The latest episode of our podcast features a conversation with Marvel’s RUNAWAYS cast member — Angel Parker. In addition to “Runaways,” Angel most recently recurred on NBC’s “Trial and Error” opposite John Lithgow, and also recurred on FX’s hit series “The Strain.” Another standout project was appearing in FX’s critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series “The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.” Angel was a scene stealer as famed celebrity attorney Shawn Chapman, one of Simpson’s ‘Dream Team’ lawyers.

The ability for me to restrain my excitement over Marvel’s RUNAWAYS on Hulu likely exists outside my skill set. With a major cult following stretching back to the middle of 2003, the RUNAWAYS comic books by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona started a revolution in comic book storytelling. 14 years and currently five volumes of collected work later, these young heroes have some stories left in them. Recently, Hulu has begun releasing episodes weekly for their original series based on the hit comics. With a deep focus on characterization and an obvious adoration for the source material, this show sets the bar high for future MCU television releases.

RUNAWAYS seeks to answer one simple question. What would happen if our parents were really as bad as our teenage selves believed? What if they were really supervillains? For Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Molly Hernandez, and Karolina Dean, they don’t have to imagine. They are living it. After stumbling upon a cryptic sacrificial ritual, the teens gather evidence again their parent’s underground criminal empire. Along the way, they garner new powers, new weapons, and a pet dinosaur to boot.

On RUNAWAYS, Parker plays Catherine Wilder, the mother of Alex and a member of the supervillainous Pride. Catherine is a successful, deliberate and calculating lawyer and acts as a defining member of the Pride. When it comes to family, she is fiercely loyal as well as a loving mother and protector of her son. Parker plays the character with a cold yet steely edge, giving her scenes a much-needed tension. Luckily, she is much kinder in person, and she has agreed to give ComicsVerse her thoughts on all things acting and RUNAWAYS!

Justin Gilbert Alba: You are listening to another episode of the ComicsVerse Podcast. I’m your host, ComicsVerse CEO Justin Alba. Today, we are talking about Marvel’s RUNAWAYS on Hulu. So before we get started please check out our website, ComicsVerse.com. We’ve got interviews and videos with the cast of RUNAWAYS. Tons of analyses, write-ups, and reviews of the episodes. So, in case you’ve never heard of the RUNAWAYS, it was a Brian K. Vaughan creation, a comic from Marvel that became a huge hit in the trades. Later on, Joss Whedon took it over, and he really extended the RUNAWAYS universe even further. So now it’s this hit show on Hulu and I am graced by having an opportunity to sit down with one of the stars of the show. She plays the mysterious Catherine Wilder, mother of Alex Wilder, so please welcome Angel Parker to the show. Welcome, Angel! Thank you so much for joining us!

Angel Parker: Oh I’m so excited, thank you for that great introduction!

JGA: I’m so happy… when you’re publicist reached out to us. I’m not sure if people are aware of like the immense talent that appears on the show. I was so lucky to meet some of the cast at New York Comic Con, and they seemed so incredibly talented. And I hope this is a chance, for those listening, to learn a little bit more about you, your artistic process, and of course about Catherine and what makes her “her.”

Angel Parker: Yeah, I’m excited to share. It is a great cast. We’re very very lucky and we know that. Fingers crossed we get to continue making more.

JGA: Oh man, I hope so. So far- I mean, I don’t want to give too much away, but I got to see up to episode seven and it’s so good so far. And I’m sure-

Angel Parker: What!? How’d you do that?

JGA: They’re giving me a screener.

Angel Parker: I’ve got to wait and watch with the fans!

JGA: Oh, man, yeah, they gave us a screener so we could write about it, but it’s really good so I’m sure people are gonna like love it more.

Angel Parker: Oh, I’m excited. Can you share your password with me? Cause I wanna see more!

JGA: As long as Hulu doesn’t kick me off absolutely. So…

Angel Parker: Oh, no no no, I don’t trust Marvel or Hulu. They’re watching at all times. So… no spoilers. I’ll have to wait.

JGA: I will say, right when we were doing NYCC interviews, Marvel was like a helicopter mom around all the cast. So… It was kinda awesome. It was great to see how committed they are to nothing coming out.

