Interview with an actress Stacey Alyse Cohen

2021

Stacey appeared several times on Saturday Night Live TV show and was part of many other big productions, what was an incredible journey for her. She shared her interesting stories and told us a little bit more about her goals for the future

 

You appeared on Saturday Night Live couple of times. What kind of experience you had there?

 

What an amazingly creative and hilarious group of people to see in action. They have a natural chemistry that allows for funny banter and improv in between takes. This show is the best it’s ever been and the political humor is so sharp and witty.  Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump and Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton and Spicer impersonations were just so believable that it’s hard to hold back the laughs during taping.  The political skits are my personal favorites. I remember one funny moment at the finale last year backstage with Katy Perry’s backup dancers and it was like a party backstage before the show with musicians and dancers performing in the green room. The energy at the live shows especially for performers is second to none. Nothing is as thrilling as live TV and this live TV longstanding crew work like a Swiss watch which is amazing given all that can potentially go wrong with a live format. The comedians came from a range of Harvard graduates to the cutthroat sink or swim world of stand up comedy in NYC, LA, and Chicago. You can’t help but love comedy even for no-nonsense New Yorkers and the worldwide audience on YouTube. Saturday Night Live did their first simulcast in Israel when Gal Gadot (the actress who played Wonder Woman) hosted this season.

 

How does it feel to be a part of such big productions all the time?

 

Even in big productions, without a live audience, like “The Greatest Showman” or “The Irishman” it felt like a small closed set and friends. From Steven Spielberg to Martin Scorcese and Barry Levinson and Michael Gracey who directs Greatest Showman (release December 20th), many of the same crew work together as an ongoing team on many of these projects in NYC. Even a lot of the actors are familiar faces, so in a crowd of 500, it feels familiar. The only surprise for me was how the upper echelon of directors in these films are involved in every facet of the project from wardrobe approval to set up the camera shots. Also, there are much fewer takes with the very seasoned pros. I always feel like I’m part of a traveling circus family when I’m on set.

 

 

We all work strange hours, share family stories. sometimes work all night and overnight and eat “lunch” at midnight. We also work in any weather with wardrobe opposite of the current filming location season: snow, rain, and high wind included. We’ve even had an unplanned fire on a recent film so we feel connected to each other on a very different level than most co-workers. For the most part, it an unwritten understanding amongst this group that if you book a project and it falls on a holiday, Birthday or even a life event, you have to be flexible in your personal life and always expect the unexpected especially on these huge productions.

 

 

Can you tell us what are your next projects to date?

 

I have had some day player work and am booked on a few TV shows and films including – Blue Bloods, Maniacs, etc. but am working on obtaining more auditions for Principal work on feature films and television shows.

 

In what kind of films would you like to appear in the future?

 

I hope to one day play a superhero or the mother of one at least like for Supergirl and would love to try out being in a Western or action movie. And generally speaking, I always love working on musical films and comedy films/TV shows.

 

 

Photo credits: Peter Hurley