Katherine LaNasa was always cast in 'sexual' roles. She's happy to ditch makeup on 'The Pitt.'

Yahoo

2 days ago

As a teen ballet dancer turned actress with a list of credits (including Two and a Half Men and Big Love) as long as her arm, Katherine LaNasa has spent most of her life in the spotlight. But starring as emergency-room nurse Dana on the hit HBO Max medical drama The Pitt has launched the 58-year-old into a new level of fame. It's coming just at the right time, she says.
'I saw an [article] yesterday on GQ about these men that are finding success in their 50s — like Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo and Walt Goggins — and how they already have a well-established self-identity,' LaNasa tells me during our conversation for Yahoo Life's Unapologetically series. 'It's really nice to feel really settled in myself and to have done what I do with very relatively little praise. So getting praise now, it's a nice ride. You see kids get that, and they start thinking they need to adopt some other jaded or cool persona. I already am my grown-up cool/uncool self. This is just career stability and nicer accommodations and clothing.'
LaNasa has a lot of self-acceptance when it comes to the subject of aging, and her confidence is infectious. 'I was walking on the street in Atlanta, and [this guy said], 'Your dog almost walked into my dog,'' she recalls. 'I was like, 'Were you inconvenienced?' And he goes, 'You look old.' I said, 'I am old!' [But] I feel like I'm in really good shape; I feel really strong.'
Having an 11-year-old daughter, with her husband, '90s heartthrob Grant Show of Melrose Place fame, also keeps her young. But motherhood is hardly a new experience; LaNasa was in her early 20s when she and then-husband Dennis Hopper (30 years her senior) welcomed their son Henry, who is now in his 30s.
What has LaNasa learned from her relationships, and why is she happy to let go of playing sexual characters? Here's what she told me during our candid conversation on aging, catcalling and not wearing makeup on TV.
I'd always wanted to work for [The Pitt executive producer] John Wells, and I thought, If I could get in front of [casting], if they ever see my tape, I have a feeling I know what they want. And it just worked out.
[As for] the success — it's kind of like if you loved making coffee, and you made coffee for someone every day, and you put a beautiful heart on it or different designs every day, and you did that for 30 years or so, and that was your job, and you got paid well, and you liked [it], and then, one day someone looked at you and said, "This is such great coffee. I really love your coffee." That's kind of what it feels like. Getting approval and praise I didn't think was ever coming my way — that I wasn't looking for and I didn't really need — is all just a bonus, and it feels like a nice warm bath. It's very enjoyable.
I always played such sexual characters, and I think I always identified myself so much with my sexuality. I thought that if I became less sexually desirable as I got older or if I felt less interested in sex, I would lose a big part of my identity, and it would be terrible. And I find that I just really don't care.
You know, this thing about older women being invisible? I'll take a step back. I used to get catcalled all the time, and it's a relief, and it's nice [to not have to deal with that anymore]. I also think [now is] a time in life — if you can let go of this feminine ideal of our physical beauty — it's really a time in life for deeper things, to think about the meaning of your life, to think about your own mortality, to think about what kind of legacy you want to leave and who you are.
I really appreciate this season of life. I also appreciate feeling really seasoned in my craft. So often that's the thing I like the most about a day. It's like, 'I really knew how to make that scene work. I knew how to get the guest star to speed up with me. And then I stopped for the camera just so, and I can handle a lot of camera moves, choreography, notes at once, and it feels really easy.' There's a lot of technical aspects about acting that people don't think about, and it's nice to feel at a certain point that you have some mastery over them.
I think we are flipping the script on that. I have to say, I think there've been some really incredible, brave women out there that have always portrayed real women — you know, the Allison Janneys and the Patricia Arquettes. And then you get these sex symbols like Pamela Anderson going [on the red carpet] with like almost no makeup.
John Wells is a maverick at putting real, complex, imperfect-looking women on television and celebrating them, way before it was cool. So to work for him, it just really feels like I'm getting to step into that. I have to tell you: To play a part like Dana and to wear no makeup, it was really very freeing. It's also really freeing working for a mostly female writing crew. Feeling like I don't have to live up to that ridiculous, feminine, sexual ideal has freed up my acting. And I think it's why the acting's good on the show. Women can feel like they can just relax into being themselves.
Yeah, I love clothes and style in general. I used to have an interior design business, and I'm sort of an amateur interior designer now. I'm very visual. I also love ceramics.
I feel like I'm in really good shape. Like, I feel really strong. I do yoga every day. I like mixing the hot yoga with the regular yoga. I play a little tiny bit of pickleball. I hike. I really appreciate that my body is still really strong — [something] you take for granted when you're young. I'm glad I can still do all this.
The one thing that was really hard was [the doctors] wanting to give me a C-section right away. They wanted to plan a C-section. Because of my age, they were worried. I grew up in a family of doctors, so I'm used to just listening to the doctor. But I wanted to push back a lot. I didn't want to incise my body if I didn't have to. If I had needed one, I definitely would have, but I didn't want to plan for it months early just because I was 47.
I had some kind of pre-preeclampsia signs. I went in for some testing, and they kept me in the hospital, and they induced labor with Pitocin. But then I didn't want to have an epidural, because I didn't want to slow [labor] down. I was worried about too many drugs. So I had a natural childbirth on Pitocin, and I don't recommend it. It was super hard. I feel really powerful because I got through that, but it was really, really intense. [And] I fortunately got a doctor who helped me advocate for what I wanted.
Don't get married at 22! I think if you marry someone that is so far apart in age, at least for me, there wasn't a lot of intimacy in that. It's nice to have someone that you can grow with — more of a friend as opposed to them being the successful teacher one, and you being the student, less successful, more dependent one. I would opt now for a relationship with more equality.
The thing we have between us really is our craft. He wants to audition for a musical, so I'm gonna help him with the choreography. I've helped him with the choreography before when he had to dance on Dynasty. He helps me with all my self-tapes. We have a very artistic home. We're always singing, or he plays the piano, and it's a very creative space. That's the thing I like most. We have the same aesthetic; we like the same things. We move a lot, and he really trusts how I'm going to put together a home.
[Despite] my longevity in the business and what I've done and the people that I've worked with already, like Billy Bob Thornton and Will Ferrell and Jay Roach, I never really got that kind of name recognition. I'm hoping that The Pitt will sort of catapult me into getting to work with some more artists that I really want to work with.
Slow down, trust your instincts, and say what you mean — [but] don't say it mean. I [also] wish I appreciated that my skin wasn't wrinkly. To all the 30-year-olds out there, wear all the crop tops, wear all the short shorts. Love yourself. Love your body. Enjoy your body.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.