LOST Interview with Andrea Gabriel!

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hi, and welcome to this special episode of Sassin Sips. I am here, Lisa, with a special guest, Andrea Gabriel. And you may know her as Nadia from Lost, and she is here chatting with us. So please welcome her in. Hi. Thank you again for being with us. Um as is custom, we like to share what we're drinking. So I am having a little glass of red wine. Would you like to share what you are drinking? Sure. I am drinking uh house wine.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Uh it's uh rose bubbles, and I'm actually drinking it from an old lady cup. That's okay. The can is very pretty. Isn't it though? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you pronounced my name correctly.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

That's wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. As a person with an uncommon name, it it does mean a lot when somebody gets it right. I get it.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

It because I hate having to correct people because I'm just I I feel like such a Karen. But at the same time, it's like if someone pronounces my name Andrea, I'm lying. Like I feel like, you know, okay. I'll just okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

It's so strange. It's your name is your name. It's so personal, and you don't want to make somebody feel uncomfortable, but that's your biggest, like one of your biggest parts of your identity. So I get it.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

It's the intonation, it's the vowels, it's the it's like it's like the little bell that's you, you know. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So tonight, or today we are recording at night. We're gonna talk about some of your experiences on the set of lost, and if it's okay, um, I have a few general questions for you.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Absolutely, and thank you for staying up. I know on the east coast it's late right now. So I agree.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Totally, totally worth it. I've read that you were born. Well, sorry, not born, but you grew up in New York. So, how true is that? And like what ages and what was that like for you? Because I'm a New Yorker. Oh, cool, very good. Born and raised in Brooklyn. No way.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Well, I I I should have known. We we smell each other, we get it. So you get it, yeah. So I was actually born in Los Angeles, and then when I was two years old, um, my father got work in New York, and so we moved to Manhattan, midtown, and that's where I was raised. So I went to grade school, I went to high school, you know, my 20s, like everything was in New York, and then I only moved out here, you know, like later in life. So I was I was developed in New York, I was I was baked in New York, and you just can't scrub it out. It's like you're always gonna be a New Yorker, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, it yeah, that there's no words. Yeah, how does Los Angeles compare?

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Well, you know, because I was born here, what's funny is when I was being raised in New York, and you know, this was I'm gonna date myself here. It wasn't what it is now, like it was it was rough, it was a rough town when I was growing up, and the whole time I was growing up, I was just like, oh man, you know, people have such a nicer life in California. It's sunny, people surf, you know, there's real high schools, there's like, you know, I always wanted the 70s culture, like in Los Angeles as opposed to New York. Hello, who wouldn't you know?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

I think we're about yeah, I think we're actually about the same age. I was born in 79. Okay, yeah, yeah. So we're not we're not too far off, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:56

So, like dog day afternoon, you know, Saturday night fever, welcome back, frotter. That was real, like it was not fun, especially it was not kid friendly in New York at this time. Now it's like Disneyland there, but when we were growing up, it was scary, and I always was like almost like pining for a Los Angeles existence. So it was always sort of like, you know, I don't know if you're into literary references, but it was like my my three sisters, like you know, LA was Moscow. You know, like we will get to Moscow, we will, and I just I always wanted it. So I there was something in my DNA that was attracted to Los Angeles because I was born here, and then you know, shuttled to New York and it's like wont wan. Um, but I am so grateful that I was raised in New York and I was just raised with so many cultures and like such a an a broad perspective on humanity and and a really good education. And then, you know, when I moved out here, it was also like I always had that like semi-hippy bent, you know, like I was spiritual, I was really into laid back, I was into seeing the sky, you know, the horizon from like east to west, like being able to get the space. So I really appreciated that too. Um, and now I'm I'm a hybrid, like I'm you know, I'm sativa indica right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

It's almost like you don't even realize how big the sky is until you leave New York. Absolutely, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

You get like a channel of lights for like maybe like 30 minutes a day in your home. And it's like, you know, it's it you it I I call it the concrete dribble cage because it kind of is. It's like, you know, okay, yeah, we're you know, I mean, and let's just put aside for now, like, you know, the the culture and the art and the and the amazing energy and like you know, everyone surrounding you, and so many opportunities for meeting people and just you know living life. But it was like, you know, Central Park was my gerbil wheel where I would go to sort of like feel like, oh yeah, I'm free. And then like the rest of it is like, you know, you go back to your little gerbil penthouse. Not that I lived in a penthouse, but you get what I mean. Your apartment is your little like gerbil nest, right? And so like being out here, it just feels like more expansive. Um, I won't say it's better or worse, and I I'll I'm I I I'll always be a New Yorker and I miss I miss the New York that I grew up in, which I never thought I'd say, you know, because the New York, when I go back now, I mean, I still appreciate New York, and New York will always transform, it'll always grow into another dimension of what it's supposed to be. But um, you know, that was sort of like my pure New York, you know. I mean, dude, we were there in the 80s. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah, I remember having to get picked up from junior high school because of like the Crown Height riots and just craziness. And and my dad is a worry wart, and you know, it was like I I grew up right next to the battery tunnel, so it was like wasn't the greatest of neighborhoods, and it was like we weren't allowed to walk on this block, but you could walk on this block, and you know, and it's so crazy when you think back, and then now that area is forgetting. I mean, yeah, like you're like, where was that like 30 years ago? We can't afford it, you're right. Oh, absolutely not, absolutely, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

I remember like going to supermarkets in in like what in my childhood, and I would see like cereals in commercials on TV, you know, like and they had these like you know, Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries, and like you know, these new flavors. And I'd go into the red apple, and it's like, oh, you've got like a dusty old box of raisin bran. Have fun, kid. Like, that's all we had. We didn't have like the kid culture at all.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

