Gabrielle Carteris helped define a generation as Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills 90210. But the story behind the show is bigger, deeper, and more surprising than you think. In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Gabrielle opens up about the truth behind landing 90210, including the age secret she kept when she was cast as a 16-year-old. She reflects on overnight fame, Beatles-level chaos, and how the show shaped her adult life in ways she is still unpacking. But this episode goes far beyond nostalgia. Gabrielle reveals the devastating on-set injury that temporarily left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak, the lawsuit that followed, and why she refused to sign an NDA after winning her case. That experience ultimately led her into leadership, where she became President of SAG-AFTRA and helped guide the union through historic negotiations. She also discusses: • The real impact of the Hollywood strikes • Why AI and voice replication are changing the entertainment industry • The merger of SAG and AFTRA • Losing Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty • The isolation of extreme fame • Aging in Hollywood and rejecting shame • Why family matters more than celebrity From 90s television icon to labor leader and activist, Gabrielle Carteris shares what she has learned about power, resilience, identity, and what no longer scares her. This is one of the most revealing Beverly Hills 90210 interviews you’ll see. Subscribe for more conversations with the stars you grew up with.
Gabrielle Carteris helped define a generation as Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills 90210. But the story behind the show is bigger, deeper, and more surprising than you think. In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Gabrielle opens up about the truth behind landing 90210, including the age secret she kept when she was cast as a 16-year-old. She reflects on overnight fame, Beatles-level chaos, and how the show shaped her adult life in ways she is still unpacking. But this episode goes far beyond nostalgia. Gabrielle reveals the devastating on-set injury that temporarily left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak, the lawsuit that followed, and why she refused to sign an NDA after winning her case. That experience ultimately led her into leadership, where she became President of SAG-AFTRA and helped guide the union through historic negotiations. She also discusses: • The real impact of the Hollywood strikes • Why AI and voice replication are changing the entertainment industry • The merger of SAG and AFTRA • Losing Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty • The isolation of extreme fame • Aging in Hollywood and rejecting shame • Why family matters more than celebrity From 90s television icon to labor leader and activist, Gabrielle Carteris shares what she has learned about power, resilience, identity, and what no longer scares her. This is one of the most revealing Beverly Hills 90210 interviews you’ll see. Subscribe for more conversations with the stars you grew up with.
Chapters
00:00 Opening Introduction
01:00 Gabrielle Carteris on Aging and Growth
02:32 Learning to Stop Performing for Approval
04:41 Aging in Hollywood and Saying “I’m 65”
06:55 The 90210 Age Secret Revealed
07:57 Overnight Fame and Losing Anonymity
09:45 The Power and Pressure of Being Known
12:33 Looking Back on the 90210 Era
12:47 How Fox Saved Beverly Hills 90210
14:09 Did Andrea Shape Gabrielle or Vice Versa?
15:21 How the SAG-AFTRA Merger Happened
16:29 “I Am an Activist”
17:49 The On-Set Injury That Changed Her Life
20:05 Relearning Speech and Movement
21:35 Refusing to Sign an NDA
22:50 Why Safety Became Her Mission
24:04 Patty Duke, Sean Astin, and Hollywood Legacy
25:14 The Hollywood Strike and the Rise of AI
29:25 Remembering Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty
31:14 Still Close with the 90210 Cast
35:40 Beatles-Level Fame and Fan Chaos
36:25 What Matters Most Now: Family
37:53 Becoming President of SAG-AFTRA
39:25 Leadership and Unsung Heroes
40:02 “I’m Okay” — Owning Her Legacy
41:03 Dubbing for Netflix and Amazon
42:05 Fear of Returning to the Stage
43:25 What No Longer Scares Her
45:22 What She’d Tell Her Younger Self
45:50 “The Girl I Was Is the Woman I Am”
46:23 Closing
SPEAKERS
Gabrielle Carteris, Steve Kmetko
Steve Kmetko
Yes, I'm still here Hollywood and coming up on today's episode, every once in a while, a performer becomes part of the fabric of our lives without us even realizing it. Today's guest helped shape one of television's most talked about series, creating a character defined by intelligence, heart and moral clarity during a time when audiences were hungry for exactly that voice. In the years since, she has continued to lead with purpose, stepping into roles that support not just artists, but the future of the industry itself. Careers come and go. Respect endures. This is still here, Hollywood. I'm Steve kometko. Join me with today's guest from Beverly Hills 90210, Gabrielle, when you think about the woman you were before Beverly Hills 90210, and the woman you are today, what are the changes?
