‘The Penguin,’ ‘Black Mirror,’ ‘How I with Your Mother’

In a conversation, Milioti comes out so deeply: quickly to laugh at himself, make contact and uninterested in standing still in herself or her acting process – including her aversion to viewing her own versions. “I don’t think it’s very natural,” she says. “I don’t think we should meet ourselves like that.” And yet, when asked by Variety To look back on highlights from her entire career, Milioti completely embraces the chance.

The Sopranos (2006–2007)

Director Steve Buscemi casted Milioti on the screen in her first role, as the daughter of a Mafia boss in season 6 of one of the most praised TV shows of all time.

I had not seen it because we could not afford a HBO. I was really nervous just because it was such a big set, and I didn’t know how sets worked. If I know how important that show is, I would have been a mess. Steve Buscemi was so nice. It can be very easy to get lost in the shuffle, and he treated me as if I was just as important as someone who had been in the show for years. I was about to stop from the university. I built up debts and frustrated and excited and enthusiastic. I got that job and was then from, “Ok, I can stop.”

30 Rock (2011)

Milioti guest played the lead role as a comedy writer who, the over-sexualized and infantilized anti-feminist stereotype of the early years 2010, completely embodies that fans still quote the slogan of the character-“I am a very sexy baby” back to her.

That remains one of my favorite roles that I have ever let play. I went on that audition with that voice and said, “Oh, I know what to do here.” I was obsessed with that show. That experience was a fever dream of joy because I knew all those sets inside and out. Tina was such a huge hero of mine. She could also not have been more hospitable. The blonde wig that I wear is the same wig that forte will wear as Jenn’s boyfriend – I remember that I am really about that.

Agree (2011–2013)

This Broadway Show, adapted from the beloved feature film of 2007, won the Tony for Best Musical; Milioti was nominated for the best actress for her performance as a Czech musician who falls in love with an Irish busker.

I think I have performed that show more than 500 times. That show changed me to a very deep level, but it was a challenge to do. You play the piano, you sing non-stop and that story is so heartbreaking. There were nights where you could feel the sky change and people heard crying and you just felt in communion – but 500 times of that is really difficult. And I had no life during that show. I never went out. I didn’t talk on the phone, I was so worried about my voice. I think I would do that differently now. I was so young. Now I think I would be, you have to live a little because it is a lot to live like that.

My favorite song from that show is “Gold”, which ends with Act One and is when my character realizes that she is in love. She sees everyone dancing slowly with their instruments. I still get cold shivers. Then, in ACT Two, there is this scene in which we all sing a capella, and every night, no matter how rough the show went, it was this incredible touchstone. Everyone was with us. It is an incredible feeling.

I wish I sang more. I really miss it very much. It is the most open that you can be, but it is difficult to find the right one. Especially with the things I have done in recent years, I don’t know how singing would even be doing that, but I would like to.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Martin Scorsese casted Milioti as the first wife of the character of Leonardo DiCaprio, the notorious New York City effector Jordan Belfort.

If I thought the set “De Sopranos” was great … you’ll end the streets of New York City and my first day on the set, the paparazzi were bee the camera, next To a cam. It was really intense for the first 10 or 15 minutes, and then it just became more noise. It always happened. But it’s weird.

There was a lot of improvisation on that film. You could go into one of the 10,000 instructions, and I think it took me a minute to feel at ease with that. I wish I could get out of my own way earlier, because once I relaxed, it was such an intimate experience. [Scorsese] Loves actors. He is such a generous and supportive presence and laughs a lot and is so happy, although his films can be so intense.

How I with Your Mother (2013-2014)

Even with a Tony nod and a Scorsese photo, Milioti’s biggest break in 2013 became cast as the titular, long-awaited mother for the ninth and final season of the CBS Sitcom. Her performance was so enchanting that fans are still upset about the decision to kill her character in the serial final.

