Have you lined up your screenings to play along at home with the Supporting Actress Smackdown? The Smackdown and its companion podcast arrive in two weeks time. This next episode discusses the films and performances of 2000 so we'll be watching Almost Famous, Pollock, Chocolat, and Billy Elliot. Your votes count so hurry up and get them in. Let's meet your fellow panelists, shall we?
VELLA LOVELL
Vella Lovell is an actress currently living in Los Angeles. She currently stars as “Mikaela Shaw” in Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s “Mr. Mayor” on NBC, alongside Ted Danson and Holly Hunter. Prior to that, she is most well known for her role as “Heather Davis” on the Emmy Award winning CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Other TV/Film credits include Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Grace and Frankie, Dollface, Younger, Girls, and the 2017 romantic comedy The Big Sick. Vella is also a stage actress, appearing in plays at The Geffen Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Shakespeare in the Park. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. [Twitter | Instagram | IMDb]
NICHOLAS D'AGOSTO
Nicholas D’Agosto is an actor and podcaster living in Los Angeles, California with his wife, son and dog. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he graduated from Marquette University with degrees in History and Theatre. His most recent starring turn came in the critically-acclaimed NBC TV comedy Trial & Error opposite John Lithgow and Kristin Chenoweth. Other notable credits include: Gotham, Masters of Sex, The Office, Final Destination 5, Fired Up!, Rocket Science and Election. His podcast “God & Other Delicacies” is a one-on-one discussion regarding God, belief, non-belief and other delicate subject matter in an open and welcoming environment. “How and when were you introduced to the idea of God in your life?” Find it anywhere. [Twitter | Instagram | Podcast | IMDb ]
KYLE BUCHANAN
Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter at the New York Times, where he writes a column about award season called The Projectionist. He has been named "Journalist of the Year" at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and previously served as a senior editor at Vulture. His first book, about the wild making of the modern action classic Mad Max: Fury Road, will be published later this year by William Morrow. [Twitter | Instagram]
And two regulars from Team Experience...
ERIC BLUME
Eric has written and directed countless comedy shorts featuring the top actors in the business. He's directed half-hour specials for Comedy Central and Spike, as well as commercials and branded content for Wendy's, Popeyes, JCrew, Experian, etc. Plus written or directed content for Netflix, MTV, TBS, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, and many other platforms. He's planning to direct his first feature, the gay YA film Advantage, this fall.
HOSTED BY...
NATHANIEL ROGERS
Nathaniel is the creator and owner of The Film Experience. He is a member of Gurus of Gold, Critics Choice, and the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and a longtime Oscar pundit here at TFE. His writing has also appeared at other publications including Vanity Fair, Vulture, Slate, Towleroad, Tribeca Film, and Winq.
If you are a working actor, a renowned critic, film historian, a novelist, a comedian, or an arts professional of some kind, chances are good that he has meant to invite you to a Smackdown panel, or would have if he happened to know you were obsessed with actresses. [Twitter | Contact | Instagram]