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The Confessions of Keri Russell: On ‘The Diplomat,’ Falling in Love With Matthew Rhys and the Night Hillary Clinton Made Her Cry


Keri Russell

An international crisis is unfolding among Britain, Iran, Russia and the U.S., and the American president needs diplomatic boots on the ground, but he also wants to see how well the new ambassador handles herself: Maybe she’ll be his next VP, because his current one, played by Allison Janney in Season 2, is about to be forced out due to a brewing scandal. This attraction to great writing was probably not in play yet when, at 15, Russell went with a bunch of friends from an intensive after-school dance program in Colorado to audition for the revival of “The Mickey Mouse Club.” She got the part and performed on the Disney Channel for two years over summers in Orlando before moving, at 17, to Los Angeles. She also mentions a 2015 trip to the Arctic Circle with the Sierra Club, arranged by director Darren Aronofsky, where the writer Rebecca Solnit helped her set up her tent and they spent seven days camping and shitting in holes and traveling up a river in pretty much around-the-clock daylight until there was nothing but ice.

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Hillary Clinton

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Matthew Rhys

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Russell

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