No, yeah, because all you had was like the bodegas on the corner, and whatever they had in stock, that's what you got. Exactly. And when you trigger treated, you got apples.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Yeah, yeah, it was just yeah, it was not kid friendly, so no, it's actually like I I'm really grateful that I was sort of like reared in an adult world, even though I missed that kid culture, but we were not indulged, you know. But I really appreciate whatever like I had to grow in myself to to you know to make up for that.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

We we actually moved to New Jersey at the end of last year. Oh wow, and I never thought I would leave New York, but pandemic just things kind of lined up, and we said, you know what, we're we're just gonna make the move. And so my oldest daughter is in high school now, and it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

It's like they have football games and and sports, and I'm like, we never had any of that stuff, like watching like 16 candles and like all the John Hughes movies, and like of course Jones, like, can I get a hallway with a locker, please?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Right, like I went to Murrow High School, and the only way you got a locker is if you showed up on the first day of school at like six o'clock in the morning and you you know claimed it, and then people would bring extra locks and then sell them, you know, like, oh, you want a locker? I'll sell you one. Oh my god, ridiculous. The only team we had was a chess team, it was just not, it really just was not the image that was portrayed in the media, and I always thought it was like, Oh, that's just fake, that's just you know, TV. And then we came out here, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, they really have this stuff, it exists, it exists, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

And I'm sure I probably would have hated it as much as I did my high school. We had 30 kids in a grade. We like, I mean, it was like, you know, it was it was very specific, it was on the upper west side, it was just like it was just it was not high school, but I'm sure I would have hated the the greater high school experience as well. I just don't think I would have liked being a teenager in any respect.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Okay, so let me ask you. Yes, speaking of the 80s, right? And going back, you have um credits going back to the 80s. Did you always know that you wanted to act and and get into show business?

SPEAKER_03 10:50

I when I was very, very young, I I just I didn't understand what a job was. So if you had asked me when I was like, you know, eight years old what I want to do, I would have said I want to own them all because you know what? I like flowers, I like animals. If I want a flower store and a pet store, I'm gonna own them all. It's just like you can't, no, it doesn't work that way. Like you're, I mean, you're basically gonna be in real estate if you're gonna own them all. But you know, later on, I think that when I was probably a teenager, is when I was like, okay, acting is the thing. And it was really hard because my parents were actors and they they were, I won't say discouraging, but they were not enthusiastic that I made that choice because they knew what it entailed. But also at the same time, and I'm talking to anybody who's listening to you right now, um, who are wanting to act, and maybe there's you know, not a lot of enthusiasm around it with their with their loved ones. It's just like, you know, if if I had said to you, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a lawyer, you'd be all about it, you know. But it's only because you have the experience of being an actor that you're dissuading me, or you you don't want me to have your experience, but that's your experience. That's not my experience. So it's just like, you know, why don't you just support me in what I'm interested in? Because you know what, it can be just as lucrative to be an actor as a I mean, you know, it's a different animal. But you know, it's like if you're gonna be behind your child, why wouldn't you be be behind their dream of acting as opposed to their dream of you know being in a more conventional and I feel like that's a very common sentiment that you hear amongst actors that have parents who were actors that they warned them maybe you shouldn't do this?

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

And it it it it was it was it was uh it was hard because it's like why why do I have to why do I have to advocate for what I want to do? Whereas if this was something that you had no experience, then you would probably be behind me 100% because I'm your kid, you know. But just because you have your experience, now you're gonna project your experience, which you know is natural too. I understand it, they want to protect you, but um, yeah, we had to go through that, and then it took a little while for me to actually like plead my case, and then you know, which which in fact is not many people get to do that. Most people just actually go ahead and do whatever they wanted to do, whether their parents approve or not. But you know, with me, I actually did get their blessing eventually, but you know, that you know, it it shouldn't be a pre a prerequisite that you have to get your parents' blessing to do what you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Right. Did it end up working out better for you that they were actors, or did it like not seem to matter?

SPEAKER_03 13:51

It was very helpful in that like they knew the the step one to step two to step three, like you get your headshots, you want representation, like you know, somebody else might not know that. Um, so that was helpful. Like the projection was not helpful, but the the you know the the manual was helpful.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah. So how did you come to the role of Nadia and to the lost world, you know, the said and and the whole iconic everything that is lost? That is lost, I know.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

It's it's it's a beautiful world. I I really, I really, I, I, I love that I was part of it. Um, so I was living in LA, I think at that point for less than two years, and it was just it was an audition. It that's it. Like I just got the audition. Probably think I was on my way to therapy when I got it. I got the audition. I was just like, oh yeah. So how do you get to the Disney studio? Like, I didn't, I was from New York, I was just like remembering how to drive. I had a license, but I didn't like it, it was just like really like okay, so and back then it was map quests, so okay, I'm gonna print out my map quest. I'm gonna find my way to Disney. I got lost on the way to the actual like office. And then like I just I just showed up and coming from where I was coming from in my life and what I had gone through, you know, 9-11 had just happened not long ago. Right, I was to LA, I didn't have any friends, you know, I didn't have any relationships, I had nothing really, you know. I I think I I just had a cat and thank god for that, thank god for that cat. But anyway, I just like I showed up and I was just bringing everything to sort of like just feeling disenfranchised, and miraculously it it landed.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Talk about being in the right place at the right time, yeah. I don't I don't know if this show would have been the same without your excuse me, without your portrayal of her. I mean, you were just so perfect in it. It I don't know. I'm I've just seen I've seen the show, obviously. Um so I don't know if you are familiar with the premise of our show. Um it's like one of us sees something, a show thinks the other one should watch, and and that's how the show was born. So I've seen the show and I'm just like, how could you never have seen this show? You must watch it. And Agnes and I have been friends since third grade. Um she has, I mean, and and this is not a secret, she has spoken about it on the show. Um, she does have MS. And so part of the reason that she is not here is because she's, you know, just taking some personal time for herself, um, you know, just resting and you know, um but so that's how the show was born. And and it was like, are you kidding me? You you have to watch it. And it's so funny because she's just so like, well, you know, if you go episode by episode, it's great, but like I don't really want to watch it. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, we started it, now we have to finish it. This is the greatest show ever, and you have to watch. And and it's just it's just so funny because it's like every episode, I'm like pleading my case, how this is the greatest show ever. And every episode, she's like, I love you, so I'll keep watching, you know. Oh, I love it, yeah. So um, but on the show, you're actually one of like very few characters that have appeared in all the seasons, yeah. So that I think that that adds to how special your character is.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

