When you’re talking to someone as immensely talented and accomplished asChristine Baranski, it’s hard not to assume she always operates with the utmost confidence. After all, we’re talking about someone with one Emmy win, 14 Emmy nominations, three SAG awards and two Tonys amongst many other accolades. But,Collider Ladies Nightgives us the chance to look back on the most pivotal stages of honing ones craft and career aspirations and for Baranski, that meant discussing one of the scariest decisions she’s ever made - committing to a TV show.
January 1995 marked the beginning of Baranski’s first long run on a show with the premiere ofCybill.Cybill Shepardstarred as the title character, a struggling, aging actor, with the show following her from gig to gig. Baranski stepped in as Cybill’s best friend, Maryann Thorpe, who hit the jackpot courtesy of a divorce settlement and very much enjoys living large.
The show ran for four seasons and scored Baranski that Emmy win, but it turns out, Baranski was hesitant to commit to the show initially. Here’s how she put it:
“There are times in my career I definitely felt I had to be brave and make a decision. The biggest one, of course, was choosing to do television. I was so passionate about being a theater actor and when [production company] Carsey-Werner asked me to consider doing the best friend inCybill, I could tell just reading the script that that role had something. She was really, really witty and it was well written, but I was so ambivalent. I lay awake the night before I had to read for the network and I thought of calling my agent saying, ‘I can’t get on the plane. I just can’t get on that plane.’”
There were a number of factors contributing to Baranski’s hesitation to pursue the gig. She continued:
“It was a big life decision. I had children. I didn’t want ever to work in LA and it would have meant working in LA. So there were life decisions as well, and there was also that feeling like, ‘Do I really wanna be a television actress?’ They only give you one script, you know? It’s only the pilot script and yet the network wants you to sign on for, how many years? Five, seven? It terrified me, the commitment of doing it. But the script was written by a man named Chuck Lorre who is now one of the most successful men in television history, and he wrote that role. I smelled it off the page, just the rhythm of it and the one-liners, I thought, ‘You know, I think I could really do something with this.’”
Baranski did note, “The network head didn’t want me,” but after reading for Carsey-Werner, the role of Maryann was hers! Not only did Baranski find great success working onCybill, but it wound up opening a ton of doors for her beyond the show:
“Suddenly I went from being a theater actress to an actor who, you know how ubiquitous television is, suddenly everybody was seeing me. It was like, who is this new girl in town? She was only like 41-years-old. New girl in town! It opened up my career and while I was doingCybill, I got offered movie roles, and so that was a brave decision, a scary decision, but one that - I’m still working for CBS. I’m still working for that network and it opened up not only television, but more important film roles. It was a brave decision though.”
If you’re looking for more from Baranski, we’ve certainly got you covered! While you wait for the full Collider Ladies Night conversation scheduled to drop later this month, we’ll have select clips from the chat for you to check out. Keep an eye on Collider to hear about Baranski’s experience makingMamma Mia!, the red hot Netflix show she just binged watched, her hopes forThe Good FightSeason 5 and more!
