 my my special guest of this week here on the show Latino slant is one of the stars of Amazon freebies jury duty nominated for four Emmys and the winner of a lot of different awards guys very acclaimed show is called jury duty the setup is really simple guys everything's fake the jury the trial the judge everything except for one man and that one man is taken through this entire trial and at the very end they kind of like you know take the mask off and like hey this is what really happened that shows a trip and I'm just so happy for my dear friend it's been a while Maria Russell everybody hey how are you thanks for having me what's happening congratulations oh thank you so much it still feels surreal it doesn't feel like it's it's happened but it's still like it feels surreal but just like every day there's something new and it's still going which is wild it's wild very special well I mean there's so much to talk about and and I'm so happy because you're truly a someone who's stayed in the game and been working but boom and this is much deserved for your success what I what I find interesting is now everyone's starting to hear about this TV show even though it's been around for almost a year yeah no it's wild listen this is the the one thing that the strike did for us is that it prolonged this show because you know the the show premiered April of 2022 and sorry 2023 and you know the strike went on essentially the remainder of the year so it just kept on the Emmys were supposed to be in September and then they pushed back so it was like all these new people just kept watching it I mean but it literally it was the next day that it went completely viral thank you Jen the millennials what was you as the actor what was your audition process from when you got your notice to when you got the job the initial the initial audition the breakdown came down came down sent to me by my agent new manager said and all it said was it was a courtroom mockumentary producers of the office and borat and they wanted to see anyone male or female ages 21 and on and must have improv background and comedy background which I am so I was like okay so that was pretty much it so what the audition process was like was they wanted to see two different characters within the realm of of what the different scenarios that they that we could choose from so I chose my Cholita now what is it what is it Cholita for our international audience oh my chola so she's like this you know this gangster from like from like our leader Pacoima but she's like she's a veteran so she still has like homies and you know she still has like little puppies still lean on the end of game shit so she still has she's out of it but she's in it you know I love it she's still like hood you know what I mean right right that would have been fun so you did that you prepared that character that was my one and it was within realm of in the courtroom and why I wanted to get out of out of jury duty and then I also did a different character which is candy and she was the stripper with the heart of gold and trying to get out of jury duty as well um I'm sorry did you say stripper with the heart of gold stripper with the heart of gold so she's trying to flirt with everybody to try to get out of jury duty so was there were there costumes that had to be put on and you know with they come naturally so my costumes are natural so so that was in here back for about a month so I'm like you know you I'm like okay I didn't book it no big deal right so then about six weeks later I found out that not only was I pinned I booked it oh my god it was great so I didn't get to do the uh the the callback uh you jump right no I just they you know I just yeah I just got booked from tape which is amazing yeah so listen guys a pin is something where after you do your callback you're considered like it's it's it's you they're just working out schedules I don't know what Maria was so amazing that no callback no pin you got the job dude that's that's awesome it was crazy it was crazy and still when I spoke with the producer with Nick Hatton it was still he was talking about it I was like okay that that sounds amazing yay it still wasn't clear I think nobody kind of honest to God no one really knew what was going to happen or the logistics it was you know just they have their actors and let's do this so it was crazy and exciting and amazing and wild well you you've always had that great energy about you you're fearless you're you're you're a badass so it's like you know I can imagine how much fun you had on that set and how about that cast oh my god are you kidding me like honest to God I was like the first week of rehearsal and mind you we didn't even all test together we just all job we met the first day of rehearsal like you're kidding me you know it was crazy and it was a it was a little intimidating especially a story with Kirk Fox because you know I'm not a stand-up comedian I don't I don't come from that world it's a completely different genre right so Kirk Fox was in a rehearsal he started kind of doing like a 30 minute special and I literally was like oh my god they're gonna find me out I'm not a stand-up comedian oh my god I'm gonna get fired I'm gonna get fired I'm gonna get fired tomorrow oh my god you know but he was doing it more for us but it was you know it was scary because we didn't know what we were doing honestly and this cast as you know for myself I had to remember Inez and Ronald were very close so you don't get to see a lot of the conversations that were had um but you know I was like you know I knew everything about his life and he knew everything about Inez's life so I try to stay a little bit as close to my life you know so that I remember everything because I would go home and write down okay this is what I told him so I had to remember what I told him because he's very sharp he would remember everything but then you guys start getting all these nominations and all the this acclaim and you guys have won uh you know several things you know win or lose you guys are winners I mean this is this is amazing yeah it really is and it's like remember when we found out that we were nominated for four Emmys we like all called each other we were crying because we're like what they're like never in a million years like four Emmys what you know and the Golden Globe we're nominated for two Golden Globes sorry and you know AFI and we won the you know the um uh not American film market the the uh independent yes I'm sorry Indie spirit award we Indie spirit award yeah would did you guys even think that that would be possibility because you're just because you were so into the work and you and you were done did you think you had something special yes I knew it was special I really did that I did know that I know that it was going to be what it is absolutely not in a million years we thought because what they told us in the beginning it was going to be on IMDb TV and we're like what's IMDb TV right okay guess no one's gonna watch it but we're gonna have fun we're gonna do this so literally we just had that intention that we were going to do the best that we can do and and have fun but then there were times we're not supposed to laugh at all it was serious so I'm like oh my god oh my god so I have a method I pinch the right side of my my leg so so instead of feeling like I want to laugh I want to cry so that's my method that's a method that's torture it works and it works so it works it works that's my go-to okay well when when was the when did you have to pinch yourself oh my god okay there's so many times but one of the times was when Todd um I'm sorry David who plays Todd um he starts talking about these sharp teeth and I literally I have so I would turn around also I'd be like where you where you called around what were you saying like she's a bitch but I love her yes and that literally you know what's so funny is that when we were doing those talking head interviews by the end of the day we're mentally and physically exhausted so for all like we're literally we're like yeah and I'm like oh my god this is just this is how I feel about her but no that's I mean she was so perfect for me to work off of because a lot of you know well all of it I didn't know what she was gonna do you know I didn't know she was gonna do all that um that was all fresh and new so she gave me a lot to work with so it's very very um yeah I know I have people and I got your bitch which are beautiful I hate you I love you and if that's that's so cool when people come up to me and just start like saying my lines I'm like oh my god this is crazy I know no he was literally on point like he was so I mean so flipping good it was wild it was like so amazing to see too because he doesn't come necessarily from this world you know of right of improv and it is a very specific type of genre and and it's also not your typical kind of improv either this is a situational type of improv with a real person so that doesn't know that he's in on it so it's it's it's so many different firsts that that they really they really got the best people for this job it's wild another thing you've been doing is hitting the red carpet mama look at you it's crazy oh my gosh all these exciting like going to the vanity fair what party what yeah which which is what what is this one here that's a movie premiere that's a move oh excuse me excuse me so no it's just it's wild and to go to the emi's like one thing is to go to the emi's right another thing is to go to the emi's when your your show your show is nominated for best comedy and for casting and for writing and for i mean and for james marston i mean it's it's really it feels like a dream but i've been working really hard you know so it's it's um it's such a freak to be able to have this it feels it's oh i get literally overwhelmed with with emotion because it's like wow i've worked so hard for so many years and and then bam jury duty jury duty