Anjelica Bette Fellini Takes A Walk in New York's 91st Street Flower Garden
New York is the backbone of so much that we do each day at ROSE & IVY. We love how the city spawns ideas, inspiration and connections. Especially now, more than ever, the city needs our hope and love. In this series, I explore a neighborhood or iconic street that gives the city its heart and soul with a women in television or film.
Actress Anjelica Bette Fellini, and native New Yorker, who you can catch in Teenage Bounty Hunters on Netflix and soon Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch shares what she loves most about the city, how she advocated for her success and that special feeling when dreams come true. Plus, she shares some of her favorite spots in New York.
Photography and Interview by Alison Engstrom
Hi Anjelica! It was so great to take a walk in New York with you. Have you ever explored the 91st Street garden before?
I think I have been to that garden once a week for my entire life. I did not know that you could walk through it though! I always just admired it from the outside because I thought it was only for the people who were manning the garden. I have a pretty serious phobia of flying bugs, so walking through a small garden is not on the top of my list; but we got through it unscathed (laughs). It reminds me of You’ve Got Mail—when it was on cable, my mom and I would just watch it every time it came on. I live right by Café Lalo, I go there all of the time and look at the gates and I am like, Tom Hanks was here. They are a great dessert place.
I agree, I love Café Lalo, an iconic part of new york. What would be your perfect day in the city, under normal times?
There are so many different versions of that, I think depending on the mood, maybe just sitting in Central Park, especially for an Upper West Sider, it’s a crazy oasis and sometimes I go and get lost there. I am standing by a stream and I am like, where am I?
As a native New Yorker, what do you love most about New York?
Everything. I went away recently to New Jersey for the weekend to celebrate my show coming out with a friend who has a house out there. When we came back, my friend—who is originally from Connecticut but moved to the city when she was young—we talked about how the minute you enter into the city there is a breath of relief. You see all of these people who have all of these things going on and have nothing to do with you. I am so relieved to be in a place where it’s not just about me. When you are driving down the highway or in a small town, you don’t see people walking down the street, it’s very isolating. Then you get to New York and everyone is everywhere and doing their own thing. Traffic is honking and someone is screaming—it’s comforting to me because I grew up here. Walking down the street and seeing a bunch of people is my bread and butter.
Since the city has and is still going through a difficult patch, are there any businesses or restaurants that you love that we should know about?
For pastries, I love Veniero's pastry shop downtown on East 11th. They have some of the best cannolis and cookies in New York. Chinese is one of my favorite cuisines, so I was frequently down in Chinatown before quarantine. Golden Unicorn on East Broadway and Jim Fong on Elizabeth Street are two of my favorite dim sum places. Hop Kee on Mott Street and Tipsy Shanghai on Thompson Street are also fantastic places that I love. I also love Korean food. New Wonjo on 32nd Street is one of my favorite restaurants for Korean BBQ, but honestly, if you're up for an adventure and can safely get to Koreatown on 32nd between 5th and 6th Avenue, I recommend it just for the experience—every restaurant on that street is authentic and great.
Uptown I love Barney Greengrass on Amsterdam Avenue. for bagels and lox. Also, Murray's Sturgeon Shop on Broadway is a great authentic traditional Jewish deli. And of course, as we discussed earlier, Café Lalo on 83rd is a fantastic cake and also lunch place!
Honestly, making this list was super hard. There are so many restaurants in New York I cherish. This pandemic sort of brought to light how easy it is to take advantage of what makes New York so special. Part of what allures me to the city is how you can constantly discover new things, even if they are old. On Instagram, I recommend following New York Nico (@newyorknico). He posts mom and pop owned restaurants that are in trouble due to the pandemic weekly.
How has living in New York influenced your creative path?
It’s funny because it’s my life, I cannot see it going any other way. If I really break it down, you are a product of your environment and community, wherever you live and whoever you are. I think I started taking the subway when I was 11, only to get to ballet. My mom was a performer so I kind of turned to it, even though she was a teacher when I was growing up. I started with Irish step, I was late to the ballet game; my Irish step teacher told me if I wanted to get better that I should do ballet. It’s funny because all of Manhattan, except for maybe FiDi and way up in the Bronx, it kind of feels like your neighborhood. My ballet school was right next to Juilliard so I would see the older dancers doing the arts and that is right across the street from Lincoln Center. I would walk over and do a performance. My mom and I walked over to 42nd Street recently where I was on a billboard and she said that it was my second billboard and I didn’t know what she was talking about. But apparently I was on a big billboard on the side of Lincoln Center one time when they were doing The Nutcracker. There was a big photo of me—I was doing the child roles of Marie and Clara. I had forgotten! It all happened the way it happened and I can’t imagine it happening anywhere else except New York. It is such a mecca for the arts.
Since you started out in ballet and theater and ended up touring with the Phantom of the Opera, Were you initially more interested in that path versus TV and film and when did you decide to take it seriously as a profession?
I think everything I did I tried to take very seriously. When I was doing dance, it was kind of all I thought about. I was on tour with Phantom and then I got transferred to the Broadway company. I think because I was in New York and on Broadway, I realized a life in musical theater wasn’t necessarily my path, even though I found this niche on Broadway when I was 20. I didn't go to college because I went right into touring at 18. I used to call those years when I was working, my college but I am getting paid (laughs).
