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Photo by Joanna DeGeneres, courtesy of Andrea Anders.
Acting , Interview , Television

‘Bookie’ Star Andrea Anders On How Taking Risks Led to Her Acting Success


January 30, 2024

Andrea Anders is an impressionable person. The actress best known for her work on shows like Joey, Ted Lasso and the cult classic Better Off Ted only started acting because her older brother, writer-director Sean Anders, told her to. That wasn’t the last time something like that happened, either, but we’ll let her tell that part.

Anders has been on TV pretty consistently for two decades, mostly playing smart, friendly, fun women, which fits because that’s how she comes off in person. Currently, she stars in the MAX show Bookie, in which she plays Sandra, the wife of the title character, played by Sebastian Maniscalco. She spoke to us from her home in Los Angeles.

What got you into acting?

My brother Sean —he’s quite a success now— he’s always been kind of a very good bossy older brother. Like, “You should do this, you should do that,” kind of a thing.

When I was in high school, he said, “You should do something interesting.” Instead of running track and playing volleyball, he said, “Do something cool like drama club.” We had a new teacher named Jan Williams. I did what my brother said, then Jan said to me, “You’re good enough to go to college for acting.” So I did. At college, I met one of my best friends, Jessica, who told me to come with her to Rutgers because she was going to go to graduate school and I should come with her.

After a year in New York where nothing much happened, I got into Rutgers, shockingly, because most people auditioned for a bunch of schools, but I was just doing what Jessica said. I did three years at Rutgers and at the end we did a showcase. I did well, I got an agent and I got casting directors interested. I started to work pretty much right away.

Basically, you’re a success because you’re a pushover.

(Laughs) There’s more! When I decided to move to New York, we were packed up [and] ready to go. My boyfriend at the time was going to come with me. He was in a really terrible car accident, so I remember telling my mom I better wait for him to recover, then we’ll go. But my mom said “No, you keep coming up with reasons why you’re not going to go and you’ll never go.” She shoved me out there.

I got to New York and it was too much for me. I remember calling her saying, “I can’t do it. The city is going to eat me up.” She said, “Please just stay two more months. Eight more weeks. Just stay two more months.” And I did it. I did it only because she begged me to and within two more months, I was okay.

I was joking, but that’s pretty amazing. Even though you were pushed, you need to have the drive to actually make it because it’s really unstable and I think generally, people have no idea how hard it is.

I definitely have a thing where when I decide something, it’s just going to happen. I get obsessive about it. You know, it’s interesting, I’m really lucky that my current partner, Jason, is a screenwriter. He’s always talking about exactly that. Like, “Hey, you did something that 99.99% of the people don’t do.”

There’s very few of us who do shit like this and there’s a reason for it, because it is unstable. One of my early gigs was a Bud Light commercial and it shot in Canada. I remember a Canadian actress was in the commercial with me and she was saying that she feels like the only way she’s really going to make this work is if she moves to New York, but she can’t do that. Because what is she supposed to do? Take her savings —which I remember she said was $10,000— and just spend it all to get to New York? And I remember thinking, “Yeah, you should.” She thought she was making a case for herself as to why she shouldn’t do that and I thought, “Well, just come back with me on the plane. Let’s go.”

I’m guessing she didn’t go.

(Shaking her head) I just realized, “Oh, this is just a very different way of thinking.” There was a guy in college. He was a senior and I was a freshman. He was known to be a really good actor that got all the lead roles. I remember he was graduating from the program and he was going to law school. I said to him, “Why are you going to law school?” He said, “Because I don’t want to be 50 years old eating macaroni and cheese.” And I remember thinking, “Why not?” (Laughs)

I think you either have what it takes to go for it or you don’t.

You have to constantly give yourself credit for that. But, I mean, I struggle with it. When things are not going well, I look around at my friends with stable lives and I think, “Oh, what was I thinking?” Then things go well and I go, “No, this is the right thing to do.” (Laughs)

You cross over a lot between drama and comedy, but I imagine most people think of you for your comedic work. Do you find that?

Probably. I think comedy comes easily to me. Like, when I get a script to audition for it, sometimes I can see something and think, “Oh, no one’s gonna know to do this.” That’s fun for me.

I think for most people it’s the opposite. What about you makes it so easy for you?

I was just actually thinking about it this morning because I went into this Pilates class and there were two women in there and I just started doing this bit. I’m low to the ground and making voices and telling them this story and I finish and go into the bathroom and think to myself, “Some people must think I’m nuts, but that’s okay.”

I’m a lot. (Laughs) But I can’t seem to stop! I’m not for everybody. (Laughs) There’s a line from Modern Family I love. Eric Stonestreet has dragged Jesse Tyler Ferguson through Costco and Eric says, “I’m like Costco. I’m big, I’m loud and just try not to love me.” That’s how I feel about myself. I’m big, I’m loud, and there are people that don’t love me, but I think they’re wrong. (Laughs)

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