Written By: Jayme Face
You love Sam Daly as Win Barrington on Madam Secretary and soon you’ll love him on Crackle’s first original film Office Uprising!
Photo Credit: Benjo Arwas
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your character Win Barrington on Madam Secretary?
Sam Daly: Gladly, Win Barrington, my favorite. Win Barrington is a waspy marijuana lobbyist. He is Daisy’s (played by Patina Miller) ex fiancée, which sort of imploded in season 1, but they still hook up from time to time. When he’s not trying to win her heart over he is busy lobbying for marijuana.
upfrontNY: With Madam Secretary centering around a political character, does the show ever mirror current political climates and if so do you ever receive criticism or praise from the fans based on such story lines?
Sam Daly: Well, it absolutely draws from real life. If you watch the show you’ll see a lot of the storylines are either from the past or somewhat current political situations, but definitely draw on previous secretary of state headlines. They’re also very current in dealing with issues, but that’s part of the reason I’m hoping Win gets to come back for more because marijuana is a mainstream political topic these days with it being decriminalized and legalized in so many states. Yet another great reason for Win to come back.
upfrontNY: Madam Secretary films in New York, what makes filming in New York unique?
Sam Daly: First off it doubles for D.C. fairly easily which is always nice. Central Park can basically be any park depending on the angle or part you shoot it. Their sound stage is down in Brooklyn and they have done an incredible job at replicating what the State House and State Department look like inside.
upfrontNY: Can you also tell us about your upcoming film Office Uprising?
Sam Daly: Yeah, Office Uprising is an action/ horror/ comedy with sort of a zombie twist to it. It’s a really fun movie. It is laugh out loud funny with sort of jump out of your seat action sequences. It has a little something for everyone. My wife is deathly afraid of horror movies, but she will not be deathly afraid of this movie because it is definitely a comedy, but, if you are looking for that zombie twist and you’re a huge zombie fan you will definitely get your fix of that. It’s about two guys and a girl who are trapped within their own office which is a weapons manufacturing company. They have given out their new weapons that they are testing out on all their employees. It’s an energy drink called Zolt, which basically weaponized employees. So, being the three people who don’t drink it, they have to try and escape from the office that is on complete lockdown and shutdown from all their zombie crazed killer coworkers. A lot like a real life office. It’s supposed to be coming out within the next couple months on Sony’s platform Crackle. It’s their first original film they’re releasing.
upfrontNY: What was it like growing up in a family of actors, was it difficult to carve out your own space?
Sam Daly: You know as difficult as it is for any actor to carve out their own place. I was not a child actor in any way shape or form. I thought my parents were crazy for being actors for a living. It wasn’t until much later in life when I was finishing college that I found my passion and love for acting. I guess the one thing that could be a common misconception is that ‘Oh it must have been so easy for you because your parents are actors and people in your family are actors’. I do have a lot of actors and artists in my family. I would say, if anything, it’s more challenging because you hold yourself to such a high standard because you’re surrounded by fantastic artists and actors. Also, you want to create your own path and your own journey in your career which is what I’ve been striving to do. As much as I want to do well for myself and where I see my career going I also want to make them proud and have it reflect in a positive way on them.
upfrontNY: You have been able to work with some of your family members what is that like?
Sam Daly: It’s honestly the best. I’ve worked with my dad; I’ve worked with my mom; I’ve worked with my cousin; I’ve worked with my sister; it’s such a blessing to get to work with my family. My family is really close. We really enjoy each other. Maybe, if we hated each other it would be really hard. I’m always asked, what are the challenges of working with your family and I say, honestly, deciding what we’re going to have for dinner. Other than that, I’m so lucky I get to share these experiences. I’ve watched my parents growing up my whole life and they get to live their dreams. I get to see that play out. I see them on stage, on film, and television. Now, that I’ve been able to share some experiences with them it’s been so rewarding for me both personally and creatively. I should tell you a fun fact that my dad and I are actually starring in our first movie together later this year where we do play father and son, but it’s not based on real life, I should say. It’s a Rom- Com that is called Just Not Right. It’s about a father who gets engaged to his son’s ex-girlfriend which is just not right. It is laugh out loud funny. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it when you get to see it someday soon.
upfrontNY: You came from an acting family and now you are a dad yourself, do you think your kids will catch the acting bug as well?
Sam Daly: I am and it’s so crazy. My son just turned one. It is insane that it’s been a year since he was born, but he is the best boy of all time. His name is Owen James Daly. He’s a beautiful little ginger with blue eyes. It’s funny because I have friends with young kids and one of my friends got an agent for their baby. They asked me if I am getting one for Owen and if you knew my parents and how I was raised I’m pretty sure my parents would disconnect from me if I ever tried to bring him out on auditions and get him on camera. For me, if Owen comes to me in a few years and says “Dad I want to be an actor; can I go out and audition and try to win roles?” I’d be the first one to help coach him through it, bring him to every audition, do whatever it was to help his dreams come true, but until he does that I will not be proactive about turning him into an actor. I think I’m lucky that my parents let me find my own way and I wasn’t following their footsteps at first. I thought I was going to be on the Lakers growing up, playing basketball professionally because that’s what I cared about. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that dream was not going to come to fruition and sort of shifted gears, going into the arts. I was not a kid actor in any way or pressured or encouraged to do that. I was encouraged to follow whatever my dreams were at the time, whether it was play sports or travel or adventure or camp or writing. My parents let me follow my own path and I would like to do the same for Owen. I’d like to help him with his dreams whatever they may be.
upfrontNY: What do you enjoy to do outside of acting? Do you still play basketball?
Sam Daly: I do. I’m very active, I love sports, I love basketball. I play in the old men’s softball league. The games probably aren’t as pretty as they used to be, but I still do that. I love the Lakers. We have an 85-lb. golden retriever whose name is Kobe Bryant, who’s the sweetest pup of all time. We do have a 1 year old son so a lot of my time is spent crawling around on floors going to baby gyms. There’s a place called The Magic Forest and another place called Under the Sea we’re big fans of. We like being outdoors a lot. We go hiking, we go for walks, we go to the beach and then when we’re not outdoors I love going to the movies and eating good food. Pretty normal stuff.
upfrontNY: Any favorite movies this year?
Sam Daly: I, Tonya. I just thought I,Tonya was so fun. I thought the way the movie was made was great. I was hooked from the beginning. I didn’t really know much about Tonya Harding. I always thought she was kind of a villain, but it kind of made me feel bad for her a little bit in real life. For me, my favorite movies are still movies that have no CGI in it so I’m a little late to the game, but I’m very excited to see Black Panther. I haven’t seen it yet. I will have to make an exception for it, but other than that the truth is we’ve seen most of the screeners. We think there’s been a lot of good movies out, but there is nothing that has made us as excited as I, Tonya.
upfrontNY: Is there anything you would like to let our readers know?
Sam Daly: I love New York! New York is my Jam! My parents and sister are there. Getting to go back and forth and being bi-coastal is the best ever. I just hope I get to come back to Madam Secretary soon.
Oh, I should say the best show I’ve seen this year in New York City right now is called In and Of Itself. It’s a one person show. This guy is one of the two most incredible magicians. Not like silly pull a bunny out of a hat magic; it’s like him and David Blaine are the two guys doing stuff no one else is doing like illusions you can’t even describe! If you get a chance go see In and Of Itself do it! I don’t want to tell you anymore about it because it’s too mind-blowing, but my mom saw it three times before she convinced me to see it. I was finally like “Fine mom I’ll go see this magic show.” My wife and I left in tears because we were so blown away.
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