Holy sh*t, it’s Taylor Townsend! Perhaps I should qualify that… did any of you obsessively watch The OC? I did. Clearly. My favorite character on that show was, you guessed it, Taylor Townsend who was played by Autumn Reeser {she’s also been on Entourage, Hawaii 5-0, a ton of other shows and movies, and just finished working on Tom Hanks’ newest film, Sully}.  I’m shaking things up a tiny bit today, and instead of talking to a visual artist we’re heading to LA to talk to an actor about this whole creativity thing… it really is just one giant club. Whether you’re a painter {which Autumn also happens to be}, an actor, a writer, a musician, a dancer, etc we all go through the same things… blocks, self-doubt, and creative victories, too! Anyway, let’s get on with this. You can listen right up there underneath Autumn, or you can subscribe on iTunes. First things first, California here we come… where the fan-girl obsession began, The OC:

Ah, now I want to watch it all over again! She was also on another binge-worthy show, one of my faves, Entourage. She played a young TV agent and, more than once, got to go toe-to-toe with Jeremy Piven, aka Ari Gold:

Ok. Now I have to watch that again. These next images are from a movie called, Smoking Aces 2. Let’s just say this character was a little out of character for Autumn… and apparently a whole lotta fun! I love the story she tells about this crazy movie. She figured she wouldn’t get the part, so she just totally put it all out there at the audition, and whaddaya know, it worked:

Now, when she’s not working {which isn’t often}, Autumn dabbles in other types of creativity. Lately it’s been painting – and look – she’s not alone! Two little messy helpers – her sweet little boys Finn, age 4 and Dash, age 2. We had a long talk about The Artist’s Way {a really great book that I’m sure all of you already know about} and how it’s helped both of us so much. It’s pushed her in acting, in painting, and in 2015 she decided it was time to learn how to play the guitar too. Creative lady? Um, yeah.

And finally, the speed round. I obviously had to ask which of her co-stars was the best kisser. And the winner… John Stamos. Yep, Uncle Jesse gets it done! ps. she was mortified that I asked this question, but, well, too bad. Also, it turns out that Autumn was one of those ‘horse girls’ when she was little… you know the ones. Here is photographic proof from childhood, and then a few recent shots of her actually getting to live the dream! Yes, her last few movies have required Autumn to bring out her inner-cowgirl:

Wow, she makes it look so easy up there {and having Jesse Metcalfe beside you doesn’t hurt either}. Ok, so as they say in Hollywood, that’s a wrap … do they actually say that? I’m not really sure. Anywho, thank you so much to Autumn for answering all of my questions, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and as always huge thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Links to other tidbits we talked about:

Girl Crush Portland  /  Sully (Upcoming movie with Tom Hanks, directed by Clint Eastwood)  /  Cutie and the Boxer  /  The Artist’s Way