Justine Lupe Is Following Her Heart

Published Dec 17, 2024, 8:05 AM

From “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Succession” to one of this year’s buzziest shows “Nobody Wants This,” actor Justine Lupe has captivated audiences for her distinct humor, specificity, and dedication to her craft. She comes on the show to talk about what it’s been like to be a part of a show that centers a healthy relationship, her journey to film and TV after training at Juilliard, and what she’s learned about balancing work with new motherhood.

Hey Besties, Hello Sunshine. Today on the bright Side, actor Justine Lup joins us to talk about her role in one of the buzziest shows of the year Netflix is Nobody Wants This. It's Tuesday, December seventeenth.

I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Boyce, and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn, and brighten your day.

Okay, nobody wants This was a phenomenon.

Turns out everybody wanted it.

Forbody wanted it.

Yeah.

I have not laughed out loud at the TV watching a show in a very long time.

It was just so relatable too.

If you haven't gotten on, then nobody wants this train yet. It's a Netflix show that follows Joe Anne, who's an agnostic podcaster she's a funny way of describing her played by Kristin Bell, and Noah, who's a newly single rabbi played by Adam Brody. They fall in love and they're having to navigate their different lives and.

Their different religions. They're different families.

I was laughing so hard at the scene where Kristen Bell meets Adam Brodie's mom and they visit his parents' house. It is in this insanely gorgeous mansion, and then they have the most painfully awkward brunch of all time.

Simone, did you see that house?

Oh?

Yeah, it was huge.

Imagine renting that house on Airbnb for a weekend goals.

I am so down for that.

Well, if you're a fan of the show like us, we have amazing news for you. It has already been picked up for a second season and we are so excited. We're going to do our best to get some tea from one of the stars of the show. Today, actor Justin Loop is here with us. She plays Morgan, who is Joe Anne's quick witted sister and co host on their podcast.

You also might.

Recognize Justine from her work on other, I don't know, moderately successful TV shows like Succession. She plays Willa in that show and also Astrod in The Marvelous Missus Masel. Let's go ahead and bring her in. Justin Loop, Welcome to the bright Side.

Thank you guys for much. I'm really excited.

And huge congratulations because nobody wants this was nominated in the Best Musical or Comedy TV Series category for the Gold Globes.

Yes. Cool.

If I could snap into the microphone, I would. We're so happy to have you here and excited to talk to you because we are huge fans of the show.

We binged it along with the rest of America. Yes, we could not get enough of Nobody Wants This. And you know what I was thinking as I was watching it. You've played so many amazing characters that I've fallen in love with, and I've noticed a through line with them. I'm thinking of Willa from Succession and Morgan from Nobody Wants This, and I notice that they're underestimated by just about everyone else in the show, all the other characters, and yet they go on to surprise and delight the audience with their wit, or their strategy or their strength in certain situations. What do you think their superpowers are these women that you've played.

I think there's superpower is I mean, you know, Morgan does care, she wants to rise for the occasion, and she wants to prove people wrong. But I also do think she has a real essence of like not giving a fuck, and Willa also had the same quality where it was kind of like the thing that I loved most about Willa was that she walked into this like group of sharks and she was kind of like untouchable because she just didn't play by the same rules as they did.

And I think Morgan.

Has a similar quality that's so satisfying and fun to play, where it's like this person that, yeah, nobody expects her to be great at what she's doing, but she's aware of that, but she doesn't let it phase her really and she carries herself like through it with like poison, kind of just being like whatever, I like have fun. Like she's got this kind of a care free thing and she it's like a really satisfying quality to play.

I think that's like the secret power. Yeah, what do you think your superpower is? As an actor and creative?

Oh that's really sweet.

You know.

I read the book The Alchemist.

It was when I was in my late teens that I read it, and I remember the whole premise of the book is just keep on going back to following your heart no matter what. And it's so simple, but it just truly is the key to everything. That if you're following your heart and you're you're not inhibiting what your heart is telling you to do it leads you to the right things. I feel like it's led me to like amazing relationships. I think it's led me to the right career moves. I like don't think I lead intellectually or like thinking about like what's going to serve me. I'm not very savvy in that way. I think some people that can like really work out for them, like having some sort of like premeditated plan or like knowing the business. And for me, it's always just been Okay, I'm following my heart, which is most likely going to lead me to like good material and hard work. And it also like helps so you feel like a trust within yourself. You're like, okay, like my heart loves acting and it knows that really clearly.

It's something that has served me really well.

