Entertainment

(2.) Actor RHEA SEEHORN<RAY Seehorn>. The former co-star of “Better Call Saul” is nominated for an Emmy for her starring role in “Pluribus,” the Apple TV series created by Vince Gilligan. Terry Gross spoke with RHEA SEEHORN last year about the “Pluribus”. “Pluribus” is nominated for eighteen Emmys, including one for SEEHORN as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The Emmys are scheduled for September 14th. (THIS INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY AIRED 12.09.2025)

(1.) Actor, writer, and producer RIZ AHMED. He’s nominated for an Emmy for his starring role in the Prime Video series “Bait” in which he plays a British Pakistani actor auditioning to be the next James Bond. AHMED is also a writer and creator of the series.

(1.) LISA KUDROW. She's up for two Emmys for the final season of The Comeback, for lead actress in a comedy and for writing, the HBO series she co-created and stars in as Valerie Cherish, an actress who keeps trying to get her career back. It's her third acting nomination for the role, across three seasons and twenty-one years. Kudrow won an Emmy in 1998 for playing Phoebe on Friends. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY) (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II. He's nominated for an Emmy for playing Simon Williams in "Wonder Man," a Marvel comedy about a struggling actor hiding real superpowers.

(1.) Actor and writer JASON SEGEL. He’s nominated for an Emmy for his starring role in the comedy drama series Shrinking, as a psychotherapist who’s been having his own mental health crisis because his wife died a year earlier. The first 3 seasons are streaming on Apple TV. Segel got his first memorable role in the popular series, Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000). After the show was canceled, Segel wrote and starred in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He wrote and was the human star of the movie musical The Muppets.

Jon Bernthal, has spent two decades playing the kind of men you'd want to avoid, and somehow he makes you root for them anyway. This summer, he's in two major films, reprising his role as The Punisher in the upcoming Spider-Man movie and starring in Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey." His breakout role in 2010 was as Shane on "The Walking Dead" - a sheriff's deputy protecting a band of survivors from zombies until he becomes the greater threat.

ISAAC BUTLER is the author of The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars. It focuses on the religious right attacks on certain books, art and film of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. His previous books The World Only Spins Forward - about the play Angels in America. And The Method, about the history of the acting technique known as the method. We recorded the interview last Thursday. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Smith's new show is about her great-great-grandfather, a free Black man who reburied the Union dead at Gettysburg and prepared the ground for Lincoln's most famous speech.

Actor Wendell Pierce. Over a career spanning four decades, he's played some of the most memorable characters on television - Detective Bunk Moreland on HBO's "The Wire," the trombone player Antoine Batiste in "Treme." And in 2022, he became the first Black actor to play Willy Loman in "Death Of A Salesman" on Broadway. He's currently starring as Captain Wagner on the CBS series "Elsbeth," is back as a CIA officer, James Greer, in "Jack Ryan: Ghost War" and in the final season of "Raising Kanan" on Starz.

Our guest today is actor and transgender activist Laverne Cox.

Andrew Scott speaking with Terry Gross, recorded in 2024. He stars in the new film "Pressure."

Actor JOSH O'CONNOR. He's one of the stars of Disclosure Day, the new Steven Spielberg film about what happens when the world learns that aliens live among us. O'Connor broke through in the British film God's Own Country and won an Emmy as Prince Charles in The Crown. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY) (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Another beloved Tony winner ANGELA LANSBURY. LANSBURY delivered unforgettable performances in the Broadway musicals “Mame,” “Gypsy,” and “Sweeney Todd.” Her work on stage earned her five Tony Awards, plus a lifetime achievement Tony Award in 2022. She also starred as Jessica Fletcher on the CBS mystery series “Murder, She Wrote” for twelve years. On film, she appeared in 1944 film “Gaslight” when she was only 19, and provided the voice of Mrs. Potts, singing the title song to the 1991 animated movie “Beauty and the Beast”. She died in 2022 at 96. (THIS INTERVIEW IS A REBROADCAST.

Actor CLARKE PETERS is one of the stars of the new Netflix series “The Boroughs”. In HBO show “The Wire” he played police detective Lester Freamon. He also co-starred in the HBO series “Treme”. In Spike Lee’s 2020 film “Da 5 Bloods”, Peters was one of the 4 Vietnam Veterans who returned to Vietnam decades after the war. He’s also been in London stage productions of the musicals “Guys and Dolls”, “Porgy and Bess”, and “Chicago”. He co-wrote and co-starred in the original production of the musical “5 Guys Named Moe”, which was first staged in London.

Alfre Woodard stars in the new Netflix sci-fi series "The Boroughs."

Rose Byrne spoke with FRESH AIR producer Ann Marie Baldonado. Byrne is starring in the Broadway revival of the Noel Coward play "Fallen Angels."

Ann Marie Baldonado interviews Will Sharpe who stars in the new limited series "Amadeus"

Writer, actor, and comedian RICHARD GADD. His Netflix series Baby Reindeer became a phenomenon in 2024, a story about a struggling comedian, a stalker who wouldn't let go, and a sexual assault he'd kept hidden for years. The show won six Emmys. His new HBO series called Half Man, about two boys who become brothers when their mothers fall in love, and who spend the next thirty years trying to survive each other. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY)
(THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Terry Gross interviews actor Amanda Peet.

Tonya Mosley interviews actor OSCAR ISAAC. He's the star of the second season of the Netflix series Beef; he plays Josh , a country club manager whose polished exterior is hiding a crumbling marriage and a financial secret. ISAAC also is known for his role as Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.