Thank you so much. Like, I you know, I was I mean, I was and am very attached to Nadia. Like, I mean, you know, it's just she's honestly, she's better than me. She's so much better than me. Like Saeed, she is so much better than me. But um, you know, I she almost like gave me an opportunity to portray someone who's the ideals I would like to represent, you know. So yeah, it makes sense. We're drinking right now because we're like, I love you. I love her. It's like it's it's true. It's like, you know, it was it was it was it was uh an integral part of my development in Los Angeles and in this business for sure. And I was so grateful to be a part of um working with these people and just like to be a part of the iconography and to have people who feel so deeply about this show, which like I mean, I I love every one of them. Like the fan base is ridiculous. Like how how committed and loyal and like heart-based they are. I I I have an experience in it late.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

And you, I mean, your character also has had storylines. Um, I mean, your main storyline ties you to Saeeb, but you've also had storylines with Locke and with Charlie. And I don't know if I'm forgetting any. I didn't write any of this down. Like I'm just trying to remember.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Charlie, there's miles.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Um, like I don't remember miles.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

A minute with miles and the sideways. The sideways, okay. Yeah, okay. Just a minute with miles, a minute with miles, but Ken is a doll. I love Ken. So we had a much better, like, you know, connection in life than we did on the show. But you know, um, he's he's he's a doll. Like, I mean, I I love so many of the actors on that show. I just think they're so they just got so many authentic uh artists, you know, people who just are really care about the work. And they just they I mean, and I'm gonna credit uh April Webster um with that. Like she is just I I think she is such a heart-based casting director out here. And I'm I mean, yeah, I sh I I love her. She she still goes to plays to like just like to watch the watch the unfolding and to like see the performances. Like she's just like she's she's beautiful, but um, yeah, so I feel like the casting on Lost was just so um so authentic.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

And that's that's actually one of the things that Agnes and I have talked about is how the cast is like so excellently uh portrayed and written. And I mean, these are characters that you could almost imagine what they're doing after the camera stops rolling, or how they would react if you give them a certain situation. And then, and on top of that, I mean, like you said, only a few years after 9-11, and you have this character of Saeed who is I don't know if if he's the first, but if he's not the first, he's one of the first um main character on a show from you know an Iraq background. And it's it was a little like I don't want to say shocking, but it was it was refreshing almost. It was like like I said, I'm I mean, I'm in New York, and so there was there was a very they humanized him. Yes, yes, and so and and unfortunately we had a lot of issues and you know and hate afterwards, like towards people who came from the Middle East, and now here you have right here on main you know TV, and it was like, look, here here's what you've been afraid of. Here is this this human, this person, and and it was so nice, it was so refreshing to finally have someone representative of that culture. Not just in the background, not just playing a terrorist, you know, just filling a stereotypical role. So that that was like really important, I think.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

And then everyone, once they're on the island, like everyone's equal. Everyone's in the same situation. Like nobody has any clout whatsoever. It's like everyone is just like trying to figure out how to go forward. And it's just like it just like it just equalizes everything about race. About I mean, yeah, it was. I it was, it was uh, I think I don't know how it would be received now, but at that time that was so necessary, yes, so healing to have like so many different dimensions of humanity and like having them all just be like, listen, like we're all in the same situation, you know, and um, yeah, and I I mean, so you were in New York at the same time, yeah. I was I was in the city that morning working in the West Village, yeah, man. It was like it was it was intense, it was so intense, and it like you know, I think it's changed every I it I think it changed America, but for every New Yorker who happened to be there at the time, including myself, it just it it was like it was almost like the turn, like where something happened in your life where you're like, okay, now things took a different road as opposed to before, you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah, yeah. It such a surreal day, and and and then going forward, I think we all learn to appreciate each other just a little bit more. I don't I don't know when that kind of ran out, but I think for a while.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

I remember just like there were there were a few weeks where it just felt like I mean, as devastating and as like you know, the smoke and the and the and the devastation and the sirens and everything, but the same time there was an element that was a utopia because everybody cared about everybody and everyone like you were gonna help anybody that you saw, even if they were like, I I I heard stories about you know, someone saw a stranger crying on the subway, and people just surrounded him and were like, What can we do for you? I mean, it was like crazy, like just the the the polar opposites of humanity of like you know, how this horrible situation can create so much beauty, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And it is a beautiful thing, it just sucks that it has to take a tragedy in order for us to show it. Horrible, horrible.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

