Celebrity Interview | Entertainment & Film Industry - Shila Ommi - The Pixar Star Talks About Her Netflix Series KAOS

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, greg Staffa. My guest this episode is actress Sheila Omi. She can be seen in Pixar's Elementals and stars in the new upcoming Netflix series Chaos.

Shila Ommi 0:38

Greg, I'm still going to be a staffitarian, regardless of whether or not you keep your camera on.

Greg Staffa 0:44

Ah, someone looked me up. First off, thanks for joining us. Staffitarian, I was homeless for a while and the animal shelter needed someone to drive a turtle that had been rehabilitated from Minnesota to Kentucky. And they put an ad out saying we need someone. We can't pay them, we just need someone that has a bunch of free time, and so someone wrote an article on it and the writer wrote that Greg's not really a humanitarian because he's driving a turtle. So we're just going to call him a staffitarian.

Shila Ommi 1:17

That's real.

Greg Staffa 1:18

I always liked that label of that, and so I used that for the podcast. What a beautiful origin story for a name that's great a turtle I loved it, yeah, driving a turtle to from minnesota to kentucky, because that's where they, their climate is, and there's a a shelter out there that houses animals and they didn't want to keep in the cold in minnesota was it one of those afric African tortoises that get really big and live like 200 years?

Greg Staffa 1:49

I'm not. I think it was a box turtle is what it was called. Okay, yeah, so the little guy, I can send your publicist a link or someone to link it. It's an interesting story. I find it interesting.

Shila Ommi 1:59

It's a beautiful story.

Greg Staffa 2:00

But thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having your new series coming on on netflix. Is it chaos? Is that how you?

Shila Ommi 2:09

say it chaos, yeah, chaos capital capital letters. I wasn't sure if it stands for something. No, it's chaos gotcha, yeah.

Greg Staffa 2:18

So first off a little bit about you. You have an extraordinary background. At what age did you come to the US?

Shila Ommi 2:25

I came here when I was 10. So I was born in Iran and there was a little thing called a revolution that just destroyed my country in 1979. And religious zealots took over the government and they are still in power. So that's why we are here.

Greg Staffa 2:44

And as someone that has had that background, do you sense that you have an added kind of responsibility to be a role model, or are you just kind of doing the best that you can as a human being, regardless of where you're from?

Shila Ommi 2:59

Well, certainly I'm just doing the best that I can. I don't feel I'm special enough to be a role model for anyone, but it is important for me to you know, with the work that I do other than acting, I also create theater and sometimes films I direct. It's always important to me that I, whatever I do is, makes the world better and adds something to the world that is positive and good.

Greg Staffa 3:31

So you've done a lot of voiceover work, several documentaries voiceover, but your big break was doing Cinder on the Elementals for Pixar on the elementals for Pixar. Was your approach differently for doing that as opposed to like voicing over a documentary or, you know, creating a character?

Shila Ommi 3:51

Yeah, because you know, when you're voicing over a documentary, you just want your voice to be pleasant and to sometimes match maybe a piece of footage. But as Cinder Ember's mom, I had to be a real person. I mean not a real person. Obviously she's a fired character, but you have to play it real so that people watching connect to her. And she was actually based on a real person. She was based on the writer-director, peter Song's mom, so I didn't want to mess that up.

Greg Staffa 4:24

You've done a lot of acting. You've done a lot of voiceover. Is there one that you enjoy more? That I mean voiceover. You can do it in your pajamas, basically.

Shila Ommi 4:32

I definitely enjoy voiceover more because I you know you get a chance to be larger than life physically with the cartoons, especially with Disney and Pixar. I mean, these are like the master writers of the world that are writing these incredible stories, and so it's really fun to be part of those stories and yet be in your pajamas, as you've said, and to be as big as you want. As a person, I'm really hard on myself. I work really, really hard. So when you have to work in front of the camera, you have the added stress and being physically present. So now not only is it your voice that needs to have truth and be interesting, raw and real and engaging, but now physically, there's so much that you have to take into consideration so that an audience watching you can get lost in your character and in your character's narrative. So it's a lot more work.

Greg Staffa 5:36

And before we get to talking a little bit more about chaos, you're an actress, director, writer, producer. How do you go about juggling those hats and kind of choosing what your next project is, you know, are you going to be a director next? Are you going to be an actress or are you going to audition for something? Are you deep in writing? How do you choose what you're doing next, or that workflow and finding balance?

Shila Ommi 6:00

My livelihood is acting, so that is my main job. And when, for whatever reason, when I'm not acting, when I'm waiting for the next project, instead of just sitting around, I get together with friends and collaborate on, uh, maybe a theater piece that we take on stage, or, um, act on theater or, you know, create in collaboration or or create a film. But those things I do for the love of it and for giving something to the community. So I need to act to keep the lights on and to be able to do those passion projects. So what do you do in Chaos?

Shila Ommi 6:43

I play the character Paz in Chaos. So Chaos is a oh, it's such a good, it's a darkly hilarious TV show and it's a retelling of Greek mythology in the modern day world. And so there's all these different Greek characters, whether they're Greek gods or Greek characters, and the character that I play is Pasiphaea, who was the mother of the Minotaur. Now Charlie Covell, who is the brilliant writer of Chaos. She does a retelling of this which, by the way, is what makes it so good.

Shila Ommi 7:33

So it's not like you're watching a documentary about Greek mythology. These are beautiful characters that are in love and or in search of power or abusing power. It's almost like Greek mythology meets succession, and so the character that I play is the first lady of Crete and whereas in Greek mythology she gives birth to the Minotaur, because I think she mates with a cow, with a bull and gives birth to a character that's half human, half bull, in Charlie Covell's world she is the mother of the Minotaur not because she mates with a bull I don't want to give away too much but she has twins, that one of the twins dies, the boy dies, and so she's a grieving mother and I just don't want to give away too much. But you see, if you watch this show, you see how she becomes the mother of the Minotaur and it's just an exciting show.

