As far as acting goes, ironically, unconventional roles continue to become more commonplace. Today, actress Gwen Hollander can be seen as an anomaly amongst anomaly's, indicative of her role as Sheryl on the hit Showtime series Kidding. Sheryl is a puppeteer of Astronotter, a transgender otter who is also an astronaut. In addition to this being a fascinating character, if you can only knew how perfect Astronotter is for Gwen, with Gwen’s love for otters (more on this in the interview)!

Gwen's work extends beyond the screen. She lost her mother to breast cancer eight years ago and has been singing at the National Breast Cancer Coalitions Deadline 2020 benefit for the past few years. She is an animal lover, volunteers with ASPCA, and also supports Hilarity for Charity. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Gwen Hollander.

Where are you based?
I'm currently based in Los Angeles. I was born and raised in Miami, FL. Then I lived in New York for many years, and now I'm here!

How did you get interested in acting? Any specific influence or catalyst that confirmed your resolve to act? What are some of your earliest acting memories?
I was always into performance as a kid, whether it was dance or piano or singing in the school chorus. I was also the kid getting her friends to make up dances and plays and radio shows. I didn't know that I wanted to pursue it as a career until I was 13. My middle school drama class took a field trip to see the touring production of "Phantom of the Opera," and it just blew my mind in the most profound way. I knew on that night that I was gonna do that. I asked my mom to sign me up for voice lessons, and that was that! I haven't looked back since. As far as my earliest acting memories... I used to participate in a creative problem solving competition called Odyssey of the Mind (I started in 1st grade and did it almost every year through 10th grade... I think I only skipped 5th and 8th grade). Half of the competition includes a performance element, and those are my first memories of doing any kind of scripted dialogue. (I use "scripted dialogue" loosely, because the problem we did in 1st grade was called "Cro-Magnon" and I played a cavewoman (caveperson?) wearing a dyed brown pillowcase, and I'm pretty sure my dialogue consisted of various grunting sounds. But it still counts!)

Your role as Sheryl on the hit Showtime series “Kidding” is a bit unconventional, yet awesome. Sheryl is a puppeteer of Astronotter, a transgender otter who is an astronaut. Can you tell us a little bit about the show Kidding, Astronotter, and what attracted you to this role?
The show follows Jeff Piccirillo (played by Jim Carrey), the star of a beloved children's television show called Mr. Pickles' Puppet Time, as he struggles to pick up the pieces of his personal life after a tragic loss. The show kind of splits its focus between the real life Jeff who's grieving and trying desperately to maintain his sanity, and his public persona of "Mr. Pickles" who is forced to wear a happy face for his young viewers. Astronotter is one of the puppets on the show-within-the-show, and we find out in Season 2 that's she's based on Jeff's sister Deirdre (played by the amazing Catherine Keener). Most of the puppets on the show represent someone in Jeff's life, and the viewer finds out who's who throughout the series. Deirdre often feels misunderstood and "unheard," and Astronotter doesn't speak a human language; she speaks in a sort of "beep boop" language, and feels misunderstood and gets easily frustrated. As far as what attracted me to the role, I would've done anything on this show. I would've swept the floors. It's an incredible show with incredible people, so I would've done whatever role they wanted to give me! I'm glad I got to play Astronotter, though, because I've actually always been obsessed with otters! My husband and I got married at the Aquarium, and we had an otter show during our cocktail hour (it's the reason we chose to have our wedding there!). So I guess it was just meant to be!

It is very exciting that we are starting to see such unique characters like Astronotter. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience playing this character and how people are responding to Astronotter?
I had the best time. From a physical perspective, though, it was not without challenges. I wore a huge full body spacesuit with a tail and gloves, and huge furry feet, and a giant otter head inside a giant helmet, and the helmet had a fan built into it (mostly to keep it from fogging up when I breathed). I had worked with puppets before, but I had never worn a full body costume (or what they refer to as a "walkaround puppet"). I did a lot of on-the-job learning!!!! I don't know firsthand how people are responding to her, but I love the way the show handled her character (specifically her gender identity) and it really reminded me of the way Sesame Street so honestly and delicately introduces ideas that so many people feel are "too complicated" or "too scary" for children to process. I was proud to be part of a storyline like that!

