Emmy Clarke Reveals Untold Stories from Her Time on Monk

how was your childhood growing up there's there's a lot to it but i'll just start from like when you were born to like 11 because you moved from you're born new york then you went to houston and the uk then back in new york city and so that's that's quite the childhood fair kid yeah yeah so um yeah my childhood was definitely i was moving around quite a bit um but it was great it was i feel like it sounds like a lot when you put it that way um but i mean all things considered i i spent a good chunk of time yeah in houston like five or five or so years and then five six years i guess in in the uk and then moved back to yeah connecticut where i spent um a couple years um from there on out went to middle and high school there and yeah it was great it was as normal um as normal as things could be right considering the circumstances when i was an acting thing but yeah definitely lots of moving if you don't mind my asking man what did your uh parents do that uh allowed you to had you moving around the globe yeah um it was my it was my dad's job actually it's not yeah it's not a really exciting story there's no like um you know english citizen in the family or anything like that my dad just worked at finance and we had a lot of great opportunities growing up to to kind of uh hop around so we that brought us to houston and then to england we had no roots and neither um that was why the the why behind the moving where was your uh favorite place that you spent um that's a good question i feel like wherever i lived served a great purpose for like when i was there right so whatever age range i was in it was really really wonderful um for me to spend those years there um so but i would say i'm a little biased towards towards england it was great um but also growing up in connecticut was nice too um i don't really remember a ton of texas because i was on the younger side and um it's been been some uh a couple years since since those days um but yeah probably england i read somewhere that you i think when you moved back to new york city you studied ballet for like a decade oh gosh oh no that must be i don't know where that came from i did i did um uh i love that you're breaking this up i have not even thought about that um in a while i yeah i did dance growing up so i did it from like um what how old was i probably like i think like two three up to like 16 or 17. i was just i'm gonna be honest i was not that good at it i think that was fine um yeah but it was fun it was fun i did ballet and and jazz and all that stuff i feel like i was mediocre but um yeah it was it was it was a good thing to do on the side right everybody's gotta have a little hobby or um something like that when they're when they're growing up so dance is definitely one of them for me is that what you uh what you guys did then whenever you moved you had to find a new get a yeah yeah there was that so dance was just more of like a hobby on the side um i didn't do that i guess i did do it like through school programs here and there but um it was like again i was not good enough unfortunately somebody was like in dance full professionally no that was not um that was not my reality but um no it was it was fun fun hobby i don't um know if i could pick that back up and do it um remotely well but it was fun okay and then how did you how did you wind up getting into acting yeah uh so that happened when i was living in the uk i was like um i think it was like 10 or 11 years old um and i remember at the time they i went to an international school there um and they would always have at the time they literally had a daily bullet and then they would put up on a bulletin board every day um it was you know in the olden days um and the daily bulletin had like all this information of like you know things happening around the school activities extracurriculars and um because we were in international school they would always or pretty often fairly often have casting directors come to the school looking for you know international or like american kids um for projects that were shooting you know in the uk or in europe because it was just cheaper to do that i think to discover you know an american overseas rather you know casting for them straight out of the u.s so it was very common that casting directors would come to my school and um people that i knew would get parts all the time and my favorite story is that um prior to my landing the part my first part that i did the first project that i did i actually made my brother audition for something after school with me and um they ended up seeing my little sister out in the hallway because my mom begrudgingly like picked her up from preschool and and sat with us while i forced my brother to do this like audition with me because all my school friends were doing it they saw my little sister invited her in and my brother and sister got the part in this film it was like they had no it was they were only in it for like one shot um and it was a film called the man who cried you'd never heard of it it's the most obscure thing but it was with johnny depp uh dina ricci kate blanchette so like such a great cast john tuturo who did monk later obviously another chunk or two um but so yeah they ended up getting this part and i was so like uh livid