Hey, it's Thursday, which means we're coming at you with a short feel good story from a past guest. Hope you enjoyed the clip. This week, Cheryl Hines. I think your first job in acting was at Universal Studios. What do you remember from having to perform that, I think it was a shower scene from Psycho like 15 times a day? Yeah, yeah. What do I remember? Well, it was crazy. It was fun. So I wore a flesh-colored bodysuit, and then they had a shower set that would roll out to the middle of the soundstage, and then they'd open the walls, and then they would show how Alfred Hitchcock shot the shower scene, and it was a camera trust with different cameras and me. and a volunteer from the audience that would act like he was stabbing me with a rubber knife. Yeah, and that's what I did for a few years. I couldn't have been happier to do it. But that was, it was motivating. Very motivating, yeah. Getting your foot in the door kind of with that. And then there was the Swamp Thing audition, which I think you tried out for four times. But after the third time, when you just aren't in a good place, you have a conversation with your sister. What does she say to you? Yeah, I said to my sister, I said, I don't, you know, I don't know what to do. I mean, maybe I'm not a good actress. I can't even get, I can't even get cast in Swamp Thing. And I'm so depressed. And she said, yeah, you should probably quit. And were you really genuinely depressed at that time? Yeah. So one thing was the only show shooting in Orlando at the time. And it was, you know, I felt like I really needed a role in that. What are you thinking about when you in that moment I was just tying my self to not getting an acting job So then it not just with everything So, oh, I'm not, I'm not a good actor. I'm doing everything wrong. You know, you just feel like, what am I doing? And yeah, my sister said, you've chosen a career where most of the things that you audition for, you are not going to get. It's going to be rejection. You've chosen a career of rejection. And if you're going to get so sad every time you don't get an acting job, then you shouldn't do it. You'll have, that's a terrible life to live. And I, you know, really listened to her And I thought, oh, she's right. That's going to be a long life. And so then it really switched my way of thinking. How so? It helped me understand that the rejection is part of the process. The goal of every audition can't be to get that job, or you're not a good actor, or you're not a good person. So I started, it just shifted. So I was like, oh, right. It's really about being a good actor. And it kind of doesn't matter if you get the job or not. Why did your mom basically say she'll never forgive you unless you move cross country? Wow, you're really doing this? Okay. We can skip that. No, no, it's sweet to think about it because I haven't thought about it in so long. Um, well, you know, my mom and my stepfather and, um, anybody who knew me knew that I wanted to move out to LA. And so, uh, I had, I mean, I had basically sold everything and was ready to go. And then my stepfather, Dan was diagnosed with, um, liver cancer. So I stayed and I stayed to be with them, to be with my mom. And then after he passed, she was so sad. And I mean I was sad as well So after a while my mom said you know she said you have to go to Los Angeles and I going to be OK So I believed her and I did. Looking back now, how pivotal was that conversation that she had with you? It was very. It was very. Because, you know, when you're young and you lose a parent, that's all you can see for a long time. And so to have my mother say, you're still doing what you said you were going to do and what you've wanted to do. It was a good encouragement, to say the very least, just to remind myself, oh, yeah, my life is going on and I should move forward. Tell about the Toyota Tercel and the notes that your siblings wrote you for the ride. I'm so close to my siblings. I lost one of my brothers. But I have two brothers. Chris has passed away. And my sister, Becky. Chris, Becky, and Michael. And, you know, it was hard for me to move. It was really hard for me to leave. I didn't have much money. And I was leaving my family. I was leaving everything I loved. And they were so cute and sweet. and they wrote notes to me. And so every day on the road, I got to open one of the notes from one of them. And I have them framed in my office because it meant so much to me at the time. Okay, this is for my sister Becky. It says, share. Be safe, happy, and motivated in L.A. I'll be seeing you. Okay. Okay I be seeing you soon I can even Okay I be seeing you soon I can even read this Okay But until then, I'll carry you in my heart as always. And see your smile in everything beautiful. Travel with the knowledge that I love you as much as anything in the world. And it's for my sister. Oh, yay, yay! Why did we do this? This is ridiculous. What about that all these years later still gets to you? Um, I mean, because we were pretty young, you know, when she wrote this, and she still, this still captures her. Like, this is who she is. oof she you know gives me superpowers oh no oh god okay what am I doing okay this is from Chris and April oh no I haven't read these in so long and this is going to be hard uh Cher good luck and hope all your dreams come true we are going to miss you but you know You will always be as close as the nearest phone. This will be a good reason for April and I to make it out to LA. We are already halfway there. Remember, you will always have, you will always, you will always be in our hearts. Love, Chris and April. And it's interesting because when I was driving, I couldn't wait till the next day to read the notes. It's cool that you have them all these years later, too. Yeah, they still stand the test of time. I still need to read it. I'm glad we just read those. It's been a while. That's it for now. But if you're hungry for more in-depth interviews, head over to YouTube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2,000 clips spanning 12-plus years. Thanks again for listening. you
