In Conversation With Odette Annable
Odette was virtually photographed in Austin by Alison Engstrom
You began your career on set in Kindergarten Cop and since had roles in hit shows like House, Brothers & Sisters and Super Girl. How would you summarize the road to where you are now?
I was an introverted child and my parents didn’t know how to get me out of my shell. A family friend had a kid who was extroverted with a great personality and was doing commercials. They thought maybe if they got me into commercials there would be a group of kids who I could learn from. I got an agent when I was four years old and my first audition was for Kindergarten Cop, which I ended up booking. I spoke Spanish, which was one of the requirements—it’s my first language. My father was born in Colombia but he is European—French, Italian, and Swiss—and my mom fled to Colombia from Cuba, so I was raised in a very Latin household in California. I didn’t even learn how to speak English until I was five. My parents weren’t stage parents, they weren’t pushy. Instead, they saw that world and said, hey if you want to do it, we are all for it, but if you don’t want to, we aren’t going to make you into a kid star.
I really took to it and it allowed me to have a new perspective, where I could come out of my shell through a character. I didn’t even realize I was doing that when I was that age. I was able to channel different personalities and explore humanity in a way that I wasn’t able or comfortable with in my real life. I am comfortable and secure in who I am, but being able to explore different characters through my work has shaped me. It all started at a young age and I grew into loving acting because of that. Since I was raised near Palm Springs, it was a sacrifice for my parents to drive me to Los Angeles for an audition that I may or may not get. But that’s who they are; they are so selfless, dedicated, and wanted to do whatever made me happy. Now having a child, I realize how hard that is because all I want to do is sleep sometimes (laughs) but my daughter, Charlie, wants to do what she wants to do. I am so grateful they were so selfless, I don’t know if I am the same way. I hope to be (laughs). So that was the beginning, just dipping my toe in and finding the balance between reality and being on set. It taught me great discipline; I have an incredible work ethic because of it but then I also had my real life. I was raised on my grandparent’s farm when I wasn’t acting; I was helping my grandfather milk cows and fetch eggs for my grandmother. I was living two completely different lives.
it’s pretty great how things have come full circle now that you are living in Austin. You can resume that lifestyle if you want to!
Oh, absolutely. I had this vision in a dream a while ago that was flashing and kept saying farm life, farm life, farm life, and now I am here in Texas. It’s wild how your childhood can shape you; it did come full circle for me and that’s why I feel so okay with the massive move to Texas. It feels like I am back to my roots.
Did you take time off from childhood to when you were adult to focus on school and other things?
It was a bit of a balance, as to be expected, but acting was always in the back of my mind. I gave my parents one year of community college just to say, I did it, but I knew that I wouldn’t be going back for another year even when friends I had met started making plans for the next semester. I said, I am going to be moving to Los Angeles. I’m not sure anyone took it seriously but I was set in my ways. I moved to LA when I was 19 and I was still with my childhood agency. I was also modeling at the time with Wilhelmina and they paved the way for me to switch agencies and move into the acting category and into the adulthood phase of what I would be doing.
I began auditioning again and getting acclimated to that world in a different way because when you are little, you have your parents there and you feel protected. When you are in LA, there are these major cattle calls with girls sitting outside rooms and I would think, how am I ever going to get this job, there are hundreds of girls who are more beautiful or more talented? You can create stories in your head about how you aren't going to get the job. I always did have the backbone of a supportive family and a work ethic and that carried me through. I started working pretty quickly after I moved to LA. I got some guest spots and the first job I did was South Beach, where Jennifer Lopez was the producer. That was a big deal for me but after that tanked mid-season (laughs) I was able to hop on a show called October Road, which changed my career. It put me on the map in many ways because I had such a supportive group of actors and creatives around me. We were shooting in Atlanta and it felt like summer camp. I felt like I finally belonged. I had made the right moves and the right choices to be where I was at that moment. It was all paying off, all of the hard work, after all of those years. It was my first heartbreak when the show was canceled after two seasons because of the writer’s strike. Then I also did a film called Cloverfield; it felt like the momentum was moving along but I was still very green in my career. I didn’t believe in myself.
When did you become confident? Personally it’s a daily practice.
It’s not easy, especially in this industry, there is so much competition and rejection. You can compare yourself to people very easily. I didn’t feel worthy, even though I was getting all of these opportunities, I didn’t feel like I was doing enough work to feel like I should be included. It was a story I was telling myself and I was sticking to it. There was a lot of fake it till you make it. It wasn’t until recently I felt like, hold on, I am confident in what I am doing, in my talent, and who I am. I have gone through a little bit of life and turmoil, where I have experienced all of it, and I feel things in a different way than I did when I was in my 20s.
I look back to my 20s and I thought I knew everything! In my late 30s, I feel like I can fully sink into myself and take up space and not feel bad about it.
I think that’s what it was, I didn’t feel like I could take up space or I had a voice. If I spoke up then I might be fired and I worked so hard to get the job in the first place. I had to make myself small in order to fit in. I think this business is the exact opposite. It’s the same in some ways because the people who take up space sometimes aren’t the greatest, unfortunately.
Have you noticed a shift since the Times Up and Me Too Movements?
I think things have shifted tremendously. There is a new level of respect for women and people in general on a set. I certainly felt I was at the height of powerful men getting away with whatever they wanted to say and I had to turn the other cheek to survive. You are conditioned to think it’s normal when people make comments about your body or how you look; it’s supposed to be funny and maybe flattering. It wasn’t until the Me Too Movement happened and I started to remember stories about all of these creepy directors or casting directors, who made me feel a certain way. Your instincts are always right when you feel something you probably are not wrong. I do think we still have a lot of work to do. If we can continue to learn and grow from each other and be able to have tough conversations, even if we don’t have the same opinions, we will get somewhere. I think right now there is a lot of tiptoeing around about what you can and cannot say and it’s not beneficial. The greatest conversations come from having an opinion and coming together to understand each other.