I mean, it's like, yeah, I w I wish that could happen every day. Um, I however, I'm I'm grateful that I got to see it at least once. You know, you know, it's like it shouldn't have to go that route for people to care as much as they did like weeks afterwards. And then of course you knew that everything was gonna shift again, and there were gonna be polarizations, and there's gonna be like, you know, there's gonna be opinions and oh god forbid opinions, but there's but there there, you know, there are gonna be like you know negotiations about what went down, all this stuff. But there were a few, a few minutes where it was just like this is just love, like it's devastation and it's love at this time.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

One one of the the most surreal things that I remember about that day is um I worked on 7th Avenue South and like Christopher Street and super, super busy intersection, and there were just no cars coming down Seventh Avenue. And I was like, I've never ever seen the street empty. And and then leaving the city, getting onto the train when the trains finally started running. The train was so packed, and you know, it's like uh a packed train, but everybody was so grateful that a train finally came into the station. Yeah, and there were so many people waiting on the platform, and the people in the train, you know, usually they're like, No, there's no room, there's no room, and they're blocking the doors, and and people on the train were just yelling, like, there's more people, you have to move in, move in, move in, move in, make room. And I was like, Whoa, this is something because you never ever see that. I mean, it's so it sounds so silly, but no, every when you grew up, right? Taking the subway, yeah, you totally get it. And it's like the one of the two things that I remember I don't think I will ever forget just not seeing cars on Seventh Avenue and and the way people were like just so filled with love, even on the subway. Like, people have to get home, we have to make room for them. Don't let don't let the doors close until everybody gets in. Like, just yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

And people are allowing themselves to be vulnerable, which is so rare in New York, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Yeah, right. I also remember walking to the subway, and there were already people on the street selling snow globes with the twin towers. And I was like, How do you even have these already? I mean, yeah, I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

I know. Well, I I really appreciate that you experienced it and are there. Like, it's like it's it's rare that I can talk to somebody about about the the instance. And what what's so funny is it's like um a lot of the work that I got, and I mean not to take it down to work, but I did a play, I think it was a play like in November of 2001, and I was not at all like ready to work at all. But I I went and I did I did a play up in New Haven, Connecticut, um, where I played a Turkish girl. And of course, the the first the first person I played was Muslim. And I gotta tell you, like, it was so healing, like just to like put myself in the perspective of like, okay, what could be your prejudice? What could be your fear? Who could you antagonize? You're gonna step into them right now. This exact moment, you're gonna step into them, and you're gonna like cry through their eyes, you're gonna feel what they're feeling, you're gonna like, you know, and you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm not I'm not uh I I I'm not Muslim, but it was so eye-opening and actually healing for me to actually just be like, okay, you you might have like some situation about like what just happened. Well, now you're gonna be that thing. And that's like why I love acting because it's just about humanity overall, and it's like, okay, just you know, screw whatever prejudice you might be harboring or whatever you might be thinking, screw that. You're gonna be that you're gonna be that humanity, you know. And you know, it's like it's like there are so many different integrations of ethnicity, there's religion, there's like you know, ethnicity, whatever, you know, middle, I'm Middle Eastern Italian, Jewish. I mean, I'm like, I'm like so many things, but it's like at the same time, you're just gonna like become this person right now. And this person happens to be Muslim living in Turkey in 1919. Go. And it's just like okay, yeah. And and all of a sudden, like, you know, just listening to the call to prayer every night because that was in the show, and just being like, Yeah, that's freaking beautiful. That's beautiful. So it's like, you know, I didn't have any time to harbor any sort of prejudice or resentment or stereotypical, like, oh, us against you or you against me. It was just like, you know, you are embodying humanity right now, just shut up and like let everything else go.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Wow. I mean, I can't even imagine having to have had to portray something like that. I mean, I guess I guess you took the situation at hand, it sounds like, and you just totally embraced it. And I mean, I feel like it's things like that that help or that um I'm like at a loss of words. I think it I totally I totally totally get it. I totally get it. But I think that that's what what helps you become the actress that you have been is that you don't you don't shy away from it, you embrace it and you work with it and you use it and and and it's it's so powerful when you let it.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

I appreciate that, but it's like you know, I mean, so I mean, so many Muslims, so many people who practice Islam were violated that day as well because of a few bad seeds, right? And it's like it's not fair, you know, and it's like, you know, imagine you know how they feel. Like, you know, I do my best, I live my life, I like I come forward with like a good heart, and like all of a sudden these people are gonna like put this shade on me, and you have no power over it. So it's almost just like, you know, let's just let's just go into the humanity of the situation. Let's just like, you know, it's it's so easy because the first thing that happens when something tragic happens or something divisive happens, the first thing that people do is try to separate and try to antagonize and try to divide and say, okay, so it's that person against that person. It's just like it's been since the beginning of time. That's what people do. So the one thing you can do that's revolutionary is saying, Hell no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna be human first, and then like, and then yeah, the bad people are the bad people, but it's not an entire group of people, right? That's what's gotten us into trouble since the beginning of time. Like, that's how you turn humanity against itself when hello, humanity is all we are, that's all we've got. Like, imagine if we were able to like unify, and that's how people always continue to divide and just conquer, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Yeah. Um, wow, like this conversation. Um I know we don't know about loss at all. Yeah, but but this was like fascinating for me, and I'm like, I have to kind of pull myself back because I'm like, wow, I can sit here for the next three hours, like continuing, and and I want to be respectful of your time. Yeah, let's just let's just talk about the nature of reality, man. Let's just get into that now. All right, well, listen, next time you're in New York, we'll meet for a real drink in person and we'll just sit somewhere and talk about the reality of like everything, you know. No problem. All right. I'm right there with you. But um, I wanna I want to talk to you about the last episode. And I'm I'm sure that you've gotten this topic, you know, so many times, but this is the first time I get to talk to you about it. Okay. Um, so it's a common thing about how at the end of the show and they're all in the church, and Saeed, even though he had married you and you were the love of his life, but he ends up in the church. Yeah, I mean, come on. Hello. But he ends up in the church with Shannon. Did you think that that ending was I don't know if appropriate is the best word, but like satisfactory, or or did you think that it should not have ended like that?