at the time for lack of a better word because i was just like a little little kid and that was uh you know i was the one who forced my brother to yeah um but anyway so yeah i uh the same cast casting director came back a year or two later i skipped girl scouts with a bunch of my girlfriends and uh did the same sort of thing we all just stayed after school to audition for a project and then i ended up going back a couple times and long story short i ended up getting the part and that just kind of you know kicked everything off for me that was a film called my house in umbria yeah that shot for um eight weeks in in italy um and it was great so uh yeah i had a question about that but before that um it says your brother and sister that has the internet has them labeled as actors as well they actually they're actually actors they just no no no that was their one and they'll never yeah they'll never let or they didn't let me live it down when i was a kid i was so like so um jealous at the time um which is so funny um yeah so they are listed i guess on imdb and that's their their claim to fame but no they were never interested in that my brother had baseball my sister had soccer and they had very yeah they went back to reality i for some reason decided to attach myself to the the acting thing but you would look at us my mom's always like people definitely think i'm the mega stage mom like forcing my kids into all this stuff but really it was me just like trying to trying to land a part like all my little friends at my school so yeah weird back story yeah no that's that's definitely unique yeah you talked about how you got your your first acting role in the tv film my house number yeah and uh you want to talk a little more about that because you actually want an award for that yeah i did um which is that's another thing i forgot about until you just said um that yeah i don't even really remember um that process um yeah the film was great it shot for eight weeks in italy um as i mentioned before that was in 2000 um 2002 i think so a long time ago 20 years ago um yeah i was 10 10 years old um at the time and yeah i mean i had no idea what i was doing um i just you know lived lived for it just showed up i was like wow this is a whole new world i had no idea what i was in for um and it was great it was yeah did i say it was an hbo project um with some really great um folks on the cast like maggie smith um who obviously you know did the harry potter franchise down abby all that stuff so she's excellent and she's such a such a pro so that was really cool to get to work with her and i definitely took it for granted at the time um who else chris cooper um who's wonderful um and yeah a bunch of other some really great like esteemed like british actors who were great um yeah it was it was wonderful um yeah it felt very surreal and it was a nice it was a nice mix of like you know family time my family came out with me yeah i was gonna ask how does uh how did that work because you were like roughly 12 years old around then so yeah yeah i think literally i was i think when it shot i was 10 and then yeah so my yeah it came out probably when i was closer to 12. you're right um so yeah i think when my family just came out with me thankfully it shot over the course of the summer and it was it was timed well with my my summer holiday so my siblings came and my mom came as well and it was almost like a little vacation of sorts um and then yeah my dad would just come and visit on the weekend so it all worked out we were very fortunate that it did but it was uh yeah well-timed uh what was the award process like oh i have no idea um and i can't believe that you uh brought that up i forgot about it i actually i'm at my um parents house for a day or two um and that award is sitting in the other room um and i looked at it i'm like what the yeah go grab it what yeah go grab it go grab it all right yeah it will yeah let me what do i do how do i pause this i'm going to stop the video really quick oh yeah yeah i'm showing this right now it's too funny um here we go and you're gonna see um my parents dog too oh wait wait how do i do this there we go here it is i don't really know yeah it's a very interesting looking award um yeah yeah yeah so i don't know who how i got entered in that i don't know how i i don't know how i um won that i was not there to receive the award because i think i forgot maybe i was on the east coast at the time i don't know but it was yeah i don't know if they even still do these anymore young artist awards this was 2004. this is the 25th anniversary i i have no idea couldn't tell you how i won it couldn't tell you so did you just like did your parents tell you or just get like a call or something say hey you won the award yeah i think my manager did and when i was out in la he told me that was like oh and here's a little swag bag that came with the award and i was like oh okay so yeah i don't really know much yeah that's awesome and then how how did you get with uh get to the series mock how did we get there yeah uh that's a great question so when i finished that um that film and uh i remember when filming wrapped up for that it was pretty much timed um with when we were moving back to the states um so move back to the us um one of the producers from the film i'm sorry i have like