And I would say that would be if I had a superpower, it would be that that I have a very strong relationship to my heart.

Well, it served you so well because you've been on two of the most popular shows in like the past five years, So it seems like it's working out for you so beautifully, So continue doing whatever you're doing.

Thank you. It's knocking on what I mean, I feel really luck. I feel that myself.

I'm like, whoa, this is wild that you know, you never know when something's going to like have the effect that it has, because there's so many projects that you read and you're like, oh, this is amazing, and then they don't ever see the light of day, or they just can't make it out of like the like sea of media that's out there. They can't like rise and into visibility. So I'm just really lucky that these are two shows that have resonated for people and the people like to watch It's wild.

Justine, you graduated from juliad in twenty eleven, right, so when you were there, did you think you would be playing these types of characters?

You know, it's funny. So in high school I was really really drawn to comedy. I went to a performing arts high school and I remember doing a scene from Streetcar named Desire and my teacher being like, Okay, so this isn't a comedy, like just playing it like it was a comedy like, and it's not. And it was my favorite kind of genre. I had the most fun with comedy. And then when you go to Juilliard, they do this thing where for the first three years they give you this stuff that you would not necessarily gravitate towards or be cast as I think, to stretch you and try and get you to do things that are like way outside of your comfort zone.

Honestly, the first three years of Juilliard, I was like.

Playing like old women and like the matriarch of the family, which is like something that I was so uncomfortable with. I just like had always played the comedic relief for the Angenoux. Those were the two parts that I'd played, and they were giving me these massive like the queen or like the mom in like picnic, just like crazy women with like gravitas, or people who are like really really old and like barely hanging on. And then it wasn't until my last year at Juilliard that they like kind of let me do a little bit more comedy. And to answer your question succinctly, I would say, like, I had no idea what my career would end up doing, but I'm so happy that I've gotten to play a little bit more with comedy lately.

It's really fun.

I'm curious about Justine in between graduating from Juilliard and getting her first big role, were you the type of person that's auditioning and like having fun with it and meeting people, or are you the type of person that's auditioning and going nuts over not getting a role and thinking like what's next?

How am I.

Gonna make this work?

Like?

Who were you in that time period?

I think I was like somewhere in between those two things. I still I have friends from that time, and they're like, wow, like they had memories of me just like holing up and like just sitting with sides. I had the mentality of like, the only thing I really can do to like control the situation, which is completely uncontrollable, is just like put my head down and like work really really hard. And I remember also having like terrible nerves because it was so weird, like walking into all these rooms and doing auditions and I'd never done it before.

And I remember just being like the only.

Thing I can do is like just get these lines like as molecularly absorbed into me that I don't get swayed, Like my nerves can't screw.

With me doing a good job.

Yeah.

Yeah, So I remember being like really like intensely serious about it. But I also don't remember being too bitter or too heartbroken. I mean, I remember the very beginning, it was like you would fall in love but the part, and you'd be like, you would be sad when it didn't happen, and that still happens once in a while.

But you also it's kind.

Of like exposure therapy, Like the more rejections you get, the more you're like, oh, this is just the way that it goes and you get used to that feeling of it's not personal and that life goes on and that things don't work out your way all the time. But it I don't know, there's something like magic to the exposure to rejection that you get as an actor, and I think I handled it pretty well. We've got to take a quick break. We'll be right back with actor Justine Loop. And we're back with Justin Loop.

Tell me if this is correct or not.

It sounds to me like you've actually had like a pretty positive experience in Hollywood.

That's not a story I hear all the time.

M Yeah, I feel like I've had really good luck of being with good people and not running into too much dark energy. I'm not like a real partier and I'm not like the most social person in the world. So I think it was like, LA can kind of be like a make your own adventure in terms of like picking the people that you're hanging out with. And I had a lot of friends from when I was younger that were here, my brother's here, and I feel like I kind of like veered away from some things that can lead to like some rough situations. And yeah, and then on top of that, I just really lucked out on being in really good shows with great creators and really great number ones, Like the people who are number one on the call sheet really set the tone for like the rest of the show. And I've had the luck of being on shows with like wonderful, wonderful leaders and that can like make or break an experience, and I've been really, really lucky.

One of the Hollywood stories that made headlines about you was when you shared that you were pregnant while auditioning for Nobody Wants This, But you chose not to share that news right away.

What went into that decision.