Gabrielle Carteris
I was so young then, right? I was 29 and now I told you, I'm 65 Wow, to say it out loud. Oh, my God, it went public. Who am I? What's different now what I you know, age hopefully comes wisdom, maybe a little more peace, a little less rushing at it a little less fear. you know, I'm a mom, I've been a leader, you know, been able to do so many things. So I guess just life, what's different now is I've lived more of a life I was younger than didn't have the same life. Do you remember early success? Did it feel exciting or overwhelming? Both? Success is both, right? So that's the most exciting. And I'm a really emotional person, if you haven't even identified that. So I mean to get a job would mean to cry. To lose a job would mean to cry, right? Was very, it was really, it was it was very overwhelming. The more success, I think the more recognition, the more overwhelming it becomes, because it's the expectation of maintaining something to to, you know, to manage the expect for myself, like, to be able to really be in the moment of my work instead of what I think people want for me. It was, it was very daunting. It was really, it was, yeah, it was a lot.
Steve Kmetko
Have you figured that out how to be into your work and not be what somebody wants of you?
Gabrielle Carteris
I think sometimes I am definitely more now, I definitely am more relaxed about it, you know, but I I don't know all the time if it's true. I mean, there, that's such a good question. I mean, I guess each time it's different, it's I, I'm in search of me. But, yeah, I think I'm just older, so I'm a little bit more honest to people. So that makes it easier too, right? If I can say to somebody, man, this stresses me out. I'm not sure I understand this. Can we work together a little bit more? When I was younger, I felt like I had to know. I had to know, right? And pretend. What was there was somebody who said, If you don't know, just pretend. And I'm like, I don't I think that's true to some degree, because you know, part of making it is you got to make it look like you have it under control. It's that term, fake it till you make it right. I think that's true, but I think it can be a mistake too. So I think there's a fine dance to that.
Steve Kmetko
The reason I followed up with that question is because so many times, even though I've been doing this kind of work since 1979 sometimes what do they want? I still do that. What do they want, right?
Gabrielle Carteris
Am I doing it right? Is this gonna that's you have to find some part of it that you enjoy so that you don't have to worry so much about. But it's, I don't know if I'm thinking what do they want anymore. I have to be honest with that, like, right now I'm not thinking as much about what do they want. I think I'm at that age where I think, you know, for women, anyway, it's harder, you know, to get certain work and to be seen it's being seen differently in the world. Like, it's just, it's a very even though I feel really young inside my I don't know, do you feel this like you feel really young inside? It depends on the day. Well, no, you could feel tired, right? But you know what I mean? Like, does the world see you who you are or who they think you are? It's a very I don't know. It's just so is, but as I get so now, I don't know if as much I think is what they I'm trying to see what they want. I'm deciding if it's something that I'm willing to do, and am I comfortable with a little bit more of that.
Steve Kmetko
I've asked several women who have sat in that chair how aging has been for them in Hollywood, you had no problem saying you were 65
Gabrielle Carteris
I'm 65 first of all, I have fought very hard to live a great life. In my life, I love I'm very blessed. I love my children. I love. My husband and I am very, very grateful say it out loud for my life. And so I think that, yeah, I don't want to live with shame at my age. You know, this industry, really, the world anyway, has a lot of judgment about aging, and I and I'm very aware of that, but our industry is all about that. It's about being a certain look, a certain age, and beautiful or whatever. And I think that's for me, is something I've always really struggled with. Because every time I worry about that, every time I try to be what I think people want me to be, I fail myself. I am never in a place that I'm happy. So for me, you know, being 65 i i in having my life, I'm lucky. I see a lot of people struggling right now in the world, and I say to my husband all the time, how Blessed are we? How lucky are we that that's not where we're at right now? So yeah, I'm going to say it loud. I think that we are trained to think otherwise, and I think it's
Steve Kmetko
bullshit, and Hollywood is responsible for training us.
Gabrielle Carteris
Yeah, it is. It's very much like that. You know, I've been at work where, you know, you look too old, you look too young. It's never just about necessarily the quality, or hasn't been about the quality of my work. And I think that I ran from my age so early, because I, you know, I was, I always look young, and you know, that was the thing I didn't tell the truth about when I got 902. I know. So now I'm past that time, and I'm gonna say yes, I'm 65 so there you go.
Steve Kmetko
Good for you. Yeah, I know. When I first started doing this podcast. I was talking with one woman, and I talked about being gay, and I talked about being 72 at the time, and a friend of mine said, you said all the things you're not supposed to say, oh, sorry, yay.
Gabrielle Carteris
And didn't you feel better? Yes, right? It's like we don't need to be what everybody defines us to be.
Steve Kmetko
When you got the job, how old did you say you were I was?
Gabrielle Carteris
I told them I was 21 but I was 29
Steve Kmetko
and you were playing a teenager. I was playing 16. Yeah. Well, I think that deserves a good for you too.
