Phyllis Smith is exactly who you think she is—almost. She's a lot like her character, also named Phyllis, on the hit NBC series "The Office." She's sweet, kind, entirely lovable, and very funny. What you might not know is that she began her career as a dancer (at one point as a cheerleader for the St. Louis Cardinals—the football team), then worked in casting, then somewhat unknowingly happened upon her current job as an actor. She went to Cleveland High School, and she frequently revisits her stomping grounds in south St. Louis. Tomorrow, Smith will be a judge in the final round of the St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase at the Fox. Earlier this week (and in 2007), she talked to us about the competition, her career, what it was like to say goodbye to Steve Carell, her favorite places in St. Louis, and even hinted at what's to come for Phyllis—both of them.
What made you interested in judging this competition?
I just think it's such a great opportunity for the young talent in town, and I'm really excited to be a part of it. I was a dancer and now I’m an actor. I didn’t really realize it until somebody pointed it out to me, but I do have experience in talent. They gave [the judges] a list of what we should be judging, and there are six different things they want us to take note of. [The student's] technical ability, they want us to rate from 1 to 10; stage presence, which means their poise, their personality, the energy that they show; the interpretation of whatever it is they’re doing, the originality of it; the content, which I’m going to have to figure out exactly what they mean by content because every art is different; and just the overall performance and appearance of the act. In casting and whenever you’re judicating an audition, you know from having read literally thousands of actors, you look for the truth of whatever it is that they’re doing: Do they feel comfortable in their shoes? How much is it ingrained in them? As a dancer, you can judge the technical ability, which is pretty apparent—if they’re turned out, if they have their toes pointed, things like that. Acting is a whole nother facet of believability. I’m just going to go with my instinct and my gut, as I always have. I’m really looking forward to it. I think we have some pretty good talent here. I just think it’s fabulous that they get to perform at the Fox. The Fox itself is such a beautiful theater, and I don’t know about you, but every time I walk into that theater my daw jrops. [Laughs]. I mean my jaw drops. I think it’s pretty great. The people who have performed there in the past and the shows that they’re bringing in currently, it's just really impressive. My mother and I are going there to see "Jersey Boys" soon. This is such a unique opportunity for the schools and the teens here in St. Louis. I know as a performer when I was living here when I was a dancer, there were two things you had to look forward to and to work for every year: You had to audition for the Muny, and also at that time I was a ballet dancer and I auditioned for St. Louis Civic Ballet, and when St. Louis Dance Theater evolved I auditioned for that. I also did audition and was fortunate enough to be a Big Red cheerleader, but there were only those few things. At that point in time, theater in town wasn’t as evolved as it is now. I’m always blown away when I come back and see all the plays and new theaters, and it’s really great. This is just another little opportunity for the students to not only perform, but to also make contacts with the judges. The lady from New York who's originally from St. Louis, Betsy Capes—It's great to perform in front of someone who's actually working in New York City. Kudos to the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation for making that an option.
What advice would you give these kids when they come up to you and ask how to translate their talent into a career?
You have to know yourself. You have to know what your niche is. As an actor, you have to know if you're a leading man or woman, a character actor, where you fit in. Are you more comfortable in drama? Are you more comfortable in comedy? Are you truly a mix of both? The main thing is to be well-rounded in everything that you do. If your heart lies in dancing, make sure you do all kinds of dancing, and at the same time make sure you get some singing and acting lessons, because you never know what your path is going to be throughout the rest of your life. For me, I started out as a dancer but I somehow ended up as an actor, with many jobs along the way which in hindsight got me to the point where I am now. When I was here as a dancer I was fortunate enough to work with incredible professionals here in St. Louis. Marjorie Mendolia was my dance teacher. She worked with the San Carlo Opera Company, which I just thought was a nice ballet company. I didn't know the history of it. There wasn't the internet at that time. She was really a complete professional and she taught me how to be a professional—to be on time, to make sure I was prepared. Only in hindsight and prior to her death I watched a DVD on the making of the San Carlo Opera Company, and it was the company that was responsible for bring ballet to the United States. I wasn't aware of that at the time. I just thought she was a good teacher. I had no idea the history that she brought with her. I was fortunate enough in the dance field when I started off here to work with her, and then when I went out to L.A. and was pursuing musical theater and such, I ended up in casting, and there again was completely fortunate to work with casting directors who knew what they were doing. The first lady I worked for was with the MTM Studios, which is the Mary Tyler Moore studios, as head of casting there. I worked with a gentleman named Alan Hochberg, who taught me how to read with actors. Believe it or not, casting directors have to know what they're doing as well, and I was fortunate enough to work with him, and he really taught me the nitty gritty ropes of how to do that. And then Allison Jones, who I was working with for about seven years, we were doing "The Office." I was working as a casting associate on the show, and they were auditioning me and I had no clue. So for the young performers, if you would've told me 25 years ago that this is where my path would have led me—an actor on a wonderful show—I'd never believe it. So be prepared. The worst thing is to get an opportunity and not be prepared to accept it and to work in it.