something stuck on my fuzz okay um so one of the producers from the film um he he was really awesome his name is frank dolger he does a lot of cool stuff with hbo still i think um but he asked my mom if i wanted to continue doing this and my mom you know then was faced with the moral dilemma of like do i give her the op like the option she's 10 years old like does she know what she's in for and if i don't give it to her will she will i regret it well i regret it will she hold it against me um she decided to you know extend the option my way and let me decide and you know presented a very real case of like you know this is if you do it you have you know this is what it would look like and what it would mean for you know us me you everything so um you know i appreciate her extending that that option to me um and i said i wanted to keep doing it so instantly they set me up with a manager and it all just kind of went from there and i think the first one of the first couple of things i auditioned for which just does not happen um very very lucky um was monk so i ended up getting that part pretty quickly after um after yeah the the filming of my house in umbria and moving back to the states and then things kind of took off from there so i didn't really get a chance to or have a chance to really wrap my head around anything um i just kind of submitted myself to the ride so to speak interesting how did the audition for monk come up with you know around his departure oh yeah yeah was that like planned in advance or you just kind of see it i'm like oh go on do that one let's see yeah i don't even know at the time because i was so young um are you saying with like bitty shram and everything leaving in the time yeah yeah got it yeah so i think that it's my understanding that that had already had been decided uh and she kind of you know there were negotiations and they they'd already figured out you know um or landed on the fact that they were going to have a new assistant come in right so that that had already happened prior to this i don't really remember my first audition um i remember the screen test i i don't remember kind of the moment of receiving the lines and i don't think i even really knew what monk was um yeah um or what it was uh what it was all about um i was i mean i was so young i think i was like yeah 12 and i was more focused on what was going on in school and getting adjusted to like my life on the you know east coast after moving back from england so i don't really remember anything about the audition process um i only remember the screen test which was like my i think my third or so you know um audition with which um screen tests are a lot more high visibility high stakes and it's a little bit more like pressure uh so i definitely remember that and i remember meeting tony and traylor for that final audition but i do not remember like coming across the lines or anything and i don't think i would have understood anything about the phenomena around the show uh or the phenomena that is the show um at the time either so probably and then how is it like having uh having a tv mom like trailer howard oh she's so great it's i mean it's wonderful i was very very spoiled with the environment um very lucky in terms of the environment that um that monk um kind of you know fostered for me it was a really healthy one and um trailer was excellent she's the best you know she's like a sister mom stage mom you know a screen mom all in one so she was really excellent um and really took me under her wing over the the years so she was amazing and what were uh well how is it like growing up on the set of monk and being an actor and having life like kind of revolve around that too yeah um it was it's funny talking about it now it feels very surreal it doesn't really feel like it ever happened to me um i feel like i've lived a lot of life lives a lot of different lives um in the last 30 years um but yeah i know it was really really great um really fun and again everyone was just everyone was just um [Music] like really just kind and warm and and friendly and it was the best like healthiest possible environment for a young young child actor to be in so it was really excellent um it was i remember like riding my bike all around the set um when we got bikes one season for the rap there's like the wrap party guest um i you know there was there was always somebody from makeup willing to play like mad libs with me or something in between takes so it was just it was really fun and really um you know they let me be a child which was nice and definitely played by the rules with the child labor laws and everything so i had a really healthy happy easy time um it was wonderful very lucky do you ever have an instance your friends invited you over for something you're like oh i can't i gotta go be on tv oh yeah yeah and there's plenty of that and yeah it sounds it sounds cool i think at the time what makes you um what makes you different as a kid right um sometimes isn't the best um in terms of it doesn't lend itself well in terms of you know fitting in and everything so um it sounds cool sometimes it gave me like negative attention um but yeah i mean it was it yeah i missed lots of um events i don't think i spent like one birthday growing up um where i was actually here or like here meaning like back on