'Yellowjackets': How Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey and Juliette Lewis Survive in Hollywood (Exclusive)
Mia Smith The women of Yellowjackets know a thing or two about survival onscreen -- and off. In the breakout Showtime series, Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, Lauren Ambrose and Simone Kessell each play the adult versions of members of the Wiskayok High School girls soccer team, who survived a horrific plane crash that left them stranded in the Ontario wilderness.
ET's Deidre Behar spoke with each of the actresses -- who have all successfully navigated their careers -- and asked them about their secrets to surviving and thriving in Hollywood.
"When I first started, and still as adults, this career has always been an escape for me," Ricci told ET. "And, you know, as a kid it was an escape from, like, a horrendous childhood and just getting to go away. Be in hotels and be on set and be with other adults and be valued. All the little things that sort of are negative about the industry and the career, they've always been things that I've just been like, 'Well, real life is worse.'"
Ricci added, "Yes, there's a lot of difficult things to navigate and survive, if you will, in this industry. But I also think that I really benefited from this place in time where gradually things have been getting better and are so much better now. We benefit from all the amazing work that younger generations are doing."
Lynskey has found that the key to moving through the challenges in the world of entertainment is being still and finding calm.
"I think for me the more I've kind of, like, relaxed into myself, the more opportunities have opened up," she revealed.
"It's like the universe has gone, 'Great, here they are.' When I was younger, I so was worried about, what are they looking for? What do I need to be? How do I need to change myself? And literally, like, shrink myself and deal with things that I think I'm supposed to be. And it's exhausting, and you're not present and you’re not happy and you're not really living. So I think when I figured that out, it got a lot easier."
Lewis, whose career began in the '80s, said that the secret changes depending on the time. However, working with some of the best in the business has definitely worked in her favor.
"I really got fortunate early on," Lewis shared. "And I didn't know this at the time because people would say after Cape Fear and I don't know, Natural Born Killers, they're like, 'You’re gonna be so spoiled.' Because I worked with these really phenomenal directors. I was like, 'What? It's not just always like this?'"
She continued, "And they treated me like my ideas were valid, so I was always welcome to create and create strongly. That developed a real, if we're talking about creative, survival. It developed a big muscle of adventure and trying things creatively that I use to this day."
Cypress' approach involves turning to her husband, Tom Dillion, and their son for balance.
"I think with me, I've had a lot of lean times in my career and the thing that helps me survive is my husband and my son," she shared. "When I go home, when I leave, I'm a wife and a mother. It's a completely different life that I lead at home and that keeps me grounded. And they're the two halves of my heart. So, you know, they keep me afloat."
Meanwhile, Kessell's grit and determination to keep going throughout her career has been the trick for her.
"I think being tenacious and keeping on going," she revealed to ET. "As an actor, you've just got to keep on going. You can't buy into the bad times, you've got to keep going and if you truly love what you do, you will keep going. And it is a celebration, working actresses -- and I hate to even say that -- in our 40s and our 50s, whenever we get to be a working actress and that's a celebration and I feel that every day."
And for Ambrose, it's always been about a great ensemble, and learning from those around her.
"I guess working with people who I've learned so much from," she shared. "I feel like the key is choosing good collaborators. It's very apparent when you don't have that. Trying to surround yourself with people who care deeply about the work and also are kind."
Yellowjackets season 2 will premiere Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime, with the first episode also available to stream starting Friday, March 24 on the Showtime app.
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