Stella may be unfazed by all the celebrities at UBA, but the actress who plays her on The Morning Show is well aware she's working with industry legends.
Greta Lee, who joined the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series for season two, told E! News that she gets starstruck "all the time" thanks to her mega-famous co-stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Billy Crudup. However, her A-list colleagues would never know this to be true, because she leaves her fangirling in the trailer.
"I have this ritual, as soon as I walk out I cannot bring those feelings with me to set," she dished, "given the nature of Stella. Stella does not give a flying hoot about any of these people. While I think Billy is great, she thinks [Billy's character] is like a lame, cis white man, which is so funny and fun for me to play. And same thing with like Jen and Reese, like Alex and Bradley, she's like, 'Come on, you guys are old news. And I'm like, so not impressed.'"
Because of this, Lee says she actively has to "squash my own puppy dog excitement" when interacting with her peers. Frankly, we never would've guessed that Lee's so amazed by her co-stars, since she goes toe-to-toe with Crudup, who plays UBA CEO Cory Ellison, on more than one occasion on the show.
"I love Billy so much," she gushed. "I have loved him for so long, and knowing that I was going to step into the ring with him and do this was a big part of the draw for me."
Although Lee admitted to being initially "terrified" at sharing a screen with the celebrated actor, she noted that Crudup has become "an actual real life mentor."
"I mean he really has lived up to everything that I was hoping for in terms of the scene partner," she added. "Do not tell him I said that, he can never know. I have to keep my cool, you know?"
Though we can't speak on Crudup's behalf, we have a feeling that he feels similarly, as Lee's addition to the show has been one of the best parts of season two. Not only have we loved seeing Lee's millennial CEO character with a Gen Z mindset, but it's also been wonderfully refreshing to see a character that's a young, woman of color in a position of power.
And, as Lee highlighted in the interview, The Morning Show is imitating this real-life shift in the workforce. "We have a record number of young women, women of color in leadership positions," she said. "I think that there is undeniably this cry for a big seat change and, you know, changing of the old guard but...how we go about doing that is a whole other story. And that's the real story. And I'm so glad that we're able to go there and see what that's actually like."
Experience Stella's journey by watching Lee in season two of The Morning Show. New episodes arrive Fridays on Apple TV+.