Every actor’s path to mainstream success has to start somewhere — it could be a small role on an episode of “Quantum Leap” circa 1991 or a single line in a CW drama that gets left on the cutting-room floor. During the recent Envelope Drama Roundtable, actors Maya Erskine, Giancarlo Esposito, Jess Hong, Carrie Preston, Amy Ryan and Morgan Spector flashed back to the twinge of nerves and self-doubt in those early years when the seemingly small roles, approached with total commitment, set their foundation — even if things didn’t always go smoothly on set. “I was cut from it,” Erskine says of her first time on a set.
“It was ‘Hart of Dixie’ on [The] CW. I just had one line that was like, ‘Is this seat taken?’ And I swear to you — have any of you seen ‘The Comeback’ where Lisa Kudrow runs her line over and over throughout 24 hours? That’s what I did on Photo Booth. All night, [I] was like, ‘You gonna take that seat?’ I kept doing it, and then on the day [of shooting], I blanked.
It was this huge machine that you’re just this tiny part of and I was like, ‘Oh, so there’s no rehearsal? We don’t do this, figure it out together? You just show up?’ And they cut it.” Still, the experience can leave a lasting impact, said Ryan, who arrived to the “Quantum Leap” set bright-eyed with uncertainty. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was so excited to be on television,” she said.
“If I could tell my younger self, I’d say, ‘I.