I'm sure going from being behind the scenes as a casting director and then being on this huge show and being very recognizable must have been quite a transition.
It's been great. I have to tell you—It's a perk. I love it. [Laughs]. As a woman, you go through transitions in your life. I turned a few heads when I was in my 20s, and then when I got into my 30s, 40s, and 50s, that kind of waned. Literally when you walk into a bank or something the door shuts in your face like you're not even there. And now, it's a thrill for me to see people so happy. The fans of "The Office" are so joyous, and when they come up to you it's really a treat to engage with them.
I know that there's a lot of people on the cast from St. Louis, you and Jenna Fischer and now Ellie Kemper, is there a camaraderie between you?
Oh yeah. Actually I had met Jenna earlier. My first meeting with her was when she came in to audition for a show called "Freaks and Geeks." I wasn't even aware when she auditioned, but she came out and the casting director Allison Jones said, "This is Jenna Fischer from St. Louis," so we had something to talk about. We do have a camaraderie. And Ellie Kemper, who I think is from the Ladue area, came in, and she's a great kid. I love teasing her. And then we also have a fourth person who's behind the scenes, Rusty Mahmood, he's our first assistant director on the show and he's from the Bevo area. He's a great guy. He has one of the hardest jobs. He's the assistant director, so on the set he has to deal not only with the director but the actors and the production side of it, he has to coordinate everything and keep it cohesive and moving and on budget and on time.
So I read not too long ago that you all had a gooey butter cake-off. How did that go down?
We brought in our recipes, each of us had our recipes and we had a panel of judges—five judges, because there were four people so they had to have a tie-breaker. So we brought in our cakes, cut them up, and put the best pieces on colored cupcake things, and then we placed them in front of the judges. I think they ended up with a sugar high after all those cakes. It was fun though. Jenna won. I think it's going to open up a whole new set of activities at the office. I think we're going to have a chili cook-off and other things like that.
Who were the judges?
We picked from the crew. We had our caterer, who we thought would be a good choice. We had Angela, too. I contested that one because she's really good friends with Jenna, so I thought there was kind of an unfair advantage. We had Matt Sohn, who is our director of photography, and we had Kelly, who had been on a diet for like two months, and then in one sitting she had like four pieces of gooey butter cake. I think she was probably a little light-headed in the afternoon after that one. I can't remember who the fifth one was, but it was fun. And while the actual competition was going on, we saw people grabbing pieces.
Were they the traditional gooey butter cakes, or did you have variations?
Mine I think is more the traditional really gooey cake. Jenna had more of a caramelized topping on it. Ellie had never heard of the gooey butter cake and had never made one before, so she was freaking out. But she made two of them in case one didn't work out. We had all of our bases covered.
How often are you able to make it back to St. Louis?
I make it back pretty often, myself. I have a home and live in L.A., but my mom and my family are here, so whenever I'm on hiatus from the show I'm in St. Louis. I've got to be here for awhile now, and then I'll go back in the beginning of June. I have some press in L.A. for a movie that's coming out called Bad Teacher. It's with Cameron Diaz and it's coming out June 24, so we're having a press tour for it in L.A. that first weekend of June. And then it's opening after that, and I'll be going to the premier in New York.
Sounds fun.
I know. I just can't believe this is real. I play her best friend in this movie. And it's pretty... I just can't believe it happened.
When you come back to St. Louis is there anything you have to do or any place you have to go to?
Well I have my stomping grounds where I always hang out in South County. Eating-wise there are certain places you have to go to—you have to get a Cusanelli's pizza, you have to go to Ted Drewes. There's just no way you can come back to St. Louis without having those. My mom and I just recently went to Randy Grim's rescue place (Stray Rescue of St. Louis). We hope to go down there and work with them a little bit. And I try to get around town and say hello a little bit as well.
How has the transition been since Steve Carell left the show?
