Of course, you’ve heard of the acclaimed show The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel and Samira Wiley. The real question is are you caught up with season two? Anyway, we thought we would take a moment to tell you more about the complicated personal lives of these stars…
Marriage To Fred Armisen
Naturally, we have to begin with Elisabeth Moss who plays June in The Handmaid’s Tale. While her costar Jon Hamm of Mad Men was hosting SNL, Elisabeth Moss starred in a skit and met comedian/SNL cast member Fred Armisen. The two began dating, then got engaged four months later, and married in 2009. However, they separated by late 2010 and Elisabeth gave an interview to Page Six Magazine saying, “One of the greatest things I heard someone say about him is, ‘He’s so great at doing impersonations. But the greatest impersonation he does is that of a normal person.’ To me that sums it up.”
Marriage To Fred Armisen
First Emmy For Elisabeth Moss
For Moss’ extraordinary performance, she won her very first Emmy in 2017. Although most of you know her from her role as Peggy on Mad Men, for which she was nominated six times. At last, she won an Emmy for outstanding actress in a drama for her The Handmaid’s Tale role. However, there’s more about this Emmy winner and active Scientologist that most people don’t know.
First Emmy For Elisabeth Moss
Runs In The Family
The talented Joseph Fiennes plays the complicated and equally terrifying Commander on The Handmaid’s Tale. However, you may remember him from Shakespeare in Love or even the more recent, American Horror Story: Asylum. Still confused as to where you know that face? Well, maybe you’re thinking of one of his brothers, Ralph Fiennes who played the infamous Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films.
Runs In The Family
Wiley’s First Taste Of Fame
Although Samira Wiley studied at Juilliard and mainly worked in the theater, she got the opportunity of a lifetime upon hearing about the television show Orange is the New Black. A friend of hers, named Marco Ramirez, from Juilliard was writing for the show and told her about the auditions. After nailing her audition, she joined the first season and quickly became a fan favorite of the show.
Wiley’s First Taste Of Fame
Difficult Audition
Of course, Samira Wiley and Elisabeth Moss are not the only well-seasoned actresses on The Handmaid’s Tale. Most people know Alexis Bledel for playing Rory Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. Surprisingly, she had the flu just before auditioning for Rory. The showrunner, Amy Sherman-Palladino, revealed to A Moveable Feast that, “Alexis had never done anything before. We found her in New York…and she had the flu. She was very annoyed at having to audition, and she didn’t want to speak to us. She just wanted go home and back to bed, and we’re like, ‘She hates us. We love her! Let’s give it to her!'”
Difficult Audition
Using Her Differences To Her Benefit
Born in Australia to Polish parents, Yvonne Strahovski did not always have it easy growing up. Her parents moved to Australia to leave communism behind for a better life. At home, they spoke in Polish, but this made making friends hard for Yvonne. However, her Australian and Polish accents ended up helping her land roles like on Chuck. From her role as CIA Agent Sarah Walker on the show, she got her big break. Maybe you also know her as Agent Kate Morgan from 24: Live Another Day, but now, she’s Serena Joy Waterford to all fans of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Using Her Differences To Her Benefit
Amanda Brugel’s Advice
We all know the housekeeper Rita, but what does the actress Amanda Brugel advise to her viewers? She told USAToday, perhaps, they might want to watch while drinking, she joked, “Absinthe? I personally don’t drink while watching it. I watch it at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday with the lights on because I can’t deal with it in the dark.” In addition, she revealed that her pale-blue, long dress has pockets and on set, she said, “I keep snacks in my pockets. There’s gum, sometimes, there’s muffins.”
Amanda Brugel’s Advice
The Real Aunt Lydia
Ann Dowd plays the infamous Aunt Lydia, but she’s been acting for many years. Her more recent roles include playing Patti Levin on HBO’s The Leftovers, for which she was Emmy nominated. Anyway, what we find pretty incredible is that this talented woman also worked with Lady Gaga as the star’s very own acting coach! Cool, right?
The Real Aunt Lydia
Bun Head
Her own parents were musicians, thus, Moss grew up always being interested in music in various forms. That’s what led her into becoming a ballerina! Elisabeth Moss told The Guardian, “I was raised with a lot of classical music. I loved ballet. I was a bun head for 10 years.”
Bun Head
Off-Screen Romance
Samira Wiley plays Moira on the show. Samira’s now wife, Lauren Morelli was writing a lesbian love scene for Orange is the New Black when she realized she was gay. Morelli explained the process of coming out in an open letter to the public, writing, “I was so deep in my own self-doubt that I constantly felt like a fraud. I was sure it was bleeding into my writing. How could it not? I was married to a man, but I wasn’t straight…In Piper and Alex, I’d found a mouthpiece for my own desires and a glimmer of what my future could look like.” Then, she found love with Orange is the New Black star Samira Wiley.
