Even though she’s been an actor for more than 20 years and knows how things work behind the scenes, Maury Morgan still gets choked up when she watches the hit TV show “This Is Us.”
“You kidding me? I can’t watch that show without tissues,” said Morgan, who graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1995.
TUNE IN
What: “This Is Us”When: 9 p.m. TuesdayWhere: NBC (check your local listings for channel)Online: www.maurymorgan.com; www.nbc.com/this-is-us
Tears still flow and tissues still get soaked even though Morgan has landed a recurring role on the NBC family drama as “Liz,” the owner of a dance studio. In fact, the new job had her crying even harder when was given the script for the episode that airs Tuesday night.
“Just reading the script, I was sobbing,” she said.
If you plan to watch the episode, “go to Costco and get the big thing of tissue,” she advised.
Morgan, who came to Chattanooga from Pulaski, Tennessee, was seen briefly – briefly as in the final few seconds – in the Feb. 19 episode, and she’ll also appear on two upcoming shows in Season 3, the one that airs Tuesday and the finale on April 2.
Landing the role is an extra layer of frosting for her because she has been a fan of “This Is Us” since the first season, she said.
“I was blown away. It’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, at least in a long time. I loved it,” said Morgan, who earned a bachelor’s in mass communications from UTC.
To get the part on “This Is Us,” she went through the usual multiple-audition gauntlet, then put it in the back corner of her mind because that’s what you do as an actor. If you sit and fret – “Did I get the part? Did I get the part?” – you’ll drive yourself crazy.
A few weeks later when she was on a plane, she got the news.
“I forgot to turn my phone off, and at 30,000 feet a text came through that said, ‘Did you get the email about ‘This Is Us’?”
She opened her laptop, checked her email and there it was: The role was hers.
“I’m a seasoned, jaded person, and I was shrieking out loud,” she recalled. “Everybody was looking at me.”
Although she has appeared in single episodes of shows such as “Criminal Minds,” “NCIS” and “Bones,” her role in “This Is Us” is the first time she’s been in multiple episodes of a TV series even though she has lived in Los Angeles since 2006.
“It’s a huge thing for me,” she said.
She doesn’t know whether she’ll return for Season 4; that’s one of the realities of being an actor.
Your fictional life – and real-life paycheck – is in the hands of writers. Basically, you have to be “Teflon-coated” to survive in the business, she said.
“Even some stars who have gone to the top found themselves with long periods of ‘I can’t find a job.’ It’s a cyclical business. The key to that is just being interested in life and really loving what you do and having the commitment to see it through.”
And just being part of “This Is Us,” in whatever amount they give her, has been worth it, she said.
“It’s not just another acting job, simply because of the people who work on the show,” she said.
“The environment there is exactly what people who watch the show would think it would be. It’s warm; it’s inclusive; it’s enjoyable.”
Shawn Ryan is a former Times Free Press reporter who now works in communications and marketing for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.