I never really acted full-time. I certainly had gotten past the point where fame and fortune was something that I was dreaming about or anticipating. – Allison Tolman
I liked in television that you do some work, then you perform, then you stop and you have a break because they have to set up lights, and then you do some more work. I really liked the pace of it; it really agreed with me. – Allison Tolman
If you only live in the world of the actor, and if you only live in the world of auditions, etc., then you don’t really have a whole lot to offer when it comes to playing the humans that you’re trying to audition for. – Allison Tolman
It was important for me as a theater artist to allow myself and my interests to evolve over time and allow my notion of what success meant to evolve over time. I’ve always had a day job and never been just acting. But it didn’t make me feel like I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. – Allison Tolman
Maybe to my own detriment, but I watched all of ‘Fargo’ probably more than once. And I tend to be a little critical of myself. But I can also let things go. So I can think, ‘Well, that moment didn’t read as well as I thought it would,’ but it doesn’t keep me up at night. – Allison Tolman
Most of the time you spend filming a show is time you spend without the cameras on, when you’re not acting. – Allison Tolman
I don’t have any phobias per se, but both tight and vast spaces tend to make me nervous after a prolonged time. – Allison Tolman
When you go in to do a screen test, you negotiate your contract and sign all your paperwork before you even get on a plane. – Allison Tolman
I do find that when I see women who flesh out the television or film world and make it look more like the world I actually live in, I gravitate towards those characters. – Allison Tolman
I need an office and a place I can sit down to get away from television and just write. – Allison Tolman
There are a few directors as a young person where I was kind of like, ‘Well, these are a sure bet.’ The Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson. – Allison Tolman
I liked in television that you do some work, then you perform, then you stop and you have a break because they have to set up lights, and then you do some more work. I really liked the pace of it; it really agreed with me. I enjoyed it. – Allison Tolman
The thing about theater that always and still kind of makes me edgy is that you work and work and work and work, and then you’re just in performance mode, and then you have to just be on; the work is done, and then you just have to do it over and over again, so you’re just constantly at that performance level. – Allison Tolman
I don’t think you realize how often on television people are not like anyone we know or have known. – Allison Tolman
I’ve been working as an actress and sort of struggling along for ten years, so I’ve been on a million auditions for a million things I haven’t booked. – Allison Tolman
I did a lot of commercial and theater work when I got out of school and was living in Dallas, and I moved to Chicago to go through the Second City Conservatory Program. – Allison Tolman
I moved to Chicago and I did theater, and then I started writing and I stop acting and I did sketch. You know, I did all of the things that, if you were serious about doing television, don’t do. – Allison Tolman
Body-shaming is something I feel really strongly about. I think about my niece, I think about my friends who have daughters being on the Internet and reading these things, and it just makes me furious. It makes me so angry. – Allison Tolman
I moved to Chicago when I was 28, and I wasn’t completely idealistic about going to Second City and making a living from comedy, but I knew it would be great for the resume. – Allison Tolman
Coming out of Dallas and doing commercial work in Dallas – if you had improv background in Dallas, then you were instantly shot to the top of the list of commercial bookings because they loved improvisers because you could elevate the material. – Allison Tolman
‘The Secret Garden’ was the first musical that I fell in love with when I was a kid. My mom took me to see it, and it was the first one that I owned the soundtrack to and listened to over and over again. – Allison Tolman
For me and accent work, I think once you’ve figured out where that energy is, where the sound is in your throat or your mouth, it’s a whole lot easier to do. – Allison Tolman
I’ve done some version of that Minnesota accent – that Midwestern accent – in sketch comedy for years. It’s the quickest way to symbolize you’re a mom. – Allison Tolman
I worked in IT, which is all boys, and I was the queen of the boys. That’s what I did. I was the one who knew where the paper towels were, which was very important. And I organized happy hours and things like that. – Allison Tolman
I worked for three years in a small IT firm in Chicago. I managed our client base, so I translated into human speak for our technicians. But our company was sold, and the atmosphere and the culture really changed, so I quit without having anything else lined up. – Allison Tolman
I don’t think I have ever worn more outfits over the course of four days than I did Emmy weekend. You barely sleep. You don’t eat. – Allison Tolman
I’ve met a lot of really friendly people who are incredibly happy for me, which is really flattering and humbling. – Allison Tolman