Balancing motherhood and a Hollywood career is no easy feat—especially when your partner is also an actor.
Such is the case for Ryan Michelle Bathé, who currently stars on NBC's action-thriller series The Endgame as quick-witted FBI agent Val Turner.
She explained in an exclusive interview with E! News that one minute she's "running around the city" to film, and the next, she's patiently awaiting video updates of her two sons, whose dad is her husband of 15 years, Sterling K. Brown.
"They're the best little things in the world," Ryan said of Andrew, 10, and Amaré, 6. "I could go on and on and on about them, but they're great. And I'm super super proud of how they've handled me being gone. They've handled it better than I have, I think." The family's home base is L.A.; The Endgame shoots in New York.
Now at the tail end of shooting season one of The Endgame, the actress said she's eager to head home and reunite with her kids.
Unfortunately for them, Ryan joked, that means a lot less iPad time, "because Daddy loves an iPad."
"Daddy's like, 'Here, technology!' and Mommy's like, 'Take it away!'" she added with a laugh. "So I'm quite sure they're like, 'Oh, god, she's coming back.'"
Ryan's return also means that Sterling will have to resist spoiling the series finale of This Is Us. The actress has made several guest appearances on the NBC show over the years, and while she's always known that season six would be the series' last, she's still not sure how the Pearson family's story ends.
"I have very little information," Ryan said. "I think [Sterling] wants to put me in a situation where, like, 'If I don't tell you anything, they can't torture you to get it out of you!'"
While she may not know the ins and outs of the finale, Ryan explained that This Is Us was always meant to have "a beginning and a middle and an end," which she really appreciates. "I think that there's something so satisfying [about that], even if it leaves you wanting more, or especially when it leaves you with that ache."
There's no telling where The Endgame's story is heading, but Ryan did tease that viewers will be able to learn more about Val's backstory before season one wraps up. She's just not sure that she'll tune in when that happens. "I cannot watch myself," Ryan admitted. "For so long in my career, it's felt like a betrayal of everything I learned as a theater actor in terms of giving yourself over and being willing to look bad. But on film and television I'm like, 'I don't wanna look bad!'"
She continued, "I don't want to look crazy because, you know, when you're doing live theater, it's a moment and no one's taking a picture of you making this horrible face and freezing on it and then putting it everywhere. So I struggle with that."
Thankfully, Ryan's not alone on-screen. Val's constantly chasing down Morena Baccarin's criminal mastermind Elena Federova, and Ryan calls Morena "a wonderful scene partner." Building their dynamic was easy, Ryan added, as Morena "just brings so much to the role."
See the pair in action for yourself on The Endgame, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)