Off-Screen Romance
Max’s Path To Stardom
You know Max Minghella as Nick from The Handmaid’s Tale. Before this role, he became a big name in Hollywood after playing Divya Narendra in The Social Network, you know one of the upperclassmen who sued Mark Zuckerberg for stealing the idea for Facebook. In addition, he was Richie in The Mindy Project on Fox. On becoming an actor he explained, “I thought it was sort of embarrassing to say you wanted to be an actor – it was, like, uncool. And growing up I was massively concerned with seeming cool. I thought up until about age 16 that I was going to be a music video director.” We bet he’s far from embarrassed now considering his hit role on The Handmaid’s Tale!
Max’s Path To Stardom
Moss Is Most Famous TV First Daughter
Alright but we need to take it back for a moment because Elisabeth Moss did not truly become a star with Mad Men‘s Peggy Olson. She was already very famous. Remember when she was Zoey Bartlet, daughter of President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) on The West Wing? That role definitely made her the most famous television first daughter.
Moss Is Most Famous TV First Daughter
Occupying Different Spaces
Serbian-born Nina Kiri (plays Alma) was raised in Vancouver, Canada. She’s been professionally acting for more than a decade in things like Let Her Out and Geek Charming with Modern Family‘s Sarah Hyland. Speaking to the Film Center Serbia, she spoke of her Serbian heritage, saying, “Where I come from is important to me, since it has and always will make up who I am. I have never seen myself as fully “Canadian” or fully “Serbian,” and occupying an in-between space is very familiar to me (as I think it is to many young Canadians who are first or second generation). I think it’s an advantage to have been lucky enough to travel and speak different languages, that my world has always been bigger than Canada or Serbia.”
Occupying Different Spaces
Tragic Characters
Tragically, her Orange is the New Black character, Tricia died and it seems Madeline Brewer’s Janine on The Handmaid’s Tale, also doesn’t have great luck. This actress grew up in Pitman, New Jersey. Before she got cast in Orange is the New Black, she actually won Miss Pitman for 2010!
Tragic Characters
Samira Was Bartending While Filming OTNB
Surprisingly, while Samira Wiley was starring on season one of Orange is the New Black, she was still working as a bartender. Obviously, customers began to recognize her from her role. She told DIVA what her friends said to her, “They said to me, ‘Samira, what are you doing? You need to quit this job.’”
Samira Was Bartending While Filming OTNB
English Is Alexis’ Second Language
Not only is Alexis Bledel bilingual, but English is actually her second language. She comes from Argentinian decent and spoke Spanish at home with her parents until going to school and learning English there. She told Latina magazine, “It’s the only culture my mom knows from life, and my father as well. They made the decision to raise their children within the context they had been raised in, so we speak Spanish in my parents’ house and my mom cooks amazing Mexican food.” Sounds delicious, can we get a dinner invite?
English Is Alexis’ Second Language
How Handmaid’s Tale Has Strengthened Moss
After working hard as a star and producer during the first season, Elisabeth Moss became an executive producer of The Handmaid’s Tale by season two. This dedicated star explained how the show about a dystopia where women have no rights has changed her. Moss said, “It’s made me a stronger person. Having to say my own ideas, having to go up against people, having to argue, has definitely brought out, I think, a bit of a strength in me that I didn’t know that I had.”
How Handmaid’s Tale Has Strengthened Moss
Yvonne On Her Character
During Yvonne Strahovski’s interview with Cosmopolitan, she spoke about her character’s emotions, saying, “I think the anger is coming from an unidentified regret, a regret that hasn’t been realized into consciousness. I think it comes from the fact that she feels stripped of her identity, ironically from her femininity as well, despite what she was rooting for to begin with.”
Yvonne On Her Character
Emmy Winner
The incredible actress Ann Dowd took home a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Aunt Lydia. While accepting her Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Award, she said, “Well, I think this is a dream. I know it’s an actor’s dream and I’m deeply grateful to you. I don’t have the words, so I thank you.” If you’re a huge fan, add her recent films, A Kid Like Jake with Claire Danes and Jim Parsons and the horror movie Hereditary to your watch list!
Emmy Winner
Love On-Set
Like some couples we discussed and others we will get to, Alexis Bledel and husband Vincent Kartheiser found love on a set. While Alexis Bledel starred in three episodes of Mad Men, the two met, but only began dating after Man Men’s fifth season finished. If you recall, Bledel played Beth Dawes, a neighbor of Pete Campbell (Kartheiser). The two married in 2014 during a secret ceremony in Ojai, California.
