Oscar winner Sam Rockwell has established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. In our recent sit-down, recorded at the Tribeca Audio Festival, we trace the arc of that career culminating in his season-stealing turn in The White Lotus.

We begin with his bifurcated childhood, split between San Francisco and New York City (10:00 ), falling in love with the movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s (15:30 ), the cathartic release of performance (18:05 ), advice from the late Gene Hackman on the set of Heist (21:28 ), his career-defining turn in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (23:14 ), and how he gradually began to lean into vulnerability as an artist (33:47 ).

In the second half, a tribute to Christopher Walken (34:45 ) and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (38:32 ), a dissection of that scene from season three of The White Lotus (44:06 ), why he tapped into his childhood to portray Bob Fosse in Fosse/Verdon (50:50 ), and the monologue from Death of a Salesman (52:49 ) that started it all.

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And a special thanks to actor Spencer Neville for the assist on today’s introduction.

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