ANDIE MACDOWELL

Maid

On the Netflix limited series, which stars Margaret Qualley as a young woman who leaves her abusive partner and begins cleaning houses to care for her young daughter, MacDowell plays Paula, the mother to Qualley’s Alex. (Qualley also is MacDowell’s real-life daughter.) Struggling with an undiagnosed mental health disorder, Paula had high highs and low lows, which often required MacDowell to jump into manic behavior that seemed risky.

“It’s always hard to get those scenes right,” MacDowell says, pointing to a moment when she breaks into her con man boyfriend Basil’s house. “It was cold. It was late. I had to wear this blood. I didn’t want it to be melodramatic — I wanted to be honest and real. That was the height of the chaos.” The veteran actress with decades of experience under her belt was worried that the reveal of Basil’s true identity would be difficult to pull off. “I really was like, ‘This is tricky, you guys.’ I don’t think the audience, or most people, were going to recognize that, but I’m telling you as an actress, that was a tricky thing.”

Andie MacDowell on Maid