Bradley Whitford on Happyish, The West Wing, and his high heels on Transparent. Welcome to. Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what roles we’ll ask them to talk about. The actor: Bradley Whitford first broke through as an actor on the stage, as befits someone who trained at Juilliard. But he soon made the jump to on- camera work, doing small roles in films and on TV series during the late ’8. Just as the ’9. 0s were wrapping up, however, Whitford scored the role that would take him from a “that guy” actor to a regular prime- time presence for the next seven seasons: Josh Lyman on The West Wing. Since President Bartlett’s departure from the Oval Office, Whitford has added a few more series to his resume, including Studio 6. On The Sunset Strip and Trophy Wife, and he can currently be seen alongside Steve Coogan and Kathryn Hahn on Showtime’s Happyish. Happyish (2. 01. 5)—“Jonathan Cooke” Bradley Whitford: This guy is a dark soul. Luckily, it’s with two of my favorite actors. I’m playing it with . Did you see her in Afternoon Delight? The A. V. Club: We just did this feature with John Kapelos, who shared a sex scene with her and Juno Temple. BW: ! I had not seen it when Transparent came up—because, you know, Jill . You never once looked me in the eyes when you came. Not once.” ? She was unbelievable. AVC: So how did you find your way into Happyish in the first place? Original Airdate 10-20-04. With Palestinian leaders surrounded in their compound, Israel is willing to sit down with the US and moderate Palestinians to discuss a. The West Wing transcripts -- search episode dialogue, summaries, and titles of all episodes of The West Wing tv show seasons 1 through 6! Buy stickers featuring the. We're recapping every episode of Netflix's "Girlboss," follow along! So, as we settle down and start streaming the season in its entirety, just remember that even. Created by Aaron Sorkin. With Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, John Spencer. Inside the lives of staffers in the West Wing of the White House. An Episode Guide of NBC's The West Wing including episode descriptions, credits, reality information links and media quotes.Was it a standard audition, or did they approach you specifically? BW: They approached me. I’d been aware of it when Phil . I’m from Madison, Wisconsin, and we have a really terrible union- busting, anti- education governor named Scott Walker, and apparently the thing that got me Happyish was a speech at a labor rally that’s on You. Tube that Shalom . So go figure. And something like this in my world is an absolute no- brainer. It’s people I love, and you know that Showtime real estate is precious real estate for writers and actors. It’s a no- brainer. AVC: What did you think about the tone of the series? Because it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. It’s challenging for me. I have a 1. 2- year- old daughter. I have three kids. And, yeah, it’s very, very, very, very, very, very dark. And I’ll tell you, quite honestly, I sometimes have mixed feelings about it. I’m being totally honest. So I struggle with that because, you know, you can’t offend me unless I think you’re just trying to offend me. But my daughter’s friend, she’s 1. I said, “No, no, no! No, no, no no!”AVC: As a father with a 9- year- old daughter, I absolutely take your point. BW: “Mommy, why is Daddy saying ? AVC: And we have our first pull quote of the interview. BW: . I forget the character’s name, but it was a movie. AVC: That is also on IMDB, although they just call it Doorman. BW: Well, that was actually directed by Henny Youngman’s son, Gary. I didn’t realize he was Henny Youngman’s son until I saw his child in a onesie that said, “Take my grandson. Please.” That’s when I realized, “Oh, are you. And then on The Equalizer, what I remember about that was—here’s an acting tip: Don’t make the choice of chewing tobacco in a role if you don’t chew tobacco. It really made me ill. I didn’t feel good. I think I threw up. That’s when I realized that integrity when you’re acting is overrated. I grew up in Wisconsin. It’s not like growing up in New York or L. A., where you know somebody’s cousin who does this. It was in the back of my mind, but I would never say that I wanted to be an actor, but as I look back, I was in every play I could possibly be in. I went away to college at Wesleyan University and was an English major, but I kept doing plays, and I became a theater/English major. And it wasn’t until I applied to grad school and I got into Juilliard. AVC: And yet you pulled it off. BW: Well, you know, I was very lucky. Juilliard was four years, and I called it “med school with guaranteed unemployment at the end.” And it ends, you’re getting ready to go out and be an actor, and. Absolutely nothing is happening. I was catering an event at the Philip Morris executive dining room, which was, like, a Nazi bunker. You’d have to arrange these bouquets of cigarettes, and you’d hear these guys talking about the big market opening up with Chinese girls. I mean, it was just horrifying. But then suddenly I got a part in a play called Curse Of The Starving Class, with Kathy Bates. It was an incredible job, but I got it because Bill Pullman—and I have subsequently thanked him for this—dropped out to go do a movie. So I had to go in in a week. And in this part, you have to urinate onstage, and you have to walk out completely buck naked, straight toward the audience, and squat, which is what everybody who’s naked wants to do, and pick up a lamb, who I called “Meryl Sheep.”AVC: Of course you did. BW: So it was a very wonderful, terrifying first job. AVC: And yet it seems like it could also be the perfect example of an “It’s all downhill from here” situation. BW: Well, I find a way to make my good fortune seem like it’s victimizing me. But, no, that was such a wonderful job. And when you finish these wonderful jobs, you think, “Oh, God, I’m so spoiled!” Like, after West Wing, it was, like, “Oh, my God, how does that happen again?” But it’s a good problem. It’s white actor plight. AVC: There’s a hashtag for you. I’ll post that, along with my 8- by- 1. ER (1. 