Sarah Paulson is naming names.
While appearing on the Wednesday, May 13, episode of the “Smartless” podcast, the actress, 49, shared that she once received unsolicited feedback from another performer about her acting skills.
“I did do a play once. The last time I was on stage, I did a play called Talley’s Folly at the Roundabout, and the actress — and I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don’t f—king care — this actress came to the play. Her name is Trish Hawkins — Hi, Trish! Hi, Trisha!” Paulson recounted. “Trish Hawkins came to the play — am I going to get sued? I don’t care, because I think this is outrageous.”
Trouble started when Hawkins, who originated the role that Paulson played in Talley’s Folly, first came to the play and told the Ocean’s 8 actress, “Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.” Two days later, Hawkins reached out with notes about Paulson’s performance.
“I got an email that was six pages long of notes and a communication to me about what she had done when she had done the play, what she recommended I do,” she said. “It was outrageous. It was really outrageous. Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it, and I hope to see you never.”
Paulson has continued to prove her onstage acting chops, however, snagging her first Tony nomination this year for her performance in Appropriate, a dramedy which premiered on Broadway in March. She shared that she felt “very moved” and “overwhelmed” by the honor while speaking to The New York Times.
“More than anything there’s that little girl in me who moved to New York at 5 years old and whose mother got a job as a waitress at this theater hangout, to wake up and have a Tony nomination for the first time in my life, at 49, feels just wildly moving to me and something that I have dreamed about since I was a girl,” she gushed in April.
Paulson noted that, despite the fact that “the work” is all that matters to her, getting this kind of prestigious accolade is incredibly meaningful.
“The little girl in me cannot be quieted this morning with a kind of explosive joy and excitement for a childhood dream being realized,” she said.
The American Horror Story star is nominated alongside Betsy Aidem, Jessica Lange, Rachel McAdams and Amy Adams at the 2024 Tony Awards, which take place on June 16.