Angel Parker: No- they’re very committed, and we’re all very committed to the fans. We want you to be surprised and excited as well. So, I’m not good enough of a person not to give too many spoilers, so they’re probably smart not giving me all the episodes at once.

JGA: I’m like that too, you literally can’t tell me anything. If I forget I’m good.

Angel Parker: Don’t tell me anything!

JGA: Yeah if I forget I’m good, but if you tell me it’s gonna come out. I’m sorry. And so- everyone knows that. Terrible for a CEO but otherwise… people generally know that about me. But first off, you know-

Angel Parker: Yes?

JGA: I wanted to give a shout out to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Is that somewhere you studied?

Angel Parker: Oh yes that’s where I studied, I did their third-year company, I met my husband there. So I got a lot of love for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

JGA: Oh man! So was this the Pasadena one or the New York one?

Angel Parker: So it was the Pasadena one, yeah. I went there straight out of high school and loved every minute of it. It was such a great training ground and, you know, some of my best friends are some of the people that I met there. And obviously my husband, so I can be grateful for many things from the American Academy. I still go back- let’s see, last year I did their commencement for the graduating class of 2017.

JGA: Wow.

Angel Parker: So I loved every part of that school and really felt prepared for acting when I got out of there.

JGA: What do you think are some of the best- what do you think are some of the best training you got there that you feel really prepared you like you said?

Angel Parker: Well, you know, we studied all types of acting. It was all based in the theater. But we studied every sort of method and really what they wanted you to do was to understand acting as a whole. And there are all these different ways to come about it. If you wanna be a method actor, you know, we studied Stanislavsky, Stella Adler, and all these different methods and types basically just so that you could figure out what worked best for you. Everyone has their own process but it’s your own. It’s so personal what makes sense to you, even something as simple as how do you learn your lines? Everyone’s got their own way of doing it. So the fact they exposed us to freestyle and basically just told us to work hard and keep your roots in the theater and understand how to build a character from within. And how those are all lessons that now I just kinda- it’s a mosh posh of everything and, I guess, that is now my process. So that was the best, it’s learning at all so that you can pick and choose what works best for you or what works best for each role. Sometimes I attack things differently but I do have the tools to figure out what I need to do.

JGA: Yeah I was gonna ask about that- I was gonna wait to ask this question but, since you brought it up, Catherine Wilder is a lawyer from my understanding. You’re playing a lawyer on Ryan Murphy’s show, THE PEOPLE VS OJ SIMPSON. Right?

Angel Parker: Yeah I do play a lot of lawyers. I must look really good in a suit because that seems to be the profession that I get to play a lot. I think it’s just because of my language skills and people just think of me in a professional way. But I got to play a lawyer- yeah in THE PEOPLE VS OJ SIMPSON, which was such a wonderful opportunity and I learned a lot about the laws because so much research- and we’re given so much information that I really did learn a lot about just how our American Judicial system works. So playing a lawyer is always just kinda home base for me. Also, reporters, I play a lot of reporters as well. So it must be something to do with language.

JGA: But that’s kinda awesome. You can tell your parents “not only am I a successful actor, but I play lawyers. So I’m also a successful actor being-

Angel Parker: I know, exactly.

JGA: Right? Right.

Angel Parker: I’m sure, you know, they would’ve been easier to become a lawyer than to become an actor, but at the time you weren’t gonna stop me.

JGA: That’s amazing. So how is your approach different for those two characters since they are both lawyers. How do you kinda tackle that differently when you get the script?

Angel Parker: I really look at every role the same way. I just figure out who the person is, what their history is, what their given circumstances are, where they’re from, what their life is, what they’re world is, who they’re talking to, the relationships that they’re in, and what’s going on right now. So I really build it up kind of like an encyclopedia of knowledge about the person, the world, where they’re from, what they’re history has been, and then I just simply play the theme. So when I get onset, when I get to work, or when I get to an audition it’s very simple because I know everything about the person and then I just say the words that are on the page. So it’s- my process basically is just a lot of homework and then it’s very very easy when I show up I just start talking.

JGA: Yeah people don’t realize how much homework there is going into acting. You need to learn so much about the profession, the history of the characters, and all that stuff and I think people don’t know that too much.

