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Supporting actors on some of television's hottest shows, including Erika Alexander of 'The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,' Taylor Dearden of 'The Pitt,' Leah Lewis of 'Matlock,' John C. McGinley of 'Rooster,' Charles Melton of 'Beef,' Tom Pelphrey of 'Task,' Michael Peña of 'All Her Fault,' Timothy Simons of 'Nobody Wants This,' Chris Perfetti of 'Abbott Elementary,' Naomi Watts of 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette' and Karolina Wydra of 'Pluribus,' sat down with THR to chat all about their characters, the best advice they've received as actors and much more as part of THR's 2026 Supporting Class.

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Transcript
00:00I'm Leah Lewis.
00:01Hi, I'm Johnny C. McGinley.
00:02My name is Charles Melton.
00:03Hi, I'm Michael Pena.
00:04Tom Pelfrey.
00:05Erica Alexander.
00:06Chris Perfetti.
00:07I'm Taylor Durden, and this is The Hollywood Reporter.
00:09The Hollywood Reporter.
00:102026 Supporting Class.
00:12Supporting Class.
00:17My character summed up in five words.
00:19Excited.
00:20Sincere.
00:20Sweet.
00:21Advocate.
00:23And...
00:24Spicy.
00:26Mel, you okay?
00:27If you're done fighting.
00:28Elegant, iconic, intelligent, mischievous, worldly.
00:34Morally ambiguous, but good dad.
00:39Deeply lonely, but delusionally optimistic.
00:43My gosh.
00:45I mean, my gosh.
00:47Just outstanding.
00:50Strong.
00:51Weed gummies.
00:53Mission impossible.
00:54Kind.
00:55Heartfelt.
00:56Goofy.
00:56Earnest.
00:57Confused.
00:58His students would sum him up as Huff Poe reading gay Pete Buttigieg.
01:03Real Housewives of New Jersey is also on in five, and I simply must watch it live.
01:08Happy, content, unflappable.
01:10She is everything in the world.
01:14She has the highest intelligence in the world.
01:16She can do anything, perform anything.
01:19That's more than five, but yeah.
01:22My dream guest star would be Laurie Metcalf in everything, always.
01:26I think she's one of the most amazing actors we have, and oh my God, if she was on the
01:31pit, I would probably stop acting.
01:34I would not know what to do.
01:35Viola Davis, we'd just stare at each other and the writers would have to catch up.
01:41Come on, V, give it to me.
01:43It's a win, win, win.
01:45Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, I don't know, shoot for the stars.
01:49Honestly, I think Laura Dern would play the most dynamic, diabolical Abbott villain we've ever had.
01:58If Dolly Parton ever wants to come onto our show, you have a home here.
02:04My character would be most likely to excel in school.
02:09My character would be voted most likely to fail out of school.
02:14Be a great car salesman.
02:16Not to succeed, yes, but I think, I'm trying to think of the superlatives I had in my yearbook.
02:21Maybe best smile.
02:22I think Jacob would be voted probably most dramatic because, well, first of all, that superlative is, like, sort of
02:29queer-coded, and so he'd probably get it for that reason.
02:32But also, I mean, come on, the boy is a mess.
02:37If I could play any character, past or present, I would play Sweeney Todd, Benjamin Barker, the Demon Barber of
02:43Fleet Street.
02:44The Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau.
02:46Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire.
02:48I don't think anyone's gotten it right yet.
02:50And I just, hear me out, give me a shot.
02:53I've always depended on the kindness of strangers.
02:58I would love to play Carol.
03:00I would love to play Ray Sehorne's character.
03:04I think it's such a great character.
03:06I love her journey.
03:08Basically, I would love to be Ray Sehorne.
03:10Please, Carol.
03:11Please, Carol.
03:13I mean, I would love to try something like Miranda Priestly.
03:16It would be really fun to see how well I could do it without them immediately apologizing.
03:23The one piece of early career advice that I still carry with me is not to take things personally
03:28and take every audition as an opportunity to play that character, no matter the outcome.
03:34To go in the room and truly have fun and play and give all that you can to that character
03:40and leave it in there.
03:41Be nice to the PAs because they're going to be your bosses someday.
03:46And they're going to remember if you were a dick to them on set.
03:50More good things can happen.
03:51Personally, I think sometimes when we reach certain goals, like we get scared and we wonder,
03:57like, will this ever happen again?
03:59And I think hearing that and leaning into abundance has really, really helped me stay
04:05in a really positive mindset and open for anything.
04:08Don't quit.
04:08You have to have perseverance.
04:09You don't know when it's coming.
04:11You know, sometimes we get so caught up in, especially when I was younger, I was so caught
04:15up in this, that the worthiness of the pursuit was equated to the result.
04:20So don't quit.
04:21You're learning.
04:22Every time you're learning.
04:23I guess if people don't know your value, then you've got to up the price.
04:28Boom.
04:32If I wasn't an actor, I'd be your worst employee.
04:35A botanist, a writer, or an English teacher.
04:39A therapist.
04:40General contractor.
04:41Oh, yes.
04:42HGTV rules.
04:43Are you kidding?
04:44Anything I know design.
04:46I feel like somewhere I'd probably design the pyramids.
04:50I love dogs.
04:51I have a dog.
04:51I would start some sort of dog walking business, but maybe like a dog hiking business.
04:57A stonemason, because I like to work with rock.
05:00Maybe an acting coach.
05:01I really like it.
05:02I like helping people and, you know, I like rehearsing.
05:06If I wasn't an actor, I'd be lost.
05:08There is no other option.
05:09If I wasn't an actor, there is no other plan.
05:12If all of entertainment didn't exist at all, I guess I'd be a lawyer, because there's
05:17a lot of acting in that.
05:19I'd be in trouble.
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