I hid my pregnancy in the beginning, just for the first three months, because that part of your pregnancy is so vulnerable, Like thirty percent of women have miscarriages in those first three months. You know, it's like a pretty crazy high stat of you know, losses, and so I kind of was like, I don't know if I want to share this with people that I'm not comfortable mourning with or letting it go with or talk disclosing like if there is a loss. I wasn't scared to tell my my colleagues about the pregnancy. I told them as soon as I was safe to tell them, like as soon as I was out of the woods with my first trimester, I told everyone on the show that that was what was going on with me and kind of just trusted that it would be okay. It was like a little bit scary because there is a near of like that we've all been around for a really long time of like, you know, having kids is something that can like stall your career and that people are not supportive of that in this industry. But I had seen Sarah Snook go through it on succession, and I've had other friends who did done their best work pregnant, and I also, you know, I had a tiny bit of fear.

About how it would go over.

But I also was like, you know what this is, like, this is where we're at now, Like I'm not going to stop acting. And I felt like I intuited that everybody would be really, really wonderful about it, and I was right, you know, the moment that I told everyone, they were really kind about it.

Completely, And I asked, because I think that that narrative is so real, it's so prevalent. I grew up feeling that way even in my industry and media. I thought, Oh, I have to make it by thirty so that I can have a family. Otherwise I can't make the career work. And I had to unlearn that. So I was curious to hear your perspective on it. Yeah, that fear comes from like a real place. There's like a long history of like that being the case, you know. Like I just was watching the Paul Newman and Joyan Woodward documentary thing on.

HBO where it's like six parts and she talks about how she was like at this all time high and she like her career was like crazy, she was getting nominated for Academy Awards and winning, and then she says, like I had children and like you just can't do both in they're like my I couldn't have my career and like she's very very like upfront about being Like she says, I wish I hadn't had children, Like it's really intense, and so it's like there's a good reason that we're all afraid of, like that there is this like you know, ethos around it. But I also think that like it's just a bunch of bowl and like that, I've seen women doing the best work ever and being incredible mom And I really think that the industry should, if not if they aren't already, they should be rising to the occasion to meet this kind of like you know, new new wave of incredible women who are also moms.

We all work in Los Angeles, in Hollywood, you know, in careers that are on camera. But and I'm so happy to hear how receptive everyone was on your set, Justine. The reality is there are women all over this country, all over this world who are still, you know, working in environments where they do feel shame about their pregnancies, you know, or they do feel like they're treated differently at work. So that reality still exists for so many women today. And I can remember when I was coming back from my maternity leave, when I was working as a reporter. I came back Fromnity leave. I was working for about four months, and then I had to work up the courage to tell my boss that I was pregnant again with a surprise pregnancy. And I just remember feeling that fear so viscerally because people would come up to me and say, you know, it's amazing you're still here in the newsroom, you're working, you're so pregnant. Like I can remember five ten years ago when this was not the case, you know, when when correspondence would have been pushed out, would have removed themselves from their careers because of this.

So it's it's also fresh, oh totally.

I mean I had several friends of mine when I said that, I'd be like, oh yeah, I've had bosses say rude, rude basically like scorn them for saying that they were pregnant, or like make discourage in commons. So this isn't to say that like, oh my gosh, every like to deny the fact that this is still an issue and that we've got like a long way to go. I just feel like things have to start somewhere, and unfortunately it starts with us having the courage to try and make progress, like and try and be open and then it has to carry over.

Into people making the right moves.

And I think there is something too seeing expanders and knowing that it's a possibility. And that's not to say that it's always going to go as smoothly as it went for me, and I know that it very often does not go that way, but it was an important thing for me to hear, and so it was something that I wanted other women to hear coming from me.

Yeah.

I love talking to other mothers who are working, still pursuing their dreams and still feeling creatively energized. And I'm curious, what is one way that motherhood has changed your perspective?

Oh gosh, I mean there's a lot. I think that it's kind of brought me to my knees.

A little bit.

Yeah, because you just are left in like a very very It's like a simultaneously really powerful state but also like a vulnerable state, and you're learning everything all over again. And birth in itself really brought me to my niece, and also to know that I'm like at the very beginning of a long I don't know how much further along you are than I am, but that there's like so many unknowns and to feel that again. I think sometimes you get into autopilot, and this is like just being completely taken out of autopilot and thrown into like baby, I'm like a baby. I'm trying to figure out how this is all going to go. I don't know what it's going to be like to be on set and navigating being a mom and being at work and how to like make that all happen. Let alone, I'm navigating how to help my child fart. Like, it's just like you're brought back to the most elementary version of yourself. I feel like I'm in hyperdrive, just trying to catch up with the circumstances, the given circumstances, and then there's like all these beautiful surprises along the way. It's not just a struggle. It's amazing. But it's really like thrown me into a different mode of thinking than I was just four months ago.