Angel Parker: Yeah the time period- I didn’t know anything about the MCU. I had to learn about Marvel, I had to learn about the other shows that they’ve done to know the tone and it’s a lot of history and a lot of homework. And that’s why I say- my husband and I joke around you know, “don’t ever ask an actor” or “don’t ever challenge an actor about what he knows because you have no idea what he’s researched in his life. You know, in case I know too much! So now it’s with the Marvel Universe I’m diving in. I love it.

JGA: Oh man, so did your opinion on the whole OJ Simpson case change throughout all the knowledge you gained from it? Or kinda bolster what you already thought.

Angel Parker: I don’t think my opinion change but I definitely understood more how the verdict came about in that way. So it was just a lesson- it had a lot to do with the time period. It had a lot to do with the racial tension in Los Angeles, and there was a big history lesson that all just came together at once. And OJ Simpson just happened to be the vehicle for a really racially charged time in Los Angeles. It was also the beginning of that reality show era where we wanted to know more about the stars and celebrities, and we needed to look at it as entertainment. So it was entertainment, but it was real life and it was a real double-murder, so my opinion didn’t change but I did understand more how something like that could happen. How he could be not convicted of murder. So I understood, I had a lot of respect for the legal team that got him off. Lot of respect for Johnny Cochran as well, but I still personally that he did commit that crime but he was not convicted so there is no proof of that.

JGA: Yeah, and it’s kind of, I don’t mean to inject my own opinion, but it is kind of unfortunate to see him kind of running around now after everything we learned from watching the show.

Angel Parker: Yeah, I mean there was a lot of proof and a lot of evidence but how you work the system and the legal ways that you can get around it and also still just people- if they have an opinion it’s a trial by jury and the jury found him not guilty. So that is what happened, and if you asked the woman that I played Shawn Chapman she’ll say he was not convicted. So I actually don’t really know how she feels personally.

JGA: Right.

Angel Parker: The truth is he was not convicted of murder. So that’s what it was.

JGA: Man. So, kinda what you were saying about your process, when you’re getting these scripts from Ryan Murphy and you’re getting these scripts from Marvel and from Hulu, is it at the same point in your research- in your process where you’re like “okay, I figured it out, I know who Catherine is” or does that kinda happen gradually? Does it happen during the table readings, or maybe when you’re on set?

Angel Parker: No it definitely starts when I have the script, and I would also like to say that it’s not very easy to get a script from Ryan Murphy or Marvel.

JGA: Oh I’m sure!

Angel Parker: Cause there’s a lot of encryption codes and a lot of- I mean I feel like I had to give up a vial of blood just to get the words on the page, but it’s because the fans are so excited that they have to keep the secret. So it’s not easy to get the script, but once I get it I dive right in. I research- I mean the internet is such a wonderful, powerful resource but I also, a lot of imagination work too. I mean, there’s only so much that’s on the page and only so much research that a lot of it is an instinct that you have to follow and trust, which is a hard thing to do is trust that you’re on the right path. But by the time I sit down for the table read, I pretty much know where I’m coming from. And then to hear it out loud, and hear what other actors have put together, or to hear it sort of gives you a different viewpoint of it, and then I go back and do even more homework to show up on set, to really make sure I’ve got it right. And then I still talk to the director, talk to the other actors, we still do different takes, we try different things, and whatever sticks an editor and the director afterward then kind of piece together a performance they think. So it’s really a collaborative effort, which is why I love working in television and film, but I can only do my part one day at a time.

JGA: Absolutely, and I just have to ask, are you a script scorer or do you kinda just feel it out?

Angel Parker: What do you mean scorer?

JGA: Oh- you know, do you do like write up- or go by beats or anything like that when it comes to the script?

Angel Parker: Oh I definitely make tons of notes, but I more work in thoughts, so I will write down sort of the thought that I think that I’m having in that time. And I feel that the camera picks up thought so I more think about, after all the research and after all the everything that I know about the world or understand the person, I then just think what are they thinking? What do they think about what was just said or done? So what do I think about the person who’s talking just said? What do I think about what I’m about to say? What are my responses to that? How do I feel? But really more, what do I think?

JGA: And do you find that Catherine thinks the same things over and over again?

