April 14, 2021
Season 2, Episode 11 (Anna)
We were very lucky to have Anna come by and chat with us about her life and experiences through not only her lens but that of Hollywood too.
check out http://www.feedbacksupply.com
Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Q Lounge Podcast. I'm Eric and I'm Gil. Join us as we discuss news stories and life situations. As they relate to the LGBTQIAPK+ experience, please visit us at theQloungepodcast.com and hit that subscribe button or listen wherever you get your podcasts while you're there. Please leave us a five star review and don't forget to tell your friends.
Eric:Hello and welcome to The Q Lounge. I'm Eric and I'm Gil. And today we are joined by Anna, how are you doing today? Anna?
Anna:I am good guys. Nice to see
Eric:you. Good to see you as well. How's life treating you right now, especially in this COVID kind of world.
Anna:Like everybody just trudging through it, things seem to be getting better as far as just like what you're able to do, or I guess we're just getting acclimated to not being able to do anything, but yeah, too bad. I feel like it could definitely be worse off. So I'm just like, you know what, I'm just going to count my blessings as they come,
Eric:yeah, it w you're in Albuquerque right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it was a lot stricter for a hot minute. It's now starting to ease up a little bit.
Anna:Yeah. It was like, it got like super, super strict. And then now. My girlfriend tried to go to the zoo today with her son. And she was like, there's way too many people. So now it's like the other, like the pendulum has swung the other way and I'm just like, yeah. Or we could find a happy medium. That'd be nice.
Eric:That would be nice. People are like, as soon as you give them that little inch, they're like,
Gil:Oh, yeah.
Eric:Yeah. I noticed like with the restaurants opening, people think just because I'm sitting in a restaurant, I don't have to have a mask now. Like I can just take my mask off and have full on conversations. I'm like, yeah. Like only when you're eating or drinking. Consumption is the only time the mask comes off. Exactly.
Anna:I'm pretty sure not seen people like adhere to that rule at all. I'm pretty sure, like every time they're like out in any capacity, they're just like, okay, cool. So back to normal. And I'm like, no, man
Eric:yeah. That's pretty much how it is. What was it like for you to come out or what was your journey like and becoming part of the LGBTQ plus community?
Anna:Man, I feel like I have one of those kind of like unicorn, like super lucky stories because I grew up in a household where I. Like watched a lot of Ru Paul. I w one of my favorite movies growing up was Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. And it's because it's one of my mom's favorite movies and I grew up watching, like Designing Women. So like I had a lot of LGBT influence and like how to like a lot of my mom had a lot of queer friends too. So me coming out was a non-event I was very lucky because I basically I was nervous to tell her still, even though I was just like, she's gotta be cool with it, but all and so I was just like, one morning before I went to work, I was just like, mom, I have to tell you something. And she's yes. And I was like she was like, Oh yeah, no, I know I made waffles. Do you want any waffles? Okay. I'll get to work, but yeah, I've just been really fortunate because not only is my mom like super Not just accepting, but just like enthusiastically happy about the fact that I wasn't going to have a child in high school.
Eric:That's a definite
Anna:yeah. She was just like, woo no grand babies right now. I'm excited. But also like my family and my friends were also incredibly like accepting and like really loving and all of that. So I just was very fortunate. Throughout my entire journey in the LGBT
Gil:world. Yes. Awesome. Did you have any story, any personal struggles yourself that you dealt with or you were pretty like once you accepted your free for all kind of thing?
Anna:I think it was just more a struggle of trying to find myself within the community. I think one thing that a lot of us do is just we are under this guise of trying to be straight passing for so long that we're just like, okay, so full gay, like every stereotype. That is a queerness. I'm going to take it on who I am now, because this is what that means. But I think it's like all of us have those growing pains of being like, okay. So like I'm queer, but that doesn't have to define who I am as a person. Like I'm more than that. Like I have a personality. And so that was interesting. Cause like I know I definitely tried to present more stereotypically. Like feminine before like when coming out. Cause I always heard that, like I wa why would I want to date a girl that dresses like a dude, I would just date a dude and it was just like, there were girl. Oh, that makes sense. And yeah, so that was very interesting to try and navigate for sure.
Gil:Wow. Oh my goodness. And I was going to say, especially all of us coming out, we all have to, we all go through that same experience of like, where am I in this whole sphere? And especially in smaller communities, gay communities New Mexico or I'm sure like Nevada outside of Vegas is that they that's all, is that stereotype also, so it's Oh yeah, I have to feed into it. Growing up the Bay gay was everywhere. So it was yeah. We own everything that skyscraper, we built that we designed it. That's ours. Oh, that's awesome. Do you have any projects that you're working
Anna:on right now? Yeah, I just finished a 24 film. Jesse Eisenberg is directing it and it's starring Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, that was a lot of fun to do. Jesse is a frickin sweetheart. And so is Finn, and made some good friends on set and got to play so blood because I am obviously queer and I, my character is non binary. And but like I'm more conservative, like my character is, which is funny, but
Gil:yeah. Oh, we got that. I think
Anna:I did. So that wraps like a few, like a couple of weeks ago. And then before that I did like another episode of Roswell New Mexico it's on the CW,
Gil:so yeah. Yeah. That is awesome. That's I didn't even know that's so cool. How did you get into the industry? Because that's always hard to crack it. I know everyone was like, I'm going to LA. So how did you go about,
Anna:For me it was more of it was like a journey of trying to convince myself like, Hey, you can do it. And so once I had decided I was again I don't know, I'm going to say. They fortunate. That's just the best way I can describe it. Like fortunate to have met people. That had already been in the industry for a certain amount of time and knew how to get started. So I worked with a guy that had been professionally acting for a few years and he was like, Hey, take this class. I took the class. That person ended up liking me. She referred me to my local agent in New Mexico and it just shot off from there. Yeah.
