Katherine LaNasa learned her “The Pitt” accent in the bathtub

When Katherine LaNasa wanted to enhance the voice of Dana Evans, the unflappable head nurse on HBO Max’s medical drama “The Pitt,” she didn’t consult a dialect coach first. She started in the bathtub.

The reigning Emmy winner for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series immersed herself in prestige television while studying Dana’s unmistakable Pittsburgh accent, drawing inspiration from two critically acclaimed performances: Lisa Ann Walter’s Philadelphia schoolteacher in “Abbott Elementary” — which shares a makeup room with “The Pitt” on the Warner Bros. lot — and the work of Julianne Nicholson in “Mare of Easttown.” “I looked at them even though I knew it wasn’t exactly that [accent] for Pittsburgh,” says LaNasa Variety. “I just wanted to get a feel for it, and I listened to it while I was in the bath.”

LaNasa’s path to stardom was anything but conventional. After meeting and marrying actor Dennis Hopper at the age of 22, professional dancer and choreographer LaNasa had taken just one acting class – an experience she describes as “terrible” and which left her intimidated by the profession. She remembers how Hopper held auditions in their house, where he had built a small theater. Years later, while pregnant with their son, Henry Lee Hopper, and in the midst of a home renovation, she discovered a documentary about legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner. “I have to find this guy,” she remembers thinking. “I want to learn acting there.” She eventually tracked down Meisner and studied with him for almost three years, an experience she considers the real beginning of her acting career.

That dedication to craft resurfaced during preparation for “The Pitt.” During production, LaNasa noticed that many of the local background actors effortlessly captured the region’s signature cadence. She was referred to Susanne Sulby, whose expertise in Pennsylvania speech patterns has made her one of the most widely used dialect coaches in the industry. The result was a performance that made Dana one of television’s most beloved characters, but the road wasn’t easy. “It was a difficult accent to learn,” LaNasa says. “It’s very different in terms of muscle strength than how you move your mouth.”

That dedication to accent work has now become standard in her projects. She stars in Hulu’s upcoming miniseries “Count My Lies” with Shailene Woodley, and has mastered a North Florida accent for the role. She is also in Spain filming “Mister” with Walton Goggins, adopting a German accent. “I’m the one who’s going to divorce you, honey,” she quotes from the script, sliding effortlessly into the voice. That convenience masks the struggle. “I started crying because I thought I wasn’t going to get it, and that I’m an idiot for even trying,” LaNasa says. “There’s a point of total desperation, and then suddenly it clicks.”

After roughly 25 years as one of Hollywood’s most trusted actors, LaNasa continues to be surprised by the recognition she’s receiving at this stage of her career. She often references Jacki Weaver, whose Oscar-nominated roles in “Animal Kingdom” and “Silver Linings Playbook” became a source of inspiration. When Weaver later contacted her via Instagram, LaNasa was overwhelmed. “You can’t even imagine what this means to me,” she recalled telling Weaver. “‘You were the thing that kept me going.'”

Winning television’s highest award nine months ago has not calmed her inner critic. “If ‘The Pitt’ was a self-tape, I would honestly have re-recorded the entire first season,” she says, laughing. “If no one had given that performance an award, I would have said, ‘It’s OK. I get it.'”

What she believes resonates most with audiences is Dana’s humanity. LaNasa says she and the writers deliberately resisted making the head nurse a saintly television archetype. Dana can be grumpy, impatient, and imperfect; qualities that give her an authentic feeling. “When people on television are multi-dimensional and real, and there’s a heroic character who is also flawed, I think that’s healing for people,” she says. “Because that’s just how people are.”

As she wraps up her latest projects, LaNasa will soon return to “The Pitt’s” emergency room. But she’s also chasing another old ambition: Broadway. “I have a meeting with a producer when I’m in New York,” she reveals. During the conversation, she enthusiastically brainstorms dream roles and even asks which plays she should consider next. She likes the idea of ​​a revival of Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County” — fittingly, a play adapted for film and directed by “The Pitt” executive producer and director John Wells. She also laments what she sees as a major oversight of the Tony Awards: the absence of Debbie Allen among the nominees for “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” And she singles out her “Pitt” co-star, Patrick Ball, for his work in “Becky Shaw.”

As for Dana’s future, LaNasa leaves it in safe hands: “Anywhere [‘The Pitt’ creator] Scott Gemmill suggests me.”

Voting for the Emmy nomination runs through June 22.