I would stand backstage and watch the show every night because I was so interested in actors making choices and I wanted to see that. I asked the actors if they minded me to stand in the wing and watch. I’d watch all of the understudies and how they were different. I would stay if the director came and there was a company-wide rehearsal. It was always very fascinating to me. I realized I was not a jazz dancer, I took classes, but it wasn’t really me, I was really pushing myself. I was also taking voice lessons and I could sing but I wasn’t going to be the next Sutton Foster—that wasn’t my dream. I thought, what does that leave me? What other aspects of performing do I do every night that isn’t dancing or singing and it was acting. I think how New York came into play with that was I realized I didn’t have to apply to a conservatory or a school—I was thinking about going to school for law or philosophy because I am interested in other things. So I took a year and put myself through intensive acting classes.
Anjelica is wearing an Imaan x FRAME suit; vintage bra; Vince Camuto shoes; jewelry is her own.
I came across an article you wrote for Backstage about how there are many different roads to success, and I think moreover it’s also important to realize that it isn’t a contest with other people. Jim Carey talked about in a graduation speech that I love: “...it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass. Your job is not to figure out how it’s going to happen for you, but to open the door in your head and when the door opens in real life, just walk through it.”
I was really grateful to have had that opportunity. I needed to read things like that when I was in the position of not having an agent or a manager. I remember at that time there was nothing for me to read. I’d read essays from actors who had made it and they were like, I booked this and that and it didn’t help me at all. I learned first hand and really MacGyvered getting my manager. Getting my manager put me into the position to get The Gifted and then my agent. It’s been an amazing chain of events. I had to advocate for myself; I was doing the equivalent of knocking on doors and dropping off headshots. I was nobody but I did have that Broadway credit. I knew I was good enough and I knew I could do it. Brian Cranston also is great; he’ll say things like, my best advice to actors is you do get a chance to play the part, in the audition, so go into the audition and play the part. It’s not about you getting it or not, it’s about giving a voice to that thing and you’ll see if anything else comes from it. What else didn’t help me was when you’d hear people ask someone, what is your best advice for young actors? And they would say, if you can do anything else, do it. I’m like, ouch that’s not advice, that’s telling people to quit. I know there is truth to that but on the other hand, just keep going. If you know it is going to happen and you can envision it for yourself, if you open the door in your mind when the door opens in real life you’ll walk through it. When the brass ring swings your way, you’ll catch it.
WEll, The doors have definitely opened for you! You recently starred in The Teenage Bounty Hunters on Netflix, which was a huge hit. What do you think about the series resonated so much with viewers?
In my opinion, it transcends genre labels. I feel like there is something for everyone in the show. I want to urge people to take a shot and open it up because it’s not just for teens. If you like comedy, you might like this. I think too for the time right now, there is a lot of pain and injustices in the world. I think, in the show, there is a balance of addressing race, the criminal justice system in the same way we address being a teenager and that it’s not perfect. In the same way, you can learn and have your own interpretation of how our criminal justice and cash bail system has failed us, you can also have it with a laugh. I feel honored to be part of a show that’s a comedy, but actually talks about issues, rather than just burying it or it just being a teen drama. It’s a crockpot of things.
You have a big fall coming up with The French Dispatch launching soon. Can you share a bit more about the film and your role, I know it’s a bit secretive?
It’s like in Moonrise Kingdom, where Tilda Swinton plays Social Worker, so I am the Proofreader, that’s my character’s name. She is supposed to be a grammatical expert; I had no idea of how to prepare for that—do I go to the library? (laughs) The film is loosely about the start of the New Yorker and anecdotal magazine writing. Bill Murray plays the head who started this magazine.
What was it like being on a Wes Anderson set? They are just incredible, not to mention the fashion.
It was so incredible. Every day I was there there was something new to discover. If you look at the wallpaper pattern in the trailer, there is an artist who does actual animation for the New Yorker. It tells a story, if you follow it down the wall. Everyone on set is like a big family, they have all been working with him and for him for so many years. They were so accepting, they told me stories. Everyone has dinner together every night.
The film has such a notable cast, was it at all intimidating to be on set?
Of course, I was like, I don’t deserve to be here and everyone is going to know and everyone is going to see I am a fraud.
That’s classic imposter syndrome, I have been there many times!
That of course was not at all what happened. My first instinct is the self-doubt; everyone was the kindest. I said my lines to Tilda Swinton and Elizabeth Moss and they listened to me, because they are actors (laughs). I was like, I am dead, I cannot work anymore. Bill Murray really took me under his wing; he has a son about the same age as me. He would watch my scenes and nod if I looked over at him in a moment of insecurity. I was like cool, Bill Murray is telling me I am doing a good job, I think I will be okay! It was one of those moments where I thought, I can die happy now.
That’s so awesome, congratulations! Since the past six months definitely haven’t been ordinary, how have you stayed creative and centered?
I have always been a big reader, I’ve been reading a lot—I think I have gone through about 20 books. I also have been writing poetry really randomly. I started reading the classics like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and deep diving into spoken word poetry. Actually, an episode writer on The Teenager Bounty Hunters, named Aziza Barnes, they are this really accomplished spoken word poet. I was looking into it at like 3 a.m. and all of a sudden i came across Aziza Barnes. I never took creative writing, so I am just mucking around with it.
Follow Angelica on Instagram
Stream ‘Teenage Bounty Hunters’ Now on Netflix
To stay up-to-date on the release of ‘The french dispatch’ click here
Anjelica was styled by Britt Theodora; Hair by Patrick Kyle for Exclusive Artists using Bumble & Bumble; Makeup by Juliette Perreux