Eric:Oh, awesome. I've actually been thinking about getting back into acting the last like month or two. So
Gil:yeah,
Anna:I say, do it, man, New Mexico is just like a hotbed. Yeah,
Gil:I was gonna say that's where everyone's putting up their recordings and was Netflix, correct? I think it's out there.
Anna:Yeah. Netflix, NBC, Amazon, and other studios.
Gil:Yeah. Okay. And do you were you ever advised to either steer away from the queer image or was it more play your role that fits you? Or what, was there any kind of push with that?
Anna:So it's actually like something that I've had to sit down with my team about, so like first, like when I first started. It was definitely like, we're just going to, like, when you're working in New Mexico market is just like who at whatever you're able to like audition for essentially. But once you start like branching out in like bigger markets, you niche down into like your type kind of thing and very much. So my type is just like outwardly queer very out and proud. And most of the time non-binary. Or something within that spectrum of things. And I've never been advised to steer away from cause like in my opinion, I look super gay according to random men I've met on the street that is up in the air. But that aside, like. For most people, I think people look at me and they're just like, that looks like a person that's most likely a part of the LGBT community or they're just edgy. Type that I usually go for either edgy or like obviously gay.
Gil:Okay,
Eric:cool. And do you notice that the role that you get are that people steer you to like might be more stereotypical or pretty open-ended.
Anna:It's pretty open-ended I've played like, cause like you have the the nonbinary conservative character, I've played a nurse. I played like a punk rock gang member. I've played a, 15 year old lesbian in a Disney movie. It just spans all over the place. And I love that because I like being able to put on like different hats instead of having to be like, Oh, okay. So I'm just playing this page person again, just in different like circumstances.
Gil:Awesome. What is your future role that you want to be a star of at the you've thought about? I would love to be on XYZ or any kind of show. So maybe perhaps that are current.
Anna:Oh, I would love to work with someone in particular and I would love to do something in particular. I would love to work with McKayla Cole because she's a genius. And just like a phenomenal actress and writer, producer, all of that. And I just really desperately want someone to let me play some type of supernatural thing that isn't completely lame because like I played a witch and I was so stoked to play a witch man. Like I cannot express to you how excited that was. There's I'm going to look so cool. Cause I have a leather and then I got to set for my fitting. And it was a lot of like burlap and a lot of beige. And I was like, but I want to play like a, bad-ass like supernatural character so bad because I know how ridiculous it is. As an act, because like when you see it in posts and like the special effects and stuff, you're just like, Oh, that's cool. But when you're doing it as an actor, you're like, I look like an idiot. But it's super fun to do
Gil:this. So I was actually rapping back to the community. I have a question for you because you fit a lot of buckets of your, a person of color. You are part of the queer community and you're a female. So have you had any discriminations through either trying to get work or also within the community with social media? Oh no fems, no gays, no, this, no, that.
Anna:I would say, like being in my career, I haven't to my face, at least it had any type of like discrimination. I was like, I will say that is what took me so long. To get into the industry because I was like super, like aware of the fact that I was like, there's nobody on TV that looks like you, dude. I was just you look in my opinion, super queer, like outwardly queer. Like you don't see me. Queer women or queer non-binary people that don't present feminine in a way or androgynous, there's, it has to be either those two things, because as far as like the female part of it, usually that character, that queer female character ends up being like, Oh, I also I'm just like fine. Bisexual people, pansexual people exist, but you have to also realize like there are masc, lesbians, are masc, pan people masc bi women like you have to represent more people. And because I didn't see myself like mirrored in the things that I was consuming, I was just like, this probably isn't the career path for you, but I did it anyway. And boom, now I get to be there for other people, but yeah, so far, no discrimination. To my face again, I will say because a lot of things happen behind the scenes that I'm sure have been said. That just wasn't that hasn't gotten back to me or my team.
Gil:That's awesome. That's a good thing. That's progress.
Anna:I'm fortunate because since my like professional career started, like there's been a giant push for representation and a lot of the categories that I tick off. So it. It makes it's very advantages for a lot of the queer community and especially like the BI POC queer community to be able to break into the industry as before even if it were like five years ago, it's very much so like playing stereotypes or like the dead gays trope where one of us or both of us ends up dying or contracting AIDS or something at the end of it. But now we get to tell like fully fleshed out stories and actually be people, instead of like caricatures of what they think the gay community is.
Eric:Yeah. That's always been like a thing with Hollywood in the past. They've always made the gay character, the caricature, like you said, or the sidekick who's has this little tragic story or they're going to die or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. How do you think we're moving with the representation compared to where we were like, what are your thoughts on our progress?
Anna:It goes back and forth because sometimes I'm just like, Oh man, like we've come really far. So like seeing shows like Pose and me too, I'm super sad there.
Eric:I know. Let's say I was super sad to find out that they are only having seven episodes in the third season. And it's the final season.
Anna:I don't even know. It was only seven
Eric:episodes. Yeah. They're releasing the first two May 2nd. And then it's only going to go on for a month.
Gil:Oh my
Eric:gosh. I was like, that is such a slap in the face to that show.
Gil:Seriously.
