Please welcome Karrie Martin Lachney.
(crowd applauds and cheers)
I am so excited to meet you.
And I was just wondering, like,
how was it when you first came in,
America introduced you,
saying that she brought you in to play this character,
but what was the experience like for you on your side?
My gosh, from the start, I honestly didn't,
I didn't think I could play Ana Morales
because I had been in this industry for a few years
with the idea of a stereotype
that the industry wanted to put on a Latina actress.
And when I walked in
and I didn't have to put on a fake accent
or anything like that.
I remember Marvin being like -
I was like, I'm sorry, I really can't do an accent,
so I'm just going to give it to you like this.
And he was like, you are enough.
And those words have stayed with me for the last two years.
It just really changed my mindset, my perspective.
(audience applauds)
It is -
It is shocking to me how the system can work.
I can only imagine
how refreshing it was to be encouraged to be yourself.
(Karrie) Yeah.
And I'm so glad that America
provides those types of environments and shows.
That's at the core of it.
I think what is so special about this project for us
and the whole season two takes place in, you know,
Pop being released from detention
to like the decision, right?
Will he get to stay or will he be deported?
And the whole season is watching this family live life
that yes, there's anxiety and fear and the unknown,
but there's also humor and joy and laughter
and a horrible Thanksgiving dinner.
Because life, you know happens
and because we're full complex humans.
We don't just sit around all day and be like,
who's going to get deported today, you know.
Like that's maybe a part of the story for some of us,
but it's not the whole story. We're full humans.
And we're like funny and sexy and awful too.
I am such a romantic at heart
and one of the things that really captivated me
about you beautiful women
was your love stories with your husbands.
And I was just curious if you would tell us both
about how you met them and a little bit about it,
because I was so swept up in it.
I've been with my husband 16 and a half years now.
(Drew) And you met like making a student film together?
He was making, he graduated from the USC film school
and was making his first short film.
And we met for a lunch because he, you know,
he sent me the script and everything
and I was like, oh, this is nice, but I'm tired,
I'm probably not going to do this.
And on the last page, there was like a press clipping.
And I was like, ooh, who's that?
It couldn't hurt to take a meeting,
never hurts to know people.
And then, and then I forgot about it.
And then I showed up and we had a nine hour lunch.
(audience applauds)
I love this! Thank you for indulging me.
I'm living vicariously through the beautiful romance
that is not fantasy or television. It's reality.
It's real, yeah, yeah.
(Karrie) I love that so much!
Okay.
So my husband and I met in the sixth grade
and we loathed each other so much.
He picked on me, I picked on him.
And come eighth grade, I don't know,
we became really good friends.
I think that hatred became like,
and then in high school we started dating
against my father's will
and just fast forward high school, college, I moved to LA.
The long distance thing was not for us.
So we didn't talk for about three years
in that, like, distance.
We started communicating over like Facebook
and then he started coming to visit LA
and that's -
one thing led to another.
And we were like engaged in like less than a year.
I love it!
(audience applauds)
Really quickly,
I know this isn't a really a quickly question,
but I just have to ask you also,
you were pregnant in a pandemic.
(America) Yeah.
How did you handle that?
It was stressful.
I was seven months pregnant when shutdowns began
and it was all - we'd had to change everything
because I was working in LA.
The plan was to come back to New York
and do everything that I'd already done with my son.
I knew where I was. I'm like I did this, I got this.
And then of course it's like the pandemic hit
and we had to switch gears.
We had to change doctors, change hospitals,
change everything.
But to do it without the like friends or family or help
that you might normally have, it was very intense
but you know, she's 18 months old now.
(Drew) And like thriving.
And just delicious.
And she and her brother loved each other.
And it's great. I mean -
(audience applauds)
I feel like every day,
my goals are just about finding more joy in my life.
Like we work.
I mean, it's like, what did we take away from this pandemic,
if not, but nothing is promised to us, right?
I'm going to make myself cry.
You know, nothing's promised to us.
And I think we all need to be more gentle with ourselves.
Be kinder to ourselves. If you do anything today,
like just be a little kinder to yourself and,
and find a little window
to like experience a little bit more joy every day.
That's where I'm at.
(audience applauds)
Thank you. Thank you for that, you guys. I am -
I've been so looking forward to this conversation
and Gentefied, which is on Netflix in season two,
please be sure to watch it.
And thank you so much, you guys for being here.
We'll be right back.
Thank you.
(fading music)