A few years back, Katherine LaNasa was on the verge of quitting her on-screen career to teach acting in her backyard. Now, at 59 years old, she’s an Emmy winner thanks to her performance as the wry but logical head charge nurse Dana Evans, opposite Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, on HBO’s mega-hit The Pitt. But acting wasn’t LaNasa’s original creative pursuit. She started her career as a professional ballerina. A chance meeting with the late screen legend Dennis Hopper after an opening night in Los Angeles led to both a brief marriage and a career change. She’s worked in television for decades, with a résumé that includes guest spots on sitcoms (such as Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men) and procedurals (everything from Ghost Whisperer to Burn Notice), and even a starring role in a Riverdale spin-off (Katy Keene). Though she played a flirty mom whose daughter was a patient on an ER episode back in 2002, she never expected that the show’s executive producer, John Wells, would change her life more than two decades later. Making a self-tape for The Pitt was just “a random audition,” she says. “I was going to be a counselor at summer camp. They sent me something the night before, a big dramatic scene. I guess that scene was the clincher. The gods were just with me.”

You used to be a ballet dancer. Does dance still inform your life?

Dance informs everything I do. For one thing, The Pitt is really a dance. The first day on set, Noah came across this long stage toward me. Then we have all these walk-and-talk scenes. He'd set the pace, and I was like, "Oh, this is it." The Dana-Robby relationship is this kind of dance that we do through the halls. I also understand how my body expresses a certain emotion. Because in dance, you're expressing emotions, but it's all abstract. Understanding that your body is speaking a language, not just your face, like when you're acting.

Did you always want to be a professional dancer?

Yes. By the time I was 14, I was living away from home at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. My first job was with the Milwaukee Ballet. I was 17. And then I danced for Ballet West and met Karole Armitage. She was with the artist David Salle then, and I came to New York. Eventually, I moved to L.A. and met the actor Dennis Hopper at a party. He was an art collector, and I ended up marrying the guy. I saw a PBS program about the acting teacher Sandy Meisner, and I tracked him down and studied with him. The rest is history! Forty years later, here I am.

Did you have the feeling from the beginning that The Pitt was special?

I just hoped it was good enough that we could stay on the air. I don't think any of us had any idea. I admire John Wells so much because he's always put real women on television. To get to be one of them was such a big deal. It's been so freeing and hopeful for me, and the most beautiful experience to get to participate in.

What was it like winning the Emmy?

Before I got The Pitt, I didn’t know if I was going to work again. I was about to build a structure in my backyard so I could coach acting. So to win an Emmy was a big deal. Honestly, it just felt like the heavens had opened up.

Who was your cinematic crush when you were a kid?

I have very few crushes. I really like Pierce Brosnan in The Matador. I always liked Robert Redford growing up. I married Grant Show—that's kind of my type, these little blond guys. Daniel Craig is really the only guy that I've found to be as hot as my husband. He could get a hall pass, probably.

Do you have any good scars?

I have a scar on my leg. There's a [Marcel] Duchamp exhibit at MoMA right now, and Dennis Hopper had a Duchamp, but he also had this bottle rack he used to just say was a Duchamp. I impaled myself on it at night one time trying to go to the bathroom. So, I have my Duchamp scar.

Do you believe in ghosts?

The ghost of Dennis Hopper [who passed away in 2010] would not leave me alone for a really long time. He came one time looking like when he was at the Academy Awards—he was in a wheelchair, and it was super upsetting. I told him he had to leave me alone, and then he came to me in a dream. We were both in a cafeteria in Greece, and he told me that he was okay. I never heard from him again.