Anna:I feel like they didn't know. I'm going to go onto a tangent. Okay. Let it go. Let it go. I honestly, I, okay. So specifically with Pose and we will come back to it. I feel like they didn't know where they were going with this story because they focus so heavily. Like basically they try to emulate Paris is burning and the first season, and. Because of that. Once they get out of the eighties and went into the nineties, I was like, there wasn't a lot of places they could go. So I had a feeling, they weren't going to have a lot of seasons and I think that's why they're hastily wrapping it up. And the third one, which I'm sad about, but I hope they do it justice because Janet Mock is my girl and she usually kills it. So yeah. Fingers crossed. Yes, but let's go back to your question. What was it?
Eric:It was it was about the progress in representation.
Anna:Representation. Yes. Okay. So I feel like we have made a lot of strides, so I especially cause a lot of the creators I like, so like Janet Mock and Lena Waithe and like Mikayla Cole and all of these people. They're in the Testament to the progress that has been made at the same time, though, you have like instances where a couple of weeks ago I had to have this conversation with like my manager and with my agent at the time, not an agent anymore, but Where I was submitted for a role for a trans woman. And I was just like, in my personal opinion, I feel morally obligated to advocate for trans actors being able to play parts that honestly, I feel that they should only be able to play my reason for that. Is that even though, like I'm non binary or I can I feel comfortable. Like with any pronouns, it's a completely different story as opposed to being like transgender, so I feel like I could play, I could be afforded to do more auditions and play more roles. Then some of my counterparts in the trans community would be able to, and it's not right for me to take up space where they have such limited space to begin with. But the way that the industry does it though, is like, when you're submitting non-binary and trans are together, like you don't, you aren't a fool to choose either or they are just lumped up together. And I find that problematic personally.
Eric:Yeah, absolutely.
Gil:Yeah. Do you have any favorite films or shows that are out right now that have to you like the best representation? Or pretty decent
Anna:I'm actually really bad cause like I'm supposed to watch way more TV than I do.
Gil:Yes.
Anna:I honestly don't watch a lot of TV and I'm trying to remember what I do watch on television right now, or even like a movie. Goodness. What was the last thing I saw? I think the last thing I saw with Soul.
Gil:We could always change it. What was your favorite? Do you have a favorite queer? Movie of all time series.
Anna:Okay. So what are they were queer movies had no freaking queer people in it, except like a Rupaul, but like I already said, like Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar, like that is a staple in my childhood Gigi Rodriguez. Was my like inspiration for so many things. Go off Johnny legs in that role. Cause like I just thought it was so cool. Like even as a little kid, I understood. Like how much it meant to have these leading like Hollywood dudes doing this. And I was just like, dope. I appreciate all of these guys that are in this. Would I have been happier if it were people from the community? Absolutely. But I felt like they did a really good job for the time that it came out of. So I'm always going to love that movie has really good rewatch value. So
Gil:yeah.
Eric:We actually just had a conversation with somebody and they were talking about getting, having gay actors versus straight actors playing gay parts. And they were saying that sometimes, even though they strive the strive to Do that with their movies. Sometimes it's about getting that Hollywood billing. If you have this actor, who's going to bring in more people so you can get the story out there. More consumers I guess that's not the right word for better consumption, by the general public. Sometimes that's the better route to go because then you can get the story out there because a lot of your queer actors are not going to have that name draw. So the story is not going to get as far. Do you have any opinions on that? Yeah.
Anna:Yeah. I was like, I feel like it has some validity, but I also feel like it's a little bit of a cop out because you have like movies, like Prom that come out and I was just like, not one, you couldn't find one queer actor because. All right. Cool. But yeah, cause like I haven't seen that movie, but like I definitely know, like there's a better way to do it. It's like the same thing that you had with the movie that came out with Stonewall. Which focused on this little, like country white boy that came from not in New York and like his journey through that era. And I was just like for novel idea, we could make a movie about Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia. Okay. Yeah,
Gil:that's cool too.
Anna:But yeah, I feel like. The industry as much as it is like trying to grow. And I feel like it's growing a lot more. Or a lot faster than the fashion industry is it still has a long way to go. And I feel like people can get comfortable with making excuses because it's easier for them, but yeah. Cause like you had the whole thing, like I have, like another instance would be like the Pitch Perfect series. I think anybody with eyes and a brain. Great who saw the first movie was like, Oh, there's a lot of gay energy in this movie. And then it's it just never came to fruition, but they definitely played up to the queerness of it because they knew their demographic was majorily teenage lesbians or queer women that are like myself and real sad. It really way too invested in queer female relationships, movies. But yeah.
Eric:Yeah, I always do find it interesting that as like vocal as Hollywood is, it's still not as progressive as you would think it is.
Anna:No, absolutely not. I feel like I said I feel like they're definitely making strides and I appreciate the change that has happened. And I think that it's one of those things where we have to keep. Like moving the goalpost instead of just like resting once we've made little progress, because like we made progress, like Pose came out, it's a huge hit, but it didn't have a big name. It had Ryan Murphy's name attached to it. But as an executive producer and they did. They did very well. So I don't feel like they have the excuse to say that anymore. Because like you have that Pose came out and then Prom came out again and then it's just like Nicole Kidman. Was it Meryl? Was Marilyn it, yeah. Yeah. It was just like, yeah. And I was like, Hey, James is up for a Golden Globe. What's the deal. Yeah. Yeah.
