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In this hour, Sheila Vand gifts us with a glimpse into the inner life of an incredibly talented young actor on the verge of harnessing her art and reaching new heights. She first captured our attention in Ana Lily Amirpour’s noir vampire western A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, and in the small but pivotal role of Sahar, the Iranian housekeeper, in ARGO. Co-starring stints on NBC’s STATE OF AFFAIRS and FOX’s 24 LEGACY followed, and by the end of this episode she’ll make you anxious to see two of her upcoming projects, Jeremiah Zagar’s festival hit WE THE ANIMALS and the TV adaption of SNOWPIERCER. She’ll also make you optimistic for the future of the entertainment business, so long as she is in it.

Joshua Leonard first came onto the scene with the lo-fi sensation The Blair Witch Project, then went on to receive rave reviews for his performance in Lynn Shelton's Independent Spirit Award-winning Humpday. His narrative feature debut as director, The Lie, premiered at Sundance in 2011 and he just wrapped production on his sophomore feature Behold My Heart which stars Marisa Tomei. Currently he co-stars in Steven Soderbergh's thriller Unsane, which was famously shot on an iPhone. Leonard talks about how freeing that was and how he’s dismayed, now that he’s a dad, at all the bad guy parts he’s being offered.

Emily Mortimer is perhaps best known for her role as MacKenzie McHale in Aaron Sorkin’s beloved HBO series “The Newsroom.” Some of her other memorable performances are in Woody Allen’s “March Point,” Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” and “Hugo” and as Phoebe, Jack Donaghy’s love interest, on the NBC series “30 Rock.” In this hour she talks extensively about one particular, powerful scene in her breakout film, Nicole Holofcener’s “Lovely & Amazing” (which earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress), and about what it was like to play a character named “Emily Mortimer” in her HBO series “Doll & Em.” Plus, of course, we talk SORKIN. And before you run to see Ms. Mortimer in the eagerly anticipated “Mary Popins Returns” at the end of the year, be sure to catch her in the charming Isabelle Coixet film “The Bookshop,” opposite Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson, this Summer.

We could not have a more perfect guest for the first episode of a podcast about “the work” of acting if we build one. The TV guest star extraordinaire, the go-to indie comedy player of our time, the actor's actor--Kevin Corrigan seems to be in everything. From nearly 30 years of experience in front of the camera in indies like Buffalo 66 and Results, studio films like Goodfellas and The Departed and television shows such as Grounded for Life, Community, and The Get Down, he has developed a poignant and often hilarious wisdom about this craft he loves. And in this hour he generously shares it with us. Presented by Filmmaker Magazine, a publication of IFP, the Independent Filmmaker Project Producer and Host: Peter Rinaldi Executive Producer:  Scott Macaulay