‘Elsbeth’ Star Carrie Preston on the Role That Made Her and Acting With Her Husband
arrie Preston, 57, is an Emmy-winning actress and director best known for her roles in TV’s “True Blood,” “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.” She currently stars in season 2 of CBS’s “Elsbeth.” She spoke with Marc Myers.
My mother saw it first. She sensed my older brother would thrive in theater. So when John was 13, she took him to his first audition at the Macon Little Theatre in our hometown of Macon, Ga. He was cast in a play with adults.
I was 11 and electrified when I saw him on stage. Acting looked so sophisticated and cool. I wanted to do the same, and my mom was there for me, too.
We moved around a lot in Macon when I was young. Then my parents divorced the same year John started acting. My younger sister, Leslie, was 8. It’s always tough when parents split, but fortunately they did it in a civilized, humane way. I was so grateful for that continuity.
My father, Ray, was a geotechnical engineer. He tested soil to make sure it was suitable for high-rise buildings and other structures. He was a science-minded person but appreciated the arts and literature.
After my father and mother separated, John, Leslie and I stayed with her. My mom, Pam, is a visual artist, painter, sculptor and art therapist. She instilled in us a love of art and artistic expression.
Not long after seeing John perform, I auditioned for the Macon Little Theatre’s kid shows, like “Snow White” and “Cinderella.” From the start, I wanted the character parts—the dimwitted maid in “Snow White,” for example. I knew I’d get funny lines, and I punched them up to make them funnier.
When I was 12, my best friend, Susan, and I started a theater group with other girls in the neighborhood. We’d write our own skits, sing songs and charge parents a dime to see our little shows.
One day, my mom drove Leslie, Susan and me to Atlanta, about two hours north, to see “Annie.” When the lights went down and all these little girls my age came out on stage singing and dancing, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
As a rule-follower, I loved direction and education. In high school, I was a straight-A student. During my freshman year, John and I started a drama club. We asked our favorite English teacher to be our sponsor.
We picked scripts with unusual roles and small casts, since there weren’t many of us. We even directed some of them.
Another talented student and I put on “I Bring You Flowers,” by William Lang, about a couple whose child tragically dies when she’s hit by a car. We were teens playing 30-year-olds, but we dug in.
We took the play to a regional competition and won. My chemistry teacher said to us, “You handled that play with a maturity beyond your years. Very impressive.”
I asked my mother whether she thought I could actually make a living being an actress. She said, “Well, honey, somebody’s got to do it. I don’t know why it can’t be you.”
At the College of Charleston in South Carolina, I participated in the Southeastern Theatre Conference Auditions and landed my first professional roles at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival.
After my freshman year, a professor who had attended the University of Evansville urged me to transfer there for better training. I really wanted to go to Juilliard. He advised me to audition for both, so I did.
Juilliard passed on me, but I won a full scholarship at Evansville. A professor there, John David Lutz, said if I accepted, he’d get me into Juilliard’s graduate program. Lutz was good on his word.
Juilliard was an incredible experience. After, I performed at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where I met actor Michael Emerson. We married in 1998.
My first break, in 1995, was being cast as Miranda in “The Tempest” that George C. Wolfe directed for the New York Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, with Patrick Stewart. The production moved to Broadway, which is where Hollywood casting directors saw me.
My first film of note was “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” in 1997, but the series that launched me was HBO’s “True Blood,” in 2008.
Today, Michael and I divide our time between our apartment in the Chelsea section of Manhattan and a historic house in New York’s Hudson Valley that’s our getaway.
My sister and brother and I are super close. After my sister and I saw the house, we brought everyone up to have a look. It was perfect, and we closed in February 2020. Six weeks later, we were all living there during the pandemic.
The house reminds us of how we grew up—not too far from farms and nature. I guess you could call it a sibling house.
Carrie’s Reset
“Elsbeth”? I play an observational helper of the NYPD. It’s a spinoff of my unconventional character on “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.”
Actor-husband? He’s going to be in “Elsbeth” this season. Acting with him was better than us texting all day.
House in winter? Oh, yes. Every weekend. After 16-hour days on set, I can escape to the country on the weekends and reset.
Recognized? Sometimes. But I’m like Clark Kent. When my glasses go on, I blend in.
Crime solving? In my town? Absolutely not. I leave that to the professionals.