Eric:He was, he
Anna:was, yeah. Yeah. And I was like, no shade to James, but I really think that we have to be very like conscious of like how w what we're presenting to people and what we think is acceptable behavior. Because when you have a queer man in charge of this movie, And hires zero queer people to tell a story about queerness, like what exactly is the message that we're sending,
Gil:Yeah. I wonder if it's the big conservatism comes towards the financial aspect of it and that's what limits the marketing or what they deem marketable people. That's why the queer part, I think that's a lot of that's to do with. Overall because of the arts, what's going to make you money actors, actresses, to movies, all of that. That's going to drive it in besides the music industry, which could be probably the other one, as much as I know, there's a lot of gays in the, in, in the arts in general. I think it, especially with, as the more money that's pouring into less or the more conservative, because if you take any acting that half of them are gay and I'm like, wait, where did you all go? They all disappeared. How was it possible? You felt all the straight men in Hollywood. Yeah,
Anna:there's just like they're few and far in between, but you found all five of them.
Gil:Or are all the gay films are going to be with Neil, Patrick Harris, all of them. We need to
Anna:one gay. Can we get them in this too? Is that
Gil:every movie they're done
Anna:pretty? Much? Yeah. Oh my
Gil:goodness. Do you have any other projects outside of the film industry that you've been working on during the COVID era? Some people took on baking Eric and I took on podcasting apparently.
Anna:I, me and my, one of my really good friends and I call him my brother, cause like we're just really close. We actually created a clothing line and it's called a feedback supply. And it's just like it's streetwear. But it's also just like it's by service workers for service workers. So a lot of it like nods to like the daily grievances of working in the service industry as well as like things to help manage the stress of working in the service industry. So we have CBD bath bombs and little kits have like stuff you'll need it, like work and stuff like that. But also just like clothing and things like that. So that's awesome.
Eric:Do you have a website or anything?
Anna:Yeah, it's just feedback. supply.com.
Eric:Okay. And we'll make sure we put that on the show notes.
Gil:That is so awesome. Anyone who survives out there who's listening survives with the service industry? Lord knows. Oh, every day,
Anna:working with the general public is it's a special thing. It's a special thing. And I think that's the best thing I can say about it. It's
Gil:never a dull moment.
Anna:Seriously though. Like every day, there's another story to tell of can you believe this happened? They're just like, yeah, honestly, at this point I'm desensitized to it, but I can't imagine those like working in the general public during COVID though. Cause like I've been fortunate where I haven't had to do that and I can't imagine, and I commend to every single person. That is doing it because my goodness.
Gil:Yeah, that's good. That's my world. I was like, I'm double masked. And eventually we're going to get my little face shield because I'm like, Oh, these people, we're starting to see an uptick of people in the city. So I'm just like, Oh, here we go. Here we go. See Lysol, everyone down pretty much.
Anna:I swear, like you get like a little bit of okay, we're good. And they're like, okay, so we're good. Good. And I'm like no, please put your mask back on. Cause like when I was even in LA, like back in October when things were even considered like more serious, like I was like walking around. And maybe out of five people, like two, maybe three would have a mask on. And I was like, please take this seriously, but,
Gil:okay.
Eric:Yeah. I'm amazed at how many people just shrug it off or get into our hall. It impedes on my rights. I'm not going to go in that, to that direction today, but yeah, it's just always interesting to me.
Gil:Are you saying the republicans got it wrong, Eric. I am completely shocked by that statement.
Anna:What do you mean or, Oh my gosh, like Texas, my goodness. Oh my
Eric:God. Yeah.
Gil:Huh?
Eric:Did you see Megan? Thee stallion is like raising money to rebuild homes for the elderly and single mothers. Oh, that's for he's awesome. I saw, I heard that and I was like, damn like that woman is definitely putting her money where her mouth is like good for her.
Anna:She's awesome. I really like her and I have you guys, do you guys know the show? Legendary.
Eric:I know of the show, but I don't, I've never seen this show have not.
Anna:Do you know what it is? Gil?
Gil:No, not at all.
Anna:So it's basically it, after Pose was very popular. They're like, Ooh, we can make more money off of HBO, max has a show it's called Legendary and it's the competition show, but it's balls. Like the New York balls that they have. And Megan, the stallion is a judge on one of the shows or she's a judge on the show, just like one of the main judges. And I was like a, I stand that you did. She took her favorite dancers from the show and put them in one of her music videos. And I was like, yes, come through. Ma'am come through.
Eric:Awesome. I'm going to have to check that show out because I love the whole ball culture. Oh
Gil:yeah. oh me too, man.
Anna:Me too. I was very sad. Cause like I went to New York for my friend's birthday and I desperately wanted to go to a ball, but apparently none of them were happening during that time.
Eric:Yeah. I was talking to a friend of mine. I was like, we need us do a ball out here in Albuquerque or something. I don't know how that would go over,
Anna:but that'd be cool. Yeah. I think it would be fun. I feel like we, I feel like we could throw a pretty good kiki in it. ABQ man I don't know. I feel like it'd be cool.
Eric:Nice. I think it'd be fun
Gil:After COVID-19 yes,
Anna:that'll be our time to shine.
Gil:Oh my gosh. I know. I keep dreaming of the days. I'm like, Oh, when we're able to be post COVID whenever that day happens, but I feel like we're still quite some time away.
Anna:Seriously. It makes me sad. Cause like we just hit like our one year anniversary. And I was just like,
Gil:I thought I was going to be down.
Anna:I thought this was going to be a couple months maybe, 365 days in like off Broadway. Presentation of rent,
Gil:here comes the show evicted the 20, 20, sorry. I should have. Yeah. I really genuinely thought during COVID I was like, Oh, this is two to three weeks. Maybe that we'll be back to normal. Yeah. and then one month, two months, I was furloughed and I'm like, Oh, this is real. This is really serious. Oh yeah.
