Abbott Elementary<\/a> actress and comedian explains. She is currently in the midst of a U.S. stand-up tour, culminating in the taping of her first one-hour Netflix special in Chicago at the end of April, and collecting more crushes along the way, obviously. \u201cI think it\u2019s healthy to have crushes and flirt and all of that,\u201d James adds. \u201cI love the play of it all, but nothing crush or love-related ever stops me from making money or pursuing my goals, I think that\u2019s most important.\u201d<\/p>\nWe all know James as Principal Ava Coleman, her first leading acting gig and a key player of the Abbott Elementary ensemble. Ava is a character whose self-obsession and fabulous aloofness has deepened over nearly 100 episodes, and these days, she\u2019s closer to someone who actually does care about her employees and students. \u201cAva\u2019s growth and her arc has been great for me as an actor,\u201d James tells The Cut. \u201cI never anticipated playing all of these levels in one role, especially a sitcom. That\u2019s been a great testament to the writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
James\u2019s vision board is packed with ideas for what\u2019s next, but she tells us there\u2019s always time for a little dating \u2014 it\u2019s something she actually enjoys, even in an increasingly transactional landscape where rosters and situationships seem to have replaced earnestness. \u201cIt\u2019s okay to be a human being and have feelings,\u201d she says. \u201cYeah, you might get hurt! Just don\u2019t get an STD, don\u2019t get pregnant, don\u2019t fuck up your money, and live to date another day.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is the most Ava Coleman thing about you?
I\u2019m pretty confident. I think her confidence is a little put on in certain ways. The most similar interest I have to Ava is her interest in everything. She\u2019s lowkey a nerd and a geek and I am too. I like to read, I like to tinker. I have 50 million hobbies, I\u2019ve had 50 million jobs. We\u2019re both hustlers. I think that\u2019s what I identify with most, being able to make something out of nothing and using all those interests to her advantage.<\/p>\n
What else is on your career vision board?
I want to start a band. I play drums, and I just started playing bass. I really love music. I used to DJ, I\u2019ve dated many musicians. I like having things to do outside of work, you know what I mean? As far as work, I\u2019ve started back in stand-up again, which was my entry into this side of the business. I\u2019d love to tour big, like a theater tour and be known for being the best at it. Like Ava, I want to do everything. I want to be in a rom-com, an action movie, some drama, some weird shit, some Charlie Kaufman-esque type movies and show different sides of myself, of which there are many.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 rule for dating?
I actually like dating. I know \u201ceverybody\u2019s miserable.\u201d But everybody I date is supremely vetted before they even get me alone. So I always date friend-adjacent or someone I\u2019ve been circling for a while. That takes some of the angst out of it. I like finding out about people and their ethos, and if the guy is cool, then it can be a fun new experience. I don\u2019t have any rules. Just be cool. It\u2019s not that serious until it is.<\/p>\n
It sounds like finding vetted dates might be your rule?
That\u2019s just how it\u2019s worked out! I haven\u2019t dated a complete stranger in a really long time. I\u2019m not on the apps or anything like that. I\u2019ve never responded to a DM. So yeah, I guess that would be the rule.<\/p>\n
How do you feel about initiating?
I approach men. You approach, you let them know you\u2019re interested, then you fall back. Then they approach you and it makes them feel like they chose you. It\u2019s a whole thing. And if you get rejected, so what? It\u2019s just a man. Competing for dates? At the end of the day, your prize is a man, so you gotta be chill about it. [Laughs]. One of my favorite sayings is: A crush is just a lack of information. If I approach and get rejected, it\u2019s like, I didn\u2019t know you five minutes ago, and I could go back to not knowing you. As far as I\u2019m concerned, that never happened. So what am I even sad about? That\u2019s your ego, that\u2019s not true rejection.<\/p>\n
Do you believe in having a roster?
I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with it, but I\u2019m a relationship person. I think it\u2019s amazing that people can find multiple people they\u2019re interested in at once. I think usually there\u2019s one you really want and then two that you\u2019re using as a distraction. I don\u2019t have any judgment on it, I just think that\u2019s so hard to find and maintain. I don\u2019t have time for that!<\/p>\n
Do you think it\u2019s okay to ghost after one date?
I kind of fade, I\u2019ve never ghosted anybody. I think it\u2019s cruel, especially if they\u2019re expressing real interest. Unless they were a creep or you feel unsafe, then definitely ghost them. If it\u2019s just, Oh, it didn\u2019t work out, I think it\u2019s cruel to just not respond. And you don\u2019t know if they\u2019re a person that then spirals into, I think something happened to you.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 rule for advice giving when it comes to friends and their relationship woes?
I give all the advice that I don\u2019t listen to myself. I\u2019m Judge Judy when it\u2019s time to tell people what to do, I love it. [Laughs]. Do they listen? That\u2019s up to them. I\u2019m just a fan of living life, so even if my friends don\u2019t listen to me or go against what I said and it doesn\u2019t work, whatever. You razz them for a minute.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 fashion rule for a first date?
Depends what we\u2019re doing, depends what I want to do after\u2026What\u2019s the build up? How long have we been chatting about this date before it happens? Do I know you, because maybe I need to be able to move quickly at the end.<\/p>\n
What is your No. 1 rule on the set of Abbott Elementary?
Let\u2019s keep the vibes up. I want everybody to be happy. I want everybody to be laughing. I don\u2019t like working in any tense environments. I don\u2019t like working, period. So if I\u2019m working, the vibes got to be right. I\u2019m a jester in my own life so I\u2019m talking to everyone, I\u2019m hugging everyone, I\u2019m kissing babies. I\u2019m like, running for mayor every day. I\u2019ve realized that if my mood is off, everybody\u2019s mood is off. I take that responsibility seriously.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 rule for meeting other famous people?
I approach people very sincerely. If I\u2019m excited to see you, I\u2019m gonna tell you. If you\u2019re somebody that I\u2019m not that excited about, that\u2019s what you gonna get too.<\/p>\n
Do you have any rules around posting on social media?
I\u2019m aware that everything I post as myself affects the whole ecosystem of my job. Our ensemble supports 100 people on the crew, they support their families. So that\u2019s new, being a little bit more cautious. And not just that but the climate. Oh man, it\u2019s not fun anymore. If I\u2019m not having fun, just like everything else, I don\u2019t want to do it. So I\u2019m trying to find a middle ground of being myself, which is always trying to have a good time and make people laugh, and coming from a sincere place, and watching myself to not be misinterpreted or affect not even my job, but everyone else\u2019s.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s late you fall asleep with your phone on your chest, and you wake up to all these notifications. You\u2019re like, what did I do? So that still happens, because I\u2019m a human being.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images This story is part of Crushing Out, a theme week exploring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[2692,252540,252539,690,7435,88,5450,13353,252538,1505,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-574068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-celebrity","9":"tag-crushes","10":"tag-crushing-out","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-dating","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-interviews","15":"tag-qa","16":"tag-rules-to-live-by","17":"tag-television","18":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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