Congrats on your success in the lead role of the musical comedy “Marriage Material”. Having won best Actress honors at the Florida Comedy Film Festival, among a myriad of other prizes, it is clear your acting ability and character, Leah, resonates with audiences. Why do you think that is? Can you tell us a bit about your role?
Oh, thank you! I just think anyone can relate to what she's going through, whether it's viewed through the lens of a romantic relationship or otherwise. Leah is a headstrong girl who's never been anyone but her authentic self; it's just never occurred to her to be anything else. But after one rejection too many from men, she's desperate to figure out how to fix whatever must be broken inside of her that makes her so impossible to love. So she goes to a retreat for "late blooming brides" where girls are "diagnosed" with whatever problem is keeping them from being "marriage material." And Leah's told she's too dominant, and that she must learn to be submissive and, basically, voiceless. I think anyone can relate to feeling like they need to do whatever it takes to be more appealing, and this film just really challenges you to think about how far is too far. And while men and women can both probably relate to feeling this way, it really does take a look at the gender roles and what's "expected" of women (which is treated with humor in the film in ways that seem silly and antiquated, but are actually still very present in many ways).

Can you talk about your work with The National Breast Cancer Coalition? Why is breast cancer research important to you?
I've sung in the NBCC's benefit concert for Deadline 2020 for the past two years (Deadline 2020 is a call to action for policymakers, researchers, breast cancer advocates and other stakeholders to eradicate the disease by January 1, 2020). We just passed that date, obviously, but NBCC is doing such incredible work and so much progress has been made since my mother was diagnosed in the mid-80's. Which is why breast cancer research is important to me. My mother had breast cancer and was in remission for years, and then found out that she had the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which basically raises your odds of getting breast cancer and other related cancers by about 70%. She was planning to have a hysterectomy and her other breast removed for preventative purposes, but before she could do that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which then spread to her brain, and she wasn't able to beat it. It was incredibly devastating, and I'm happy to be able to support any organization that's fighting this disease.

You also support the non-profit Hilarity for Charity (HFC), which is dedicated to raising awareness, and progress in Alzheimer’s care and research. Can you talk about your experience and involvement with HFC?
This organization is just so lovely. It was founded by Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren, whose mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (she recently passed away, sadly). I volunteered for their big event a couple of years ago, doing whatever they needed, and have also made donations. Lauren's story just really resonated with me, becoming a caretaker for a mother who got sick way too young. And while my mother didn't have Alzheimer's, when the cancer spread to her brain it manifested in ways that resembled dementia, so it just felt very close to home. I also just love the idea of comedy and humor in the face of something so sad. I know that's what's gotten me through some very dark times.

As fellow animal lovers, we are happy to hear you volunteer with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). How did you get involved with them? How has your love for animals translated into playing Astronotter?
I'm obsessed with animals. All of them. I have two dogs, but I want all the dogs. I want to pet everyone else's dogs. Or cats. Whatever! And it's not just about being cute and furry, I stop and stare at snails when I see them. I ended up connecting with the ASPCA through a website called Volunteer Match; I was looking for volunteer opportunities and I really wanted to do something with animals. I ended up volunteering to take care of the adoptable cats and kittens at a Petco nearby; I would just go once or twice a week and clean their habitats, feed them, play with them a little, and handle any adoptions that came in that day. My love for animals translates into pretty much everything I do (I mean, I got married in an Aquarium!), so I'm not really conscious of how it affected Astronotter specifically, but it's part of me, and I love otters, so it's all connected!!!

What fun things are you doing to stay positive during the shelter in place we are going through?
I wrote a parody of a bunch of songs from Avenue Q that I'm calling "Avenue Q(uarantine)," and a bunch of my friends are (very generously) making videos of themselves singing the songs, some with puppets, and sending them to me to edit together. We just released our first one on social media, and I'm really proud of it! It's been a ton of work, but also a lot of fun, and I'm so grateful to have had something fun to focus on. I'm also catching up on lots of TV and movies (I'd fallen so far behind because there's so much content out there right now, and I'd been incredibly busy for the past six months or so), taking lots of walks with the dogs, and am planning to do some crafty things once I'm done with the video project. I'd been planning to make shadowboxes with my memorabilia from "Kidding" and another show I recently did, which is something I like to do with projects that have meant a lot to me. I don't know when I would've gotten around to that, so now's the perfect time!

Are you planning to learn anything new?
I toyed with maybe learning a language, but it made me anxious! Like I was giving myself work to do! But I am thinking I might really dig into learning to play the ukulele; I've dabbled before but have never really had the time to commit to it because there have always just been too many other things going on!

What is your motto in life?
For me, it all pretty much comes back to The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated. No one (for the most part!) wants to be treated badly, so if we really stuck to this rule, no one would treat anyone badly. And that would really be something. Basically, just be kind. There's no reason not to be. And practice forgiveness, of others and of yourself.

To learn more about Gwen Hollander please follow her via the following platforms:
Instagram: @gwenstagram811
Twitter: @gwennyh811
Facebook: Gwen Hollander

And here's a link to a Disney Parody I wrote and performed for International Women's Day last year that was featured on WhoHaHa: https://whohaha.com/get-the-hell-out-of-my-vag/

Team Credits:
Photographer: Birdie Thompson
Hair and Make-up: Lisa Truong

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