- Sofia Vergara
It’s not very often that some of the most famous women in the world gather around one impeccably-lit table for our eavesdropping pleasure — but Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Jennifer Aniston, Jodie Foster, Sofia Vergara, Brie Larson and Anna Sawai all got together for The Hollywood Reporter‘s Drama Actress Emmy Roundtable.
In the dizzyingly A-list gabfest, the women talked about everything from aging in Hollywood to which emojis they can’t stop using. Hearing actresses talking about their careers on camera is nothing new, but getting to see the chemistry between such big stars when they’re sitting back with a drink is quite the rare treat. Here’s what we learned:
It’s Nicole Kidman’s World and We All Just Live in It
Every group of women has a queen bee — but with so many A-listers in one room, the jury was out as to which iconic actress would be running the show.
It quickly became apparent that Kidman, 56, reigns supreme – but with a warmth and lightness that instantly showed how different she is from some of her scarier roles. Displaying a ton of affection for both Watts, 55, fellow Aussie and close friend of — wow! — 40 years, and Aniston, 55, who she worked with on romantic comedy Just Go With It back in 2011, as well as dispensing plenty of warm wisdom to her younger peers, Kidman is the glue that binds the group together.
Who knew that Kidman is exactly the woman you need in the room for one of those awkward work icebreaker scenarios, or to give you a subtle heads-up when you have lipstick on your teeth?
Even Huge Stars Struggle With Imposter Syndrome
It’s hard to know whether to be reassured or horrified that even Sofia Vergara, 51, gets imposter syndrome. Vergara might be one of the most beautiful women in the world, globally adored for her role as the iconic Gloria in Modern Family and hugely respected for more recently taking on Griselda, but she admits she still feels clueless compared to many of her peers.
“I feel very awkward here because this is my favorite group of actresses, and I realize I don’t know anything about acting,” she said, much to the horror of Aniston, who knows a thing or two about making the move from comic actress to serious star.
Vergara thinks it’s her strong Colombian accent that means she struggles to avoid being typecast. “When I decide to do something different, it’s hard because this accent is beautiful, but it’s like, I cannot be a scientist, I cannot be an astronaut,” she said.
Sofia, you’re doing brilliantly, and we’re so here for that astronaut role — and not just for the potential outfits.
Every Girls Night Ends in Hormone Chat
Anyone who’s been out with a group of women, of any age, knows that a point always comes in the evening where conversation turns to all things hormonal — whether it’s talking about fertility struggles, peri-menopausal rage or just who gets the worst PMS.
And sure enough, by the end of the chat, Watts had opened up about her struggles through menopause, something she’s so passionate about that she has even founded a skincare company, Stripes, for midlife women.
“When I was at the precipice of wanting to start a family, I was 36, and I was told I was close to menopause,” she explained. “I went into this frantic panic, a lot of shame and fear. I’m skipping over a lot, but I was able to have children and then went straight into menopause with hard-core symptoms in my early 40s.”
Watts has two children, daughter Sasha, born in 2007, and son Kai, born in 2008, with Liev Schreiber, who she split from in 2016, before marrying her Gypsy co-star Billy Crudup in 2023.
The two-time Oscar nominee is now on a mission to bust the taboos around the tricky time of life that every woman will go through. “I felt like if I ever dared to mention that word, I would be branded as redundant, finished, off to pasture,” she admitted. “It’d be career suicide to bring that into the room. But then I was like, “This makes no sense. We’re half the population. Everybody’s going to go into menopause at some point, so why shouldn’t we be talking about it?”
It’s OK to Lie (A Little …) to Get a Job
Hands up if you’ve ever added a language or two to your LinkedIn profile that you haven’t actually spoken since high school, or written on your resumé that you’re “proficient in graphic design” because you once helped your BFF design their birthday party invitation… you’re not alone!
Most of the actresses in the room admitted that they have told a few white lies – or big little lies? – to get into the audition room. “We all lied and said that we knew how to ride a horse, and we couldn’t,” said Larson, 34, with a laugh.
The difference is, A-listers are rewarded with stunt doubles when it emerges that they’re not so amazing at ice skating or unicycle-riding after all… the rest of us just have to panic-download Duolingo to cover our tracks.
It’s Official: Famous Actresses Do Not All Hate Each Other
Obviously it makes for way better gossip to think that big stars are all at each other’s throats — but actually, it sounds like this group, and many of their contemporaries, give each other huge amounts of support – partly because, when some of them started out, Hollywood was very much a man’s world.
“Over the years, I’ve gone out of my way to make friends with other women in the industry because there was usually just one woman on a job,” said Larson. “It was just me, and there are things that make me uncomfortable or things that I’d like to change or to laugh about, and connecting with other women has been a game changer because you get to swap stories.”
It was clear that, while some of the group clearly know each other better IRL than others, there was genuine affection and respect between them. In fact, they even talked about how Jodie Foster, 61, took over from Kidman on Panic Room in 2002 when she was going through a difficult time. Hooray for women supporting women!
Getting Older in Hollywood Doesn’t Have to be Depressing
The women at the roundtable ranged from 31-year-old Anna Sawai, star of Shogun, to 61-year-old Foster, star of, well, everything — but it was the older half of the room, rather than those whose stars are still rising, who seem to be most confident with their place in Hollywood.
“I have to say, I’ve never been as happy as an actor as when I turned 60,” Foster revealed. “There’s just some kind of contentedness about it not being all about me and walking onto a set and saying, “How can my experience or whatever my wisdom is, how can it serve you?” Bringing that to the table, not only is it more fun and more freeing, but it’s also easy. It’s super easy because you’re not filled with anxiety about the things that maybe younger people are filled with anxiety about.”
And Aniston summed up the same sentiment a little more succinctly. “I just think the older you get, the more “f–k it” you get,” she said.
Foster also revealed that she’s a secret mother hen in Hollywood, often reaching out to new stars who she’s worried about. “I guess I fancy myself as some kind of mother figure,” she says. “If I see somebody drunk and on their face at an event, for example, I might be like, “So, what’s going on?” Because I feel for them, and I really am grateful for my mom getting me through all of that. Somehow I managed to have a series of rules that allowed me to survive.”
Brie Larson Didn’t Get the Memo About the Crying Laughing Emoji 🤣
At the end of the roundtable, the ladies were asked which emoji is their most used – and while Foster said hers is the clown and Kidman went for the kiss, Larson said that she always reaches for the crying laughing face. Yes, the very same emoji that Gen Z canceled a few years ago because it’s apparently only for old people.
Surely if a 34-year-old superhero uses it, it’s still cool after all, right? Yes!