Gabrielle Carteris
That's a good for me, right? I mean, it was, look, it was all good. It was good. Then this is good. Now, I don't, it's hard for me to play my age, even though I'm looking older, definitely, but I definitely have a kind of, I know it's a little bit of maybe a youthful energy or something that makes me seem a little bit but I am the same. I mean, you know, like, I've had people say I remember when I was mom, and I was playing a mom on a show, and it was a movie that I had done. It's somebody in the audience. We did a Q, a and something the audience said, it's just ridiculous to have her play a mother of kids that age, because she was too young. I was like, No, I'm not stop defining me. But yeah,
Steve Kmetko
that's another thing people like to do, define you. Yes, define without knowing you exactly. Did anonymity disappear overnight for you? 90210, became so huge.
Gabrielle Carteris
Yeah, it did. I think, you know, if you asked, So the one thing I'll go to the first question, you said, what's, you know, how did it affect life and stuff? So even though I was 29 when I got this show that's really the birthing of adulthood. You know, we think the 20s are but that's just when you're getting ready to come into your adulthood. I think it has shaped my entire life, and I and I think in some ways, in great, great ways, in other ways, I actually have to, like, be a little kinder to myself about certain things. And you know, I have to be I forget that I grew up a lot of my life was in the public eye, that in a lot of the expectations that I felt like I had to whatever. So now, just now, is when I'm at an age where I'm like saying, It's okay, give myself grace. A little more grace.
Steve Kmetko
You know, my mother's favorite phrase was, try not to think about it, right? Whenever I would take a problem to her, that was her standard response. It's great. That does not work for me. It worked. Might work for some people, and she was very good at dismissing things. That's amazing. Try not to think
Gabrielle Carteris
about it. My husband will say that. I'll say, like, at night, if I have something that's on my mind and I can't sleep, and I said, Honey, what I don't understand you can sleep. He says, Just don't think about I just don't think about I'm like, How can you not think about it? I have to think about it until
Steve Kmetko
I've resolved it or gone through it. Yeah, or else she'd say, put it in God's hands. We'll leave that right there. What surprised you most about sudden fame?
Gabrielle Carteris
Gosh, I don't I think this the fame itself. I think that's what surprised me. I think that, you know, when you talk about it happened overnight. It almost was overnight. And I think that it i. Think what surprised me, and I'm still surprised, actually, when people stopped me because maybe they had enjoyed the show, or they that time when they liked it, that they would stop me and talk to me as if I this sounds I mean, we're just human beings, right? That's really it's just a job. It's a job that's public, that's for people to see, and people would talk to me like I was something more than that, and that was always a that was always a challenge for me. And then I think I've learned more how to actually use it to my benefit, to really be able to be helpful and to whatever. But it's surprising. There's a lot of, and I don't mean this, I think there's a lot of power behind being known. There's something happens because people come to you, you know, that's why you want somebody who's influential, or who have, you know, any of any kind of influence. You hope that they're going to be good people, because they have a lot of effect on people, right? The more you're known, the more that's, I don't know if I'm making sense. You're just making me think about things that are and if
Steve Kmetko
you want to get a table in the busy restaurant, well, that can be that can be nice too. What did young Gabrielle misunderstand about the price of fame?
Gabrielle Carteris
That's an interesting what did I misunderstand about it? What I misunderstood? What did
Steve Kmetko
you hope would happen that didn't? What did you expect to happen that didn't?
Gabrielle Carteris
You know, I honest to God. This is, I don't think I had expectations about it. It is such a shocking experience. Fame is not I mean, unless you've really designed your life like that, I don't know how you do it's shocking. I don't think there's anything that I anything other, no, I don't think that there's anything I would have designed differently. I think maybe if I could have just taken a little more time to appreciate it and to take a little bit of credit, more credit for myself than I did, because that is a confusing thing too. With fame comes, how much of this is me? How much is it? You know, is it people just see me in those rose colored glasses and but I don't know I I think just the whole experience itself is just, I don't
Steve Kmetko
when that era comes to mind now, what comes to mind? First? What emotion Do you feel?
Gabrielle Carteris
I think incredible joy, happiness, yeah, it was a great era.
Steve Kmetko
Well, 90210, really, when it went on, Fox was still a relatively new network.
Gabrielle Carteris
They first, they weren't even they were the fourth network, but they were really the grandchild to it all. They were not officially a network, and then they were a partial network. The only reason we did well is because we were on Fox, because when we first started, we didn't have the audience right. So actually, any other network would have dropped us with the ratings that we had initially. And because fox didn't, we replaced they had very little inventory. They decided to work us through a summer, and it just transformed our audience and the experience. It was like, we broke the mold of, you know, seasons of television in terms it was like now it was, it was year round, but that was Fox. Thank God we were on Fox. We never, never, ever would have happened if we weren't on Fox.
Steve Kmetko
Well, around the same time Tracy Ullman came on, she had Tracy old that was a great show, and The Simpsons grew out of Tracy Ullman
Gabrielle Carteris
still going on. Yes, still going on. How many years now? Almost 40 years, something like that.
Steve Kmetko
You're not far off. Yeah, did playing Andrea shape the woman you were becoming, or did you shape her?