Hair by Mustafa Yanaz for L’Oréal Professionnel; Paris at Art + Commerce; Makeup by Sam Visser for YSL Beauty at Art Partner; Manicure by Eri Handa for Dior Le Baume at Home Agency; Set design by Mila Taylor-Young. Produced by Prodn; Production Team: Mitch Baker, Noah Conboy, Steven Dam, Torrance Hall, Parker Hanley, Taryn Kelly, Conor McIntyre, Wesley Torrance, Daniel Weiner, Jasmine Williams; Photo Assistants: Keegan Gay, Jeremy Gould, Carlos Vigil; Digital Technician: Kylie Coutts; Fashion Assistants: Lizzie Bowden, Tori López, Kayla Perno, Sofia Prochilo, Celeste Roh, Tyler VanVranken; Tailor: Lindsay Wright; Hair Assistants: Tiana Amani, Harley Beman, Kazuto Shimomura; Makeup Assistants: Elika Hilata, Juan Jaar, Meghan Nguyen, Yuui Vision; Set Assistant: Kate Atkinson.

As Emmy season approaches, W is spotlighting the performers who have defined the year in television. From Hollywood veterans like DTF St. Louis’s Jason Bateman and The Pitt’s Katherine LaNasa to breakout stars including Love Story’s Sarah Pidgeon and Every Year After’s Sadie Soverall, 13 actors from the year’s most talked-about shows got candid with W editor at large Lynn Hirschberg about everything from their first kiss to the movies that always make them cry. See the lineup here, and check back tomorrow for more.

Rachel Sennott | I Love LA

Sennott wears a Dolce & Gabbana dress.

Read the interview here.

Chase Infiniti | The Testaments

Infiniti wears a Louis Vuitton jumpsuit and hat.

Read the interview here.

Charles Melton | Beef

Melton wears a Bottega Veneta sweater and pants; Thistles sunglasses; Cartier watch.

Read the interview here.

Grace Gummer | Love Story

Gummer wears a Fendi dress; Tom Ford shoes.

Read the interview here.

Jason Bateman | DTF St. Louis and Black Rabbit

Bateman wears a Tom Ford shirt, pants, and tie; John Lobb boots.

Read the interview here.

Sadie Soverall | Every Year After

Soverall wears a Prada dress.

Read the interview here.

Rhea Seehorn | Pluribus

Seehorn wears a Michael Kors Collection dress; Sixteen Stone by Tiffany & Co. earrings.

Read the interview here.

Sarah Pidgeon | Love Story

Pidgeon wears a Givenchy by Sarah Burton dress.

Read the interview here.

True Whitaker | I Love LA

Whitaker wears a Loewe dress.

Read the interview here.

Morgan Spector | The Gilded Age

Spector wears a Ralph Lauren Purple Label tuxedo and shirt.

Read the interview here.

Katherine LaNasa | The Pitt

LaNasa wears a LaQuan Smith jacket, shirt, and pants; Van Cleef & Arpels pavé ring; Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello shoes.

Read the interview here.

Lox Pratt | Lord of the Flies

Pratt wears a Paul Smith shirt and tie; Commission pants.

Read the interview here.

Rebecca Hall | The Listeners

Hall wears a Tom Ford jacket, skirt, and belt; Graff earrings; Gianvito Rossi shoes.

Read the interview here.

Chase Infiniti knows she had an unusually charmed introduction to Hollywood. The 26-year-old began her career on the AppleTV series Presumed Innocent, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga, before landing her breakout big-screen role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. The film went on to win six Oscars, including best picture and best director, and cemented Infiniti as one of the most exciting new faces of her generation.

After working with some of the industry’s biggest names—Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina King, and Benicio Del Toro—Infiniti welcomed the chance to perform alongside newcomers her own age in Hulu’s The Testaments, the prequel series to The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name. Infiniti plays Agnes, a perfect daughter of Gilead—well-behaved, pious, and unaware of her complicated roots. The role is a long way from One Battle’s Willa, a feisty scion of the revolution. Still, Infiniti found lessons to carry from one project to the next, and wisdom to share with her fellow Gilead Plums, with whom she’ll reunite when the show returns for season 2.

