-I want to talk, though, about your beginnings.
You first started acting, you were in L.A...
-Yes. -...going to school
to be an actor. -Born and raised, yeah.
-And Central Casting, and they put this up
on Instagram recently, that three of the stars
in the show, there you are in today's day.
-Mm-hmm. There you are, that that's me.
-That's you. -That's me, yeah.
I look very different on the show.
-I have to say, like, you do things that
I would not have predicted. -Chameleon!
-So, these are your original head shots,
the three of you. So, what was Central Casting?
-Central Casting is background-actors' casting,
so when you watch anything
and it looks like people are just living their life
and there's strangers walking around them,
those are all paid actors who are just "extras"...
-Yeah. -...in the background,
and for one summer during college,
I did that as, like, my summer job.
I had never been on a set before.
I was going to theater school, and the RA from my building
graduated and was working for Central Casting.
So he was like, "Oh, come do this.
And I'll get you all the 'good' extra jobs."
-So, what's a "good" extra job?
-Well, I had a couple.
I was definitely, like, on that show "American Dreams"
and would be, like, one of five girls
smoking a cigarette in the bathroom
while, like, a scene was happening.
Um, most notably, I got to play a dead body...
-See, that's great. -...on "NYPD Blue"...
-That's really great.
-...in the Mark-Paul Gosselaar years.
I'm not sure how long -- was he always on that show?
-No, he was on, like, at the tail-end.
I feel like the last couple years, yeah.
-When he was on, which was major for me
because I am a huge "Saved by the Bell" fan
and grew up watching that so much.
So I was just like, "Oh, my God.
What am I gonna do when I see him?"
-Every time you watched "Saved by the Bell"
you were like, "Oh, my God. I would be so psyched to be dead
in front of Zack." [ Audience laughs ]
-My dream is to be, like, lying, holding my breath
in front of Zack Morris, and have him pull a receipt
out of my pocket, which was the action that he did
on the show. It was, like, a major clue
of the episode. -So, you have to be
a dead person... -I'm dead, like, in a closet.
-Gotcha. -And he finds me
with another cop, and they, like,
squat and have a serious scene, and then they find a receipt
and, like, pull it out of my pocket.
I was so excited about it.
When it aired, it was just legs.
It was just my legs. [ Audience laughs ]
And that receipt, you know, and it's the worst
'cause being a dead body is actually quite challenging.
I've played a few. -Oh, I'm sure it was harder
than what Mark Gosselaar was doing.
-Yeah. He's like, "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba."
-[ Laughing ] Yeah. -I'm having to, like,
really be -- "inhabit the corpse" mind-set...
-Yeah. -...and feel dead,
and hold your breath, like, 'cause they're like,
"Background girl, stop.
We can see you breathing. You're not holding your breath."
-Yeah! And then, they've got to rifle
through your pockets! That can't be easy.
-Yeah, and they're, like, touching your body
and you're, like, pretending not to be excited.
[ Audience laughs ]
-It's like dead bodies just, like, don't react to, like,
their high school crushes. -The director was, like,
a real Nazi about not reacting.
-I was like, "She's dead, but she's not that dead."
[ Audience laughs ]
-And then, so that is obviously incredibly important work.
-Yes, it was good. -But you also did some --
You were a clown. You did some clowning.
-Yes, prior to this. In preparation for.
-So, clown was before this.
It goes clown, dead body, where you are now.
-Yeah, and then now! That's just like every actor's
normal trajectory.
So, when I was in high school, maybe right after high school --
'cause again, these are, like, my summer jobs.
-Right. -Um, I worked as a clown.
Some of my friends from Drama class
became clowns. I'm going to do the rest
of the story like this. -[ Laughs ]
-I have a weird tic these days.
Um, so, it was a bounce house company.
who was just getting into the clown game.
-Right. -So they...
-Well, you're already on the lost, so to speak.
If people are going to pay for a bounce house,
they might throw in money. -Maybe they also want that.
So, it was out of this huge warehouse in Compton,
"Straight Outta Compton." [ Audience laughs ]
-Well, that does establish you don't -- I will say I saw
"Straight Outta Compton" the film, and I don't remember
a single clown. -It got cut for time.
I think it got cut for time. -[ Laughing ] Yeah.
I saw a dead clown's legs, but was that you?
[ Audience laughs ]
-And it was comical.
I mean, I grew up in Los Angeles
in South Pasadena, which is not quite
the same thing, and before every party,
you had to go to the warehouse in Compton,
pick up your clown outfit, like, do your clown makeup,
and then go to the nearest gas station
because they paid us for gas mileage,
so they were, like, measuring from the place.
And so, just picture me.
I'm 17 years old.
I have, like, a yellow fro.
My clown name is Sunny.
And I'm just, like, pumping gas in Compton
like it ain't no thing.
And definitely, it was not.
Nobody cared.
I was like, "Oh, my God. What's gonna happen?"
And people were like, "What's up, clown?"
[ Audience laughs ]
I was like, "Cool."