Sarah Paulson Takes Us from Law and Order to AHS and Hulu’s Run – Collider

Paulson also discusses meeting Amanda Peet, booking 'Studio 60,' directing 'American Horror Story,' and loads more!

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You wont have to get too far into this new installment of Collider Ladies Night to learn that Sarah Paulson is one of my absolute favorite individuals in the industry. Im a diehard American Horror Story fan and marvel at her on-screen work across the board, but over the years, Ive also come to deeply appreciate how her passion, honesty and attention to detail shines through in all of our interviews.

At this point, Paulson has six Emmy nominations to her name and one win for her performance as Marcia Clark in American Crime Story, shes directed an episode of American Horror Story, is an executive producer on Ratched, just gota long overdue lead role in a studio feature with Run, and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down whatsoever. But, of course, it all had to being somewhere and during our Ladies Night conversation, Paulson credited Law & Orders Ed Sherin with giving her career the jumpstart it needed:

The right pair of eyes watching you sort of could determine whether or not you can have a successful career or not. I went to audition for Lynn Kressel who was casting all the things at that time in New York and I went to audition for her for Law & Order. I got a callback. I went then to the producers session which was down where Law & Orders shooting, some other place, and I went in with Ed Sherin and Constantine [Makris], he had been the DP I think or one of the ADs and he was directing this episode. And Ed Sherin is married to Jane Alexander, hes just this wonderful director-producer, but I did my audition and in the audition I was supposed to cry, because in this episode I was gonna have to cry a lot."

Paulson stopped and laughed, Theres something you can find for connectivity for the rest of my working life thus far! Yes, Paulson has become quite well known for turning on the waterworks, butback then, she wasnt able to conjure tears at all. She continued:

I remember doing the audition and I did it and I sort of looked up at him and Im all of 19 and he went, I think youre feeling something right now that if you allowed yourself to feel it would be exactly what you would need to do in this scene. Are you feeling embarrassed? Because I didnt cry at all, the whole scene. I couldnt cry because I was nervous. He 100% knew that I felt humiliated and embarrassed and he just said, Do you feel that way? And I said, Yes. And then I started to cry and he said, Go. Read the scene now. And I did and I got the part.

Booking the job was a huge coup for Paulson, marking her very first screen credit, but Sherins decision to give her that extra moment meant even more to Paulson than just that. Heres how she put it:

But that, much like the Ryan Murphy stories of later, thats the difference between an actor who gets to work a lot and a person who doesnt. For whatever reason, Ed Sherin took that extra moment with me, didnt let me leave the room. I to this day could ask him what made him do that. Maybe it was total luck. Maybe there was something he saw. But hes why I got that job, which then allowed me to continue to pursue the career because I was able to make a living and getting some communication that it was the right choice. Its these little tiny moments where you just go, God, what would have happened to me if he hadnt done that?

This right here is only one of many seminal stories Paulson shared about the start of her career on Collider Ladies Night. Check out our full chat at the top of this article to hear more abut her early days in the industry, booking a role on Aaron Sorkins Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, her collaboration with Ryan Murphy, what it was like working with Aneesh Chaganty and Kiera Allen on Run, and so much more!

Run is now streaming on Hulu.

Indies, horror films, and even big studio movies that didn't catch on make up our curated list.

Perri Nemiroff has been part of the Collider team since 2012. She co-hosts Collider FYC, The Witching Hour and hosts the interview series, Collider Ladies Night. Perri's a proud graduate of Columbia University's Film MFA program and member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Perri splits her time between Los Angeles and New York, but devotes every waking hour to her cat, Deputy Dewey.

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Sarah Paulson Takes Us from Law and Order to AHS and Hulu's Run - Collider

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero