Rebecca Wisocky Waxes Nostalgic About Her Career As An Actress

Evelyn Powell in Devious Maids. Bree’s mother in a flashback on Desperate Housewives. Lorraine Harvey in American Horror Story: Murder House. Mrs. Chandler in Heathers. Ramdha in Star Trek: Picard. Leni Riefenstahl in the play Amazons and Their Men. Cynthia McCormick in Dopesick. And Hetty Woodstone, the deceased lady of the manor, in the current hit comedy Ghosts, which opens season four on CBS on October 17.

At first glance, Rebecca Wisocky as Hetty in Ghosts is reminiscent of Ms. Wisocky as Evelyn in Devious Maids. And, perhaps, Mrs. Mason in Desperate Housewives. Or many of the other roles in the diversified career of the Obie Award-winning actress.

“I often play in that spectrum of difficult, uptight, persnickety, and upper crust ladies. I think I have cornered a bit of the market on that. But I have also been granted the rare opportunity to do the other side of things, too, which is not always the case as a character actor,” said Rebecca Wisocky. “I still on occasion get recognized for an episode I did of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where I played a strung-out heroin addict who gets her son to rob jewelry stores and they kill the girlfriend to finance her drug habit.”

“Regardless of what roles I play, or the perception of my character traits as an actress, I try to bring something unique to each performance,” she said.

From the Beginning

For Ghosts star Rebecca Wisocky, the seeds for her career as an actress were planted at age seven with a part in a local theater production of Alice in Wonderland in Pennsylvania.

“As a child, I was a painfully shy and my mother somehow had the idea to take me down to the local theater to see some plays, which was just so strange and exciting for me,” remembered Wisocky, who was born in York, Pennsylvania. “Shortly later, she took me to audition for Alice in Wonderland, which – much to my horror – I was given a part in. I played the mock turtle and sang the Beautiful Dreamer song. As a result, I found a voice and a community and I basically spent the rest of my childhood though high school there.”

“These were my formative years, which at the time were so deeply impactful,” she said. “I have since come to realize all the things that I thought were so horrible and strange and weird about myself as a kid are my strengths as an actor now.”

Eventually, Rebecca Wisocky enrolled at the Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU, where she met Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, the artistic directors of the New York City-based dance theater company Big Dance.

“Despite being young, I had quite a bit of experience doing standard and classical plays. But I knew I needed to learn how to let loose and be free at that point,” noted Wisocky. “So, I went to ETW, got some fantastic physical training and then spent years touring with Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, where I learned about being an ensemble member, about composition, and musicality. Even now, doing Ghosts, I utilize those skills of composition and teamwork and things like that.”

“At the time, I wanted to be in New York and I wanted to be involved in the theater and just have a life in the arts in some way. I never really imagined myself as chasing fame in any way,” she noted. “Doing film and television when I lived in New York was the way that I could afford to get to do theater because it paid so poorly.”

Ultimately, Wisocky began to officially work on Broadway as a standby for the role of Ilona Szabo in the Broadway production of The Play’s the Thing in 1995. She has since played Lady Macbeth and Medea, among other strong women. Her Off-Broadway plays have included Don Juan Comes Back From the War, The Tooth of Crime., and Hot’N Throbbing among many others. And, in 2008, she reached a career zenith, winning the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her role as Nazi-era German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in the play Amazons and Their Men.

“I come from deep downtown theater in New York. I spent years in basements and spaces that weren’t even theaters, just hoping to God that the Village Voice would at least show up to give us a review,” remembered Wisocky. “So, winning an Obie and being recognized by that community was incredibly important and moving.”

From Stage to Television

On television, Wisocky made her debut on television in an episode of Sex and the City as one of Charlotte’s (Kristin Davis) sorority sisters in 2000. And her early guest star roster of appearances included Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The Sopranos.

“In my twenties and when I was in college, I had an array of day jobs. Then I remember there being one year when I decided to just focus on acting. And I never worked another day job after that, thankfully,” remembered Wisocky. “Those Law & Order series have kept New York theater actors afloat for decades now.”

“When I did The Sopranos, every actor in New York wanted to get on that show. And it was back at a time when auditions were certainly not done on tape or from your home. It was in a room of, like, 100 actors waiting for their turn to go in and meet David Chase,” she said. “And I’m proud to have been a tiny part of that moment in television history.”

For an actor, of course, finding a hit series – or two in the case of Rebecca Wisocky – offers the stability of having a job that can last for years.

“The thing that is most wonderful is that you get to be part of a community. You get to see the same people every day and build relationships with all the crew members,” noted Wisocky. “Devious Maids was shot in Atlanta and Ghosts is shooting in Montreal. So, that’s just increased the sense of family away from home and community. Getting to do that over a length of time and watching a character grow and change is a great gift.”

The Upcoming Season of Ghosts and The Sex Lives of College Girls

Returning after last year’s abbreviated strike-delayed season, and unlike any series being streamed, the advantage of comedy Ghosts on CBS is a full season (translation: 22 episode) order. Now airing immediately following Young Sheldon spin-off Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, and opening on October 17, we last saw Ghosts when jittery Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) was dealing with his wedding day.

Flash to the upcoming season and the relationship between Rose McIver as Samantha and Wisocky as Hetty will be further explored.

“They both have difficult relationships with their own children and/or parents, and it’s a really lovely tool for them both to grow and realize the ways in which they’re both flawed,” noted Wisocky. “I think you’re going to see a lot more of that relationship this year.”

Additionally, Wisocky has a role in the upcoming third season of Mindy Kaling dramedy The Sex Lives of College Girls on Netflix, which follows the lives of four freshman roommates at the fictional Essex College in Vermont.

“There is a new series regular this season, played by Gracie Lawrence, and she gets involved in the musical theater program there,” noted Wisocky. “I play the drama professor that’s kind of modeled after Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tar in the film Tár.

“I enjoy doing these short form series on hiatus and would love to do something that’s possibly a little darker and edgier,” noted Wisocky. “But again, and maybe I need to get over this, I still relate to being a scrappy character actor in the 1990s where I just felt lucky to get any job. Regardless, my goal as an actor is to make the most out of anything I do – comedy or drama, on stage or on film.”

“I have also started writing, and it’s just mainly for me right now, but I’ve enjoyed that very much,” she said. “And I am asked to coach young actors sometimes. That is another thing I find very rewarding, amongst so many other things.”