If you want to do something, then you do it. If you don't want to do something, don't just do it because your friends are doing it, or because all the popular kids are doing it.
Alia Shawkat
I grew up in Palm Springs, California, which is a suburb like a desert town, and I love it.
I go into work and get my hair and makeup done, go into wardrobe. I have to do three hours of school a day.
Over time, I've been more recognized.
I've definitely gone through phases where I'm not happy with my life, and you notice in little ways until they start adding up.
I went on an audition once for a show, and the feedback was to play an angry teen. My agent convinced me to try out. I was really bitter for a while, because it sucks when you don't get good scripts after working on good quality.
I was born and grew up in Palm Springs. It's a great place to grow up, a real small town.
After 'Arrested Development,' I didn't know for sure if I wanted to be an actor. I was hitting this wall, where I was the 'ethnic best friend' or the 'sassy teenager.' It felt like the same note, and I didn't feel like I was growing.
When I was in New York, I put together a show; I put together this really great band and performed at this place called Littlefield in Brooklyn. It was really fun. I did, like, 10 standards, and then I just hopped around different bars like Mona's and different jazz clubs in New York just singing because I know all the standards so well.
The millennial generation wants to express every feeling to feel like you're connected to it, and there's something very dark about tragedy that people are drawn to.
I definitely had a weird thing of being attracted to older men. Never my family friends, never my dad's friends.
I'm more verbal and not as private as I was as a kid. I still do a form of sense memory. It honestly depends on the job. It depends on the other people you're working with, how the other actor works.
I usually play grounded, has-their-head-on-straight kind of sassy girls.
We're not going to dumb down for them. They have to move up. They're the network and we're the show.
The words are ludicrous at times, but you add the reality to it and that gives it the balance it has.
I feel very lucky 'Arrested Development' was so successful because I never really got too much attention, and I was able to evolve instead of only being seen as one character.
I'm not a huge TV person, but when I do watch, it's always after the fact because I like to binge watch. It's more entertaining for me to watch these characters fresh, after one episode, instead of waiting a whole week.
When I wrap a job, I disconnect with it, and I'm done, even if they said we'd shoot more next year, at this time, which is not the case at all because nobody knows what's happening.
When I get a new script my mom will read them and just be aghast. I think it's hysterical.
Empathy is why entertainment is always growing, and for millennials, everyone is judging them and trying to grab their attention by insulting them. We're living in a time where everyone has 25 profiles, and they're having 25 conversations.
But I love singing, and I've been singing backup for friends' bands.
It feels good to sing. Everybody should sing!
In my opinion FOX is known for being a network that just advertises, and that's pretty much how they get their viewers.
If your friend's feeling bad, it's hard to know what to do. Do you back away or try to help them? It's a really hard situation that I've been in. You want to support your friend. You want to be there. My advice is, don't get too involved with it, just be by their side. If they need your help, they'll ask for it.
When I'm working, I'm pretty busy with that, but when I'm not, yeah, I like to make music. I sing in jazz bars and stuff, and then I mainly paint every day. It's kind of like a different side of my mind I like to use, and it keeps the other one fresh, and yeah, writing, I've been writing with some friends.
When you focus on life, on enjoying and connecting with other people, that's when work comes. When you focus on work, you can never work. I'm always going through waves of that.
Personality-wise, I'm a person who likes to put it all out on the table.
Rosie Perez is the coolest. She's kind of everything you want her to be. She's involved in so many cool things, political charities and stuff.
I hope to be painting more and travelling. Maybe fall in love. Have a dog one day. You know, all the good things.
On American TV, there just aren't a lot of female leads in comedy, especially at the peak of all the Judd Apatow stuff.
Yeah, I've worked with a couple of female directors, now, and I think that they're amazing. As good or better than guy directors.
The main thing I got from growing up in a suburb is the boredom you have as a child.
I think with the whole new Internet media, I'm not necessarily Internet savvy, but I just feel that the way that art in general will be presented to the public is going to be different.
I don't think it's good to say that you won't do certain things, but I don't necessarily have the natural urge to write.
Right when I turned 18, I moved to New York, originally for school, and then dropped out and just lived in New York.
If we give something value, it becomes valuable.
My grandfather talked about James Dean; they were both very much into method acting.
I would do a movie musical.
I got to work with Eli Vargas. Great guy. Huge in Spain. He's a heartthrob there. Who else? Terry Crews - he was really funny.
I've worked with a couple of female directors now, and I think that they're amazing. As good or better than guy directors.
I don't want to put down my work - I'm very proud of the work I've done.
There are definitely a lot of roles I didn't get based off of the way I look, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm going to write stories for myself or work with filmmakers who want to tell stories about real people.
I guess I've always been drawn to roles that have smart characters commenting on what's happening around them.
It would be great to do theater one day, but I don't think I'd do a musical.
As an actress, you never know when you're going to work again - and there's so much dependency on working.
We don't have a laugh track, which helped Seinfeld a lot, and did kind of tell people when to laugh. It just made it a lot easier. Our show doesn't have that, so it's hard for Middle America to catch on.
American shows can go on for 20 years. I respond more to the British format. Three seasons is a long run for them to tell a story.
Kids can be harsh, especially when they get jealous.
I was a late bloomer.
Mitch Hurwitz was like a father figure to me. He was so sweet, and he's just so smart.