Gabrielle Carteris
Probably it would be, well, maybe both, maybe both. I definitely that character was, you know, designed a certain way. But as time went on, they all the writers, really started to write for our voices. That's the only way to keep something alive. And so I think that there was strong identity there. But actually, because people saw me as Andrea, not not necessarily being able to differentiate the character, I think that I was gifted with many opportunities. So, yeah, I'd help to shape my life. I think the presidency of night, you know, of sag AFTRA was partly because people thought, oh, shit, that would be an Andrea thing. That would be, you know,
Steve Kmetko
well, weren't you called the moral conscious conscience
Gabrielle Carteris
of the No, I was yes. Yeah, I think that's how they probably titled me. That wasn't my gift to that.
Steve Kmetko
Well, you have to have a certain amount to play it.
Gabrielle Carteris
I hope so. Let's pretend that's true.
Steve Kmetko
I hope so. Well, your job is all about pretend, pretending, isn't it kind of and how did the sag AFTRA thing was it sag? After? It was just sag.
Gabrielle Carteris
It was sag, right? It was, I was a member of both unions from after and sag. And I was, you know, partially injured, you know, paralyzed in a film I had done, and I was asked to sit on the board in a meeting for AFTRA. I didn't know that members did that, and I sat in a meeting, and then I started getting involved with the union. I wasn't able to work at the time, and I started getting involved with both unions, and I was a part of a group who believed that we should merge the unions, because we were ultimately working for the same employers, but our earnings were being divided, separated out, and so we had to make double the amount to make it our health insurance, to get our pension. It was ridiculous, and we were negotiating contracts with both unions against the same employer, so we were actually weakening our effective position. Yeah, it was really so I was a part of a group that was like the sixth or seventh time they tried to merge the unions, and we were merged the unions, and then I got into my, you know, being the executive vice president, and then I was elected president.
Steve Kmetko
So one of the things that lists you as your, I think it's IMDb or something, says, activist. Activist. Do you feel it? You're an activist.
Gabrielle Carteris
I am an activist. I've been an activist since I was a child, and proud of it, very proud of it. It's something I and I don't think I even realize it until people started talking to me, or I started sharing stories, because I don't always share a lot of that, and I I am surprised, and yes, I am an activist, and I'm proud of it. I think we have to be activists,
Steve Kmetko
and we'll be right back. If you'd like to be more involved with us. At still here Hollywood, you definitely can just visit patreon.com/still here Hollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month. You can get our episodes a day before they post anywhere else, you can see what guests will be coming up and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll see what goes on before and after the episode, plus exclusive behind the scenes info, pics, video and more. Again, that's patreon.com/still, here Hollywood, you meant the you mentioned the injury you had earlier. Can you talk about that at all?
Gabrielle Carteris
Yeah, I was shooting a film in Canada, and I was one of the I was the female lead, and they had a guest player who came on the one day, and he was his job. Was he was he was supposed to be coming inside of my house, invading the house. I was coming down the stairs, and he comes behind me, he lifts me up, and he drags me down these stairs. And he was really a big guy. He was like, you know, six, six, I think, or something. And I did a whole TED talk on it, because I said it was like this, you know, big guy. And I said, you see, to the director, a 12 inch differential, right? Just like, kind of a big whatever. But he was very hyped up, and he kept lifting me up over and over and over again. At one point, we were rehearsing another scene, and they were setting the lights, and I said to the director, said, Let's just rehearse. And I said, you can't. Don't touch me anymore. And because he kept lifting me by my neck. And then a day or two later, I started, like, losing the feeling in my face, and then I started on camera to totally I was actually in my dressing room talking to my husband on the phone, and I was like, in looking at the mirror. I was getting ready for a scene. I said, Oh, it's so weird. Part of my face isn't moving like it's not That's so weird. And then I called in the producers, and I said, I don't know what's going on, and I'm not. I was getting headaches, really bad headaches. I wasn't feeling good. And they had been doing some acupuncture. The director had, she had somebody who lived in her house who, you know, she had a floor that was dedicated to this person who was a professional acupuncturist, and they were doing work on me. I was in a lot of pain. And then suddenly I was on set, and my face totally became, I mean, it was like the I looked like the Joker. It was so disfiguring, and it was a form of palsy. And then my body started to convulse. And there was