Angel Parker: No I feel that Catherine is very conflicted. She is a dynamic woman and has a lot on her plate and knows what she wants to do but that is easier said than done when other things and other people come into play, which you’ll see as the show progresses- well actually you’ve seen more than I have but- You know what we’ve shot-

JGA: I have- you do get a little meaner. I’m not gonna lie.

Angel Parker: There’s repercussions to her actions- I get what?

JGA: Catherine gets a little bit meaner… towards —

Angel Parker: Yes, she does, she gets a little bit meaner. Yes, she does. But she also learns some hard lessons and things happen that make her question has she done the right thing? So it isn’t easy for Catherine. You want her just to put a blanket over and say “oh she’s evil. She’s only looking out for herself and her family.” But you learn a lot more as the show develops. So I was very excited to play a role like this and just be a part of building her from the ground up, you know, with the source material of course. But it was really cool to be able to bring her to life.

JGA: Absolutely. You know she sounds so multifaceted, and you can even tell that in the first scene. Even the set and how meticulous her house is I think said so much about who she was.

Angel Parker: Yes absolutely, such a beautiful, beautiful set in Brentwood and, you know, we shot a real home and got to got there many times. And the lair that’s underneath is actually down in Compton and it’s a beautiful mausoleum.

JGA: Wow.

Angel Parker: So, you’re in these spaces that aren’t very hard to imagine in the world, and walk around in this beautiful palace and question the decisions that you made to get you that beautiful palace.

JGA: Yeah, and I love that you said that because I was gonna ask “is she a sociopath?” So the answer is definitely no she is not?

Angel Parker: No, I don’t think so. I mean I’m sure other people might say that about her, but I definitely don’t look at it that way, and I think the actor that can- that has played a quote/unquote villain tells you that they don’t think of themselves as a villain. They have reasons for the things that they’ve done. So I definitely couldn’t say.

JGA: Do you think-

Angel Parker: Only because I know her so well, you know?

JGA: Of course! Does she love her son, or does she love the Pride more, would be my questions.

Angel Parker: Does she love her what?

JGA: Her son or the Pride more?

Angel Parker: No, Catherine 100% loves her son, her family, her husband-

JGA: Oh I love hearing that.

Angel Parker: Much more than the Pride. Yeah, much more than the Pride.

JGA: Oh she’s so- I love multifaceted characters, it makes her so interesting.

Angel Parker: Yeah if Catherine has to make a choice between the two, it’s a hard decision and she’s gonna make the best choice at that time. And one day it might be the Pride and the next day it will be her family, but no matter what the family will come out on top. And you can see that with the love the Wilders have for each other, but teenagers think they know everything and parents think they know what’s best for teenagers and that’s not always the case on either side. So you will see that conflict play out and understand more… why Catherine had to make certain decisions and how the repercussions affect her and affect Geoffrey and they’re gonna do about it. There’s a lot of “oh shit, what have we done? What are we gonna do now?”

JGA: Wow… that’s gonna be so badass.

Angel Parker: Like she says- Yeah, like she says in episode three, you know, “handle it… handle it” when Darius comes back into play. With Jefferey it’s just “handle it, do whatever needs to be done” and in this world, a lot can be done.

JGA: And in regards to Molly- and she kinda says “handle that” too, takes on the task of handling it. And I’m kinda curious, is there any other feeling for Catharine other than “I gotta get this girl out of the picture and find out what she knows”?

Angel Parker: No that’s the singular goal?

JGA: Okay.

Angel Parker: I gotta figure out what she knows cause then I can make my next step unless she knows what these kids know. So if she believes Molly, if she doesn’t believe Molly… or if over time catharine figures out that these kids do know- it is called RUNAWAYS, eventually, these kids do run away, and then we are faced with everything that they’ve learned about us and have to defend ourselves and everything we have built.

JGA: Wow… and I guess when I see her, I just think of someone with such focus, such a singular focus and how, now that after talking with you, I can see how important her family is to her in that focus, because that’s her thing she wants to make sure is good, her family.

Angel Parker: Exactly.

JGA: Gotcha, okay.

Angel Parker: Catharine is Team Wilder you know?

JGA: Yeah.

Angel Parker: Her family will always come out ahead, and everyone else be damned. So her joining the Pride even has to do with her family. So, what Catharine’s going to do is come out on top, she’s going to land on her feet. And it doesn’t matter how she gets there, but she will.

