Holland Taylor knows showbusiness.
The classy Emmy-winning actress has starred in literally hundreds of productions for stage, screen and television, and knows a good part when she sees one. Hence her recent association with TV impresario Ryan Murphy, who recruited Taylor to star in his latest Netflix series, Hollywood.
Related: Oh look, there’s a “shocking” amount of nudity on Ryan Murphy’s new show
The show casts Taylor as Ellen, a veteran casting director for Ace Studios with an eye for rising talent. As one of the few successful, powerful women in the business, she recognizes the opportunity to elevate others when the studio boss suffers a stroke, leaving his long-suffering wife Avis (Patti LuPone) in charge of production. The two women conspire to make a film that shows off diverse, young talent, and that speaks to an audience thirsting for cinematic truth.
Queerty caught up with Holland to chat about the show, just ahead of the big streaming debut. Hollywood comes to Netflix May 1.
Cam
The great thing about what Ryan Murphy does, is, he obliterates the bigots excuse for not casting LGBT people.
His shows do well, and they have LGBT stories, and leading actors.
This also makes sure that newer LGBT actors get known and famous which will also destroy another bigot excuse “We would have cast an LGBT actor, but none were famous enough”.
So thank you Ryan Murphy for using your influence to take on the bigots in Hollywood, who try to cater to Red State hate instead of pushing boundaries like entertainment used to do.
Alexis
Very much agree with this comment. I have a lot of respect for Murphy, who pushes the boundaries when it comes to casting individuals and tries to diversify television…which is actually what ‘Hollywood’ is about.
ptb2016
Totally agree about Ryan Murphy. The great thing about the Hollywood series, entertainment value apart, is how it shows how Hollywood should be, with colour blind casting, strong female characters and the recognition of gay characters and their contribution behind the scenes as well as in front of camera.
Cam
@ptb2016
Absolutely, I love that he was asking us (In my opinion) to imagine how much better things would be now, if this had actually happened then. IT was entertaining, but that aspect of it was powerful.
trsxyz
I first discovered Holland Taylor on the series The Practice, back in the late 1990s. She’s amazing.
missvamp
i love holland taylor. she’s hilarious!!
Josh447
I first encountered Holland Taylor in the movie Legally Blond and she won my heart. Been following her ever since. She did an amazing job in this show Hollywood. I look forward to seeing her next move.
Woteva
120 screen credits? Wow! Here in the U.K. we only know her for the fabulous role in Two and a half men. I need to do some research…
Josh447
She’s in Legally Blonde w Reece Witherspoon, a great delight. She plays a law profesor.
Woteva
She gave the best interview about the series so far. Looks and sounds like a really great lady.
petej
holland taylor great in early “2 1/2 men” too
Dez
Okay but she NEEDS to be on American Horror Story!! She’s in a relationship with Sarah Paulson IRL! Would be amazing to see them acting together on AHS.
adb
Well, you heard it here first–after the first live “All In The Family”, I tweeted that Holland Taylor would be perfect for “Maude”. She agreed, so hopefully Norman Lear will make it happen…