SPEAKER_03 34:18

It wasn't satisfactory for me as an actor or as Nadia at all. But um here's the thing about this show. I feel like there was a an idea that the people who landed on the island, like the people well landed, the people who crashed on the island, right? I feel like there was something about their dynamic because everything was like, you know, oh, it all spun out from their experience, whatever it was in the show. Nothing existed outside of their experience in the show. So if you're gonna land on the island and it's like you do have a romantic entanglement with someone, um, that's got to mean something, you know. Um, when it comes to, I mean, I I can like go into their lore and like, you know, wow, I'm I'm something that represented his past and he needed to move on and see himself as a good, worthy person, whatever. But you know, I I I think that it more had to do with like consolidating like the core of like the original people who landed on the island, which I understand too. And then, like, I mean, and people always say, Well, what about Desmond? Like, he wasn't on the island, like, why should he be reunited with her? But he wasn't on the island from the get.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

He, I mean, he was on the island before, but he didn't right, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Yeah, he didn't come with them, so I kind of feel like they wanted to consolidate, like, sort of that nucleus of like, you know, the people who had originally landed. Um, that's all I gotta say about that. But it's like, you know, if I if I'm speaking from the perspective of an actor or an audience, like, of course, I would have liked to be reunited with them, but it's like, you know, they had to bring it back to one, you know.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

It was surprising. I mean, I I still find it like kind of like okay, I see why you did that, you know, I can understand your decision, but still surprising that it wasn't Nadia who who came to be with him at the end.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

It would be, and I think that a lot of uh I think that a lot of a lot of fans really love them together. Yeah, like they do, like they loved them together, which you know, cool, you know, if that's your thing, absolutely. A lot of people love Nadia with Sayyid, and that's cool too. But it's like, you know, it just turned out I think I think that like just from a production standpoint, they wanted to bring the original cast back together to close it out. And you know, I wasn't in the original cast, I came in in episode nine, you know, right, right. It's like they wanted to like just bring it back to one. I feel like that's kind of like what they were going for there. You know, if I had been in on episode one, maybe it would have been a different situation, but I just I wasn't. So I kind of feel like it's like how do we connect the dots so that people feel complete, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

And on the on the heated debate, you know, how everybody is like the ending was great, the ending was terrible. It's so um uh what's the word? Like split. Yeah. When you talk to fans, and and I think that especially upon a rewatch, more people will lean towards the no, the ending fit as a fan and not as an as as an actress who you know had a part in the show. Do you have an opinion on how it ended?

SPEAKER_03 37:56

I feel like um, I feel like okay, they they made a show and nobody believed in it, and then all of a sudden it was like it blew up, right? And I feel like the uh the network wanted them to go on forever and ever and ever. And like Grey's Anatomy, like they just wanted it to like go into 20 seasons, and I feel like the creators who are very sensitive artists, they really are like they're very, like, they're very vulnerable people. I feel like they were like, uh, how are we gonna do this? That's why, like, you you witness in like series, like you know, I mean season like three and four, like they throw out stuff, not not four so much, but like two and three. Three, yeah, they throw, they throw out stuff, and it's just like you know, it's because they don't know how long they're gonna have to tap dance. So I feel like then all of a sudden they got the order that okay, you're gonna end after six seasons. Um, cool. And so now they're just like, okay, guys, reel it in, reel it in, you know, like bring it in. Like, let's let's try and like make this happen. I and they're very talented creators, very talented. Obviously, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

But I feel like it's like all they they just were not aware of the trajectory from the get. And if they had been, I feel like you wouldn't have had a season three, or you wouldn't have had like you know, the storylines that just were like, What was happening?

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Like, you know, there were a few episodes where you're like, What is the point exactly? And because they're yeah, and you love the characters, so you'll watch it, but in the grand scheme of things, it's like there's there's more than a few episodes, especially in season three, that you can get rid of and and not even realize almost, yeah. Like they really just don't push the stuff the story along.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

They're just they're just buying time because it's like, listen, I don't know if I'm gonna have to do this for 20 episodes. So, how are we going to? I I do feel like they had an arc, I do feel like they had like a sort of like end point of where they wanted to go, but they didn't know how much they were gonna have to stuff the turkey, you know. So in the meantime, you know, I that's that's why I think there were so many sort of like what episodes. But um, I feel like then when they actually got the order that you know the season was ending, then it's like, oh man, how do we close all this? How do we actually like wrap it all up? And that's why things might have felt a little rushed, that things might have felt like, wow, that was that was a lot, like, you know, you know, it just it it it was just about sort of the uh the dynamic and and sort of just like the the the metrics of how they're going to actually end the storylines. So I feel like they did the best they could what they had. And you know, that that includes Shannon in the church, you know, it's like she's been gone since what episode, whatever, and like now all of a sudden there she is. It's just like it just it it it I do think it felt rushed, but I'm sure they would think it felt rushed too.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

Yeah, I think I mean I think that overall it's a good fit. I don't know if maybe if they had more time, they could have came up with something that fit better, but personally, I'm in the camp that I can see what they were going for and it can fit, it it fits nicely, yeah. And it does wrap it up. I mean, there's definitely more than a few unanswered questions that would love to have them explore, but uh you know, what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_03 41:25

They did the best they could with what they had, right? Right, yeah, and it's like you know, I mean, and here's the thing when you when you start off with something so freaking good, like season one, you know, anything is gonna be a disappointment unless it's like you have a trajectory from the get, like, okay, this is how many seasons you have, write it out, plan it out. We're you know, we're behind you. They didn't have that, you know, it was more like them trying to keep up with like, oh man, how how do we how do we keep pace with what they're demanding of us, you know? Right. It was making money, you know. So they just they wanted to keep, I mean, the the network wanted to keep it up, and I I the writers wanted to end it way before the network did. Yeah. So it's just sort of like, you know, how how do we how do we how do we calibrate this?