JGA: That’s so cool. So when people watch the show and, you know, the episode’s over- God forbid when that season’s over cause it’s so good right now I don’t want it ever to end, but that’s something-

Angel Parker: Thank you!

JGA: What’s something that you kinda hope the audience walks away from, with your performance in particular? Cause I think I’ve already walked away with something really awesome from it, and I’m what, how you feel about that.

Angel Parker: Well I just hope that the audience is conflicted. I hope that they don’t know who to root for. That’s what I really want. I want them to say “oh… of course you’re gonna root for the Runaways, but I get what’s going on with the Pride and maybe the Pride’s in over their heads and what’s going on. I really want them to see all the layers and the depths, and not it just be good vs. evil. There’s a lot of shapes of good and a lot of shapes of evil, so I’m just hoping that they see all the sudden nuances and put together that things aren’t always what they seem in life and in our show.

JGA: Wow. So she definitely has contact with a lot of other characters on the show, and I was kinda wondering if we could tap into Catherine’s mind a little bit and maybe do some word association with the other characters?

Angel Parker: Sure!

JGA: Okay cool! So let’s start with her closest relationship, or what I assume is her closest relationship, her husband Geoffrey.

Angel Parker: Yes, absolutely.

JGA: What does she- you know, what would Catherine say about him in one word- or one or two words?

Angel Parker: About Geoffrey? Catherine would say… “my man.”

JGA: Does she resent him for his past at all- oh wait, I can’t say what I wanted to say, but does she resent him for his past at all?

Angel Parker: I don’t think she is. I think she- you very knowingly made decisions that got them to where they are now. So she knew what she was getting into.

JGA: Gotcha.

Angel Parker: She orchestrated it.

JGA: I love that. What about her son Alex?

Angel Parker: Alex is the greatest thing she’s ever done. Alex is a good kid. A smart kid. Even when you see him dealing- fighting against her. He does it with his smarts. Alex is the only one without a power or special ability and he is a part of this team of Runaways and they need him. So I think that Catherine has done a good job raising Alex Wilder.

JGA: Absolutely- you know you’re making me grab my heart right now because it’s so sweet and I’m starting to root for the parents I’m not gonna lie. I’m starting to switch sides.

Angel Parker: See there we go!

JGA: Yeah you’re already confusing me. I don’t know what’s going on! Change the show to “PARENTS” from RUNAWAYS and I’ll just be super confused. But I do love that they changed Molly’s character too. I love the commitment to diversity the show has. I think it’s so important, and Marvel’s so committed too. So I guess I wanted to ask if you had anything to kinda say about that?

Angel Parker: Well the world is changing and I’m glad that television is now seeing that we need to represent all these changes and that people are friends with people of other races. It doesn’t always match up with some perfect picture. There’s diversity everywhere you look, everywhere you go. So for that to be represented on television is something that I’m so proud to be a part of. That we have a black lead to our show, we’ve got great strong characters. We’ve got an Asian family and a Jewish family and a black family all rolled into one. And the fact that they’re race isn’t even mentioned is very cool as well. So, it’s just people living their lives, and maybe a dinosaur or two.

JGA: Yeah we all have a dinosaur roaming around. I had a pug, so it’s like kinda similar, right? Maybe not.

Angel Parker: Yeah! Totally same thing.

JGA: Oh man I didn’t mean to make a joke because I kinda wanted to ask about something serious. You know, I wanted to get your take on the movement that’s happening in our country right now. So, it’s really no longer a secret that women and some men are dealing with all this assault and harassment, especially in Hollywood. And do you think, what’s happening now, women coming out, being supported by other women, having it out in the open; do you think this will be a lasting impact on Hollywood- and I hope the larger culture. And if so, or if not, do think there’s something we civilians can do to push the movement forward?

Angel Parker: Well, I feel it’s kind of a reckoning happening.

JGA: Right.