I agree COMPLETELY. How do you navigate the harder moments in your career and life? Do you ever question what you are doing when things are harder? What do you tell yourself in those moments?
First of all, I have these moments daily. They never stop, it’s not even just in my career. When I made this big move from Los Angeles, where I had cultivated these amazing friendships and I had my family so close by, I never felt left out, I always felt included but now that I’m in Texas, I have to kind of start over. I am feeling these things that I felt when I was a kid like, does this person accept me? Did I say something wrong? All I have to say is again, hold on, you have come so far, you can’t go back but this is the struggle. This is what we were always meant to do. I can’t feel like I am always going to stay safe.
It’s about pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone.
One-hundred percent and that’s where the most growth happens, when you step outside that comfort zone and see what you are capable of, who you are, what you have learned, and how you apply that to your life. It’s not always easy. I have really, really tough days.
In my career, I was in such a groove. I was in New Jersey, I had booked a lead in a pilot right before covid hit. I was lead, number one, in a TV series in the remake of thirtysomething; it was the original creators and cast and it was about the offspring of the original cast. Right before we started filming, two days before we started, we got a call that we had to go back to Los Angeles because there was this virus that was going to take over the world.
I’m so sorry, let-downs like that, they are so hard.
It was really hard but in so many ways it kind of saved me and there were so many silver linings. My husband, Dave, and I were getting divorced, we were not together. He was supposed to shoot something in Atlanta, that got canceled so we decided to come together and quarantine for Charlie’s sake. Although I was going to be the lead on this TV show, who knows what could have happened. The pilot could not have been picked up or it could have gone for 15 seasons and been the biggest hit, you never know. I’m so grateful that unfolded the way because it brought Dave and me back together. We decided to make the move to Texas for our family. It was the first time, I think ever in my life, I made choices for my family and not for myself. It’s tough to say because you think as a mom you will do anything for your kid but I think a lot of times, I chose to do things selfishly. Of course, I took into consideration my husband and my kid but sometimes they were secondary but this was purely for them. When we moved out here, I got a call a month later to be on Walker.
ThaT story makes me so Happy! It was meant to be.
It was like the universe had my back. I’d been following the signs and they had all been very clear to me. What you want isn’t always what you need.
To go back to what you said about balancing and being a mom, it’s the struggle of all mothers I think.
More often than not, mothers forget to take care of themselves. In some ways when you live in Los Angeles your perspective gets off. I started to take care of myself more than I was taking care of my family. The choices that were made, I look back and think this wasn’t the balance I was looking for. This life change has completely changed my relationship with Charlie. We went from having a full-time nanny when she was going to school and we didn’t have the quality time we needed. Now we don't have a nanny and we figure it out together. We spend so much time out in nature. It was exactly what I needed but I didn’t know I needed it.
Has working outside LA given you more time to be with your family?
I’m not working every day which gives me an opportunity to be at my house, with my kid, and explore Austin. I also get to use my creativity, not just in the show, but my juices are flowing to other opportunities on what I could create in tandem with shooting the show, which is nice.
When you do decide to sign onto a new project, what typically intrigues you the most? A message, a role, the team?
It’s a combination of all of them. The script has to speak to you and so does the character. I have read many incredible scripts but the character isn’t someone who I connected with. I think you have to be honest with yourself but not too honest because there have been times when I think I can’t do it and then I have gone in and gotten the role, so there is a fine line.
Sometimes we see ourselves one way and maybe not in a light we should. to switch subjects, From you Instagram, you seem to have a keen eye for interior design. Would you say you love to dabble in it?
The moment I walk into my home, I have to feel a sense of safety and serenity; it also has to feel aesthetically pleasing. If my house is messy or not organized, I don’t set myself up to succeed. I have always loved beautiful things and I had the opportunity to renovate this house when were were in the middle of quarantine. We were able to dive into it and I am impressed with how well it turned out. For the most part I did it myself; I had help from a designer friend, Erin Fetherston, who helped me with a few rooms but I did the rest myself and I loved it.
I think you have a another career on your hands.
I am trying to figure out how it will all work together and what I can do out here. I know there is a big calling out here for a great cafe, so maybe I’ll open something like that or a home shop. There are so many things I can throw myself into because I have the time.
I can’t wait to see! Is there anything else that you dream to do that you want to put out into the universe?
We would love to have another baby (Odette shared on social media that she recently suffered a miscarriage). It’s so many women’s struggle. I am so happy the conversation is opening up a bit more so that women don’t feel so lost. It can be such a frustrating thing, you always think that when you start your journey to motherhood that it’s going to be easy. You spend so many years trying to not get pregnant and then when you are ready, it can be an isolating and lonely journey. It shouldn’t be because so many women struggle with this. I have found so much peace in knowing that I wasn’t alone. However, it’s hard for our family and our kid Charlie, who is super maternal, she thrives around babies. It’s a bit difficult and makes me feel a bit more pressure to make it happen as quickly as we can. Our journey is going to be our journey and whatever happens, happens. If a doctor were to tell me it isn’t going to happen, I would understand that—I can wrap my head around that and we can move forward. It’s the possibilities and the unknown that drive me crazy. Because we are settled and loving our life here in Texas, I am manifesting hard for this baby to come to us whenever he or she is ready.
I’m sending prayers your way. Thank you for sharing your story.
I am really an open book and I like to talk about it because it’s important to talk about it. We have to feel all of things, whether it’s relief, happiness, or sadness. Wherever your journey is you have to feel it all, and manifestation is really powerful.