Love On-Set
Samira As Poussey
Funny enough, Samira Wiley is actually best friends with Danielle Brooks in real life! Yes, Brooks played Taystee and her character was best friends with Samira Wiley’s character, Poussey on Orange is the New Black. The two actresses went to Julliard together. While playing Poussey, Samira Wiley claimed the hardest part for her was worrying about if her German was correct. That made her more nervous than appearing naked on camera!
Samira As Poussey
International Man
Ugh, who doesn’t love June’s husband, Luke? London-born O.T. Fagbenle plays Luke on The Handmaid’s Tale. He’s been all over the world throughout his life. While interviewing with RadioTimes, he explained that his family lived in countries like, Spain, Nigeria and Canada, to name a few. Fagbenle said, “We had a map and we stated choosing our favorite places.” However, we doubt he’s ever lived in a country as frightening as Gilead!
International Man
Carradine’s Rooting For Offred
Actress Ever Carradine plays the Wife, Naomi Putnam. Yes, she’s the one who became the mother for Janine’s baby in the first season. Maybe you’ve seen her as Chase’s mother, Jane on the Marvel show, Runaways. Anyway, she spoke to KTLA about The Handmaid’s Tale saying, “I love watching the show. It’s the only show I’ve ever been on where when I’m on set, I actively think, how can I help Offred escape Gilead? I can’t separate reality from fiction.”
Carradine’s Rooting For Offred
Second Ofglen
Next up, is the second Ofglen played by Tattiawana Jones. Jones’ character comes in to replace Emily (Alexis Bledel), and she’s the one first to speak out in response to Aunt Lydia’s command, exclaiming, “Seriously? Guys, this is insane.” Canadian fans, know her from Strange Empire and 19-2, a crime drama. More recently, she was in USA’s Eyewitness.
Second Ofglen
From Freak Show To Handmaid’s Tale
Recognize John Carroll Lynch? Yes, he was the creepy killer, Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story Freak Show and Cult. Lynch also appeared in movies like Gran Torino, Zodiac and Shutter Island. However, on The Handmaid’s Tale he’s Dan, Emily’s boss. If you’re caught up with the second season, you know he tried to warn Emily that her lifestyle could get her into trouble. He even tells her not to have a picture of her wife and their baby on her screensaver. Spooky.
From Freak Show To Handmaid’s Tale
Yes, That’s Marjorie
Wow, we are so sad HBO’s Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus is coming out with its final season in 2019. So, Veep fans we don’t need to tell you that Clea DuVall played Marjorie on the show. In The Handmaid’s Tale, she joined in this second season as Emily’s Canadian wife, Sylvia, who escaped with their son before Gilead fully formed. As the American, Emily was forced to stay behind and get questioned about her fertility. Sadly, we all know what that questioning led to.
Yes, That’s Marjorie
Season Two Welcomed Cherry Jones
In the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, we get to see June’s mother, Holly (Cherry Jones). Of course, most recognize her from her Emmy winning role as President Allison Taylor on 24. However, she also has won acclaim and another Emmy for her recent role on Amazon’s Transparent. Jones has been married to actress/director Sophie Huber since 2015.
Season Two Welcomed Cherry Jones
Her First Baby
Alexis Bledel likes to keep her private life to herself. Therefore, it came as a big shock to many fans that she discretely gave birth without any announcement to the public. Most people did not know she was even pregnant. However, her former Gilmore Girls costar, Scott Patterson accidentally spilled the beans in his Glamour interview, saying, “She’s really blossomed as a woman and now she’s a proud new mother and married and happy. We’re comparing notes because my son is about a year and a half older than her young son.” She gave birth to her first child at some point in late 2015 or early 2016 with husband Vincent Kartheiser.
Her First Baby
Moss And Scientology
Elisabeth Moss has been a Scientologist since her childhood, and although the religion is very controversial, she chooses not to talk about it. She calls it, “private, off limits.” During her 2014 Vulture interview she recognized the public fascination surrounding it, saying, “I think if there was something that I didn’t know and didn’t understand, I would probably feel as opinionated. You know how you’re opinionated about when someone breaks up? Celebrities break up and you just feel like you know what happened?”
Moss And Scientology
Whitford Found Love In His Costar
Back to Transparent, Bradley Whitford played a cross-dressing businessman in the first season and then Magnus Hirschfeld in the second. On the set, he met costar Amy Landecker and began dating her in 2015. The two got engaged in March 2018. Anyway, Bradley Whitford joined The Handmaid’s Tale cast as Commander Joseph Lawrence! Maybe you also saw him as the creepy neurosurgeon and father in Jordan Peele’s award winning film, Get Out.
Whitford Found Love In His Costar