When Katherine LaNasa set out to build the voice of Dana Evans, the unflappable charge nurse on HBO Max’s hit 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 acclaimed performances: Lisa Ann Walter’s Philadelphia schoolteacher in “Abbott Elementary” — which shares a makeup room hallway with “The Pitt” on the Warner Bros. lot — and Julianne Nicholson’s work in “Mare of Easttown.” “I was watching them, even though I knew it wasn’t exactly that [accent] for Pittsburgh,” LaNasa tells Variety. “I just wanted to get a sense of it, and I would listen to it when I was in the bathtub.”
LaNasa’s road to stardom was anything but conventional. After meeting and marrying actor Dennis Hopper when she was 22, professional dancer and choreographer LaNasa had taken only a single acting class — an experience she describes as “terrible” and one that left her intimidated by the profession. She remembers watching Hopper hold auditions in their home, where he had built a small theater. Years later, while pregnant with their son, Henry Lee Hopper, and living amid a home renovation, she discovered a documentary about legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner. “I have to find that guy,” she remembers thinking. “That’s where I want to learn how to act.” She eventually tracked Meisner down and studied with him for nearly three years, an experience she considers the true beginning of her acting career.
That commitment to craft resurfaced while preparing for “The Pitt.” During production, LaNasa noticed many of the local background actors effortlessly capturing the region’s distinctive cadence. She was referred to Susanne Sulby, whose expertise in Pennsylvania speech patterns has made her one of the industry’s go-to dialect coaches. The result was a performance that made Dana one of television’s most beloved characters — but the path wasn’t easy. “It was a hard accent to learn,” LaNasa says. “It’s very muscularly different from how you move your mouth.”
That commitment to accent work has now become standard across her projects. She’s in Hulu’s upcoming miniseries “Count My Lies” with Shailene Woodley, and is mastering a North Florida accent for the role. She’s also in Spain filming “Mister” alongside Walton Goggins, adopting a German accent. “I’m the one to divorce you, darling,” she quotes from the script, effortlessly slipping into the voice. That ease masks the struggle. “I’ve started to cry, thinking I’m not going to get it, and that I’m an idiot for even trying,” LaNasa says. “There’s a point of utter desperation, and then suddenly, it kind of clicks in.”
After roughly 25 years as one of Hollywood’s most dependable character actors, LaNasa remains surprised by the recognition arriving at this stage of her career. She often points to Jacki Weaver, whose Oscar-nominated turns in “Animal Kingdom” and “Silver Linings Playbook” became a source of inspiration. When Weaver later reached out to her on Instagram, LaNasa was overwhelmed. “‘You can’t even imagine what this means to me,’” she recalls telling Weaver. “‘You were the thing that kept me going.’”
Winning television’s highest honor nine months ago hasn’t quieted her inner critic. “If ‘The Pitt’ was a self-tape, I would have re-taped the whole first season, honestly,” she says with a laugh. “If nobody had given that performance a prize, I would’ve been like, ‘It’s OK. I get it.’”
What resonates most with audiences, she believes, is Dana’s humanity. LaNasa says she and the writers have intentionally resisted turning the charge nurse into a saintly television archetype. Dana can be cranky, impatient and imperfect — qualities that make her feel authentic. “When people on television are multidimensional and real, and there’s a heroic character who’s also flawed, I think that’s healing for people,” she says. “Because that’s how people actually are.”
As she wraps up her latest projects, LaNasa will soon return to “The Pitt’s” emergency room. But she’s also chasing another longtime ambition: Broadway. “I’m meeting with a producer when I’m in New York,” she reveals. During the conversation, she enthusiastically brainstorms dream roles, even asking what plays she should consider next. She loves 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 Tony Awards oversight: 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 that in trusted hands: “Wherever [‘The Pitt’ creator] Scott Gemmill puts me.”
Emmy nomination voting runs through June 22.
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