Yeah, it's an awakening.

I love that you said that that it really kind of like shook you out of autopilot at such a great point totally.

It's like the learning curve is insane. Yeah, And like we do all this like prep for pregnancy, and there's like all these books that I was reading while I was pregnant on How to be Pregnant, and then like you get to the fourth trimester.

And you're like, where was this?

And then it's just like scrambling to like figure it all out and you never can, which is also wild.

We have to take another short break, but don't go anywhere. We'll be right back to our conversation with Justine Loop. And we're back with actor Justine Loop. So, Justine, I don't want to jump around shows, but I read something that really interested me. You said that Matthew mcphaden, who famously played mister Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, who was in Succession, was your teenage crush. Yeah, okay, I'm having a meltdown for you because don't make fun of me. But like, Channing, Tatum or Usher were my teenage crushes. And if I got to work with Channing Tatum or Usher, and like if I got to do a talk show with either of them, I would absolutely die. I don't know how you were on set with your teenage crush. Can you please explain this to me.

I didn't handle it great. I mean I was totally nerdy and like and I was nervous.

I was really weird. I do this thing where.

If there's someone that I'm like a fan of or that I have a crush on or whatever, I do like the opposite of what you would think I would do, where you go up to someone and I like avoid them at all parts.

That's me, That's what I do, That's what men do. I completely ignored him.

I stood on the opposite of every room, I could possibly the farthest point away from him, and I like wouldn't look at him.

And I do this every day. Today.

I saw Phoebe Bridges in a coffee shop and I didn't look at her the whole time. I was truly like the baby was with me, and I was like looking at the baby the whole time, just ententionly.

I was like, I don't want to be weird. I don't want to be weird.

And then it makes you so much more weird than if you just were looking at them or saying hi.

It was so anyway that happened.

And then I finally, after we'd been working together for maybe two months, like I'm not exaggerating a really quite a long time, I went up to him at a crafty table and I told him my opening line was that my boyfriend was named mister Darcy and my phone when I was in high school, because I was so obsessed with.

Him, and he's like, oh, that's so delightful.

And then it was just awkward again, and I think I like went back to like just avoiding him for a while. But he's wonderful and after six years he's like a good friend and I like him.

He's wonderful.

Yeah, but I was obsessed with him in that movie like goded. When they walked across the field to each other and like finally kissed, it.

Was just he's so amazing.

And the thing that's crazy is you realize that Matthew was so good in that role because he like actually is a strapping handsome he's like a protagonist. Like he's like a total hero. He's just beautiful as a guy. And so you're like, oh, of course you played that so well because you, like are the most crushable human being. With all due respect to his wife and not, I don't all like but he's just like incredible.

I am having second degree happiness for you. Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm truly so overjoyed that you had this experience, Me too, Me too. Okay, I have to jump to nobody wants this, but I'm staying in the romance category. You and Noah's brother season two is happening. Congratulations. We're all very excited about that. The vibes are intense. Is this gonna happen? Not that I want, you know, him and his wife to break up, but you guys have a vibe.

We do have a vibe.

I think Aaron's gone on record and said that it's not going to happen. So that's the only reason I say I feel comfortable saying that because I feel like the cat's already out of the bag. But you know, it's so fun to think about because they've got weird energy.

You're like, let's cross.

That line, and then the reality of it is not as funny the follow through. There's way more to be mined out of us just being like weird friends with like a strange dynamic and like the kind of like odd couple in the friendship department.

So I'm really excited to see where it goes.

But the will they won't day of it is gonna come to an end.

Well, the tension is always the most fun. The tension is always the most fun to watch. It's never the reward.

I agree, even with like the best love stories, it's like always the like.

It's like the gym and Pam like, except not in real life. That's called toxic. No, because we're talking about Hollywood. It's acting. It's fake, it's not none of but it's real, but not in.

Our real lives. No, that's why.

I'm not married yet.

Okay, really sweet, are you dating?

Do you have someone for me? Justine? I mean, I'm gonna wrap my brain because you're adorable.

You're so sweet. Do you know Channing Tatum?

Is really my question.

I don't know Channing Tatum, but like I recently heard when I was talking about how good his dance moves are, that he's recently single.

So this is what I'm.

