Connie Britton Takes Us Back to Her Biggest On and Off-Screen Moments

Pursuing a showbiz career was nothing more than a “pipe dream” for a young Connie Britton.

“I used to say to my best friend on the phone late at night, ‘If I could do anything, I’d be an actress,’” Britton, 57, exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly. With her upbringing in Virginia being “quintessential Americana,” fate intervened in the form of an ad for The Brothers McMullen in Backstage magazine.

“It was a Sunday audition, and I was going to visit my sister in Washington, D.C., so I thought to myself, ‘Well, if I decide to come back early, maybe I’ll go by that audition,’” she explained, noting she eventually decided to head back to New York. “Eddie Burns was doing auditions at his dad’s office, which is why he had to do it on a Sunday. He couldn’t do it during the week.”

After Burns cast her on the spot, she recalled thinking, “Oh, this is going to be really bad if they’re just offering me the job.” Wrong: Her feature film debut won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and launched her career.

Connie Britton Compares Her New Role to Friday Night Lights’ Tami Taylor

Friday Night Lights, The White Lotus and other four-star projects have kept Britton in demand. The one that got away? 1996’s Jerry Maguire. Losing the role that went to Renée Zellweger was a “major heartbreak,” she told Us. “In retrospect, I love my career and [it] just took a different path — after getting over the initial sting and heartbreak of that, I have no regrets.”

Next, she crosses off a “bucket list item” by joining Robert De Niro for the conspiracy thriller Zero Day, streaming now on Netflix. Looks like her younger self’s wildest fantasy came true: “I’m one of those fortunate people [who] had a dream,” she said, “and, against all odds and logic, found myself going for it.”

Scroll through to find out what’s happened since.

College Days (1980s)

Spending freshman year at Beijing Normal University with now-U.S. senator Kirsten Gillibrand was “eye-opening,” Britton, who was majoring in Asian studies at Dartmouth College, shared. “It was still very much communist China. Everybody was wearing Mao suits.” Despite being taken aback upon arrival (“I remember landing and my initial thought was, ‘Nobody prepared me.’”), the actress credits that academic year for changing her perspective, calling it a “transformative experience.”

‘Spin City’ (1996–2000)

Snagging her first series regular role as Nikki Faber, a staffer in the NYC mayor’s office, on Michael J. Fox’s Spin City was a “big deal,” she admitted. “I grew up on sitcoms, and that was my biggest inspiration in terms of TV watching.” The ABC gig doubled as a masterclass: “Literally, I was learning on the job,” she told Us. “It was such a steep learning curve, but Michael was the best.”

Connie Britton Still Sees ‘Zero Day’ Costar Jesse Plemons as FNL’s Landry

‘Friday Night Lights’ (2006-2011)

Tami and Coach Taylor forever, y’all! As half of one of TV’s most loving, relatable couples, Britton received two Emmy nods. Of Kyle Chandler, her husband on the beloved sports drama, “The baseline of our working relationship was that we knew that we could take a risk and fall down, and the other one would be there to pick us up,” she shared. “There was absolutely unconditional trust between us, and we’re still amazing friends.”

One of her favorite scenes was in season 1, when a frustrated Tami whisper-shouted at Eric while cleaning up the house during a party. “We had so much fun doing that,” Britton shared, noting their rift was semi-improvised. “That felt like one of the early moments where I was like, ‘This is what I want for these [characters].’” If the duo have their way, they’ll reunite: “We keep talking about what we could do together.”

‘American Horror Story’ (2011)

The script for Ryan Murphy’s first AHS installment, Murder House, was, well, a shocker. “I was like, ‘This is never going to stay in the show,’ especially the Rubber Man,” Britton said, adding she considered the content “too crazy for TV” and “said as much” to Murphy. Playing Vivien Harmon, who gives birth to the antichrist, would push Britton out of her comfort zone, but she believed in the vision. “[Ryan] said, ‘This is going to be completely different from everything you’ve [done in] the last five years.’ That appealed to me.” As for the shocking plot twist, in which viewers found out Vivien and daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) were dead? “I thought it was awesome.”

‘Nashville’ (2012-2018)

The drama marked Britton’s first project as a single mom. (The Dirty John alum adopted son Yoby, now 14, in 2011.) “I started working 18 hours a day, and I [was] a brand new mother to an infant,” she recalled. “That was pretty eye-opening for me in terms of like, ‘Oh, this is different.’ It was challenging for sure.” Her character, country queen Rayna Jaymes, died in season 5, an event that “felt like a real death, and that was what it needed to be.” As viewers mourned the loss of the musician, Britton mourned the loss of the character, too. “I wish it could have happened differently,” she said. “It was very heartbreaking.”

‘The White Lotus’ (2021)

Shooting the fantastic anthology series’ first season during the COVID-19 pandemic required masks, daily testing and food delivery. “It was very scary and very different from any other experience I’ve ever had,” Britton admitted. The silver lining, besides the Hawaiian location? The cast and crew “bonded together because we had to be isolated.” Despite filming during a “terrifying time,” Britton looks back on that “wonderful” project with great fondness. “We were working with one of the great writer directors of our time, Mike White, and the material and cast [were] incredible.”

Here’s Every Nostalgic Cast Reunion From the Emmy Awards

Missing the Emmy Awards (2024)

An impending snowstorm on the East Coast, where she was shooting Zero Day, forced Britton to skip the Emmys and a planned AHS reunion with Dylan McDermott. Her Toni Maticevski gown still had a moment… on Instagram. “We loved that dress so much that I was like, ‘We’re taking a picture!’”

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