Eva Longoria used her time on 'Desperate Housewives' as an education.
Eva Longoria used her early acting success as an education
The 48-year-old actress had been featured in few small roles on TV and enjoyed a two-year stint on daytime soap opera 'The Young and the Restless' when she landed the role of Gabrielle Solis on the comedy-drama series in 2004 and explained that because the show was high in budget, she was able to observe behind the scenes in the years before she eventually became a director.
She told Parade magazine: "I used 'Desperate Housewives' as my film school because I was on the set for 10 years and really paid attention. Our budgets were movie budgets, so I was curious and asked a lot of questions. Like, what does that do? What do you mean when you say a 50 lens? I was an annoying fly on the wall. I felt like I wasn’t reaching my creative potential, so doing more always made sense to me."
The 'Dog Days' star made her feature directorial debut with 'Flamin Hot' - which was released on Disney+ on June 9 - but has also been at the helm of episodes of series like 'Black-ish' and 'The Mick' and insisted that she has "always" been a director and had not made a sudden career move.
She added: "People think I’m an actor-turned-director. But I’ve always been a director. I’ve always been fascinated with the process of putting together a project and having control of the final product. As an actor, you stand on the mark and say lines. But you don’t write any of the words coming out of your mouth. So, you’re at the mercy of the process. I felt like I didn’t have control."
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