Eric:Yeah. The sad thing is I was like, my life didn't change hardly at all.
Gil:Oh, okay.
Eric:No, I don't. I had to close my acupuncture clinic and I, my other part-time jobs. I was furloughed for a minute. And then we were closed for six months with another one. So that all changed. But as far as I'm super introverted. So I'm like not being around people. I was like, okay. Yeah. Like I do this all the time anyway.
Gil:Yeah. I see him on the dance floor. You would not think he's introverted. I can tell you now put on some Janet and Oh, my, the queen is here. We're going. I love it. Oh, yes.
Eric:Yeah. You put me, yeah. Put me on stage or in front of a camera and I'm like completely a different person, but you bring me to my real life and I'm like, hi,
Anna:it's okay. I feel like it's nice to have a balance, so nothing wrong with it at all. But your dancing queen, self-care
Eric:a spotlight follows me wherever I walk
Anna:as soon as you come out of their front door. Yeah, no, I feel like when it comes to certain things like going into COVID, I was like, we should hold on to this though. Like when everything's not okay. Deaths, surrounded and like those extra cleaning things. You're doing the fact that, so many people had to be taught how to wash their hands. That was alarming, the wipe downs on planes, which I G seriously, like I was just shook, like just shook when they were like, Oh, now we're wiping down the chairs of the plane after every year. Whatever after every flight. And I was like, so we worked and discuss it, but all I'm just genuinely concerned about how much, how dirty things were before. But Hey, if we could just keep up with the cleanliness level, but not have the death threat, that'd be nice. It also, if people could continue to be six feet away from me, that'd be great while
Gil:I don't
Anna:have no problem with keeping
Eric:that rule. And I also think that people need to, I don't know if people are tipping better. I know I'm tipping even better than I normally did anyway. So people need to continue to tip better. Yeah,
Gil:I agree. I agree.
Anna:Yeah, it was like better. Or we could just pay people a living wage.
Gil:Yeah.
Eric:One of the two, but that just got voted down. So
Gil:I totally understand.
Anna:I don't know. Does it doesn't make sense? Cause if you literally can just look at the math and you're just like, okay, so this and this. Annually and that's below the poverty. Oh, we're starting below
Gil:the, okay, cool.
Eric:Everybody there's no unfair shots in this country.
Anna:Yeah. Oh really?
Gil:Yeah. I don't get it in there. Do I? No, it's okay. Most of the people in office will be dead within the next 15 years, if that, so it's a matter of us getting politically active.
Anna:It's crazy. Cause I think someone did like a, made a chart of like youngest to oldest in the like Senate and the house and stuff. The youngest person was. I was like, bro. Oh do we want to talk about that's not good. You can't have someone that grew up during the, for now if they think they're going to be different, but sure.
Gil:It's time to re get some new young blood. For what millennials and gen Z's are taking over anyways. So it's,
Eric:they definitely needs to be young blood and there needs to be term
Gil:limits. Yeah. Term limits. Term limits. Yes.
Anna:Like you shouldn't be able to hold an office for half a century. That's not okay.
Gil:Not okay. I was going to say, I thought America was against the whole just what is it like the Kings and Queens where people are just in there just to be in there. Yeah. Forever. Yeah.
Anna:That line from. Yes, but it makes me think of that line from Hamilton where George Washington stepping down and King George is singing about it. And he's I didn't know. That was something you were able to do. It is just apparently we forgot that too. I don't know.
Gil:Yeah.
Eric:So how have you ever been pigeonholed into any type of stereotype or do you feel like I'm sorry I'm changing the subject? Do you feel like you've ever been pigeonholed in the stereotype, like in, in life or do you think you fit any stereotypes?
Gil:Ooh,
Anna:Sure cause, like when. Yay. I'm glad we're friends. Cause I've always wanted a sassy black friend. I was all well, we're not friends now, but I'm glad you were able to check that off your list.
Gil:Wow. Wow. Wow.
Anna:But, yeah, so there's that. And I was like, I think like a lot of the times because in my industry specifically, I, so many times people are like shit. That's not going, wait, am I allowed to curse? Oh yeah.
Eric:You can press as much as you fucking want. Yes. Ma'am yeah.
Gil:Yes, absolutely.
Anna:Explicit content. Explicit content is checked on here for Disney. So my mind's like he'll say, okay. Okay. I've had, so I had two agents at this point and one manager and every time they're just like how. How is it? I have only like the, all of the black clients that can't do, like the stereotypical black roles kind of thing. And it's not they're not saying it in like a negative way. It's just if they'll send me a role where I have to do like the stereotypical type of thing where I'm supposed to be like more like aggressive or could, if I try to do that, like I'll have to redo that tape. Crap ton of times because we're managers, like that's not, it, that's not it. You would get beaten up so fast if anybody's anybody. And I'm like, I know, but I don't have this in me. I had this one role. That I had to I had like my, the person I was playing was supposed to have just gotten out of jail and I was like, girl, I just spent my whole life making sure I don't go. So I don't know what that would be,
Gil:but
Anna:literally I've seen people like, Oh, I'll just take a grape. I'm like, not be that. I won't be doing that because no matter what, any type of Static my way. I'm good.
Eric:Yeah. I remember I was reading for a part and I had to have a, in New Mexico. You like the South Valley accent. And I don't have that type of accent and I can't do that type of acts.
Gil:I know homie. You're like, Oh no.
Anna:Oh my gosh. Yeah, no, it was funny. I had to actually had to do. A Spanish accent for something and I was all okay. Sure. Why not? I didn't get it in case anybody was wondering, but yeah, I've been in New Mexico. I can try,
Gil:try,
Anna:keep it Albuquerque. I'm pretty sure she could do it.
