It Might Surprise You That Transparent Star Amy Landecker Is in These TV Ads

Specs Name Amy Landecker Age 47 Claim to fame Stars as Sarah Pfefferman in Amazon Prime's Transparent Base Los Angeles Twitter @AmyLandecker Adweek: What's the first information you consume in the morning? Amy Landecker: The very first thing I'm doing is [opening] my New York Times app. And then the second thing I'm doing is going to Politico. Before I even go to the bathroom. It's become almost an addiction during the election cycle. Sometimes even in the middle of the night, I'm checking my newsfeed. It's not good. [Laughs] Is there anyone you're following closely on social media? I'm really into Lena Dunham and Lenny and the pro-Hillary voices out there. I'm also reading The Washington Post and very happy to work for a man [WaPo and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos] who I feel has been instrumental in unearthing some things that might change the way this whole thing goes. Your father is a famous Chicago talk radio and oldies DJ. Did you ever want to go into radio? Absolutely. In fact I went to the University of Wisconsin to major in communications and journalism and thought I was going to be a broadcaster. But I got sidetracked into the acting department basically because I had a crush on my TA, and my whole life sort of changed. I did end up making my living for most of my acting career as a voiceover [artist], which I felt was an offshoot of broadcasting, and it has always been something that I've adored. How did you end up doing audio dialogue replacement (ADR) for Julia Roberts? Julia Roberts was the voice of AOL—I think it was the late '90s or early 2000s—and she was pregnant with her twins so she went into voiceover for a little while. People kept congratulating me, including my own father, on my campaign [because it sounded like me]. And I found out it was Julia Roberts, so I told my agent if you ever get a casting for a voice double for her, I clearly sound like her because even my own father thought that was me. Well, now she can do ADR for you on Transparent. Yeah. I would like Julia to do my ADR. [Laughs] I think it would be great for her to do the sound effects during scenes with Pony where I'm getting flogged against a tree. [Laughs] "Julia, I can't make it. Can you step in please?!" You've also done some ads. I was the voice of Cymbalta for almost 10 years, which is an anti-depressant. I was a Chicago girl with Leo Burnett and J. Walter Thompson doing Hallmark for a while and did a lot of McDonald's ads. I'm currently the "good cow" in the Lactaid commercials. I'm the voice of Linzess, which is the constipation medication. I do Pam cooking spray. That's how I've survived this long. If I had to rely on on-camera, I would have quit this a long time ago. What TV shows do you watch? I'm a big Voice junkie I have to say. Bad reality shows still work for me in terms of like relaxing and unwinding and just kind of shutting off. But I mean I am so typical classic lefty—Rachel Maddow every night, Lawrence O'Donnell every night, Chris Matthews. And my [Chicago] Cubs. … I'm very excited. Shifting to Transparent, what was your favorite scene this season? Definitely when I go to the synagogue to meet the board and [my character] Sarah just goes on this rambling talk where she ends up doing the sounds of dinosaurs representing millennials. And it's this very classic Transparent experience where [Transparent creator] Jill [Soloway] is off camera—and also this happened during the wedding in Season 2—where she's just like calling things out to me. And my second favorite would be not about me but watching Judith Light in the season finale, which I won't give away. One of the greatest experiences I've ever had. We were actually on a cruise to Puerto Vallarta with real cruise people watching. It was so moving. We were all just, like, crying the whole time. Someone asked me if we used glycerin or if we were really crying, and I'm like, "We are always crying." So Sarah is pretty nuts. What would happen if she got on Twitter? I could tell you I am very weird about Twitter. I have hardly any Twitter followers because I hardly ever use Twitter. Twitter scares me. There's this thing with Twitter that's, like, how funny, how snarky, how witty can I be and then let's all attack each other over that. But then again, my boyfriend [actor] Bradley Whitford is political and uses Twitter in a very active way and that's a great form of communication, but he's just a lot smarter and more restrained than I am. I don't think it's in good hands with me. And I don't think it would be in good hands with Sarah at all. This story first appeared in the October 24, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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It Might Surprise You That Transparent Star Amy Landecker Is in These TV Ads

She's an accomplished voiceover artist

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