SPEAKER_00 42:14

And I've heard rumors that that's part of the explanation for some of those episodes for season three is that the writers were just kind of like, listen, if we start just throwing anything out there, then they're gonna have to start telling us, okay, we're gonna have to wrap it up.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

They'll they'll they will admit it before anybody, whereas this is why we have Mickey and Paolo, this is why, you know, like this is why this whole thing happened. Like, you know, the cage, I mean, I mean, whatever. It's like we just wanted to, like, you know, we we didn't know how long we would have to like be staying above water here. Yeah, it's like, you know, I I don't I don't really know that side of things, so I don't know if there are shows where you just have like an arc like from the get where they're like you're gonna go six seasons and then we're done. I don't think that happens. I think it's like if you're successful, they want you to go and go and like continue, yeah. And so, like it's very rare for a show that's successful for anyone to want them to stop. But the fact that lost, you know, writers and producers were like, Yeah, let's let's put a pin in it, it means they wanted to put out a good product, right? And you know, other people want to make money, so it's like, you know, how how how do we mitigate that? Oh man, you know, and then and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, the end of the line is right there. So they gotta wrap it up, and things are gonna get like things are gonna get lost, no no pun intended.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

So even all these years later, how does it feel to be part of you know, such an iconic show that still has an amazing fan base and like these diehard fans? Some of them I talk to, and they're like, Yes, I do a rewatch every year, and I'm like, wow, like no, you know, it's dedication.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

But I'm so grateful. I'm super grateful. Like, I mean, I'm I'm so proud to be a part of it. I'm so proud to be involved with it, like, you know, more than probably anything I've ever done, except maybe some like theater back in the back in the back in the day in New York, you know, like you know, which no one would even know about, but you know, like on the this, like with this. This is like a golden memory for me. This is like, you know, it was it was amazing. It was amazing. Not only that, but going to Hawaii once a year for like six years. Are you kidding me? Like that was that was amazing. So what was it like on the set? Everyone was amazing. Everyone, I I use the word amazing a lot. Everyone was like beautiful, everyone was sweet. You know, there are some people that I bonded with more than others just because I had more you know contact with them. So, you know, there'd be Nazen, um, there would who else? Um, well, there'd be Nazen, and then, you know, a lot of the directors. Um, I think, you know, I got to work with Charlie. I got, I mean, Charlie, I got to work with Dominic. I got to work with Carrie. I got to work with um like in limited doses, I got to work with Evangeline. I loved her. I got to work with Emily. Um who else? I got to work with Miles, you know, Ken. I mean, it's like, you know, I I I got to I got to work with uh Ian. I mean, there were there were a lot of people that I kind of like got to meet and like you know, oh, and Jorge, like I didn't work with him necessarily, but you know, we were on set together because remember the barbecue, the barbecue, yeah, like season four when we're like his family is giving like a yes, yeah, yeah. So I got to meet him, I got to meet Cheech. Was it Cheech or Sean who I met? Cheech. Yeah, Cheech. So I got to meet like like so many amazing people. It was just magical, it was like the best thing ever.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Yeah, I mean, it I feel like there are some shows and some movies that we have in our world, in our um life that are just iconic, you know. Like, I mean, for me, it would be like Star Wars, right? Yeah or or Lost, or you know, just some shows, some movies that maybe they weren't planned to be like the biggest hit of all time, but then once they're released, they just become bigger than life. And I feel like this is one of those shows where it just maybe, maybe they set out to make a really good show and hoped people would watch, and maybe they never thought that it would take off the way it did, but it's definitely one of those shows that I I watch and I think, wow, like how lucky those actors are to have been a part of it and and what a beautiful thing it is for them because it's it's like being part of something bigger than just being on a TV show or having a job or getting a paycheck. And so it's it's so nice, like and I'm I am a fan, you know, I'm a fan of the show, I'm a fan of the actors, and I'm I'm like, damn, like I wish I was an actor, I wish I could have been there, but you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 47:35

But yeah, it's just one of those things. It was it was it was a total blessing in my career and my life, like all around, all around. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That's good, yeah, yeah. And you know, I I I not not to not to you know shade any uh any twilighters, but I was I was in Twilight too. Um and it's like you know, both of them have very, very dedicated fan bases and like you know, just hyper, hyper into it. And I love um, you know, I I love all people who are passionate about something outside of themselves, where it's like I am connected, some something about me just you know feels connected to this thing that's outside of myself, and other people are connected too. Like I'm I I'm I'm grateful to be a part of any of that sort of people, you know. Um, but there's something about the lost fan base, not not to you know put down Twilight at all. There's something, and maybe it's because I came into Twilight so late and I came into lost season one, you know, but there's something about the lost fan base where it's like they're so intelligent, and I just always feel like they're coming from such an emotional um they have like so much emotional history or backstory, like their own backstory about why they connect to it, or about like you know, why this this series out of all these series like just spoke to them so much, like about redemption and about proving themselves, right? And it's just like that that touches me so much. So I'm honored to be like hold any space in that.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