Saying, Maybe he'll get on Rayah and I'll have a shot. Okay, this is about you. So when you weren't fantasizing about mister Darcy and you were dating pre your husband, what kind of dater were you?

Ooh, avoidant? I would say, I'm.

Sensing a theme here, I'm sensing of avoiding people.

Yeah, totally, totally, totally no, totally, You've got it.

It's basically I would just be like I think before, especially in my twenties, when I was and it's comfortable with who I was, I felt like I had to kind of hold everything at arm's length. I wouldn't want to do sleepovers. I would leave in the morning if I did sleepover. I like never really got very deep into relationships. And then you kind of go like, Okay, there has to be a time where someone sees my like shadow or someone really gets like a sustainable stretch of time to see who I am, and I have to show this person who I am in order for there to be any I mean, nobody wants this. Does a really good job of addressing this topic of like showing someone who you really are and trusting them to be able to quote unquote handle you. And so it's funny. I just know I'm putting that together. But I was like a very much in the Joyanne camp of being an avoidant until I finally realized like I wasn't going to get anywhere with that. And now I'm like an intimacy junkie, Like I'm like, yeah, I'm like.

Totally you know, with my current partner.

I was just like very very transparent and open and he was as well. And it was not hard like you said, It wasn't a long game. It was like really easeful feeling. And I was kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time, being like when is it going to get tricky or game playing or hard?

Like when are those things going to come out?

And they just like truly never did, which rules.

So in the show, Adam Brody hot Rabbi is in part so hot because he's emotionally mature and available. If you were a bit avoidant, was it your partner who made you want to have this intimacy the way Adam Brody did with his girlfriend in the show, or did you make changes in your own life ahead of meeting your partner that sort of like created this beautiful partnership.

It was a combination.

I think I made a change in my own life and that before I met him. But I also think that he has not with the intimacy thing because he.

Was pretty guarded at first.

I actually like met and avoid and was like I see you. He was also like very evolved and I think he knew that he was an avoidant and so he like met me where I was. But I do think in terms of like rising into the relationship, there's like an energy that he has that like is like he's very respectful, and he also like demands like a certain level of respect, like just inherently in his like energy, not demands in like an intense like or aggressive way, but like he's just so respectful and he's so present and he's so kind that I like rose to the occasion, I would say. And there was like a part of me that also didn't play games because I was like, oh, this person doesn't do that. That's not like permitted, and this I intuitively can feel it, like that's not this guy's vibe. And so I'm going to be like I'm not going to play any games and I'm going to be like the best version of myself and I'm going to like show up because he's showing up. And that was also something that I hadn't seen before in a partnership, like someone who is like fully there. And I think that's another one with Adam in the show. It's like he just is a really good person who's like very available and like very emotionally evolved and like ready to take on a relationship. And I do feel like when you're stepping into a relationship with someone like that, you either have to like rise to the like water sticks its own level, like you either rise to where they are.

You're not going to like it's not going to last.

You know what you're describing that I make you have with your now husband and the dynamic that Adam Brodie's character presents on the show, it was really refreshing because it's a healthy definition of masculinity. It's like, you know, an inspiring type of masculinity that makes you want to come alongside and partner with that person. And I thankfully have that in my husband too. But yeah, I just loved I love celebrating examples of like really positive masculinity Totally.

Everyone was kind of like, what is it about Adaman's show?

What is it?

And I think that it's like he's sensitive and he's soft and he's kind, but he's also direct. He has like the masculine kind of like I want you and I'm going to pursue you. The masculine feminine balance that he's got going on is Chef's kiss.

Yeah, he was the perfect twenty twenty four rom com character like this is the New Age, Richard Gear, the new like the one that women want today totally.

And it's also like it's good.

It's like a good thing to be like seeking out, you know, like I yeah that women like see this show and they're like that's what I want. I want someone who behaves like that.

Yeah, it's not a guilty pleasure. There's nothing guilty about like loving this show. He's just good, good people. Justine, thank you so much for joining us on the bright Side.

We had so much fun.

Thank you, Thank you guys so much. I really I had fun.

Justin Loop is an actor who starred in HBO's Succession as well as Netflix Is Nobody Wants This.

That's it for today's show.

Tomorrow, are Ee opening conversation with board certified psychiatrist and adh D specialist doctor Sasha Hamdani. Join the conversation using hashtag the bright Side and connect with us on social media at Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod on TikTok Oh, and feel free to tag us at Simone Voice and at Danielle Robe.

Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

See you tomorrow, folks, keep looking on the bright side.

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