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Saturday Night Live

012 Yolonda Ross on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

Yolonda Ross
Yolonda Ross 1920 960 Alyshia Ochse

Grace of Intuition

Yolonda Ross can currently be seen reprising her role as the no-nonsense single mother ‘Jada’ in the fourth season of Showtime’s acclaimed series, The Chi. The show was created by Emmy award winner Lena Waithe that explores the interconnectedness of a neighborhood community of characters on the South Side of Chicago, featuring current storylines that range from defunding the police to her character’s fight against breast cancer.

An independent film darling, Yolonda made her feature film debut in the award-winning independent film Stranger Inside in 2001. Yolonda went on to win an IFP Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Performance for the role, as well as received her first Film Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance. In 2014, her work in the John Sayles film Go For Sisters garnered her a second Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

She appeared in Denzel Washington’s award-winning feature Antwone Fisher, as well as the independent films Yelling To the Sky opposite Zoe Kravitz, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, Lila and Eve starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez, Whitney directed by Angela Bassett for the Lifetime Movie Network, Annie Silverstein’s Bull, Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, Ana Lily Amirpour’s Bad Batch, Nuotama Bodomo’s Afronauts, and Elegance Bratton’s award-winning short film Walk For Me, in which Yolonda starred and produced.

Yolonda has also portrayed recurring characters on several high-profile series including, Ms. Green in the Baz Luhrmann Netflix series The Get Down, Claudia on ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder, and her role as documentarian Dana Lyndsey on HBO’s Treme. Additional television credits include guest starring roles on Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, 24, and Chicago PD. She was featured in the PBS American Masters documentary How it Feels To Be Free, about Trailblazing African American Women Entertainers.

Yolonda made her directorial debut with the 10-minute hybrid short film/music video Breaking Night, about a young girl taking control of her destiny. The short film officially became the music video for the famed Manfred Mann song, “Blinded By the Light,” and was in rotation on VH-1 Classics.

Most recently she performed in David Mamet’s newest play Four American Women during the pandemic. The two have developed a mutual admiration of each other’s work which inspired him to write for Yolonda the roles of Nora in the hit show The Unit, and Kelly in the biopic Phil Spector for HBO.

As a writer and director, Yolonda is currently developing her feature debut, Scenes From Our Marriage, along with other film and television projects.

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“I am placed here for a reason. I am placed her for Black women.”

“I use music for everything. I understood emotion through music so dialogue kind of became lyrics to me. I used my repertoire of music to understand how to evoke emotion.”

“I will ask other actors about scents because there’s a certain memory you get when you smell people. If we start working together I will ask them what they like so I can wear it for them.”

Credits:

  • WRITER: Juan Francisco Villa
  • SOUND DESIGN: Zachary Jameson
  • WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
  • ASSISTANT: Elle Powell
  • SOCIAL OUTREACH: Bebe Katsenes

RE-RELEASE: Michaela Watkins
RE-RELEASE: Michaela Watkins 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

The Road to 100+ Credits: Say YES to Opportunity

Todays guest has over 100 film and TV credits to her name and a career that began with roles in repertory theatre in Portland, Oregon, and ultimately lead her to Los Angeles where she discovered improv and sketch comedy and became a member of The Groundlings. She shares how her experiences doing improv in LA prepared her for the rest of the business, including joining the cast of SNL for one season, and how her departue from the show, seemingly premature at the time, made way for countless new opportunities to expand her storytelling capacity.

A natural talent with an undeniable energy, Michaela Watkins has made her mark through a variety of impressive and unforgettable roles.

Watkins can currently be seen in the fourth and final season of the hit Hulu show CASUAL. The show has received critical acclaim with a Golden Globe nomination and recognition in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calling it “funny, strongly realized, self-assured and a joy to watch. After watching an episode, you want another.”  She plays the lead role of ‘Valerie Cole’, a newly divorced sex therapist who is re-entering the world of casual dating.

Up next, Watkins can be seen playing Rob Delaney’s Sister in the new season of CATASTROPHE and playing a tightly wound, full of bravado, federal prosecutor hell-bent on putty Dory (Alia Shawkat) and Drew (John Reynolds) behind bars in the next season of SEARCH PARTY.

Watkins can be seen in the first and second season of Amazon’s Golden Globe winning show, TRANSPARENT.  Additionally, she can be seen in the Netflix limited series WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER opposite Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd.  Prior to that, she was last seen playing the eccentric and loveable ‘Jackie’ on the ABC critically-acclaimed series TROPHY WIFE opposite Bradley Whitford and Malin Ackerman.

Other past television credits include VEEP, THE GOLDBERGS, MARRIED, THE COMEDIANS, NEW GIRL, ENLIGHTENED, MODERN FAMILY, CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, PARENTHOOD, KEY AND PEELE, THE KROLL SHOW, DRUNK HISTORY AND CALIFORNICATION.

