ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Natalie Morales isn't following anyone else's playbook on how to make it in Hollywood. She's directed indie films like "Plan B" and costarred in high-profile shows like "Dead To Me" and "Parks And Rec." Now she's in the new film "My Dead Friend Zoe." It's about a veteran who keeps seeing the spirit of her platoon mate. Morales talked with Wild Card host Rachel Martin about shaking off other people's expectations and living life on her own terms.
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RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: How do you consciously try to emulate your parents?
NATALIE MORALES: Oh. I don't.
MARTIN: Oh.
MORALES: I don't. If anything, I guess I don't consciously try to emulate anybody. I - in fact, I try to do the opposite as much as I can. However, I will say that my mom has this real incredible sort of, like, quiet selflessness, where I'll find out years later that she'll - like, she would have brought lunch every day to somebody that couldn't afford it at work, and she did it for, like, 20 years, and they retired.
Like, she does, like, stuff like that and, like, never tells anybody. And that I've always really admired, is her will to do good for other people without ever shining a light on herself about it or even thinking about it twice. That is something that I guess I do try to emulate, if anything at all. But otherwise, I don't. I really think it's important to be whoever you actually are.
MARTIN: It was - you didn't even hesitate when I asked that question.
MORALES: (Laughter).
MARTIN: And for some people, you know, they work hard to - they're like, oh, this I loved about my parents and this. But it is interesting to me that the idea of replicating someone else's perspective or beliefs or actions feels like anathema to you. Like you...
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: There's something - there's a real independent streak going on.
MORALES: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: Where'd that come from? Did that come from your parents?
MORALES: No, not at all. I just always liked what I liked and didn't like what I didn't like. And I think from a very young age, I kind of was - I don't know. I was independent, but I also didn't like anybody telling me what to do (laughter).
MARTIN: Yeah.
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: Like, that - I mean, that's a thing as adults we always try to - I don't care what people think. I'm just my own person. That's a hard thing for a kid to be.
MORALES: Yeah. I think, you know, it's not that I don't - as an adult, I think I don't care what people think is too broad of a term. I care that what I am trying to put out there is coming across the way I want it to, right?
MARTIN: Yeah.
MORALES: Like, I care that I am seen in the way that...
MARTIN: You don't want to be misunderstood.
MORALES: Yeah, I don't want to be misunderstood. But if am - if you are interpreting me correctly and you don't like it, oh, well.
MARTIN: Yeah (laughter).
MORALES: That's always how I felt, I think (laughter).
MARTIN: I mean, I think you should bottle that stuff up and sell it. Like, I've got a middle schooler who could use a dose of it. Like, that's a...
MORALES: Please, please tell people. Like...
MARTIN: It's a special superpower.
MORALES: Honestly, if you understand me and you don't think it's cool, then you have bad taste. That's all I got to say.
SHAPIRO: That's Natalie Morales talking with Wild Card host Rachel Martin. And for more of their conversation, you can check out the Wild Card podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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