The 'Roseanne' set was totally my home away from home. And I did pal around and roller-skate with Dakota Johnson. And now she's a megastar!
— Zoe Perry
My parents set a fantastic example for me in that their passion came from theater.
I was interested in watching it; I wasn't interested necessarily in performing. So I'm grateful to kind of find that passion myself, as an adult, because it was really mentally strenuous, and I don't think I would have been mentally equipped for it, honestly.
Along with being around the 'Roseanne' stuff, I've been following my mom and my dad back to Steppenwolf.
We all have opinions to what our parents really are, whether they agree or not. I'm sure they would feel the same the other way around.
A great benefit of having parents in the same profession is if I do have a terrible audition story, I can call them up, and we can laugh about it because they get it. That's always been a great therapeutic outlet.
I can only do what I do, and if people respond to it, great, and if they don't, that's what that is.
Being an actor, I never think I'm going to get the part. It's always a thrill when things go the way you hope they will.
Oh, yeah! Playing 'Young Jackie' came at the insistence of Roseanne herself. Mom obliged but told me that would not be an option again until I was 18. Truthfully, I grew up not thinking I would act.
I got to see my mom do 'Long Day's Journey' in London, which was really beautiful.
I don't discount the privilege that comes with being the kid of two very great actors. All I can say is I'm very grateful that I've had their examples. And it's fun to get to share it with them.
My approach is literally what is being told in the scene. I try to be as real as possible, and I try to find my own truth in it and figure out how to best serve each character.
What we recall as children is a version of what's happening around us.
You're always striving to get better, and I would get in my own way sometimes or stop myself if I felt it wasn't as good as it should be. You're going to fall on your face a couple of times, and the lesson is to get back up.
When I was younger, I found it incredibly intimidating to audition for anything. As I've gotten older and had more experience and gained more confidence in myself, I'm able to quiet some of those demons a little more successfully.
It's incredible to be going from the Shondaland universe to 'Big Bang' creator Chuck Lorre.
I learned that if you can proceed with a level of anonymity while still pursuing the thing you love, that's the dream.
When I'm acting, there are moments where I'm thinking, 'I sound like my mom when I say that,' or, 'I sound like my dad when I say that.'
When I was younger, I was living in that green room and accompanying them to all the different theaters that they worked at. So, that has always remained a nostalgic place for me and also one of great admiration. I was just so grateful that that passion they have for theater translated to me, because I always loved seeing it.
I hold my parents in such high esteem for what they do, so that, in and of itself, is a very lucky position to be in.
I can't deny that there's a great privilege in having parents who are established in the field that I'm pursuing. I try to appreciate the fact that they're so great at it. They've been such great role models, not only talent-wise but also in how they lead their lives and the reasons why they've pursued this.
When I first started pursuing acting professionally out of college, it was very much in my head that there would be comparisons with potentially both of my parents, and I found that pretty intimidating.
When you talk to people in retrospect, they always say the casting was a no-brainer, but nothing really is. You have to have so many things line up. I'm very grateful that it worked out.
