JESSE TYLER FERGUSON

On his new baby, new cookbook and life after Modern Family

The American Idol season five runner-up and Smash star, 36, goes for laughs with her new series, Country Comfort (March 19 on Netflix). She plays Bailey, an aspiring country singer who takes a job as a nanny for a handsome widowed cowboy named Beau (Eddie Cibrian) and his five children.

How does Bailey become a nanny? She’s devastated when the band she’s been in wants to find a younger, hipper singer. When her ratty old truck breaks down near a ranch, the door opens to a houseful of kids who have gone through several nannies, and she thinks, Maybe I should try this nanny thing.

Will she sing in every episode? There may be one or two episodes that don’t have music. We have a few dream sequences, similar to what Smash did. But typically the writers found ways to get the music into the show naturally.

You’re pregnant with your first child with husband David Foster. Did you learn anything working with the kids on the show? I've learned that I'm probably going to be a pretty strict mom. Working with kids, there’s a balance of them having fun and also trying to get them to stay focused when the time is important. So I find myself very motherly, like, “Hey, everyone, time to focus now,” like a schoolteacher, and then also wanting to encourage them to have fun.

You were on Broadway with Waitress just before the quarantine shut everything down. Was Broadway an aspiration? It was. I really did patiently wait for the right show. I had been offered other Broadway shows coming off of American Idol, but I wanted a show that hadn’t been played by 100 different women. It was a very small group of women who played the role of Jenna in Waitress. I felt like I was part of something really special.

Who does she think is the perfect example of an American Idol success story? Go to Parade.com/mcphee to find out.