Gil:Oh, my goodness. Let's see. I always ask this, do you have a musical diva or King?
Anna:I was like, I don't know what that means.
Gil:Do you have a diva? Yes.
Anna:Or what does that mean? That's the one I really liked.
Eric:Yeah. Like Janet Jackson's my whole entire world. Like I would stop or just for her. And I can talk about her for like hours upon hours and days and years. And. To me, she epitomizes everything. That's right. With the human experience. So
Gil:that's fair.
Eric:Yeah. Do you have any
Anna:So I was like, I don't know if I have a lot of people that like inspired me. I think the person that comes to mind, there's two people Three there's three goodness. Okay. Anyway, so India Ari for like my calm peaceful side, like when I'm like overwhelmed and you know what, I've got to sit out and I've got to get in touch with my soul and whatnot. Ariana Grande day. I love her just in general. I think everybody understands.
Eric:Did you see her? God is a woman, her that in the documentary, like she did that whole last supper thing. I was like, Oh my God. I was so happy about that.
Anna:No, she's awesome. I love her like I love her voice and that in like her talent in general is what I am attracted to also, I think she's pretty, but also anybody that has like a huge platform that is advocating for a community, they're not actually a part of. Because they're just like, try to be a good person. I'm about it. I'm going to be there. Just I don't really enjoy Taylor Swift's music, but I stan her as a person because she is an ally to the LGBTQ, LGBT community and like fights for women's rights and things like that. So I'm like cool. Good people. Are the people, no matter what third person is Jazmine Sullivan because
Eric:she did such an amazing job. It's
Gil:amazing.
Eric:Yeah, she did an amazing job at the super bowl. Those
Anna:are my three.
Eric:Awesome. And what is it about them? Yeah, she did the star Spangled banner. She did a duet with a country singer.
Anna:Oh, wow. See, I don't watch the sports ball, so it's like afterward, it takes me a minute to know. About them honestly, like the confidence and the talent, because it's one of those things where it's like watching a dancer in a performance, like you can tell, like when someone's really into it and passionate about it and they're just really good at what they do so good that it inspires you to want to do something. Maybe not the same thing, but it's an inspiration of sorts. And watching them be just exceptional at what they do makes me want to bring my best to the things that I'm passionate about. Oh,
Eric:awesome. That's great. Do you have any advice you would give to a younger you
Anna:don't listen. To society or Western Eurocentric. Beauty standards. My God, that would have saved me a lot of time for sure. Cause I think just growing up, especially growing up in like the nineties and stuff and like the early two thousands, my God, that was a rough time for everyone. I feel like But like growing up during that time, it's very easy to be like, Oh I don't look like Paris Hilton. And that means I'm not going to succeed in life. Or I don't have X, Y, and Z, like just sitting down with my younger self and being like, Hey bro, you are actually going to get where you want to be. It's just patience and like preparation and believing in like who you are,
Gil:that's not good advice. That is good advice.
Anna:It's more like the mantra I tell myself every morning, it's Hey, don't forget, because you're going to hear no,
Gil:like the time
Anna:is today. Don't forget. You're still good. Like that.
Gil:I was like, I don't know. Sorry. Can you hear me? Okay.
Anna:My catching up now, can you hear me? Can you hear me now? I can hear you now. Okay. Okay.
Gil:Yay. So you're empowered speech. One more time at the very end.
Anna:What was I going to say? I don't know. I tell myself, I wake up every morning and I tell myself that I've got to just believe in who I am and like, have that self-assuredness cause I'm going to hear no like a million times throughout the day and that no, can't define who I am.
Gil:That's awesome.
Eric:That is awesome. Yeah. I need to learn that.
Anna:It's hard, man. It's freaking hard.
Eric:So what do you think about the progress that the LGBTQ community has made in society? I know we talked a little bit about Hollywood and then movies, but as far as representation, but as far as society at large,
Anna:I would say it's very interesting because I felt like for a time specifically not to make it like political again, specifically before the Trump era, that as a community, we were working to get better. As far as like the issues we have within the community in general, and then somehow that got worse. Like when you have like log cabin gays and things like that, where it's very obvious, like who is like a part of that community and just like the discrimination within our own community seems to have gotten like, in my opinion, worse. But maybe I just didn't see it full fledged before now. There's just, I feel like. There's an undercurrent of like the BIPOC and queers being like, Hey, we're not going to take your shit anymore. And it ruffling a bit of feathers. And then also the newer generation of LGBTQ people being more like, like being less transphobic because unfortunately that is still an issue within our community. So you have the younger gays, like us. That are just like, okay, they're a part of our community and we need to treat them the same way we would treat anybody in the community and be there for each other and support each other in advocating ally. As opposed to the older generation of like gays that came before that unfortunately has a very tall, thick and patriarchal mentality. And I'm not saying it's like completely their fault. It was like the era in which they grew up, but you have the things you're watching, like the documentary, like Paris is burning. So I forget, but they were like, he was like I'm not trans. I joined. I was like, that's absolutely acceptable. Like you however you identify, it's how you identify. But it's one of those things where You could tell there was a negative connotation associated with it. And I think if that weren't there, they would have the freedom to really explore who they were. But because they came from an older generation, they're just Oh no, not that I'm different, but I'm not that different kind of thing. But yeah, I think there's just like a lot of That coming to a head and us like pushing back, like the younger generation would be like, no, you can't say things like that. And you can't like try to exclude the trans community from the LGBT community. Like we're all under the same umbrella of queer and we're only going to get forward if we uplift each other kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. I feel like we're making progression, but I also feel like there's been some setbacks, but those setbacks have put a spotlight onto those things that we were having issues with, that we shied away from, or didn't want to talk about. Cause racism within the LGBT community is a huge thing. And like up until recently, no one would have said anything about it, but
Gil:yeah. Yeah.