Greg Staffa 8:24

And again, without giving away too much, is there something that you found especially challenging, that you can't wait for someone. You can't wait fans for years to see episode three or four? Because of something that you found especially challenging, whether it was physical or acting wise?

Shila Ommi 8:44

I think episode eight, the last episode of the season, was especially challenging. I mean, just there's a huge reveal that gets dropped onto my lap as Paso Fé, when I find out something very important about my son. And just filming that day, filming in the beautiful Plaza de España, which is our home. The beautiful Plaza de España, which is our home, plaza de España, is one of the government buildings in Seville and it is such a beautiful building. So we were so fortunate that Netflix was the company that championed this story because we got to film it in some incredible places. But you know, it was challenging for me to get into these places emotionally when the reveal happens, and for the camera work and for my daughter, the beautiful Leila Farzad had to drag the body for many, many miles. It felt like through a labyrinth. It was just a lot of challenges and it's a very exciting episode for many reasons.

Greg Staffa 9:55

Is that something you see? Running for several seasons, Is this kind of a one-off? Is how? How was the approach for that?

Shila Ommi 10:04

I don't know. I don't know right now we we have a season, so I don't know if you know something. I don't know. I don't know. Right now we have a season, so I don't know if you know something. I don't know, but we don't know. Certainly, charlie Corvell is such a brilliant writer that I know that she has many seasons in her because of her writing, but I don't know anything about of a writing but I I don't know anything about as a writer yourself.

Greg Staffa 10:33

Do directors and writers of other things like like this, ever approach you and ask for your, your input, deeper than just the usual actor kind of note?

Shila Ommi 10:40

well these level, uh, writers as charlie is. No. However, I I did hear that with Jeff Goldblum, who plays Zeus on the show, he does a lot of improvising. I remember in one of the scenes he improvised something about his backstory that Charlie thought, wow, this would be really interesting to elaborate on. So I know that it does happen to elaborate on. So I know that it does happen.

Greg Staffa 11:12

And Charlie is such a brilliant yet humble writer that he you know that they sorry would collaborate and certainly has, but with me, no, no, not, not, not with these shows Is that something that you enjoy, kind of removing the director, removing the actor hats, kind of tucking them away and just say I'm gonna be an actress today and not use my brain to do the other stuff then, because I mean, directing is a lot more than just the words on the page.

Greg Staffa 11:40

There's a lot to juggle my goodness I would be hesitant kind of thing, to get in there to kind of put my own mark is it? Is it easier just to kind of turn that all off?

Shila Ommi 11:51

Absolutely. It is as a matter of fact, greg. I don't want to direct again because it is so difficult. It's like you get up in the morning and you are bombarded with thousands of questions that I really and acting on its own is already so much, it's so all consuming that when I'm acting, I'm only acting and I'm very grateful to be acting and not having to answer all these questions and be, you know, in all these places mentally and going forward.

Greg Staffa 12:29

this is coming out. It's out now, correct it is?

Shila Ommi 12:34

All the episodes are out, and although millions of people love this show and it just warms my heart, a lot of people still haven't seen it, and so I'm thrilled to be on your show, to let your listeners know watch this show, they are going to love it.

Greg Staffa 12:52

On netflix and it's for those listening. Uh, it's with a k. Uh, so it's with a k.

Shila Ommi 12:58

Yes, k-a-o-s uh, starring jeff goldblum and janet mcteer and david thewlis and cliff curtis and, um, I mean it's, it's really like a who's who of acting. Uh, there are such cream of the crop actors and some new faces. Another thing that's really special about the show is the diversity of the actors. It has a hero narrative and a love narrative in this story that you don't see. There are actors that have different physical disabilities and they're just amazing and mesmerizing to watch. So it's a very special show.

Greg Staffa 13:44

So, with that coming out now, what can fans look forward to seeing you in next?

Shila Ommi 13:50

Well, I am working on a theater production right now that I've collaborated with some friends. There's also a play called Mercy that we are hoping to. I think that's going to go on stage in London next year, so I'll be working on that show. So I'm doing some theater.

Greg Staffa 14:11

next, Finally, you've kind of ruined my last question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. If Steven Spielberg came to you with the kind of Steven Spielberg money and says you've done great with Pixar, you've done great with Netflix, I want to give you Steven Spielberg money to create, tell and direct or even act in a story that's important to you. Is there a story out there that you would choose to tell if you had the resources to tell any story you wanted to tell.

Shila Ommi 14:41

Greg, bless your vision. I hope Steven Spielberg comes to me someday.

Twilight of the Empress Collaboration

Shila Ommi 14:48

Yeah, there is a story that I've been collaborating on for a number of months with some friends of mine. It's a Persian mythological story that is set in today, much like Chaos is, and it's a multimedia stage production with music, dance, acting and I'm the narrator in it. I would love to have some real money to turn it into the vision that we have for it. It's called Twilight of the Empress that I've been collaborating on with my dear friend.

Greg Staffa 15:27

Well, hopefully in a couple of years we'll be sitting down talking again about this. But in the meantime, check out Chaos on Netflix, and it's been a true pleasure getting to talk to you, and I wish you all success.

Shila Ommi 15:39

Thank you, greg, and I am a Staffitarian.

Greg Staffa 15:43

Thank you. That does it for this episode. Thank you for listening to the Stafford Corner.