When he left, the energy was slightly different. We were fortunate to have had Will Ferrell with us. He was with us four episodes, so he did three while Michael was still there and then one after he left. It was a treat to work with him. He was a great guy. He's not pretentious, and he's just nice and funny. I'd like to see that character come back, but I don't know that it will. I think he'd be a good fit in the show. In the final week we had another few guest stars, so that was exciting. The energy was different with that, too. We had Ray Romano, James Spader, Ricky Gervais was there, so that was nice and interesting. It will never be the same without Steve. He was such... I'm starting to sound like I'm talking like he's dead... but he was such a great guy. He never changed in the seven years of the show, whether he was on the set or off. It was really difficult the last two weeks that he was working. In hair and makeup we'd look at each other and we'd start crying. You'd start to get emotional because you knew it was inevitable. It was tough. His character has done such a full circle. It was almost twice as sad because we knew Steve was leaving and that Michael Scott was leaving. We were happy for the character to go into this new world and to marry Holly, but at the same time it was really sad. The crew did a great tribute to Steve. They went around and had everyone describe him in one word and what their favorite memory was of him. It was just a very nice tribute to him.
In the last episode, one of the more prominent goodbyes was between your character and Michael Scott when you knit those mittens for him...
Oh I was really happy that in that episode I got to have such heartfelt interaction with him. I was really pleased with that, and I was really happy to have that opportunity.
Do you really knit?
They actually hired someone to knit various stages of the mittens. I can do one stitch. I can do the knit stitch, but I can't purl. I can only knit. I'm really good at that one stitch. They had the idea of me knitting in the pilot, Ken Kwapis did, so I had a crash course on set. I believe the makeup person and one of the prop ladies came and told me, "OK this is what you do." And I've done the same stitch almost every year. It's actually something I should try to pursue because I find it kind of relaxing. I actually did knit my mom a scarf once, you know, one stitch, fuzzy yarn so if you make a mistake it doesn't show. I have to have huge needles too.
So should we expect Phyllis's role to change or evolve at all with the new boss?
I don't even think the writers know the direction of the show now that Michael's gone. Actually, there is a nice story line coming out that we shot in the finale between Ellie Kemper and I. I don't know how much I'm allowed to let the cat out of the bag, but we had a really nice arc of things going on, so you'll see how that plays out. It's fun. I think it'll be a fun arc. The hint was that I said in the last episode that I gave a baby away...
Yeah that was pretty good. And so was the erotic cake joke.
[Laughs, Quotes herself.] "As a person who buys erotic cakes..." Well the original line was actually "As a person who buys a lot of cakes, I find it nice to be represented on one," and then while we were shooting it one of our writers came in and told me to throw in "erotic," so it turned into "As a person who buys a lot of erotic cakes..."I don't always know what gets cut, so when I see it on TV it's almost like watching it with fresh eyes. I always find it so interesting how a funny bit just seems to fly by, but then when I see it, it's like "Oh my gosh that is funny." It catches me off guard. Usually it's a scene between Michael and Dwight that gets me.
Rainn Wilson seems like he's as funny in real life as he is as Dwight...
Oh yeah he really is. He's like a hip nerd. He's kind of nerdy, but he's kind of on the cutting edge of everything as well. He's such a good dad too to his son. Walter was born during the "Hot Girl" episode in the first season. Walter was wanting to come out, so we always remember Walter's age because of when he was born. We've literally watched him grow up through the years. He's such an interesting little boy, and Rainn is such a good dad. When he brings him to the set he makes sure he says "hello" and "goodbye" to everyone. He says, "Walter she's talking to you." That's part of the ingredients of being a good parent, making sure the child is focused and directed and doesn't just walk around in his own little world. He's really good at that, and he's a good dad. And it's been neat to watch because as Walter has grown up, Rainn has grown up as well. I've seen him evolve as a person, and I think it's part of having the responsibility of a child. He's a good guy.
Well when we last interviewed you in 2007, you said you hadn't quite found "Mr. Right." Found him yet?
No I still haven't found "Mr. Right." Now I feel like if he comes, fine, if he doesn't, fine. I'm not going to raise anybody. I found some "almost rights" but not a "Mr. Right" yet. We'll see how that plays out. I'm not dead yet. I've learned things can happen when you least expect them, so you never know.
Anything else you want to add?
I'm just really pleased that the Fox Charitable Foundation is giving the opportunity to the young performers in St. Louis—that they have this opportunity to go through the two preliminary rounds and now the finals on Friday. It's just a great opportunity for these kids and kudos to the Fox for however this evolved and has taken shape into the event that it is. I think it's just great. And I'm glad to have this opportunity to be here, to be involved in it, and to have had things develop the way they have.
MORE ON PHYLLIS SMITH...
