‘Abby’s’ Star Natalie Morales’ Acting Dreams Took Flight With Drama Class

Ever want to have a drink where everybody knows your name, at least in San Diego? The West Coast set Abby’s centers on a Marine vet (Natalie Morales, playing the titular role) who may have found her calling by opening up a bar in her backyard. A simple twist of fate can lead someone down an entirely different career path, and Morales explains how one simple class was a life changer.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

I asked Abby’s cast members Natalie Morales, Kimia Behpoornia and Jessica Chaffin if acting was an immediate dream and goal. I’ll be posting Kimia and Jessica’s answer down the road, but here’s Morales’ answer:

“I absolutely did not imagine myself as an actor. I didn’t think it was a possibility. Maybe because there weren’t a lot of brown people on television. It just didn’t seem like a thing people like me did or rather people like me could do.

It seemed like you had to come from a well to do family and you had to be very white and very pretty. Or be Will Smith, you know? It wasn’t ever a thing I wanted to do because it wasn’t a thing I knew I could do. So I wanted to be the President, and I was like ‘nah.’ Then I wanted to be a lawyer and then it was only in high school that I transferred to this new school and I didn’t know anybody.

So I wanted to take some summer school class to see if I can meet a smaller group of people before I met thousands of people because it was a much bigger school. I signed up for two classes and I was like ‘I’ll do what I already know I like. I’ll do guitar and I’ll do photography.’ My guidance counselor was like ‘Oh I’m sorry the last spot in photography was already taken would you like to try this drama class?’ I (said) ‘Oh okay.’ And that’s where that happened.”

 

Abby’s, co-starring Neil Flynn (The Middle) and Nelson Franklin premieres March 28 at 9:30 pm et/pt.