Mena Suvari, American Actress

Knowing that a Real Housewife was behind the project, many seasoned actors may have distanced themselves, wary they were walking into a cocktail-tossing schlockfest—a Vanderpump Rules for the Woodstock crowd. Did Suvari have any hesitations in signing on.

“No, not at all,” the actress says over the phone from L.A. “Not only is Kyle a fantastic person but if you're looking at this project on paper, it was surrounded by nothing but fantastic people.” She name checks executive producer John Riggi, producer of 30 Rock and The Comeback, as well as John Wells, who has worked on shows like ER and Shameless.

“You get to understand what it was like for a person who was homosexual, who couldn't express themselves, how they had to navigate their lives, where they had to go,” Suvari offers. “It's so crazy. What I love so much about the show is that it's a window into that period. And it gives you that opportunity to create so much conversation around it. I'm sure this new generation is looking back like, ‘What? That's insane! I can't believe you even had to live like that.’”

In real life, Mena Suvari and Alicia Silverstone, two paragons of that canny ‘90s “bimbo schtick,” did have to live like that. “My life wasn't great behind the scenes,” she says, reflecting back on the making of Best Picture winner American Beauty. “I was so happy just to have a job, everybody was just really nice to me. I don't think I really understood what I was doing. It was sort of like a process for me.”