On the creator side, Watkins executive produced, created and wrote the comedy series BENCHED with Damon Jones, which aired on the USA Network. This series starred Eliza Coupe.

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“Work begets work. You do this one thing, and then you hear about this other thing. Each little thing made room for another little thing.”

“A good manager will say this to you: ‘We’re doing the long game. I don’t care if you book a stupid episode. We’re looking BIG picture.”

 

075: Michaela Watkins
075: Michaela Watkins 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Todays guest has over 100 film and TV credits to her name and a career that began with roles in repertory theatre in Portland, Oregon, and ultimately lead her to Los Angeles where she discovered improv and sketch comedy and became a member of The Groundlings. She shares how her experiences doing improv in LA prepared her for the rest of the business, including joining the cast of SNL for one season, and how her departue from the show, seemingly premature at the time, made way for countless new opportunities to expand her storytelling capacity.

A natural talent with an undeniable energy, Michaela Watkins has made her mark through a variety of impressive and unforgettable roles.

Watkins can currently be seen in the fourth and final season of the hit Hulu show CASUAL. The show has received critical acclaim with a Golden Globe nomination and recognition in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calling it “funny, strongly realized, self-assured and a joy to watch. After watching an episode, you want another.”  She plays the lead role of ‘Valerie Cole’, a newly divorced sex therapist who is re-entering the world of casual dating.

Up next, Watkins can be seen playing Rob Delaney’s Sister in the new season of CATASTROPHE and playing a tightly wound, full of bravado, federal prosecutor hell-bent on putty Dory (Alia Shawkat) and Drew (John Reynolds) behind bars in the next season of SEARCH PARTY.

Watkins can be seen in the first and second season of Amazon’s Golden Globe winning show, TRANSPARENT.  Additionally, she can be seen in the Netflix limited series WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER opposite Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd.  Prior to that, she was last seen playing the eccentric and loveable ‘Jackie’ on the ABC critically-acclaimed series TROPHY WIFE opposite Bradley Whitford and Malin Ackerman.

Other past television credits include VEEP, THE GOLDBERGS, MARRIED, THE COMEDIANS, NEW GIRL, ENLIGHTENED, MODERN FAMILY, CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, PARENTHOOD, KEY AND PEELE, THE KROLL SHOW, DRUNK HISTORY AND CALIFORNICATION.

On the creator side, Watkins executive produced, created and wrote the comedy series BENCHED with Damon Jones, which aired on the USA Network. This series starred Eliza Coupe.

 

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

SOCIAL:
NEWS & MORE:
QUOTES:

“Work begets work. You do this one thing, and then you hear about this other thing. Each little thing made room for another little thing.”

“A good manager will say this to you: ‘We’re doing the long game. I don’t care if you book a stupid episode. We’re looking BIG picture.’”

“Your body knows when you hear the thing—that’s the thing for me. I truly believe that we’re not crazy when we feel that.”

“Being safe is not a great plan for being an actor.”

 

074: Katie O’Brien & Katy Colloton
074: Katie O’Brien & Katy Colloton 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Today we’re chatting with TWO extraordinary women who took the advice we’ve all heard, “Create your own content,” to the extreme and landed themselves with Series Regular, Writing, and Producing roles on their own comedy show on TV Land. These ladies began performing together in sketch groups in Chicago, where they created their own short-form webseries that ultimately lead them to Los Angeles, where they sold their show TEACHERS to TV Land. 50 episodes later, and they’re here to share what they’ve learned about acting, producing, auditioning, and being a boss!

Katie O’Brien hails from Omaha, Nebraska, but is now an actress and comedienne living and working in Los Angeles. Katie has appeared in Nora Ephron’s, Love, Lost and What I Wore, Key and Peele, and is currently one of the creators, writers, executive producers and stars in TV Land’s hit, underground comedy, Teachers. Katie has also appeared on the Today Show, Comedy Central’s @ Midnight and Kocktails with Khloe.

Katy Colloton is one of the creators, executive producers, writers and actors on the TV Land show Teachers.  This year she has developed TV for NBC Universal and a feature with Bluegrass Films and Scott Stuber.  Katy received her B.A. in theater and psychology from Vanderbilt University.  Before moving to LA, Katy performed comedy in Chicago at Second City, iO, and The Annoyance Theater.

 

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“There was so much we learned. It taught me to trust my instincts…I don’t really believe people buy a show, I think they buy your voice…Trust your instincts. They’re buying what you love.”

“So much of this experience for me was that everybody knows more than I do. Because I’ve never done this before. But then I realized, no, nobody knows what they’re doing. Everybody is faking it till they make it.”

“The only thing you have to offer, that’s different than everyone else, is You. I formed a million sketch groups to get attention and be seen. Do a webseries to get noticed, yes. But create something that you want to create, who cares if everyone says no one’s going to watch that.”

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ALYSHIA OCHSE

Los Angeles-based actress, bestselling author, host of That One Audition podcast, entrepreneur, & mother.

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