Lisa Ann Walter admitted that Abbott Elementary being renewed for a fourth season was the first time she’s honestly felt “safe” in her acting career.
Though the actress is known for her beloved character Chessy in 1998’s The Parent Trap, she said in an interview with People magazine, “Just because you’re in a movie doesn’t mean you’re rich.
“I wasn’t a star. I was the woman that made you cry in The Parent Trap, and you’re still looking for a job the next week,” Walter explained. “So honestly, feeling safe? The season four pickup of Abbott.”
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The actress shared that her role as teacher Melissa Schemmenti in the hit ABC sitcom allowed her to afford to take her four children on their first major family vacation — a trip to Italy last summer.
“I had not been able to afford taking my kids on a vacation outside of taking them to the San Diego Zoo, or to go skiing locally,” she said. “This was the first time I was able to have everybody go on a trip.”
Walter has appeared in dozens of projects, including Wildest Dream, My Life’s Work and Bruce Almighty, but the actress noted that she “never felt like I was on rock solid, like, ‘I got this now. I could relax.’ Even when I did movies, it’s like, our job is just a job and then it stops.”
But once she scored her role on Quinta Brunson’s comedy series that’s currently in its third season, she feels like she is in a “good” place, adding, “for a few years anyway.” The show focuses on a group of teachers and an oblivious principal who are doing their best to support their students in an underfunded Philadelphia public school.
“Maybe that’s because I don’t have as many years left,” she continued. “And that’s the thing I just say, ‘You just can’t quit.’ You don’t know when your moment’s going to happen. You just can’t give up. You have to get out of your own way and just do that thing.”
Walter stars alongside Brunson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti and William Stanford Davis on the Emmy-winning series.
