IG: Trying to balance being a working actor, a mom and a wife, it’s all very new to me. Playing a complex character like Svetlana and not have her darkness creep into one’s own family life can be a juggling act for an actor.

In order to be Svetlana I have to find the dark place in Isidora, does that make sense?ĮM: Indeed, yes.

IG: To play a character like this you have to find the darkness in yourself and turn it up. She’s unapologetic about who she is.ĮM: Where did you go in yourself to find Svetlana? She’s believable, honest, and human… Her harshness, her brutal honesty comes from a very honest place within her. IG: All of us are the sum parts of our journey, of we are who we are today both positive or negative. From the prostitute we met in the beginning, which was two pregnancies ago, one failed arranged marriage ago, and a “breast milk sweatshop”, she’s arrived, wholly one of the family. I had dreamed of going to Chicago since I was a little girl and it did not disappoint.ĮM: Originally Svetlana, came from outside the Gallagher family. I was there for my first time in December. 95 percent of what you see as exteriors is really Chicago…Chicago, the city is a character in the show and so much a part of who these characters are. IG: We shoot six episodes in Burbank and then we go to Chicago for about a week. IG: As outlandish as our family is, the problems with which we are confronted are so real everything from poverty, to addiction, to mental health homosexuality, coping with things of the modern day draws people to the show.ĮM: The look of the show is so authentically Chicago. It’s almost cathartic in a way to watch the show to see how we navigate through all these problems.ĮM: That could just be the explanation for the shows popularity. There is a Frank Gallagher that exists in so many families.Įven if you are not a Frank Gallagher or a Fiona – you KNOW one. Isidora Goreshter: I would agree! One hundred percent. Clothing: Blazer by James Jeans and Jumpsuit by Hommage both available at Veruca Salt Boutique.Įlaine Madsen: The Gallagher family is kind of the poster child for dysfunction isn’t it? Assistant Makeup & Hair: Paula Heckenast, City Lights Makeup.

Isadora goreshter