Eric:And what have you noticed as far as would you like to elaborate on that a little bit,
Anna:Racism in the community or, Oh, it's just like one of those things it's like on Grindr, which I'm not on. Obviously I am not a gay man. But it's like one of those things where it's just They're like no Blacks, no, this that I don't know about. And like it's really common. Yeah. It is just that is so gross. Like how could you think that is an acceptable thing to say, and then not only did one person think it was yeah. And that's absolutely fine, but when you're just like, no Blacks, not because of any discerning character flaw in this person, but simply because of the way that they were born. Yeah, that's cause. You're racist, baby. I don't know if but You racist, but, okay.
Eric:Yeah. No I agree. I am on Grindr and so yeah, I see a lot of that and you're just like, and block, we will never get along. block.
Gil:Yeah.
Anna:That's smart though. Like I think it's one of those. Oh,
go
Gil:ahead. I'll just say like I dated before that became a thing, like right before that, where you can order a boy online and he comes to your house. Like I am part of the old Morse code days, or knock onto the local restroom or was a Craigslist it's so long ago what is this? Actually put a preference. I was like, whatever. Yeah. But know what you're talking about. It's
Anna:male, male.
Gil:It, and for us, it's even like when I'm on the tiktoks, when you see it, it's the same thing. It's such a favoritism of white gay shaking doing absolutely no movement getting 900,000 likes, but the same person of color doing it, 50 likes, maybe a thousand, but the same thing it's very rapid
Anna:or even like the worst part of it. It's not even just just that. Yeah. Or like that person, like the person of color made the dance and then they'll have a white like twink or something. Co-opted and then it just blows up and go to viral. Yeah.
Gil:Yeah, it's a cool
Anna:thing. It's a
Eric:whole thing. That's part of the white privilege though, as well. Yeah. And you'll see a lot of the white gays who will hold onto the fact that they still have like that. And they have the male privilege because this country is founded on toxic masculinity and white male fragility. And so they'll hold on to that male privilege and then they hold onto that white privilege. So then they have that. So even though they have the queer thing against them in society's eyes, quote unquote, they still have those two aspects of them that let them get away with everything in their eyes. And so it keeps them up here. Look at the whole situation or the gay situation, so they were like, Oh yeah, we're still gonna party because it's our right. We're going to go to another country. It's a party because it's our right. Of course their boats capsize, which was funny, but Yeah. So I think that's definitely part of the problem at large, as far as like within the community and within society in general, the one thing I have said, and I've said this a few times on our podcast and past episodes, the only good thing give homeboy 45 credit for is that he exposed all the bullshit and racism that was plaguing the country that we just, like you said, shied away from, or just glazed over. And now it's just boom, in your face. So now you have to deal with it, correct? You have to make sure that it ends.
Gil:It was all those microaggressions that were there we needed
Anna:to do there. Yes, absolutely. Like the microaggressions more than anything, because I was just like, I think everybody got comfortable with the idea. They were just like, Oh, we can't overtly be racist, but we can do X, Y, and Z. And this is acceptable behavior. And now people are like, it is not. And they're like, what? What do you mean I'm going to get my dome rock. If you, if I call you like something out of your name, it means exactly that man, but yeah. Or just the, like how you were saying even with the log cabin gays, it's like one of those things it's like, You can be queer. So just because you're a part of a group that experiences oppression, doesn't mean that you are always an ally and it doesn't mean that you are always going to understand someone else's struggle because like log cabin gays. If you don't know what they are, it is the the gay party for Trump, which was primarily if not a hundred percent comprised of. White middle-class to upper-class gay men, CIS gay men. And I was just like, to me, what you're saying is that like everyone, everything everyone else is going through is fine. You don't care. And at the end of the day, even though your queerness creates like a little bit of a struggle for you, cause if you're rich, let's be real. It really doesn't matter. It creates a little bit of a struggle for you, your maleness and your whiteness supersedes your queerness. And so you are not truly an ally to me, even though we're a part of the same community.
Eric:Absolutely. Yeah.
Anna:It's a shame really, because you would think like you, you would think that growing up, like struggling with who you are as a person and being able to be yourself would help you to be able to see other people's struggle and sympathize or empathize with what they're going through. But apparently
Gil:no.
Eric:Yeah I, it's always shocking to me how members of one marginalized group can't have that empathy with another marginalized group when you're like, we're both marginalized populations here, but like you said, that certain characteristics will supersede that. And that's all that matters because you're fitting into the status quo as much as possible with what these people say is quote unquote normal or what the standard needs to be. Yeah, all those 70 year old senators, I dunno,
Anna:whatever those like geriatric people are saying is in that's where we're going
Gil:to be at our jitter bugs instead.
Anna:Yes. Segues for everybody juice on the house.
Eric:Where do you find your strength and solace to just get up and keep going and just being your bomb ass self.
