Interview: Alanna Ubach Tackles the Biggest Stage of Her Career with ‘Euphoria,’ ‘Hacks,’ and ‘Ted’

Alanna Ubach can’t stop selecting the best projects for her career. The massive success of Ted ran into a special appearance during the final season of Hacks. As if that wasn’t enough, Ubach was once again seen as Suze Howard in the final season of Euphoria. After decades of putting massive amounts of work into Hollywood, the industry is giving the spotlight to a dedicated performer who bravely tackles every role that comes her way.

The final installment of Hacks aims to allow Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) to cement her legacy in her own terms. During one episode of the series, Ubach stepped into the shoes of Amanda Weinberg, the person in charge of scheduling Madison Square Garden events. Walking into the set of such an acclaimed production was massive for the actor: “I was a huge fan. I binge-watched Season 1 in one day. It had come out, and so many people had watched it. Walking into it was a trip down nostalgia lane. Jean Smart was the heroine of Girlfriend’s Guy to Divorce (2015-2018). She took the place of Carrie Fisher once she wasn’t able to guest star on that show. She immediately took over as the manager for Lisa Edelstein’s character. I remember her from that”.

It was as if a day hadn’t passed for Ubach, who firmly stood her ground against the multiple-time Emmy winner’s banter during her guest appearance in Hacks. The artist was a perfect match for the HBO Max comedy.

Ubach has worked for decades in order to get the amount of success she enjoys these days. For some Hollywood stars, their big break comes during the early years of their life. As plenty of actors know, that is not the rule, but the exception. Ubach gracefully acknowledges how major recognition arrived after she worked for so long: “I do. There’s nothing better than being premenopausal with a couple of gray eyebrow hairs to really add to the wonderful momentum I’m finally getting after being in the business for more than forty years (laughs). I think if I had this kind of attention when I was in my early 20s, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it. Especially being a young actor nowadays, where everything is documented. Everything. When I think of all of those urinations in public alleyways, I think: “Wow, it would have been over for me in forty-eight hours”. Let he, who has never peed in an alleyway, cast the first stone.”

The artist’s sense of humor is contagious. Alanna has poured her heart and soul into every role she has portrayed. It doesn’t really matter how long it took for Euphoria, Hacks, and Ted to make it big at the same time. The fact is that they have, proving that Alanna Ubach is ready to tackle any challenge that comes her way. That speaks to her skills as an actor, and as a human being.

In Euphoria, Alanna portrays Suze Howard, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Lexis’ (Maude Apatow) mother. In the final season of the HBO streaming phenomenon, Cassie gains popularity online due to her sexually-explicit custom videos. Suze was not particularly shown reacting to the fact that her daughter was making an impressive amount of money through that line of work, but Ubach has an idea of what her Euphoria character would think of the entire affair. The actor shared a very personal story when explaining what Suze would think of Cassie’s career choice:

“Years ago, my sister wanted to be a model.” the performer stated. “My mom and dad rolled their eyes and said: “Sure, you can be a model, but you better go to college”. She was going to USC while she was modelling. Her first modelling job just happened to be a bikini ad. She was so embarrassed. My mom, being one of the most highly-opiniated women you have ever met, was presented with the publication by my sister. My mom opened the page where my sister was modelling in a bikini, and we were all holding our breath. We hoped our mom wouldn’t tell her things that would put her in therapy for the next thirty years. But instead, her reaction was: “Look at my beautiful masterpiece of a baby! You’ve got your grandma’s gams!” She celebrated it. And I thought that it was so fucking fun, and ironic, and I’ll never forget it.”

“My mom showed everyone.” Alanna continued. “She kept it in her purse. She showed everyone her beautiful model baby. There was something very endearing about that. I loved that reaction. Because it’s not the reaction that a traditional parent would have, right? Or a traditional television parent would have. It’s more real! Because any parent would love the idea of their kid being celebrated.”

Streaming television can be complicated to navigate. Views on a streaming platform are difficult to take into account when making business-related decisions. According to Deadline, the second season of Ted has been streamed for more than 1 billion minutes, making it easy to assume that the comedy has become a flagship property for the platform. Nevertheless, the television landscape remains uncertain in Hollywood. Ubach isn’t sure if Ted will come back for a third season, even after the comedy has been watched over and over by the public.

“Do they get money every time someone watches the show?” Alanna pondered. “My thoughts are: If they had 1.2 billion new subscribers, we go back for a third season like that (snaps fingers), right? That’s my theory. (…) Just as a business, if there’s momentum with something, you want to continue doing it. It’s just logical. But I have no idea what that’s all about. They say the bear is very expensive. Who the hell knows?” As of the writing of this interview, a third season of Ted hasn’t been confirmed by either Peacock or NBC. The Seth MacFarlane production isn’t the only television success to be surrounded by uncertainty during the current streaming age. Netflix’s Shadow and Bone series was brought to a halt despite its large and vocal fan base. The fate of Ted remains up in the air.

Besides portraying Susan Bennett in the Peacock comedy series, Alanna got the chance to voice Mrs. Perez during an episode of Family Guy. The actor is more than happy to be a part of what can be described as Seth MacFarlane’s creative family: “I got a call while I was working on Ted, and the Family Guy peeps would throw me bones every three to four weeks. It’s very exciting. They throw me bones as much as possible. And I love those guys. They’re so much fun to work with. They’re lovely, lovely people. The catering is wonderful. All the gourmet coffee, treats, and croissants a girl could ever hope for! (…) I remember telling Jeffrey Tambor at an acting class. He asked me: “Why are you here?”. I said: “I’ve always wanted to be a part of some kind of creative family.” He thought I was full of shit. I was being as sincere as sincere is. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a consistent group of people who are constantly creating new content. I was 27 when I was in Jeffrey Tambor’s class. Here I am at 50. I finally feel welcome in one of these places. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to be part of a sphere. It seems that I’ve always tapped-danced around the perimeter of these spheres. I guess that if you hang out long enough, they let you in.”

The final seasons of Euphoria and Hacks are now streaming on HBO Max. The second season of Ted is now streaming on Peacock. This interview has been edited for length and clarity purposes.