tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with elisabeth moss. the "mad men" actress started a new series called "top of the lake" from jane campion, from "the piano," but before the go to elisabeth moss, we will continue to introduce to you some of our staff. joining me now, lucas mcdaniel. he started as an intern while getting his degree. he is an accomplished photographer and is now our production assistant. lucas, we are glad to have you. >> thank you. it is a pleasure to work on a

program that gives the independent filmmakers, artists, and writers a voice, as well. tavis: we are honored to have you on the program, so tonight, you get to open the show. >> the conversation went elisabeth moss, coming up right now. -- with her. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: . elisabeth moss left madison avenue temporarily and ventured to new zealand, where she stars as a detective in a new crime thriller. it is fromundance, called "top of the late." jane campion wrote it. it has been compared to the cult favorite "twin peaks" with its depiction of an insular community. >> you know you are not going to get in any trouble. and i am just trying to help. >> i do not need help. >> well, it is true you have managed things very well so far.

but how do you think you will be going three months from now? >> good. >> what do you think is happening to you? why do you think your tummy is getting bigger? you know, don't you? you know what is happening. >> something is in there. >> that is what we think, too. tavis: so as i mentioned, this is a series for the sundance channel, and the other series you are a part of is doing pretty well itself. it is doing ok. six seasons. so what was it about this that was calling you to it? >> and the first and was before

i even read the script was obviously jane campion's involvement. she is not only a prolific director but is known for her female performances that she gets out of actresses. there is a long list of amazing roles, so to get a chance to work or there and see what that is all about, i was excited about it, and then i read the episodes, and they were good and interesting and weird, and it was not a formulaic detective show. it is different from my day job. this was something that was really going to challenge me, so that kind of one, two, three punch, i wanted to be involved, and then i have would have 4 -- congratulating the actress who ends up with the role. i did not think it was going to

be made. it turned out ok. tavis: no particular order, number one, this notion that was dramatically different from the character you play on "mad men," how important is it in your career to distinguish ourselves with things that are dramatically different, no pun intended, from the role that you play? >> yes. it is not the first thing on my mind. there might be a really good role that has similar elements. you do not want to not do it because it is really good, you know? but it is actually something that comes along, and i get to be badass and cool and angry, it is appealing as an actor. it is not so much about the

career but about me getting a chance to do something different, me getting a chance to show myself that i can do something different. and, obviously, as a career move, of course, it is nice to be able to show you can do different parts, but for me, it is no good the project is and how good are the people you are working with. i would just keep playing peggy over and over if they were really good. that is fine. i would just do peggy for the rest of my life. tavis: the other thing you said that i want to go back to is this notion that you said it's somewhat tongue in cheek -- that it would not be you. i want to pick apart because i want to get at what it is that allows that kind of, my word, not yours, that kind of doubt or

trepidation. maybe angst is a better word, that invade your being. when you know how good you are, and you know the success that you are having on "mad men," and people love the work you do. >> this is very interesting. you are getting pretty therapeutic. i like it. tavis: i will not charge you for this session. this is a free session. >> great. i think it is a situation of being more realistic than doubtful about yourself. i played a part for six years that has become well-known, and that is amazing, and i can see that people would not necessarily see me in something different. i do the same thing when i watch television shows. i identify with the character that that actor is playing. so i totally get it.

and i think i felt like jane was sort of feeling a bit of the same thing. she has told this story, so i can say it. when she heard me, she said, "i love it, and i love "mad men," but i do not know if i can see her in this role." being in this business, it is hard for people to change their minds and hard for people to take that risk, and you just need one person to do it and be able to prove yourself and be able to prove that you can do something different, and then you are in, but it takes that one person, and for me, that was jane. tavis: one year ago, we had a conversation on the set, and i was not sure if i was ever going to see him again, because, as you know, you were there. you did not know whether or not

the show was going to come back. you remember the whole controversy. so i did not know what the future of "mad men" was going to be, now back for a sixth season, but this goes to the point about people being used to seeing you as peggy knapp. the counterintuitive question. earlier, you suggested that if you could keep playing peggy forever, you would. the flip side of this, and you drew down on it, if you played peggy forever, and we could never imagine you playing anything other than peggy, so you can see what i am getting at. when you're in the zone, and the show is working, all of the accolades and awards, this is a tough business. if you can get the work to work, but do you ever stay up at night and think about when the time is to meet a particular character so you do not get so etched in our minds that we will not let you do anything >>