they brought a set doctor in, who's there to serve this show, really, right? And he said, What's wrong with her? What's going on? And they said, she's in shock. And I was just like they said, We want to take you to the hospital. I said, you have to fly me home immediately. I didn't want to be I didn't know the medical environment. It there. I needed to get home to be with my family. And I remember being in the airport. I was so, like, really deformed, and I was like, I couldn't talk. I was doing a lot of stuff, and I was at the airport, and I was I just felt like, so embarrassed because people were staring at me, not just from being from knowing me, but then also because my body was out of control. And, you know, it's a very it was a very humbling time. So anyway, I flew home and and then I took several years. I was UCLA movement disorder. They were working with me to help me get my speech back and to help my body. This was serious. Oh, it was Major. I did a lawsuit that took almost nine years, and I, I won that lawsuit and helped to change some laws in Canada, and then the studios were very upset about that. They made sure to tell me, and then they had to change certain whatever. And the producer was a terrible producer. I will say this. He was in they when I did the lawsuit, after when I I had won, it was a mediation before we went to court. And they said, Oh, we forgot to have Gabrielle sign an NDA, and would she do that? And I said, No, I don't have to, and you already settled and No, and I never really told the story. I've kind of told the story, but it was, it was life changing, and it was very humbling. It was really interesting to, you know, come from a show that was so high, visible visibility, coming home to have my two girls, they were young, and saying to my family, you know, okay, let's just, you know, we're going to go out now, Mom, you shouldn't go out. People are going to because people, you know, the paparazzi was around, and I said, this is where I am right now, and this is how they're going to see me. And I have to, we all have to learn to accept this right now. This is what it is. And I don't want to feel shame. It's it was hard enough to not be able to take care of myself, that I just didn't want that to be an extra part of my journey. And but then, you know, from all that, the things that stopped me from continuing with my acting brought me into my leadership and so into my service. And then when I won the case, I said to my husband, this will be my time. It'll be okay if I don't work, you know, like, because it's hard to work and be the president. I mean, I was working. We had, you know, Harvey Weinstein, we had the pandemic, we had a lot of things that took full and we work for free, as in leadership. So I said to my husband, this will be my paying it forward. So he said, Okay, and so that he did, and it was great. That was life changing too, right? The journey you never expect.
Steve Kmetko
Did it influence issues you would consider taking up as the president of sag,
Gabrielle Carteris
safety became a really big part. Did it influence? I think everything that happens, I would be did the anything that's happened, I hope, informs my life. But so it definitely influenced, right? But it was one of many things that influenced leadership. But it definitely had an influence on in an understanding that, you know, it's very difficult for people. It was, what was good for me in terms of leadership, is our job is to help give voice to those who feel voiceless. Right? A union is there to help speak for those because it's too hard individuals can't fight against corporations, you know, and really objectively be able to ultimately win, we need to have the collective voice, and that's so I think what it did is informed, really, my belief in labor and unions. You know, why I did work with the AFL CIO, you know, I'm on the Executive Council still. I'll be stepping aside now because Sean will be taking that Sean Aston and I did it through the, you know, part of my being a part of sag AFTRA. But, yeah, I think that it informed a lot of my service.
Steve Kmetko
Isn't it funny Sean following him his mother's footsteps,
Gabrielle Carteris
and his mother played my mother. Oh, really, yeah. I met Sean when he was a young boy. He doesn't really remember, but when Anna, his mom, you know, Patty Duke, liked to be Anna, she played my mother. She's the reason I used to sign. I translated. I don't sign as well now, but when I was younger, I just loved her and Helen Keller, when she was, you know, Miracle Worker,
Steve Kmetko
for which she won an Oscar, she was fabulous, and
Gabrielle Carteris
it holds up today. Oh, my God, amazing. And so when I met her, I when I got the job, and she was playing my mother, I cried. I said, I cannot tell you how much it means for me to be here with you. And then we became friends, and then I went to Washington with her, with the creative coalition. And Sean was a young boy then, and he was on the plane with us, and I shared pictures with him, with me, with his mom. I don't think I had with him there. Sure Anyway, yes. And he really is very excited to be able to actually, I think, go and continue on almost that legacy, yeah.
Steve Kmetko
What is the status of Hollywood after these strikes? Can you address that or speak to it.