the east coast yeah uh but yeah all things considered um really felt like i had the best of both worlds what were some of your favorite things about the show oh that's a great question my favorite things about the show were the people um for sure like the crew the cast everybody just knew everybody the warmth and the familiarity it was really like a second family and we really had like the same like four people through my i filmed it from 12 to 18 so like you know just about six years all in and the consistency um it really was my second family so and it was because of those people everybody from tony to trailer to you know all the all the crew members um the prop folks the lighting folks the the people that pick you up every day like everyone was just so close and had a great time on that set and it's and it showed um i also loved you know honestly the the the warm-ups for each scene right when we go in and just watching the process happen watching tony and watching trailer and watching ted and jason and watching the directors and the producers how they'd like you'd come onto that set with your lines um you know your set of lines and you wouldn't have them memorized yet nobody would you'd be drinking your coffees you'd be dressed down you'd be and you'd do the reads to kind of see how the scene would play out and then you'd start watching that energy and watching people figure out okay here's where we're gonna film and tony's gonna say this and just watching where they would take it was so fun and like the energy was so um invigorating so i love that for sure um but those are two of the main things i love the food too as a kid the food's great great craft services lots of popcorn lots of cookie dough that's awesome and then uh you said the show wrapped up about when you were like 18 years old and like right around the time for college and you did a few other appearances and stuff after that but then you went to college and you went to fort ham university and you wanna talk about about your uh post-acting career sure yeah um yeah so that's right i did uh go to college um i felt like you know again i'd been kind of toeing two different lines um throughout my my growing up right i had this very normal start of my life and then i had a very unconventional side of my life and they were kind of you know there's a point where you know i came a time where i had to make a decision right and kind of was like it was going to be like which which route do you want to go down and um i knew that i i didn't you know while i was i was super successful and like was very lucky and and really enjoyed my ride um you know ride being you know the 11 years in that industry or however many or 12 years um yeah i just i felt like i was clearly feeling this pull in another direction for a reason um i really wanted the opportunity to pursue higher education um and get you know my college degree especially because you know um that industry is super fickle and while i thought i was i don't think i was bad at it i just think statistically what's the likelihood of having a you know um continuing the momentum and success that i've seen i was like i don't know what i don't know but i don't think i have this deep burning passion for it like so many other people do so i decided to yeah go to school and study communications and media studies and um from there i yeah started working in media um and advertising which is where i've been for like eight years now and i'm very i'm very happy um doing what i do so it's been great it's a good mix of like my my acting skills and like kind of the foundation there but i'll um also you know gives me the ability to think creatively and to to write and to you know um yeah it's just kind of like a fusion of a lot of um areas of i don't know um my past that i i really enjoy so yeah now how's your personal life been because i see on instagram you keep very busy yeah yeah my personal life's been good um yeah i'm definitely keeping busy i love to travel i like to read i like to cook um i like to hang out with my friends um and yeah i've been in the city for quite a long time since yeah i went to school at fordham university like you mentioned before so i'm just still uh keeping busy and just living life to the the fullest um but now no no no acting uh in my immediate future um i know i get that people ask me that a lot so i'm probably yeah staying out of that that spotlight for now um but it was it was a fun fun run for sure and then uh without acting what uh what do you hope for like in the future what's your maybe five year plan just kind of keep doing what you're doing living yeah you know having fun yeah exactly i think that um if five years from now i am still fulfilled and happy i mean that's that's it i don't really have a bigger plan so much as just continuing to enjoy um my life and and um you know with my family and my friends and um all that good stuff and just keeping fulfilled um and living a meaningful happy life so that's what i i work towards every day um but yeah nothing crazy it's not a very exciting answer but no it's okay it's a good answer though

Channel: LT6 Sports Productions

Views: 22,051

Keywords: Emmy Clarke, Monk, Tony Shalhoub, monk full episodes

Id: YtmxAeQsVMQ

Length: 22min 49sec (1369 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2022