Anna:For me, it's a I think one thing that I like it's a little bit of a mantra is like I wake up every day and I strive my damnedest to be the best version of myself that I can be. So like I wake up everyday and make the conscious decision to like, be a good person and to actively do good and do something that is like beneficial for somebody else other than myself in the day. Then I think just like that motivation of trying to be like a positive force either in my life or in like my family member or a friendship or friend's life or something like that is. What kind of pushes me to not just like rest and just be like, okay, I fit, I'm done good enough. I'm fine here kind of thing. But yeah, it's my entire reasoning for wanting to do my acting career is to make a positive change for life queer kids or queer adults people of color, definitely darker complected people, things like that because I know how much. Seeing people that look like you or that you can identify with in the mediums that you consume makes a difference to people. Because like for that kid, that's in like a small town that doesn't have any other black people or that doesn't have any other queer people or someone that identifies as non-binary or like someone that was assigned female at birth. But they dress more traditionally masculine as according to society. Like you can have the courage to really like, be like, you know what I do like that and be able to like, hold onto it and be like, you know what. I'm okay with liking it, even though everybody's telling me no, if you see someone else doing it first, maybe kind of thing. So yeah, my hope is to just do as much good on this planet before I'm off of it as possible. And I think that's my biggest
Gil:motivation.
Eric:That is awesome. That is beautiful.
Gil:More than enough.
Eric:Thank you. Wow.
Gil:We're at the school you came to teach and we're here to learn.
Anna:They can see that everybody a me sports terminology.
Eric:Absolutely. I actually, again, we're going to get slightly politically Brown. Yeah. I saw a meme actually, just referencing that about how all the conservatives are. The Republicans are all about cancel culture. They're trying to cancel us. And someone's so when are all you cancel culture, people going to call the NFL and tell them to give Kaepernick his job back.
Anna:Let's talk about it, but let's talk about it though. Because it's crazy that you can have Kaepernick and getting fired as opposed to, I don't remember. Was it Brady? No, I think, I don't know. There was one of another, one of the big people but he ended up saying something like against the movement. I meant drew Brees this time last year. Okay. Yeah. And like that was fine. He got to keep his job. It is what it is, but this man doesn't do anything other than like showing solidarity to a movement that honestly needs support not by doing anything that distracted from the game or took away from the game. But you just got upset because you wanted to. Okay, cool. That's cool. Yeah, I dunno. It exposes a lot in like saying that no form of like activism or like protest is acceptable, nonviolent violence, whatever it just unacceptable to bring light, bring to light the fact that these injustices even exist.
Eric:Oh, yeah, because people don't want to see their faults and what the systemic racism and hardships at this, that this country has been built on and been fortified with and everything else. You have people saying, Oh my gosh, you have to be protest peacefully. You literally had someone who was sitting there just not standing during the national Anthem. And then it turned into the kneeling and fire them, get them out of there. And I'm like, that was peaceful. They were doing literally nothing to cause any issue. And then you have an insurrection that just happened like a month and a half ago, two months ago. And Oh my gosh, those poor people, we can't try them all. And Oh, he needs his organic food in prison and Oh, she wants to go to Mexico with her family, her husband I'm like, fuck that. No,
Anna:no. It's just it's one of those things where it's just people love to get upset. When you talk about privilege in any way, shape or form. But I was like, there's degrees of privilege. I was like, we all have privilege in some way. I was like, I have privilege because I am an able-bodied person that is cis-gendered. So I don't have to deal with the struggle of not only being a person of color, not only being queer, but also be someone from the transgender community that my life. I was threatened on like a daily basis kind of thing. I was just like, I don't have to deal with that. And I am incredibly fortunate. I don't have to deal with the fact that there's almost no representation of the community those affected with disabilities or like anything like that. And like the whole. Movie that just came out with Sia. I don't have to worry about that misrepresentation and basically like mockery of a condition that I have because that's something that I've ever had to deal with, but there's so many people that are like speaking up in, on behalf of SIA for that movie. And I'm just like, no, or we should listen to the community that you're supposed to be like being an ally to, by making this movie. I feel like that would be the most important thing to do, but yeah. Do you guys want to talk about
Eric:the movie? Yeah. Music has Maddie Ziegler in it, which is her muse. Yeah. I actually had never heard of the movie in that movie until I heard about all the controversy, then I was like, Oh, okay.
Anna:Yeah. Oh, I see now. Yeah. I was like a couple of my actor friends that brought it up to me. And they were like, Oh, Hey I don't know, man. You should be able to cause there's a show called atypical on Netflix, which I think it's a really good show. And I feel like even though the actor that is portrayed as having autism, doesn't actually have autism. I feel like he does a good job and it is respectful and they actually are educating people about autism. And it's not what is seemingly making a mockery of the condition, because that's what it seems like it's happening in the movie that Sia made. And I don't think that was her intention who knows I'm not her, but I was just like, just watching the stills from it. I was like, this feels offensive that it was just like, I.
Gil:I don't know, but it
Anna:feels
Gil:very offensive.
Eric:Yeah, that's been a lot of the general consensus of that surrounding that whole film went on a tangent,
Anna:but
Eric:totally fine. We'd go on tangents all the time. Yes.
Gil:Podcast the tea lounge tea
Anna:lounge.
Eric:I want to say thank you so much for joining us and for being willing to talk with us and chat, give us some of your point of view and tell us your story. So thank you so much, everybody. Okay. Thank you. And we will see you guys next
Anna:time. Thank you for having me. You're
Eric:welcome. Thank you. And thank you everyone for joining us in The Q Lounge.
Gil:thank you for listening to us. We hope you enjoyed your time inThe Q Lounge. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions on topics, or if you would like to be a guest or contributor, please email us info.TheQlounge@gmail.Com or through our contact page at theqloungepodcast.com. Don't forget to subscribe to continue listening wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to be our sugar, daddy hit that donation button.
Eric:Until next time live in your authenticity.
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