Gabrielle Carteris
Maybe it's, it's not just Hollywood the strike. The strike was a really important strike. I mean, that was in Fran was really the perfect president for that time, you know, to be the leader during the strike. But that strike was really important with the advent, particularly the real, the movement of AI and technology, because it affects all workers, but really how it affects us in our industry, you're seeing immediate results in terms of voice work. Even what you do here, you know they have the capability of AI actually taking your voice, your intonation. I don't know if you've heard some of the recordings that can be done from an individual and make it sound like you. In China, they have news. They already have two, at least they did then they might have more. Two of their broadcasters were AI generated, and they looked and said, I mean, yeah, so I think it was a really important strike. And how did it change the industry? I don't think it changed. I don't think the strike is really what changed the industry. The industry was changing much more quickly than people were realizing. And I think that the strike put a big, you know, light on that. And I think that what you saw happen after the strike with, you know how work changed, and people talked about that. That was actually because the studios already had a glut of material and they needed to shed because they it was, it was a problem for them. So they use the strike as an excuse. But I think that the I think the strike was really important, what it'll ultimately do. So I'm the president of fiia, which is the International Federation for actors globally. And what I can see that this strike has actually helped for not just for this union and for performers. It's helped workers also, because I do the AFL CIO, it's helped workers in their negotiations with contracts, and it's helping Europe to define some of the language they need in contracts. And it's helping work wise. It's helping people to look at what kind of we need to create some kind of legal structure, or, you know, some kind of, I want to say, not barrier, not barriers, because you can't change the fact that technology is occurring, that we have to have structure around it. And people are really that. I think that strike brought it to the head for everybody. I mean, that strike was successful, not only because it was righteous for performers, but all workers were like, that's going to happen to us. It was, it was for the first time. You know, a lot of times when we get ready for a strike, because I've been, you know, the leader of strikes, people will go, Oh, you're actors. You make so much money. Why are you just blah blah, you're complaining. And I think for the first time, people weren't saying that about actors. They thought saw it as workers, people who wanted to be either in radio or on screen or, you know, on stage or in as nurses and as doctors. They were seeing it for the first time as themselves. They saw themselves reflected in this strike, that this was a strike for all workers, and I that's really what made it so impactful, and that that those changes are very positive changes. But in terms of our industry, there's a lot of shifting. The shifting is happening from streaming. The shifting is happening because we're global. We're so movable. It's not like Hollywood used to be like, you know, Hollywood was the center of everything, but because of our ability, because technology is so much freer, and you can go and with, you know, with, you don't have to have a studio behind you. You don't have in your house, you can be in your house, you can be in your friend's apartment, but you all these things have has changed our that's what's changed our industry, and now we're redefining the industry. But I think so. I'm not sure when people are saying it, they're seeing the details of it. I don't know if that's a lot there, but
Steve Kmetko
Gabrielle, may I ask you about Luke Perry and losing him? What has that meant to you? Or how did that impact you?
Gabrielle Carteris
Yeah, he's a friend. It was sad. It was sad. He was young, and it was hard we were at the time, we were working on the reboot of 90210, and he was a part of the conversations, and then he was gone. And I don't know if I've really I think there's so much public stuff. About asking about it. It's hard for me. I don't know that I've, I still to this day, don't know if I've really taken it in, you know, we talk about it, and people talk about it with such I think it's really hard for me to actualize it. It was more I think it's more personal for me than I talk about
Steve Kmetko
and the laws of Shannon,
Gabrielle Carteris
Shannon, I think that for me, I think that Shannon had a really hard life, and I felt, I felt very sad, because I actually, even though, I mean, we had talked about her being sick, you know, when we were doing the show, the reboot, I didn't know, and nobody in the cast knew that this was it. We thought she was just fighting through it. You know, she kept having these so for me, it was more shock, and just, I was sad for Shannon. I think she had a really hard life.
Steve Kmetko
I think she did too, and I didn't really know her. Yeah. Are you in contact with anybody from the show and with, yeah, the whole cast? Oh, really, yeah, you remain friendly.
Gabrielle Carteris
I, first of all, you know, it's so we do appearances together. We travel through to Europe, and here in the United States, that's something I just started doing the last couple years. Couple of years and I, Jason and I had remained close. Jenny and I, our daughters, went to school together, so we came in and out of each other's lives. I've always
Steve Kmetko
I day meetings.
Gabrielle Carteris
Each one of us has shared been in and out of each other's lives. I think now we're more together in each other's lives, and we have been in years. We have been so and they were, it is really stunning. I think that I now think I really can you imagine, took me all these years to realize they were really a big part of my life, a big part of my adult life, a big part of my it was during the time of 902108 just to come out is to be out there and be in a field that I love being recognized, which is overwhelming and it's exciting to being I got married when I was on the show. I had my babies when I was on the show. I left when I, you know, then leaving that family, and then, yeah, we're really close. And really when we did the reboot, which was phenomenal, emotionally for me, and I think it was for I know it was Jenny, and I've talked about it, and I can't speak for everybody else, it was for me. Though it was a real full circle that was, I felt really great that I was able to do that I was like, this is definitely I just, I felt like I saw, I was seen as the adult woman that I was, you know, because I was older than they were not that much, 10 years, really, 1012,
Steve Kmetko
years. Yeah, it's a lot. Well, you went to Sarah Lawrence,
Gabrielle Carteris
I did go to Sarah, but I think that, yeah, I think that it was seeing them with their babies, and they're now, they're all of our kids are older, and seeing we've gone life journey together now. Yeah, so I it's anyway.
Steve Kmetko
Are you a grandmother? Not yet. Not yet. Okay, rude question. Steve, no, it's okay.
Gabrielle Carteris
When my kids are ready right now, I'm a grandmother to their dogs. Whatever you need. I'm here
Steve Kmetko
and they don't need their diapers changed. They
Gabrielle Carteris
don't they stuff to walk them. It's okay.
Steve Kmetko
Was it because you survived something rare together, that you still get along so well, or you still are in contact. What would you attribute it?