Yes, they didn’t like that. I think it is an indication of people who give care. It was fun because I am not in that much. Certainly, the love of people for that character was a huge compliment, but that is also proof of what they have set up. I also think that finals are difficult. I absolutely understand why people were upset, but I also admire them because they have adhered to their original plan.

Fargo (2015)

For season 2 of the Hit Anthology Series, trained in 1979, Milioti played the wife of cancer striking of a Minnesota State Patrol Officer.

I was such a huge fan of that first season and I was looking for a genre change. I had done two network-like things back-to-back where I felt that I was playing a dream girl, and I wanted to turn the steering wheel in a different direction. This is one of the things that I like to be an actor: I have a scene with Nick Offerman, and we did this show years later, “The Resort.” He and I were brought together on two incredibly different jobs and have received a scene about loss. I sat with him in a kitchen in Calgary, and then I sat with him in a jungle in Puerto Rico, played completely different characters, but who we play, come together and talk about something very difficult.

Black Mirror: USS Callister (2017) and USS Callister: In Infinity (2025)

Milioti plays Nanette, a video programmer who is sucked into the digital recreation of her boss of the SCI-Fi TV show “Space Fleet” from the 60s. Just like her character, Milioti was only familiar with the inspiration for the episode, ‘Star Trek’.

It was incredibly cool to run around with a Space Blaster in a spaceship. You feel 7 years old. You have the best of both worlds: the banal nature of office life and this increased space film. We shot in the Canary Islands. The entire cast and crew had a whole hotel for ourselves for a week. It was summer camp. We all drove everywhere on our bikes, we all gabaraoked, it was great.

For the sequel 2025, Nanette – now captain of the callister – will be in various physical fights, giving Milioti her first real taste of stunt work.

I have so much respect for people who do that for months. You are black and blue at the end, but it feels like you are a small child who plays in your back garden. It is a good kind of tired. I also do actions with a touch of the characters are not very good at it, because they work in an office. So that was also fun to play with those calibration levels.

Palm Springs (2020)

In this Sci-Fi romantic comedy, Milioti and Andy Samberg play wedding guests who fall in love while they are stuck in a time loop that forces them to repeat the same day.

I had a truly detailed script with ‘beautiful spirit’ type scribblings about where she is. We all tried to keep it all really clear, but it will be a bit smooth – whatever the fabric is, because it will also be slippery for the characters. The first day of photography was when I get back to bed. I think I wake up 20 times in that bed.

We were out in the desert and Sandstorms would just happen in the middle of a take and everyone should run cover. I have a video on my phone from Andy and I in the car, and the crew in glasses that have to go downstairs and crazy. It was an intense shoot, but it was so much fun, especially when I felt that I had to do things that I couldn’t have done yet, such as when she becomes a little nihilistic. I love something that has his tentacles in many genres. You get that it is about these people who fall in love, taking into account their own accident and how culpable they are in how their lives have disappeared. Then you also get time travel!

The Penguin (2024)

Viewers meet Sofia Falcone for the first time after she has done time in Arkham Asylum, framed by her own father for murders that she did not commit, and bowed into revenge against the family who left her.

I start with a lot of fear about the possibility that I would not be able to satisfy the role or project or writing. I can get a little bit in a downward spiral. It is an imposer syndrome -thing, I think. I like this so much that I think I can be a bit entangled in my own expectations of what I hope I can do. Certainly, the pressure was huge because it is Batman and this huge production, but that started to melt away after a while. Towards the end I had a deep understanding of this person. That is the blessing of long form. We shot “palm springs” in 21 days. So if I spent the first eight days of that concern, it is a lot of it. While “Penguin” was eight months. So you can only deepen because you get to know each other.

I was so in love with her from the moment we started. It is clear that I do not approve her actions, but the imagination to take revenge on everyone you have hurt, it is so human. It felt incredible to play, and it was really useful to communicate with people who also felt that way. I also really want to play such a role for a long time. So I knew how happy I was.

This interview has been edited and condensed.