great shortcut.
I never pursued voice hard enough. I've done musicals here and there, but I was never dedicated to really being one of these fantastic, operatic kind of singers that you have to be in some of these musicals.
I did a 20-minute selection of scenes from the play 'Spring Awakening' in college, well before the musical came around, so when the musical was becoming a hot thing, and I was reading interviews with Duncan Sheik about how he came to do the music, I think it's interesting.
I don't know what my next dream role gig is, but I have so, so many shows that I'm like, 'Oh my God, can I guest star on 'New Girl?' Like, that would be amazing!'
I saw 'Fargo,' not when it came out, but probably a few years later, and went through multiple viewings - I'm sure my tape has been worn out.
In theater, we know a scheduled season months in advance.
I taped my original audition for 'Fargo' with my agency in Chicago, Stewart Talent.
I went to New York for the first time when I was in college for a school trip and, uh, it did not appeal to me. It was too much hustle and bustle. And I have since now found a New York where if I lived there now, I know where I would want to live.
I moved to Chicago when I was 28, and I wasn't completely idealistic about going to Second City and making a living from comedy, but I knew it would be great for the resume.
Our TV and movie cops are usually in heels and pencil skirts.
I don't think I have ever worn more outfits over the course of four days than I did Emmy weekend. You barely sleep. You don't eat.
I've never had money before in my life. Ever. Never, ever.
I've met a lot of really friendly people who are incredibly happy for me, which is really flattering and humbling.
I'm from Texas, and Texas has a reputation that far precedes actual Texas, and it is irritating sometimes.
As a newcomer, you know, you don't come out the gate as a singer and try to compare with Judy Garland.
As a comedian who's used to, like, punching the jokes, it's hard to teach yourself that that's not the strong choice in the sense that you have to really have to dial it back.
I know the benefits of having a really great improv show are amazing because it was this one rare and fleeting thing that was incredible, but the risk just didn't appeal to me. I liked the control of sitting down and writing things.
Someone asked me about how it feels to wear the same costume every day and whether it gets tired or boring, but the good thing about it is that you know what to expect, every day.
I guess my interest in performance has evolved and changed many times over the years.
I grill, like, every day.
I was getting a lot of really nasty feedback about my weight during 'Fargo,' which is unfortunate because I am statistically a completely average-size woman.
There are a few directors as a young person where I was kind of like, 'Well, these are a sure bet.' The Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson.
I'm hoping I can evade a type and go for roles based on what I consider plausible and what I consider good.
For me and accent work, I think once you've figured out where that energy is, where the sound is in your throat or your mouth, it's a whole lot easier to do.
I need an office and a place I can sit down to get away from television and just write.
Coming out of Dallas and doing commercial work in Dallas - if you had improv background in Dallas, then you were instantly shot to the top of the list of commercial bookings because they loved improvisers because you could elevate the material.
I read the 'Fargo' hashtag and what people tweeted at me and every article and every comment on every article. I really just ate it up. But I wasn't prepared for hearing what everybody thought of me.
It's scary to not know when your next job is coming, and that is a daily fear when you are trying to act full-time.
I originally wanted to stay in Chicago as long as I could. I love Chicago. I don't love L.A. I don't want to leave Chicago.
I tend to play nurses and waitresses and policewomen.
I don't think you realize how often on television people are not like anyone we know or have known.
If you only live in the world of the actor, and if you only live in the world of auditions, etc., then you don't really have a whole lot to offer when it comes to playing the humans that you're trying to audition for.
What is right is not always popular.
At Clements, I was an officer in Thespian Troupe No. 3689.
I really respect the Coen brothers as directors and as creative individuals and with the way that they handle the industry and the business side of things.
'The Secret Garden' was the first musical that I fell in love with when I was a kid. My mom took me to see it, and it was the first one that I owned the soundtrack to and listened to over and over again.
I was working, like, 14-hour days on 'Fargo,' and now if I schedule more than two things in a day, I'm like, 'Whoa, you guys. That's two train rides, and I have to plan for an hour-and-a-half lunch with my cat.'
I did Internet dating for a while, and that is rife with horrible dating stories.
Maybe to my own detriment, but I watched all of 'Fargo' probably more than once. And I tend to be a little critical of myself. But I can also let things go. So I can think, 'Well, that moment didn't read as well as I thought it would,' but it doesn't keep me up at night.
I don't have any phobias per se, but both tight and vast spaces tend to make me nervous after a prolonged time.
I worked in IT, which is all boys, and I was the queen of the boys. That's what I did. I was the one who knew where the paper towels were, which was very important. And I organized happy hours and things like that.
I'm aware me getting a role out of Chicago as a complete unknown is an insane anomaly, so I knew I'd have to get out here to L.A. as soon as the door opened.
I do find that when I see women who flesh out the television or film world and make it look more like the world I actually live in, I gravitate towards those characters.
I started getting Twitter followers after I started doing press for 'Fargo.' One of my best friends from college is a librarian, and she started tracking after each interview how many Twitter followers I got. She and her librarian friends were like, 'We're going to make a graph.' And I was like, 'Alright, nerds.'
It's interesting to play a female character who's not ever using feminine wiles to get things done.
When you go in to do a screen test, you negotiate your contract and sign all your paperwork before you even get on a plane.
Most of the time you spend filming a show is time you spend without the cameras on, when you're not acting.
I never really acted full-time. I certainly had gotten past the point where fame and fortune was something that I was dreaming about or anticipating.
I've been working as an actress and sort of struggling along for ten years, so I've been on a million auditions for a million things I haven't booked.
