Feeling Seen

Comedian Glen Tickle says he owes much of his creative live to seeing Kevin Smith's CLERKS when he was in high school. A New Jersey native like Smith (and like the film's characters), Glen didn't jus…

Actor and director Natasha Halevi was identified as a Wednesday type by others before she saw it in herself. Decades later, she's still channeling Wednesday's wisdom and willingness to speak truth to…

Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins (aka ABFJ) grew up relating to Breanna Barnes, the main character of UPN's sitcom One on One. But she wanted to be living the life of its star, Kyla Pratt. When reali…

This episode originally aired on Nov 24, 2022  (Thanksgiving Day).  

Sometimes our co-hosts really struggle to come up with a character to discuss for our show. But actor Raúl Castillo (The Inspection…

At 24, Megan Suri couldn't have been more than 10 years old when she first laid eyes on Parminder Nagra as Jess in BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM. Here was a girl and a family that resembled her; and Jess was …

In 2013's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter is a quiet outsider with an active fantasy life but not much of a real life beyond his job. But through the movie (and in service of his work) he emb…

Actor and comedian Cameron Esposito was in her 20s when BOUND first came to her attention, and to this day it remains not only stuck in her memory, but also extremely formative. Gina Gershon as Corky…

Sammi Cohen has gotten their directing career off to a rousing start with CRUSH and now YOU ARE SO NOT INVITED TO MY BAT MITZVAH. Both movies focus on middle or high schoolers learning more about the…

When Emma Seligman's debut film SHIVA BABY premiered in on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2021, Jordan was there to see the event first-hand. That was arguably the start of a whirlwind of movie deals and news…

Stewart Thorndike made a splash with LYLE in 2014, establishing her as an exciting new voice in horror. Her latest film. BAD THINGS, further solidifies this, with its focus squarely on (queer) female…

Director William J. Stribling saw THE BIRDCAGE as a 7 or 8 year old, and it instantly became his favorite, watched on repeat. At its center is director and drag club owner Armand Goldman (or is it Co…

Carter Smith is a queer horror icon, even if all his films aren't highlighting explicitly queer relationships. A master of depicting complex male...friendships?, he continues that trend in his new fi…

On her podcast, TV, I SAY WITH ASHLEY RAY, Ashley has no pretentions about good entertainment. But once upon a time, she was a young Bergman scholar (and even, briefly, a beat poet). This entire traj…

Manuel Betancourt's new book is called THE MALE GAZED: ON HUNKS, HEARTTHROBS, AND WHAT POP CULTURE TAUGHT ME ABOUT (DESIRING) MEN, but he's feeling seen by two of the brightest stars of '90s and '00s…

Jessica St. Clair is a writer and actor who you've definitely seen or heard, be it on her own shows with Lennon Parham (Best Friends Forever, Playing House), countless TV and movie appearances, or on…

This episode originally aired in January 2022.

We were delighted to have actor Isabelle Fuhrman as one of our earliest guests. She may be best known for playing the titular role in the Orphan franchis…

In 2001's Two Can Play That Game, Vivica A. Fox plays Shanté Smith, a confident, self-possessed woman who narrates the film by barreling the camera and telling the audience just how it is. A middle-s…

Before she was directing movies about iconic figures (becoming something of an icon herself in the process) Mary Harron was a journalist. And before that, she was inspired by characters like Rosalind…

At just 18, actor Laya DeLeon Hayes already has a decade in film, television, and video games under her belt. She voiced Doc McStuffins, won a BAFTA for God of War Ragnarök, and co-starred with Queen…

Long before becoming a celebrated author of A STAR IS BORED and the newly-released BIG GAY WEDDING, Byron Lane was a small-town Louisiana kid who dreamed of life in the big city. More than dreaming o…