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As I sink into the banquette beside Catherine, I inconspicuously breathe a sigh of relief —elated to find that she is as lovely as she is gorgeous. I immediately tell her that I love Queen America —her new web TV series on Facebook Watch. "Yay!" she says enthusiastically and claps her hands. In Queen America, Catherine plays Vicki Ellis, the ruthless Oklahoma beauty pageant coach helping the adorably clueless Samantha Cole win the Miss America title. Catherine describes Vicki as complicated. "Aren't we all? Some of us are very good at hiding it better than others. I think we're all insecure, I think we wouldn't be women if we didn't have the ability to have all those different elements within us. We're strong. We're vulnerable. I'm a lioness around my kids if anyone... set in a world of fake perfection that we have to live in and my kids get bombarded by it. When I was a kid, if I wanted to get body shamed, I'd have to go to a store and buy a magazine and look at a supermodel and go, Mmm, I wish I looked like that. Now, it's every second of the day. And that's not even real perfection. There's no real perfection —a lot of it you can buy an app to correct." Queen America came along at the perfect time. Ultimately, Catherine was looking for a TV series that would allow her the time to really dive into a multifaceted character. "I was like, THIS is it. I have to get my ass down to Atlanta, Georgia now! I just felt that I could have a lot of fun with this woman, who on the surface looks like she's ruthless...but as the series goes on, you find out it's not all what you see, the river runs much deeper… And Meaghan Oppenheimer, our creator and writer, just found wonderful relationships within the whole piece, in a world that looks very stereotypical and could be stereotypical, she found very grounded characters and I just fell in love with it." Having grown up a competitive dancer, Catherine understands the pageant world, now, much more than ever. Born in Swansea in Wales, Catherine began her career in musical theatre at a young age. Even as a child, she did all that she could to grow and succeed in entertainment: working tirelessly on her craft and competing in talent shows that awarded her the money needed to get her to London. "I was 10 when I did Annie in the West End of London. I was 14 when I played Tallulah in Bugsy Malone in the West End. Then, I left school at 15 to be in The Pajama Game to get my work permit, and then I was in 42nd Street for 3 years. And then, I decided to do film and television after that. So it's all I've known, and I know how hard it can be and I know the sacrifices that I had to make to fulfill a dream." Her mastering of choreography, singing, dancing, and acting coupled with the discipline learned early on has helped her excel in a career that has called for her to expertly wield a sword (The Mask of Zorro), adroitly and sexily slink through a laser security system (Entrapment), and sing and dance well enough to garner an Academy Award (Chicago). Time and time again, Catherine has demonstrated that her talent knows no bounds. All of her hard work has translated into an impressive portfolio of blockbuster hits and over fifty awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, a Tony, SAG awards, and two Golden Globe nominations. And even though being an actor means dealing with a great deal of rejection, and myriad trials and tribulations, Catherine and Michael's 18-year-old son, Dylan, and 15-year-old daughter, Carys, still want to follow in their parents' footsteps. Dylan (who is currently in college and will likely major in history or politics) and Carys (who, at the time of our interview, had just landed the lead role in her high school play) have been honing their acting skills in drama camp every summer since they were kids. "Michael and I look at them, and go, 'Mmm, they're just good.' If they weren't, we would so happily guide them in a different direction, y'know? We both had amazing careers and great lives. We met each other in this business. The reason why they're born is because of this business... They understand that it's not sunglasses and autographs. They know the work. They know how sad you can get —even at careers like Michael and I— if things don't work out or how hard it is to get good things made… So, after all that, they still want to do that." What sort of advice do you give them? "Well, do it! Because it's very clear to me that it's an inherent passion... I have my kids on a very long leash, so I've never told them that they couldn't do anything, so I'm certainly not going to start now." A chameleon on screen, Catherine can just as easily portray a needy, diva, like in America's Sweethearts as she can depict a cutthroat drug kingpin in Cocaine Godmother. I especially love her in No Reservations, where she plays a serious chef who takes in her niece, played by Abigail Breslin, after her sister is killed in a car accident. "A lot of people love No Reservations! It was kind of a little movie and it had legs. So many people saw it af ter it opened and go, 'I love that movie.' People just like food, but it's a fun movie. Me too, I love that. One of my favorites, of course, Chicago, because I got the chance to do that on film. I love Traffic, I got to work with my husband, but I wasn't in a scene with him. We got to promote a movie together —I was ver y fond of Traffic." Catherine would love to do more comedy, a genre she's comfortable in when it's written well. "I can't even tell a joke, I forget the punchline. The idea of