right. for me, i think i have been doing it for so long that i feel that i do have that sense as an actor that it is amazing to have a job. you never lose that. i talked to so many actors that no matter how successful they are, they are nervous about when they are going to get the next job, so happy when they do, and they are already worried about getting the next one. i think it is a combination of things. i do not think it is any one thing. i will stay here as long as anybody wants me because i have a job, but not only a job but a job. people often leave television to go to do artistic work. that is what we are doing on the show, so we are very filled on the show. at the same time, you go, "i hope i am given the opportunity

to do other things." but i would not have met with up playing patty. people would not necessarily want to give me that chance. it is accommodation, rather than being any one thing. it is not something i worry about, you know? tavis: you have to find a way to be in the zone and to be at peace with where you are. >> and if we were going to go for another five years, how could i say no to that? it is an amazing show and an amazing job. we are really lucky. to go do something else, to go to new zealand and do something different, with only shoot for four or five months, so if it is kind of a great deal. tavis: one last question, since you raised it. i am answering my question as i am asking it. which i should not do. >> i should just go home then.

tavis: anyway, i am thinking about the way matthew writes, and i know from having talked to him so many times on the show, you guys do not know what he is working on half the time until he gives it to you. you did not know that your character resign to be this in powering woman that she has become? regent that your character was going to be disempowering moment -- that your character is going to be this bulk sheryl sandberg book is out, and there is the other side. they are going at it. we were talking to arianna huffington. this woman position is a big deal, thanks to sheryl sandberg from facebook and this book. this character, this woman who really is a very empowering

human being. >> it was not my idea, so i cannot take a lot of responsibility for it, but at -- same time, i think that's that matt knew, and perhaps my own naivety brought something to peggy in the beginning, that kind of feeling that she did not know that she was going to end up there, and maybe that is what he wanted in the grand scheme. but for me, it is a great story to tell. not only is it such an important story, but it is so interesting, and what i loved about peggy's unique brand, i feel that is how most women feel they are feminists. she did not know the term "glass ceiling." she just kept bumping her head

up against it until it broke. that is what women actually did. there are those that were out there burning their bras, and then there were those out there making big, global stands, and then there are people out there like peggy that are, "i am amazing at what i do. i should be given a chance to do it, just like you do." that is definitely still going on, that fight, and it has obviously gotten so much better, but it is still an important story. for me, it obviously makes it so much more interesting. it makes it more complex, the fact that she has grown so much over the past five seasons. it is something that i never could have dreamed of. i probably would never been playing a secretary for five years, and it may have gotten a little boring. tavis: we will see what happens in the coming season now that

you have left the firm and moved on to something else. we will see. i am not going to ask you. i know you are not going to tell me, so i will not waste your time. i want to go to this project. jane campion is a great writer. you know her from "the piano." intuitively, i think i knew this, but it came back to me. the high caliber or high quality of people you have worked with over your career. david e. kelley, jane campion on this project. this has got to be, my word, not yours, a blessing, that level of talent that is a actor's dream to work at that level. >> not only amazing people, but they are also different.

david, i was young, and i do not really remember it, but that was big. alan sorkin was unique. -- aaron sorkin. i was a teenager when i started on "the west wing." and then david mamnet, the play. i have such a huge respect for writing. it is something that i cannot do at all. i can text. i am very good at texting. but i cannot write. people love to do in prague and that kind of thing, and i am, like, no, you write it down. i will say it.