How did The Testaments come into your life?

After I finished One Battle After Another at the end of 2024, I sent in an initial self-tape. I found out they wanted to meet with me for a callback, and then in January of 2025, I booked the role. It wasn’t hard going from Willa in One Battle After Another to Agnes in The Testaments because Agnes has so much love for her friends. That’s one of my favorite parts about her.

What were the Oscars like? One Battle won nearly everything.

It was insane. I'm still processing it, but it was nothing short of a dream. I felt like I was in the most perfect dress [by Louis Vuitton], and it was so special being with the cast and Paul Thomas Anderson. And then the fact that I got to present the award for best casting to Cassandra Kulukundis, our casting director, was so special. That's a moment I will never forget. The whole experience changed my life in so many ways.

Onstage at the Academy Awards, when you all won for best picture, Paul Thomas Anderson singled you out, calling you “my American girl” and “the heart of this movie.”

What’s crazy is that I didn’t hear anything onstage. I just heard him say my name. I was getting text messages after the show, and I was like, “What did he say?” And then I watched it and thought, I love Paul so much.

Did you get any advice from Teyana Taylor on the set of One Battle?

I didn't really get advice from Teyana on set because I didn't film with her, but I did get a lot from Regina [King]. And then also, one of my previous costars, Ruth Negga, who I did Presumed Innocent with—I got a lot of advice from her. She's one of my close and personal friends.

What was the best thing Ruth told you?

Specifically, she’s told me not to be scared. That may sound pretty basic, but what she meant is to not be scared about what you can accomplish on a job. I carried that into The Testaments and tried to pass it along to my costars too, since I was working with a lot of girls my age, which I’ve never done before. I know that I’ve had a privileged entrance into Hollywood, so I wanted to help the other girls whenever I could.

Have you learned any skills from playing Agnes in The Testaments?

“Learned” is a strong term, but I’ve struggled with embroidery and lace making. We all did. I’m at a point now where it’s convincing on camera.

You’re a Taurus, born on May 1. Would you say you’re a typical Taurus?

I always say Tauruses are very stubborn, and I fit that stereotype. They’re also very grounded people, and one with the Earth because it’s an earth sign. They like food and the luxuries of life. I can't deny those things. I love food, and I like nice things.

Hair by Mustafa Yanaz for L’Oréal Professionnel; Paris at Art + Commerce; Makeup by Sam Visser for YSL Beauty at Art Partner; Manicure by Eri Handa for Dior Le Baume at Home Agency; Set design by Mila Taylor-Young. Produced by Prodn; Production Team: Mitch Baker, Noah Conboy, Steven Dam, Torrance Hall, Parker Hanley, Taryn Kelly, Conor McIntyre, Wesley Torrance, Daniel Weiner, Jasmine Williams; Photo Assistants: Keegan Gay, Jeremy Gould, Carlos Vigil; Digital Technician: Kylie Coutts; Fashion Assistants: Lizzie Bowden, Tori López, Kayla Perno, Sofia Prochilo, Celeste Roh, Tyler VanVranken; Tailor: Lindsay Wright; Hair Assistants: Tiana Amani, Harley Beman, Kazuto Shimomura; Makeup Assistants: Elika Hilata, Juan Jaar, Meghan Nguyen, Yuui Vision; Set Assistant: Kate Atkinson.

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Morgan Spector has a knack for playing men who command a room, even if off-screen he’s far more self-effacing. It’s what makes the 45-year-old actor such a natural fit for George Russell, the railroad tycoon at the center of HBO’s The Gilded Age. Inspired by the robber barons of late-19th-century New York, George is a man of absolute confidence: ruthless in business, devoted at home, and always dressed as if he could buy the entire building he’s standing in. When the series returns for season 4, George will once again rub shoulders with a fictionalized J.P. Morgan and move through deals with catlike precision. Spector, on the other hand, says he’s much more like a dog—jovial and laid-back.

