ROSE & IVY Rebecca Rittenhouse On Choosing A Creative Path, How Optimism Can Open Doors, and Her New Hulu series, 'Maggie'

Hi Rebecca, it’s great to meet you! Let’s start by chatting about Maggie, your new series on Hulu. I love how refreshing, relatable, and uplifting the series is, and your role as Maggie. What was your initial reaction when you were presented with the project?

My initial reaction was that it was very cute. My favorite movies are rom-coms from the 90s and 2000s, and they stopped getting made for a long time as the landscape shifted. We moved into a lot of dark and complex TV, there is definitely a place for things like that, but I definitely still craved some of the lighter, simpler, romantic comedies that I would watch over and over again.

Same, that era produced so many iconic movies. Did you have any favorites?

I loved Richard Curtis, so Nottinghill is one of my favorites. There are some newer ones too, I am a big Sandra Bullock fan and I love The Proposal, also Nancy Meyers, and anything Jane Austin based. The series reminded me of those things and I got excited about it. It was good timing for something like this because the world has been in such a dark place over the past couple of years. I felt like everyone needs a breath of fresh air. Initially, I was nervous how they were going to handle the psychic thing, but once I spoke with the showrunner, they made me feel more confident that it wasn't going to be a gimmick. They would use it as a way to dive into topics about identity, self-belief, trusting your gut, and intuition.

I think one of the relatable parts is having hope for finding the right person out there. Can you talk a bit more about the series without giving anything away for those who haven’t tuned in yet?

A big theme of this series is living in the present moment, not getting too far ahead of yourself and making assumptions about your life, future, or who you are supposed to be with. Those things can end up paralyzing you, at least that’s what happens with Maggie. She thinks she knows what is going to happen and it stops her from putting herself out there. I think people do that regardless of if they have psychic abilities. Everyone thinks they know but no one knows anything. Life is much stranger than fiction, we don’t know how things are going to turn out. Then there is of course the fear of choosing the right person. I think what often gets depicted in modern storytelling is the negative side of relationships—how difficult they are, how hard it is to stay married, and how most people get divorced, which isn’t true, but I think it’s how we subconsciously feel most of the time. I think the series is refreshing because it offers a much more hopeful take.

We all need hope in all areas of life, because that energy is contagious.

Life is so hard and we have to find a way to keep going. Optimism carries through and I do believe that when you carry that energy with you, more doors open and good things happen. You create your own reality with your thoughts.

I love that! How did you get into Maggie’s mindset? Did you do any digging into the psychic space? I’m personally fascinated with it!

I believe in it as well, I have a friend who is gifted in that way. She believes everyone has it but most people have been trained out of their own intuition and I think the show explores that a lot. It was nice talking to her because she said there is no right or wrong way to experience it—it’s individual for everyone. It gave me a lot of freedom in how I wanted to portray Maggie.

Can you relate at all to the character? Does it help to get into a role to be able to tether yourself to some aspect of her, or do you like to step into unknown territory?

She and I are in the same stages of our lives. We are in our early 3os, not married, we want to get married and have a family but also, it’s still so unclear about what is going to happen. There is still so much of our lives ahead of us. My parents are divorced, they got divorced when I was five, so that’s one of my big fears, choosing the wrong person and getting a divorce. Much like Maggie, I think it can prevent me from leaning in because I am always like, what if, what if, what if, what if it’s wrong?

If you could see into the future, when it comes to the good things in life, would you want to, or would you like to be surprised?

One thing I have learned from Maggie is that even if you see a glimpse of something good, you might not be seeing the whole picture. I think it’s better to make the best decisions you can with the facts you have in the present and understand that you are going to make mistakes, and try not to be too hard on yourself.

I think making mistakes is important because it shows you are trying and wanting to expand as a human.

I think that’s the whole point of the human experience, to grow, and to leave the earth wiser than when you arrived.

But now to go back to the beginning, what inspired you to pursue acting?

I told my parents when I was five that I was going to be an actor. I am from Pasadena but we were not an industry family. My mom was an accountant and my dad was an attorney—they were very much focused on education. I think my dad thought I was going to be a business person–I think he dreamed I would be running Proctor & Gamble or something like that. I wasn’t interested in that but I felt like I needed to be. I say this now and I think it’s sad but part of growing up was giving up on your dreams and doing something normal, that everyone else did, where you make money and it’s stable.

I woke up one day during my senior year of college at Penn while I was interviewing with a huge beverage company. I made it to the end of the interview process and I was sitting in the interview with these top guys who were grilling me. They told me, I didn’t belong here making beers with a bunch of guys. I remember thinking, I do not want this job but this job is so coveted; it’s a fast-track management at this big company. I tried to convince myself that I would be okay doing it but it was honestly such a wake-up call. I said if I didn’t get the job, I would go to acting school. I didn't get the job and I was incredibly grateful that I could go and do what I wanted to do. Luckily my parents decided to be supportive and said, go do acting school, and within a few years of auditioning, you will know if you have a shot. Four months into auditioning I got my first job and then a few months later I got my first series regular job. I was tutoring, when I was in acting school in New York, because I majored in Spanish and French, to help support myself.

How would you describe the road to where you are now?

It has been hard for sure, what a journey. It’s been nine years since I started and you do pay your dues. It’s so hard to get the roles you want and to get jobs from auditioning. Many people, and I understand this, want to hire people they know. Luckily that happened to me, I was on Mindy Kaling’s show, The Mindy Project, and then she hired me for Four Weddings and Funeral because she knew me. It was great that I could use my relationships and I think that’s how things work at the end of the day, just like in any other industry.

What do you know now that you wished you knew when you started?

I think I knew, on an intellectual level that I needed to be patient but I don’t think I really understood what that meant. Also, you need to have such blind confidence in your perspective, as an artist, to not be swayed to do something you don’t believe in just because someone wants you to. When you are auditioning for things, you need to be confident in your perspective–that doesn’t mean not being collaborative or taking notes–but you need to show up and say, I am an artist, this is my take on the material, and not feel bad if they don’t choose you. You have to put your blinders on and stay on your path.

It’s hard to have integrity sometimes but I believe it takes you across the finish line versus just selling out. you mentioned you worked with Mindy Kaling, what a force. did she or anyone offer you any advice that has helped you navigate your career?

I have learned an incredible amount from her on every level. She is one of the people I admire most and I feel so incredibly lucky to know. She’s not just an actress, writer, or producer, she’s all of those things and she’s a really good person. She helped me think through whether I should take this job—she’s so busy but she took a call from me to give me advice. She’s so professional, she never complains, she’s incredibly intelligent, she’s a great mom–she is everything I aspire to be.

Is there anything outside of acting that you do to stay inspired and excited?

I like making up recipes—I learned cooking from my mom, unfortunately she passed away a few years ago. It’s a nice way for me to feel connected to her. I love pilates—I love feeling physically strong. I love traveling, I just finished up a few trips with family and friends. I just came back from Italy and I did an impromptu trip down to St. Barths. I love traveling places where I can practice French.

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A special thank you to this team

Rebecca Rittenhouse On Choosing A Creative Path, How Optimism Can Open Doors, and Her New Hulu series, 'Maggie'