What Was I Thinking? with Jensen McRae
What Were You Thinking?
Episode 005: Ilia Isorelýs Paulino
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Episode 005: Ilia Isorelýs Paulino

Welcome to the fifth episode of "What Were You Thinking?" - this episode features my conversation with a talented friend of mine, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino. Episode recorded in April 2023.

We’re back! Ilia and I recorded this episode before the actor’s strike, and I held off on releasing it until the strike ended, as we discussed her role on the HBO smash streaming series The Sex Lives of College Girls. I’m so glad I get to share this conversation with you, because Ilia is equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and careful, thoughtful, and introspective. She also acknowledges the OBJECTIVE TRUTH that the only Cinderella worth recognizing is Brandy’s Cinderella with her perfect wig of microbraids. A wonderful combination for a collaborator and friend!

Just as in my previous conversation with Jake Wesley Rogers, Ilia spent a while discussing the ways in which art can be therapeutic. She made some wonderful points about our responsibility as artists to put pain into art rather than attempting to use art as a salve for pain. While Ilia is an incredibly gifted singer, she is known to the world mostly as an actor, and thus she is the first actor I have brought into the fold of the pod. It is nourishing and fascinating to discuss the ways in which the world of theater, film, and television can overlap with the world of music. At the end of the day, we’re all just theater kids trying to express ourselves. It is helpful to remember the version of you that was doing terrible musicals in ugly little vests, lest you start taking yourself a little too seriously.

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