being able to write with so many different talented people with different styles and try things has helped me so much as an actor to have sort of a scope to what i can do. i have such respect for each and every one of them for different reasons. they are also different. tavis: so tell me, i want to get back to the pilot, the character you play in the series. >> i paid detect -- i played detective robin griffin. that was another reason why i did not know i would get cast in this. i am 5 feet, 3 inches, and i do not look like i can take down a perp, and i thought, this is ridiculous. tavis: this is an aside. i was literally just in a conversation yesterday on my

radio show with a biographer of harriet tubman, the great freedom fighter who took people to freedom during slavery. she was barely 5 feet tall. >> really? tavis: in doing the research. just barely 5 feet. here she is, taking all of these people with slavery, and she is diminutive. the courage in her little, small stature. that is an aside. it harriet tubman could take blacks to freedom, and you can take down perps. that is all i am saying. >> we are very similar in our work. tavis: ok. >> well, good. i guess size has nothing to do with it, which i eventually came to that realization, but that did not stop me from lifting some weights and running and

trying to beef up a little bit. and anyway, i played a detective. she is more of the detective of social services, working more with children, rape cases, more of that than robberies, and she is very tough and strong and has a wall, particularly in the first couple of episodes, and then really falls down the rabbit hole. she gets way too involved in this case and becomes a way too involved, and you feel why she is too involved and why it's so personal, and it has to do with her past, and she ends up finding herself with the search for the little girl, having to face everything that she has been running away from.

tavis: why? >> jane has a link with new zealand. she is from there and has a couple of places there. she is a real new zealand girl. i think that was just the story she was telling. she has actually said that this is her best work, and i agree. for me to say that -- i think part of that is there is a very personal connection to the landscape for her. she is so in love with that country and that world, and you can see it, you know? you can feel it. it is more like a personal story, even though it is completely fiction, totally made up. the story itself doesn't really have anything particular to do with the new zealand. tavis: it could have been here. >> here or anywhere. but i think she wanted to tell that story and tell it in her landscape. tavis: "the piano" is some of

her best work, and holly hunter is in this. >> yes, a reunion. it has been 20 years, which is crazy. my first scene is with holly, the first scene of the whole thing. it was a great way to start, because it felt like a passing of the torch. she has got such a great relationship with jane, and i am just embarking on my relationship with jane. holly was the only american in the entire production. so it felt like someone from home is sort of passing me off to the wonderful jane. tavis: you have been doing this for so long, with how your career started, what would you be doing if you were not doing this? >> i would be a dancer. yes. that is a very easy answer. i trained in ballet for tenure

seriously. -- for 10 years seriously. i definitely would have been in ballet somewhere. tavis: what about the switch from being in ballet to being a thespian it? >> it was kind of a slow burn. tavis: ballet usually is. >> i was always acting while i was dancing, and i kind of kept both going, kept both balls in the air, and then there was an area where i had to concentrate only on ballet, it really formative time, 12, 13, and i did this film with martin landau, a tiny, little film, and it was a first chance to play someone who was not someone's daughter, to have a role. tavis: another major player. >> yes, so wonderful, and such a great man, and he has got

stories about james dean, and he was the coolest. whether it was the acting part or the whole experience, being on the set. i had a guardian there, but it was being part of this family for six weeks and getting to do something that i love and being so rewarded by that. so i talked to my mom, and we agreed that that was the best way to go, but that was really where my heart lay, and was a better life, too. it is hard to say that acting is the more practical choice, but -- tavis: what did you take from -- i am thinking about the discipline it takes to be a great ballet dancer. what did you take from ballet that helped you in your acting? >> i just grew up working really hard. i grew up being self motivated, you know, judging myself more

than worrying about others judging me, and also, it is really kind of a hard life. it gives me so much perspective on acting. people say acting can be a tough life, and i am, come on? being a dancer, that is hard. it is a short career, and you are lucky if you do not get injured, and it is even shorter, and there is no money. it is a beautiful art form. for me, people complain about acting, i think this is fantastic. this is great. this is a wonderful life. tavis: she is living a wonderful life, and her work on "mad men" underscores that, but her new work is called "top of the lake." that will be airing on the sundance channel. speaking of having a good life, do you know whose birthday it is

today? >> no. tavis: quincey delight jones. that is really his middle name. >> quincy jones is scored on his own. quincy delight. tavis: looked at that good picture. >> looking good. tavis: did not want to end the day without showing a picture of>> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley we love you. happy birthday, quincey. that is our show for this time. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, join me next time for some authors. that is next time. we will see you then.

>> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. thank you.