And I think that that's one of the most important messages is that um it doesn't matter who you were before, right? It because we all change and we all grow, and at any given time, yeah. I mean, sometimes the circumstances are like you land on a island after a plane crash and you have no choice, but like you do, right? Like you do, but it doesn't matter who you were before because you have the power to change that, and you can be a different person, you could be a new person, and you can grow and and just be a newer and better, hopefully, version of yourself. And I think that that's the point that resonates with a lot of people is you watch a show like that and you see the growth that some of these characters have from the beginning to the end, and it's like, wow, yeah, they were forced, sort of, but if they can do it, I can do it because I've had XYZ in my past, and I want to overcome, I want to overcome addiction or you know, life of crime, or whatever it is, you know, but relationship, whatever, yeah, yeah, you know, running from the feds like you do, like you do. But I but I do think that that would know. Yeah, she would. But you know, it's just it's just one of those things where people we all have histories, you know, some some more in-depth than others, but that's something that we can relate to. Is that there's probably all things that we've done in the past that we would like to change if we could, or change into a better person if we could. And and I think that that's one of the best messages in the show.

SPEAKER_03 51:08

Absolutely, absolutely. And I just want to like give a non-segretor here. Like, Maggie Grace is a doll. I love her, she's a very sweet, beautiful, amazing person, like so kind, and like I really do like the girl. No, but with Nadia and and freaking but Nadia doesn't like Shannon. Nadia would probably be very kind to Shannon. She probably would. I don't know if Shannon would be kind to Nadia.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

She did have a lot of growth, you know. She did. In the few episodes she's got, but I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_03 51:46

A little too much growth, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

It was like just when you really start to see her as a new person. Well, there she went.

SPEAKER_03 51:54

Well, there she went. Yeah, but no, I I love Maggie. And what's so funny, here's the here's like you know, the kicker is that Maggie and I worked on breaking dawn together. You know that, right? Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, we worked on the vampire movie together, and we were like, excuse me. I took a picture of like both of us at a bar and like you know, Baton Rouge, and I'm just like, eat your heart out, Said, because we're both like, you know, I mean, it's like it was so crazy that you know that's awesome. I love that. Stop stalking me. That's awesome. No, she's a doll. Like, she's I think she's so talented and heartfelt, and like just you know, beautiful, beautiful person. It's just uh is it's it's just funny the way the storyline played out.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

I want to ask you one more question, and it's not really related to lost.

unknown 52:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Um, if you can give your younger self advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 52:57

Oh my god, where do I start? Where do I start? You want to pass? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Nadia would not pass. I will not pass. Um, let's see. It would be um it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, and it's not gonna matter in the future what anyone else thinks. So do you that's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

I love that. I I I wish I knew that years ago.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

Yeah, yeah. I thought I thought everyone else's perspective somehow had power over me in some way or could affect me. The fact is, like what I learned is it does not, and it never will, and it never has, and it was it was a myth. Yeah, you know, it's something that they try to project so that you feel intimidated, but it's just not true.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Definitely. It and it's unfortunately one of those things that you only learn with experience, right? With experience, and and after you miss maybe the opportunity that you should have taken. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

Or like, you know, saying what you want to say, or or just being how you want it to be, you know, it's like you think everyone else's perspective has some sort of power or hold on you, and you realize that's such an illusion, it does not, and right, it's a lie, and people forget, nobody cares. It's like just do you, just do you. Worst that can happen is people will forget worst that can happen, right?

SPEAKER_00 54:42

So I've I've actually one of the things that I've learned to do with myself is when I am nervous about something or scared, I try to play it through in my head and do like, well, what's the worst case scenario? What would happen? And then whatever that scenario is, it's like, okay, take the next step. So what if this happens? Okay, so then what if that happens? Then what? Oh, well, then and it's almost like once you play out your worst case scenario, it doesn't seem so scary anymore because you feel like, well, I know how to handle it now. And chances are it won't be the worst case scenario, but just in case it is, it's almost like you have the experience and how to deal with it.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

Yeah. So that the other thing I would say is like if there's something that you're up against or something that you have to do, anything you have to do, you know, whether it's giving a public speech or like saying goodbye to somebody you love, whatever it is, you have to take it like one increment at a time. So it's like, you know, the first thing is walking out the door. Well, first thing is putting on your clothes, second thing walking out the door in a in a perfect world. And then, and then you know, like you know, getting to the destination, it's just like you have to you have to you have to put it into bite-sized pieces. Yes, and then nothing is impossible, right? Right. You if you look at from here to there and say, I gotta go from here to there, it feels like impossible and it feels daunting. But if you can put it into bite-sized pieces, like I'm here to hear, I'm here to hear, like you can really do anything as painful as it might be, as hard as it might be, as like you know, daunting as it might be, you can do anything if you put it into increments, yeah, and just like put that in front of yourself step by step.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

That's yeah, a hundred percent. I agree a hundred percent. And I've had to have those moments in my life where I've had to break stuff down because it it just feels so overwhelming that you instead like all I want to do is like take a nap.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

And I I I would never leave the house. If I saw from here to there, I would never leave the house. It's just like no, no, no. Right now I'm walking from from here to the door and after the close.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

Right. Maybe I don't know, maybe maybe, maybe it might make the next step more fun. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 57:21

Depends on the mood. I don't know. And then it's just like, yeah, that's that's the way, like, if you ever are unsure of how you can do anything, just slice it up like that. Just be like, all right, I'm putting it in in in doable moments.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

Yeah, I um I don't want to say goodbye, but but I know that um I know I have you know, I know it's late, and and I'm sure you have other things that you need to get done, all those other bite-sized pieces. But I want to thank you so much again for doing this with me and for us. It really does mean a lot to us.

