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‘Abbott Elementary’ Actor Lisa Ann Walter On Playing A “Tough Cookie” And “Telling The Truth” Her Entire Career
Actor and comedian Lisa Ann Walter talks about her mother as inspiration for her 'Abbott Elementary' role and what she hopes to see in Season 4.
For the last three decades, the multi-hyphenate Lisa Ann Walter, who began her career in stand-up comedy, made her mark as a character actor in films such as Bruce Almighty, Eddie and Shall We Dance? These days, nearly a quarter of a century later, Walter has emerged in the spotlight on ABC’s award-winning mockumentary Abbott Elementary, where she plays the Italian-American spitfire Melissa Schemmenti, a second and third-grade teacher at an underfunded Philadelphia public school. They take turns, but none of us are like, “Here’s the shy one.” And when I read the script, I noticed, you know, if you’re the white woman on a predominantly Black show, it might be a choice to make her either, ‘I’m racist, but I don’t know it,’ or she’s weak.
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