‘The First Time’: Mira Sorvino

In Hollywood, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s new Netflix series, we get a revisionist version of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Mira Sorvino, who plays an aging, Lana Turner-esque character named Jeanne Crandall, says she felt like she was on a soundstage in 1940s Hollywood during the movie-within-a-movie sequences. “Everything was done to period perfection. It helped me feel like I was there, just transported back.” Except, as she explains:  It’s not quite that world; it’s something a little better…”

In our latest “The First Time” video interview series, the acclaimed actress discusses her formative years as an actress, meeting Ginger Rogers as a kid, when she first felt successful, and the advice her dad, Phil Sorvino, gave her when she was on the set of Quiz Show, with director Robert Redford. “[He] said you have to have the courage of your conviction; you take your best shot at it, believe in yourself and go for the bold choice. … ‘Without having the courage to fail, you’ll never fly.’”

One of the most unexpected moments may be when she shares an anecdote about her time in the Harvard co-ed a cappella group, the Veritones and starts to sing “Have You Seen the Ghost of Tom?” Then the avowed Star Trek fan — her dad actually appeared in The Next Generation as Worf’s human foster brother —  explains: “I loved Kirk’s swagger. … There’s an episode called ‘The Empath,’ and my dad would always say I was like the empath, which is why I was meant to be an actress — because I just feel things very strongly.”