SPEAKER_03 58:06

Um, and um I send love to everybody who is tuning in or listening. Like, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

Yeah, but um, I want to give you an opportunity to tell us all what you've been working on and what we can expect from you soon, hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 58:28

Well, well, the the last uh couple years have been weird, yeah, yeah, like things kind of shut down for a while. So, you know, I I'm out there, I'm things in the pipeline, I'm plugging away. However, if you want to get in, like if you want to learn about my other self, because I do many things. Um I am also like uh a spiritual life coach. That I didn't know. No, yeah. I'm I mean, yeah. So if my my website is www.gypsyrobe.net. Um, you know, I do that. I also um I'm certified in psychic mediumship, in Reiki, in uh soundball healing as well. So if there's ever anything that your listeners or you like, I mean, I've I've been doing this, I know it's a whole nother podcast right now, but this is what I've been doing since I'm like 14 years old, you know. So I've been I've been doing it like this whole time and just you know getting kind of nuanced in it. What I do in my sessions, I more like I talk about um, you know, it's it's more of spiritual like life coaching, like, you know, let's talk about what's going on with you. But I do integrate um intuition, psychic stuff and whatnot. But you know, that's something that I've just been doing since birth. And um, you know, I'm still acting, and I will let you know if anything's coming off the pipeline, you know, on CW or what have you. But in the meantime, you can reach out to me because this is I'm I'm here to heal, I'm here to help, I'm here to support. So of course, of course. And I know that probably a lot of your listeners as well are like, you know, kind of in touch with uh, you know, metaphysical realities and you know, more in-depth emotional substance of of of living than just like, oh, what's the next movie coming out? So if you are yeah, if you are interested, you know, it's www.gypsyroad.net or um, you know, I I mean, and yeah, reach out to me. There's no obligation. And you can also follow me on um what's the best way to follow me? I guess on you could follow me on Instagram, it's uh at onigram with an O. So O-N-D-Y-G-R-A-M.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:00

And I'll like yeah, I'll put all of this in the show notes this way. No one has to worry about spelling errors. Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:08

But you know, if if I have a sound bowl healing or if I do something, I'll definitely promote it there. But yeah, I would I would love to support anyone, especially people who are like fans of you, fans of the show, because yeah, it's like you know, energy and and like just as we were saying before, oneness of humanity. That's that's everything. So I know I'm sounding like way too Californian for someone who was raised in New York in the 70s.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

But I I tell my husband all the time, I'm like, I'm part hippie and I'm part hood. I mean you grow up in Brooklyn. My my little necklace says spread love. The only thing it doesn't say is it's the Brooklyn way, but you know, what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:51

I love it. I love, I love like the the northeastern hippies, they're the best ever. Like, how how can you be anything else? It's like if you you gotta go the whole gamut, like you gotta go the Saturday night fever, you gotta go like you know, the Vinnie Barberino, you gotta come back around and then be like peace and love. Like, what's going on? Like, let's let's get real. What's going on, you know? So that's kind of like my hybrid New York, California existence right now. So it works, it works. Well, thank you. And I will definitely let you know when something else is coming out. Absolutely. I'm writing too.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:28

So what are you writing?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:30

I'm writing a book. Oh wow, I'm writing a novel, yeah, fiction novel about spirituality. Um it's a little, it's a little horror, like, but it's also about like sort of a cautionary tale when it comes to spirituality.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

So that's gonna be I like I like the way that sounds. Cool. So I'm definitely gonna have to look for that when it comes out.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

Who knew? You put someone in a room for two years, wow, what happens?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

This is what happens. I I'm a little bit envious because I've I've started on my computer so many times, like with outlines and chapters, and then it's like life takes over. And even during the pandemic, it's like great, I'm home for you know a year and a half, but I also have three kids. So who has time to write?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:22

I know, and that's the crazy thing about like pandemia is like people are like, Oh, thank god you finally got to start your novel. No, I started my novel when things opened up again, right? When I was like when during during the last two years, I was just like trying to get groceries. I was like, I was just trying to like, you know, keep my my mind, you know, intact, you know, deal with my family and deal with like you know, my apartment. I mean, it's still like you know, it's a lot. Yeah, so it's almost like now that things are semi-normalizing is the only time that I can be like, okay, now I'm gonna like try and get this down on paper, but now is when like schedule is picking up and auditions are picking up. So you just like you just can do what you can do, and then if you have to step away for three days or whatever, it's just no, like have confidence it's gonna be there when you come back, you know. Because there's no way little bites, yeah. There's no way that you can actually like stay in your apartment and like just finish the entire thing for four months and not see people. There's just no way, yeah. It's it's the discipline, it's the it's the the balance, it's the modality, you know. So that's that's all I got.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

It's good, it's good, it works. Thank y'all. And uh, you know what? I'm sure that eventually it will come out and it will be what it what it is supposed to be.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:46

So thank you. And I will inform all your your viewers, listeners. I will I will let them know when it's out. So I think it's gonna be yummy.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

I I should imagine it will be. Thank you. So I'm gonna we'll we'll do our goodbyes. Okay, and then uh don't hang up just yet. Okay, thank you. Um, thank you guys, all of you, for being with us for this very special episode. Please uh check out all of the links in the show notes. And very, very special thanks again to Andrea Gabriel for being here with us. We so appreciate you. And as always, don't drink and drive. Never, never. And I am Lisa, and we are out of here.

unknown 1:05:34

Bye.