Gabrielle Carteris
Well, we're in contact a because life we live in the area. I think that you know life moments that we've reached out to each other. There have been those life moments. And I think you know, again, we have schools or whatever, and then now we have, we did the reboot, but we also, we do work together. We still work together. And we, I was just on Jenny's podcast, you know, a couple months ago, and how great to see her as the woman she is now, you know, to see, to see each one of them in their lives. I mean, it's so I think we're just close now because we really know each other, there's something to be said for familiarity. And you know the stories you share,
Steve Kmetko
what is something about those early years that only the cast could truly understand?
Gabrielle Carteris
I think the isolation of the success, the fame of the show, was really hard. I think we were all very it was really big. It was a lot and and it was overwhelming. And I don't want to say it was lonely because we had, we were lucky. We had. I. I was lucky. I had Charlie. He's my husband, he's my best friend. Like I was lucky I had him, and we were lucky we had each other. But I think the biggest thing was the there was isolation, the feeling you couldn't go out in public, like it was really, I don't even know how to explain it to my kids. They have no concept of the show, really, because, you know, they weren't born yet, so they don't I have a friend who worked at Fox at the time, but she said, You don't understand. It was kind of like the Beatles. Like, she said, like, because we would be like, in rooms where people, when we traveled, would try to climb through our hotel rooms windows, or they would try to jump and hide in our cars, or they would. I mean, it was like, surreal, right? It was like, even to tell you the story, it's surreal. It's like, Oh my God. And so I think that was,
Steve Kmetko
we'll be right back. I'm going to admit something, I remember when I was sent to cover the Emmys one year, and I think it was the first year that 90210 was on. And I was instructed by the produce, my producer, listen to, you've got to get Luke and Jason right. And I was like, Who? Right? I didn't know who they were.
Gabrielle Carteris
I don't think I would have, I don't think it's a show I would have watched. Well, I was a little old for it, yeah, you'd be surprised our family, you say that, no, no,
Steve Kmetko
at this stage of your life, what matters most to you, my family. Tell me about your daughters. You have two daughters, two
Gabrielle Carteris
beautiful daughters. I have a daughter who's 31 she's gonna be 32 she lives in New York, and she's recently married. And I have a daughter who's 26 who will be 27 tomorrow, and she lives around the corner, and she is studying right now, family, marriage counseling. I said, Yay, because the world needs a lot of therapy right now. I think we're not doing so well, maybe. And she's a really creative, beautiful young woman. And then, and then my older daughter is a painter in New York, and she's been doing very well with her. Very happy for her to be able to, you know, make a living and do what you love is, there's nothing like it, no. And she has been doing great. And so and her husband is just beautiful and, yeah, I really, I cannot tell you, I think that it doesn't matter everything else that goes on in the world if, if my family is not in a good place, that's my hard time. If they're good and they're happy, my kids are happy, my husband's happy and everybody's healthy, I'm feeling like a star.
Steve Kmetko
How did the transition feel when you moved from acting to being the president of sag you became president AFTRA when Ken Howard died, right?
Gabrielle Carteris
Yes, I was his executive vice president. And then he I was in negotiations. I was negotiating the commercials contract for him. And then I was is in New York, and I was pulled out of the room. They said Ken had just passed. And I flew back here to LA and I did what I had to do, and I went back to finish the negotiations and
Steve Kmetko
forget what the question was after he said, What was the transition like?
Gabrielle Carteris
Well, it was still acting. So I think the hard part of it was, was to accept that I could not it was hard because in leadership, I did not focus on my auditions the way I could have. I didn't know how to manage the leadership and the auditions. It was very difficult for me and and I was also getting to be a woman of a certain age, everything was changing, right? So I think how was it? I think it was really, it was it was a great time for me, because I was actually able to focus and do something productive and great. And then in terms of my acting, I think it was, maybe it was good, maybe it was good to have a little time off. And I did do shows. I did stuff throughout it, and then after the day, I went and announced that I wasn't running again. Is I got we own the city, which was for HBO. I was like, Oh, you see, you love me. Thank you. God, so you know it was, was alright, was right. It's too much to do all of it at once.
Steve Kmetko
Did advocating for others change the way you look at the world?
Gabrielle Carteris
Yeah, I think it changes the way I look at at society. Sometimes I think that there are really amazing people out there who are really doing amazing things, and they're not being recognized. They might not be seen. There are really the unsung heroes, and then it also made me see that there are people who are in really places of influence, who make power their their glory, and not always, are taking care of the people they're supposed
Steve Kmetko
to what took you a long time to learn about yourself.
Gabrielle Carteris
That I'm okay. I think a woman of substance, a woman of substance, I think was taken a long time for me, Bill, to say is, I've done some really good work, and it took me a long time to say that. Why do you suppose that is, I think as I'm shy about it, like I was taught, you know, you don't talk about it. I maybe I was a little bit, I don't know, self conscious. I felt like it was the wrong thing. You shouldn't acknowledge that. But I don't know that that's true. I think, I think I it's easy for me to acknowledge when I don't do things well, but I think there are things that I've done that have made a difference, and I know that, and I want to, I think I'm at a time in my life. I want to be able to own that too, you know? I don't want to just own the other stuff. I want to be able to own all of me. And so I want to be able to own that, you know, but it's hard even now. You see me struggling with it, but I I'm convinced, and I will work so hard, though, to really be able to say, yes, I've done some really good things I'd be proud of
Steve Kmetko
Do you have any projects you're working on right now?