For W’s TV portfolio, Spector discusses the unexpected pleasure of playing such a larger-than-life character, the custom suits that turn him into an “immovable object,” and why he originally doubted he was right for the period drama. He also opens up about his first acting job, and how his childhood celebrity crush foreshadowed his marriage to his wife, the British actor Rebecca Hall.

How did The Gilded Age come into your life?

I had just finished another HBO show called The Plot Against America, and I was sent the audition for a Julian Fellowes show called The Gilded Age. Initially, I was like, Why do they want me to be in this? This is an Ellis Island face. There's nothing aristocratic about me. I don't get it. But then my wife said, “It's Clark Gable. It's Gone With the Wind. Just do that.” I did, and they gave me the job.

How fun is it to embody a master-of-the-universe tycoon like George Russell?I’ve struggled to articulate this, but I am a large man, and in 2026 you kind of need to make people know that you’re safe and not a dick. But because The Gilded Age is set in the 19th century, I can let my voice be big, and I can be in my power, as the kids say. It’s fun.

The clothes in The Gilded Age are spectacular. How important is the wardrobe in establishing your character?

George Russell is immaculately dressed, and everything is custom-made. Our costume designer [Kasia Walicka Maimone] is an absolute genius. She was trying to make him feel like a train: an immovable object that cuts a swath through the world. At some point, if the show doesn’t come back, maybe I’ll try to steal some things.

Have you watched your wife in her BBC series The Listeners?

Of course! I found the show fascinating. Rebecca’s character is living in a reality that doesn’t match everyone else’s, which is a thing that I feel we’re all wrestling with.

Do you watch reality shows?

Rebecca actually introduced me to British culture through The Great British Bake Off. And then we got into the U.K. version of Love Island, which I love because it is so extreme. The aesthetics of it are so repellent. The music and colors are awful, and everyone’s tans are so bad. But people still fall in love, or seem to genuinely develop feelings for each other.

Are you more like a cat or a dog?

I'm probably naturally more like a dog, but I have learned to be more like a cat. I think cats actually move through the world a little more easily. What I discovered, especially when I was young and first dating, is that convincing people that you’re not interested in them is what draws them to you. I’m not good at that. But I have tried to learn how to do it, because it does work.

Who was your celebrity crush when you were a child?

When I was younger, it was Maid Marian from the animated Robin Hood. Which I think is funny because [my wife] has a British accent. When I was 15, I had a pretty serious crush on Samantha Mathis in Pump Up the Volume.

Were you a theatrical child?

Yes. There are videos of me pretending to sell a Christmas tree to my mom. I did my first play after college. The first job that I auditioned for and booked was Sarah Schulman's adaptation of Enemies, A Love Story at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. I remember getting that call from my agent, and I felt as ecstatic as I’d ever felt in my life. It was the best feeling.

Hair by Mustafa Yanaz for L’Oréal Professionnel; Paris at Art + Commerce; Makeup by Sam Visser for YSL Beauty at Art Partner; Manicure by Eri Handa for Dior Le Baume at Home Agency; Set design by Mila Taylor-Young. Produced by Prodn; Production Team: Mitch Baker, Noah Conboy, Steven Dam, Torrance Hall, Parker Hanley, Taryn Kelly, Conor McIntyre, Wesley Torrance, Daniel Weiner, Jasmine Williams; Photo Assistants: Keegan Gay, Jeremy Gould, Carlos Vigil; Digital Technician: Kylie Coutts; Fashion Assistants: Lizzie Bowden, Tori López, Kayla Perno, Sofia Prochilo, Celeste Roh, Tyler VanVranken; Tailor: Lindsay Wright; Hair Assistants: Tiana Amani, Harley Beman, Kazuto Shimomura; Makeup Assistants: Elika Hilata, Juan Jaar, Meghan Nguyen, Yuui Vision; Set Assistant: Kate Atkinson.