Reader TTS

WHAT’S YOUR LATEST BINGE? I was blown away by _Baby Reindeer_, because I had no idea. I thought we were just going to be watching your standard stalking drama, and obviously it is so much

more than that. I was blown away by _Shogun_. I thought _Shogun_ was incredible. I spent a lot of time in the Far East when I was a kid, and I actually read that book when I was a teenager

in Japan. I learned more about Japan from reading that book than I had from walking around the country for a couple of years. YOU LIVED OVERSEAS BECAUSE OF YOUR FATHER’S CAREER, CORRECT? DO

YOU HAVE A FAVORITE COUNTRY YOU LIVED IN? [My father] was a career diplomat, meaning he was a civil servant who worked for the State Department. His ambassadorships were actually more at the

end of his career. We grew up mostly in the Far East — Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan. Hong Kong was amazing. I lived there from [ages] 4 to 8, so it was just the world to me. Back in the

’60s, it was this beautiful island in the South China Sea, with its white sandy beaches and stuff. Japan was where I was a teenager coming of age, if you will. I was a little bit more aware

that this was a different country and a different culture, and so I can appreciate it as a place that was different from the United States. WAS IT DIFFICULT TO MOVE AROUND SO MUCH? When I

tell people about my upbringing, their first [response is], “Oh my God, that must have been so amazing.” It sounds so glamorous. Moving around all the time — it’s hard; [it] really sucks.

Two things happen to families that move around all the time, they either implode very quickly [or] they get incredibly close — I was blessed and I’m happy to tell you that that was what my

story was. DID THAT TEACH YOU ANY LIFE LESSONS? It definitely taught me the importance of family. My father’s extended family is incredibly close, and our family would have been close even

if we had just been hanging around the same neighborhood all our lives. It’s the foundation of your life — having that unit and appreciation for each other, the understanding that at the

most basic level that you’re stronger when you have a group to rely on. It’s groups that get through life better. Going through life alone, I can’t imagine anything more difficult or

depressing. KYRA SEDGWICK TOLD US YOU WERE HER DREAM ROM-COM COSTAR. WHO WOULD BE YOURS? I’ve actually thought about it because — you can’t imagine how many people have sent me that article.

Kyra’s an old friend, but I actually thought about this when I knew that we would be talking. And what I would love, is if you could just ask me that question — “Who is my dream rom-com

costar?” — as if you didn’t [tell me she picked me] and I would just answer, “Oh, it’s Kyra.” Because, by the way, that would not remotely be a lie. Because I’m so busy, I never actually

texted or called Kyra or Kevin [Bacon, Kyra’s husband]. If you’re game, I thought that would be just kind of wonderful because I would love, then, a bunch of people to text Kyra. And then

afterwards, I would call her up and go, “Ha ha, I gotcha.”