Angel Parker: And there’s sort of a cleaning house of basically women saying “we’re not gonna take this anymore. We work just as hard as men and we want to be valued.” So the little jokes, the little gestures, the little comments, the big comments, the big gestures; those are gonna be questioned now by men and women in power. It’s more of an abuse of power, I feel and I think it happens in every industry. I think in the acting industry the lines get blurred cause you’re in sort of a fantasy world and you’re dealing with the most beautiful people, the most powerful people in the world, very wealthy people. So I think it’s heightened, but there’s sexual harassment in every industry. And any woman that’s in the workplace has to deal with something, some sort of joke, some sort of lewd comment. So, women, we’re not surprised by any of this. I guess what’s great is that people are now listening. People are now making changes. Men are now saying “oh crap. Maybe I said something that I shouldn’t have said. Maybe I need to look at my behavior in a light, and maybe I don’t need to say that thing to that woman. Perhaps I can just treat her as my equal and talk about what we’re working on today as opposed to something that should not happen in a work environment. So, I think there are some shifts and some changes happening. I do feel bad that a lot of people are just being torn down on social media without proof, that is hard, you know, especially for the people that are being accused. But after a while, the truth comes out. So it’s sort of a sad time of cleansing, but it needs to happen and that these women are being believed now- and men, I mean it happens across the board. I really do think it’s just an abuse of power and we’re not gonna take it anymore.

JGA: Man, and I think Anita Hill came out a few days ago and I’ve been waiting since I was a kid for her to come out and say something about this. And now people are kind of going back and looking at that and say “hey why didn’t we take this more seriously?” Even Joe Biden apologized for how he conducted the Senate hearing, and I just think that is absolutely amazing and, you know, ComicsVerse we really try to celebrate diversity and we really want to make the world a fairer place. So I’m so glad that you got a chance to comment on that. But I did have one last question I wanted to ask earlier, and it’s kind of a fun one. I know that you studied- understand that you studied Shakespeare at the British America Drama Academy?

Angel Parker: Yeah! Yeah, I love that program.

JGA: Awesome, and you worked also at the Independent Shakespeare company too.

Angel Parker: Yeah! Yeah yeah. I love the bard. Yeah, no I’ve, you know, a love of the language.

JGA: So I wanted to ask what are some of your favorite Shakespeare plays and which are some of your favorite characters to play?

Angel Parker: Oh wow. Well, I loved playing… oh my gosh, it’s hard to choose, it’s like choosing babies you know? I loved being in the Tempest. I loved Julius Caesar.

JGA: Oh, I love Julius Caesar too.

Angel Parker: I mean yeah, I love them all. They all have their own qualities and benefits and beautiful speeches and, you know, stories that have stood the test of time in… it’s just… the language is just so beautifully written and the stories are universal obviously. They continue to be told and told in different ways but the words are still the same. So… you know it’s hard to choose. My production of Tempest that I did with the Independent Shakespeare company was one of my favorite things that I got to do because of the cast and how we did it and being able to play such a vibrant character was just fun.

JGA Yeah, I bet it was super fun! And it’s, you know, I don’t know how television is but in theatre you’re kinda all working together all the time and you’re all together all the time- especially with Shakespeare.

Angel Parker: Yeah, yeah it’s, you know, a whole showman where everybody loves each other and you all get to do this thing all at once and the audience is right there. And it’s different every night. So I love that. I don’t have to wait for Hulu to release it to see if the audience likes it. I get to just hear them laugh or cry or cheer or crickets if your joke didn’t land, you know?

JGA: Yeah, that’s amazing.

Angel Parker: I love the theatre. Yeah.

JGA: Oh man, so Angel thank you so much for being here and it’s gonna mean so much to our listeners that you’re here talking about Catherine Wilder. You know, RUNAWAYS is a major part of ComicsVerse, we have so many fans here so they’re absolutely going to love it- oops I didn’t— thank god we have editing. Because I was about right into my— I didn’t even give you a chance to respond. Like “bye!” And then like close.

Angel Parker: All good I’m sure you’ll fix it in post.

JGA: Thank God for post, that’s all I have to say. But yeah thank you so much for being here it really was an honor and, you know, congratulations on the success of RUNAWAYS and thank you for putting out top quality work! You know we really love you for it. I think that anyone that watches this show can see that this is a really quality show and I can’t fathom is not having a season 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Angel Parker: Well thank you for words to God’s ears, right?

JGA: So again, you can find more interviews and podcasts like this on ComicsVerse.com. Goodnight everybody!

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