Gabrielle Carteris
Actually, I'm doing a lot of dubbing for Netflix. That's been a big thing for me, and Netflix and Amazon. What kind of dubbing for films and TV, and which is a very new so when I was president, it was so perfect, right? I used to do a lot of voiceover before I was injured, and then when I got injured, I lost my ability to speak, and now I'm able to speak, though you can't really tell. And then I but when I was president, I negotiated the first real dubbing contract that we had at a significant meeting with Netflix. And then when I left, I ultimately started auditioning and doing that work for Netflix and for Amazon. So it's for TV and film projects. And I really, I've been doing it for a couple of years now. The first year was really hard. It's unlike anything we do in this industry and but I'm starting to really enjoy it a lot more. It'll be ultimately gone because of technology. But right now, in this moment, it's good,
Steve Kmetko
is it? It's not for your own work. You're dubbing other people's work, right?
Gabrielle Carteris
Isn't that interesting? Yeah, it's a very interesting, very different animal. I can't say it's, I think, if anything, it's just, it's a really interesting thing. I've seen projects they never probably would have seen, because doing it, it's not like you get a script beforehand. So it's like learning to be really in the moment of working with somebody's work, and also being able to hear what the director wants you to do and being able to get what the studio wants. The words the language is not you've heard. I mean, dubbing is getting much better, but when you hear some of the the translations you want to go, oh, that's like, not even Whoa. That's not how it but you got to try to make that real. So it's kind of a challenge. But so that's what I do. And then, you know, of course, I said, like my presidency. So I I also do a lot of work, traveling to work with unions around the world for performers and and then I do my stuff with the cast. And, you know, I the big thing I have to get over is saying this is admitting I have such a fear of doing stage. I did stage. I trained in New York, and I really have to come to terms with because I was offered something I was like, I don't know. I don't want to do the hours. That's for sure, the thing with theater, but I do think that I should start doing maybe more live things. I have to think about
Steve Kmetko
it. Well, then let me ask you, what no longer scares you.
Gabrielle Carteris
Hmm, what no longer scares me? What? No, oh, what people think about me no longer really scares me as much. I mean, I'm pretty much who I am.
Steve Kmetko
Do you have to audition?
Gabrielle Carteris
Oh yeah, definitely have talked. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I do. I actually like auditioning. I don't like auditioning. And I do one thing about auditioning is you have the opportunity to work in with the director, hopefully, and the producers, so you have a sense of what they're looking for, to be given a job, a part, and not know until you start working for me. Do I like the part, really? Do I the people? Do I? Do we mesh? I mean, I think the process of auditioning, it can be really important. So I do like it and I don't like it. I do like getting offered a part, and then I don't like it sometimes, you know? I mean, I like it. I think I like all of it. I like all of it. I'm not always sure I like all of it. It's a very complicated relationship that I have with this work.
Steve Kmetko
Have you ever gotten a role role and then once you start filming, decide that you can't stand the people you're working with?
Gabrielle Carteris
I've never had it where I can't stand people, but I did have a job where in the middle of it I was like, why am I here? I have to. Why am I here? Is it? Is it the money? Is it the whatever? You know, but, but overall, I've been really lucky. I have I've always off. And almost always love the people I work with. And there's always something I can find that I really enjoy about something, even if it's learning, it's not anything I want to do again, right? I mean, that's it. That's a great gift too. I don't have to So, yeah, I every experience is different, but there's something I get, usually, from everything I've done.
Steve Kmetko
If you could sit across from your younger self on the first day of 90210? What would you tell her?
Gabrielle Carteris
It's okay. You could be great if they every year when they were renegotiating, you know, when we get ready, I was like, This is my last year. I should pack up. This is my last year. And so I think that's all. I just like, it's okay, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be a great ride. Don't worry.
Steve Kmetko
As the woman you've become, surprised the girl you were,
Gabrielle Carteris
hmm, I think we're the same person. I don't I think the girl I was is the woman I am. The woman I am was the girl I was. I think it's all
Steve Kmetko
let me write that down. Thank you so much. I've really
Gabrielle Carteris
enjoyed this. You're so sweet, really. Thank you. You're a good interview. You're a good interviewer. Thank you. Really. Nice to meet you.
Steve Kmetko
Nice to meet you too. Till next time, till next time, still here Hollywood is a production of the still here network, all things technical, run by Justin zangerly, theme music by Brian sanoshin, and executive producer is Jim Lichtenstein. You.