99. 5)—“Sean O’Brien” BW: Oh, wow. Yeah, that was incredibly exciting. It’s interesting, I just saw that again, because I think it was the 2. The moment I read that script, I thought, “Oh, this is gonna be something.” It’s just such an excruciating situation. By the way, Anthony Edwards—and I’m not saying this because he’s a friend, although he is—his acting in that episode is as good as it gets. You’ll see certain performances, and I’ve done certain performances, where you might as well be wearing a placard around your neck that says, “Please nominate me.” But Anthony was a very important reason why that show worked. On shows, there are people who end up being kind of the acting captains, and he set an amazing tone. It was very exciting to shoot. ER was this absolute bonkers phenomenon at that time. I remember we were shooting this one thing, and all of a sudden Steven fucking Spielberg comes around the corner and says, “Why don’t you try it like this?” And I’m, like, “What? Steven Spielberg is at the monitor!” . My sister is a nurse who delivered babies, and it really upped the unnecessary paranoia of young mothers, that something like that could happen. But that was just an amazing group to work with, and at a moment where there was incredible excitement about the public reaction to the show. The Sarah Silverman Program (2. Toby Grossnickel” BW: That was fun. I’d do anything for Sarah. I’d do, like, yardwork for her. She makes me laugh very, very hard, and I loved that show. I remember a really nice atmosphere on the set, loose and fun. I also remember that her dog was there. But she was gorgeous and funny; there were a lot of really funny people around; and it was just fun. BW: I love working with Matt . Matt is truly one of the funniest people on the planet, and we had so much fun. I’ve been very lucky to have worked as much as I have, and back when you’re doing, like, 2. I don’t like to watch. I guess it’s like touch football: It’s really fun to do, but it’s a shitty spectator sport, I think. I got in trouble when I was directing the last episode, because . Often guest directors come in, and as an actor, it’s kind of a pet peeve where you’ve got, like, a hundred people staring at you, holding lights and mikes at you, and these guest directors will come in and they’ll go, “Okay, are we rolling? Okay, we’re rolling. Guys, are you ready? You don’t need to do that. Action!” Like, a totally humiliating, devastating note, and then, “Action!” ! Action!” Or, “Guys, are we quiet? Quiet, guys! Action!” So, yeah, that was a fun day. More seriously, though, I was very lucky to surf on top of Aaron Sorkin’s mind for all those years. That’s where you truly do feel lucky. Because being an actor, you always feel like you’re swimming upstream. People are going, “No, they don’t like you. They don’t like the way you look. They don’t like how old you are.” But an experience like The West Wing is what I would imagine—even though I’ve never done it—that surfing feels like. I can just stand up here and ride this without all the anxiety!” And that’s one of the amazing things that can happen on television: that extended relationship with an audience. And it becomes sort of interesting as a character develops, because you’re performing it and learning about the character with the audience. There are things you learn in the fourth year. In the right situation, acting on television can be extraordinarily satisfying creatively. But that’s incredibly rare. Otherwise, it can be like working in a really remunerative coal mine. That’s the down side. Adventures In Babysitting (1. Mike”Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise (1. Roger”BW: That was when I was playing yuppie scum. Adventures In Babysitting—I remember I had a huge crush on Lisa Shue, and? I think he’d sold some scripts, but it was the first time he’d directed. He’s one of the sweetest guys on the planet, so that was a really fun experience. But, yeah, I kind of got into this jerk mode, and right around that time I showed incredible range by doing Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise, where I showed I could not only play an asshole at home but also one who was on vacation, which. AVC: It’s no wonder you’ve made it as far as you have in your career. BW: Actually, I’ll tell you something funny. I was in New York after Adventures In Babysitting—I’d been playing all these jerks—and it was one of the first times anybody recognized me. A homeless guy said, “Hey, you’re that guy! You’re in those movies, right?” And I’m like Jeff Daniels in Purple Rose Of Cairo. Yeah, I am!” And the guy goes, “Yeah, why do you always play assholes?” ? Robot Check. Enter the characters you see below. Sorry, we just need to make sure you're not a robot. For best results, please make sure your browser is accepting cookies.
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