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The teacher I had got his M.F.A.
from Florida State, and I was nagged into going there because he was fabulous and I was impressionable.
I got my [Actors] Equity card.
I was still supposed to be a student, so it was all a little blurry.
At that time, the regional theater movement was just beginning to be a big deal.
But I didnt know anybody in the field.
You need the knowledge you acquired from college.
Nobodys ever asked me for my degree.
A college education is worth it for the knowledge you acquire there and the contacts you make.
Successionis a peak in visibility for you.
I love that about him!
He was in Kennys movieMargaret, too.
So theres a real connection between the two of us.
She was just supposed to be a recurring part.
That was fine, but I couldnt feel who she was as a person yet.
Now, I feel like I had a hand in creating her along with the writers.
You took an active hand in that process?I tried to, yes.
It became a mission of mine last year.
I got very chuffed about that.
Theres a sexual component, but theyre also confidants, plus theres a maternal aspect.
Theres a lot going on there!
Then the camera cuts to Roman with a very complicated, uncomfortable reaction on his face.
Its a payoff for all your scenes with him up till then.I love all of that!
Im just so tickled by that!
Its just so different, this kind of attention.
Janet onRectifywas a very important role, a substantial role.
It was more central to the story than Gerri.
ButSuccessionis just a different kind of thing.
What was it like doingRectify?I loved playing Janet.
I knew a few women like that growing up in the South.
One was my own mother, who has since passed away.
You were playing your mom?Yeah, a little bit.
Some of it justwasmy mom.
Some of it was Rosalynn Carter!
Let me figure out how to make this work.
Maybe its because shes picking up the cat right then and the audience is looking there.
Most of the characters are corrupt to the core.
Thats the point.Hope isnt even a concept!
People keep asking me, Do you think all these [Successioncharacters] are bad people?
Are you playing a bad person?
I dont know what to say to that.
The entire world view of the show is that these are hard, mercenary people.
The rules of their universe are dog-eat-dog.
Her job is to figure out, What can we get away with?
It was part of an evening of short plays.
During the tech rehearsal, we got to see everybody elses plays.
But you dont?No!
But I understand that.
I understand how it can be uncomfortable to not have a zone of safety around work.
And also, the need to prevent work from impacting the intimacy that you have with your family.
I havent been in many plays since I became a mother.
Since I had Nellie, I would do maybe one play a year.
Thats why I started to become more interested in [screen acting].
I hear that a lot from actors with kids.
Its not as open-ended, like a play that might run forever.
And youre not frustrated being in the same city with your kids yet your evenings are spoken for.Rectifywas manageable.
I got to do plays during the off-season.
Did the scheduling ever get tricky?Oh, sure.
My mother passed away within the last year and a half.
She lived in Virginia, where my siblings live.
I was going back and forth a lot while also working onRectify.
And then Kenny was shootingManchester by the Seaat the same time that I was shooting a season ofRectify.
We had to have a family friend take care of Nellie.
It isnt always easy.
Im a professional whos also the mother of a daughter.
It doesnt even have to be a career per se.
Some people want to go out to L.A. for pilot season.
I was generally happier being back here.
Occasionally I would get cast in a TV movie.
I played John Pankows wife.
Every episode was written by a New York playwright.
Albert Innaurato wrote one of the scripts.
The cast was incredible John Glover and Victor Garber and all these other really cool people.
But mostly, I was about the stage.
I got to play Shakespeare.
I got to be in new plays.
I meet people nowadays, and they assume I was not successful untilRectifyorSuccession.
But honestly I never felt that way.
Im proud of my resume.
A previous version of this story identified J. Smith-CameronsSuccessioncharacter as Gerri Killman.
The characters name is Gerri Kellman.
