Celebrity Scoop: Taylor Schilling

By Jacqueline Cutler, Zap2It | November 2, 2009

Taylor Schilling

Discuss this story now

To assume a starring role in NBC's Wednesday drama "Mercy," Taylor Schilling quit her last job, which isn't that striking, but leaving one where you love someone, even though you had to help him in the bathroom, is.

Until this major assignment, Schilling was a nanny. "It was so grounding," she says. "I feel so lucky for all of that time."

Now she's playing Veronica, a war-hardened veteran with a complicated personal life and great co-worker nurses.

"She's fierce but also incredibly compassionate and vulnerable," Schilling says of Veronica. "There's something really exciting about seeing what nurses do."

Schilling can barely contain her amazement, and there's no reason why she should, about how quickly her life changed. Recently, she was in Manhattan, attending New York University as a scholarship graduate student and tending to a 4-year-old. Today, she's in Pasadena, Calif., on a red carpet, in press conferences, and now relaxing on a patio before heading into hair and makeup.

"I have this responsibility I would never have had before," she says, referring to portraying veterans and nurses. "It is such an honor.

"You cannot come away from veterans and not leave with this unbelievable gratitude," she says. "I really feel like this is Christmas."

Schilling knew since she was an 11-year-old in West Roxbury, Mass., that she wanted to act. "All of my friends were singing for a school musical," she says. "I remember going into the audition room and doing a dance. I went home to my mom and said, ‘That's what I want to do.' I took ballet, tap and jazz since I can remember."

"It is like – boom!" Schilling says, beaming. "I've been preparing for it my whole life and it happens. I couldn't be more plugged in or excited as to who this woman is."