Wild Card with Rachel Martin

Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe sees acting as a form of service – both to the audience and to his coworkers making a movie. That selfless approach means he’s also on guard for anything tha

John Dickerson

John Dickerson made a name for himself as an anchor at CBS News. Last year, he left the world of broadcast news to pursue stories that put his values of generosity, curio

Gillian Anderson

“How am I complicit in not getting what I say that I want?” This is the question Gillian Anderson wants you to ask yourself. She has read many accounts from women detaili

Sara Bareilles

“Being a human is so complicated for so many reasons,” Sara Bareilles tells Rachel. That’s why she’s trying to show more grace for both herself and others these days. In

Brittany Howard

“We’re all gentler and we’re more sensitive,” Brittany Howard tells Rachel about reuniting with her band, Alabama Shakes. The band is back with their first studio album i

John Leguizamo

“Being so vulnerable was really difficult,” John Leguizamo says of his role as Eumaeus in The Odyssey. It’s an opportunity he relishes, though, having come up in a Hollyw

Suleika Jaouad (Encore)

Suleika Jaouad has written extensively about what it means to live in the in-between — the space between sick and healthy. She’s dealt on and off with cancer since her ea

Brett Goldstein (Encore)

Don't be fooled by Brett Goldstein's grumpy exterior – he can't resist a big, open-hearted story. You see it in the TV shows he's acted in and helped create, "Ted Lasso"

Shania Twain

“You cannot rely on somebody else to push you out of the plane — you have to jump,” Shania Twain tells Rachel. For someone who has lived a life marked by so much loss and

Hrishikesh Hirway

“I still feel like I'm wondering what I'm gonna be when I grow up,” Hrishikesh Hirway tells Rachel. That might be because he’s drawn to so many things: he’s an accomplish

Tracee Ellis Ross (Live)

"Are you willing to be responsible for your own happiness?" Tracee Ellis Ross asks in this episode, recorded with a live audience at LAist. Tracee is all about actively c

Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams often writes about what is easy to overlook – the “holy ordinary” as she calls it. Whether it's the beauty and plight of the natural world, or the

Danny McBride

For Danny McBride, success in Hollywood has taken patience, hard work, and a little bit of delusion. That sense of delusion is also present in the characters he writes, w

John Cena

John Cena didn’t become a WWE megastar and Hollywood leading man by accident, he worked at it, and he takes none of his big breaks for granted. He tells Rachel that a sec

David Sedaris

Writer David Sedaris tells Rachel he doesn’t mind being humiliated, because he knows it will wind up as great material. David’s new book, “The Land and Its People,” is fu

Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers isn’t about rushing creativity. His latest novel, "Contrapposto," has been on his mind for about two decades. And he tells Rachel he believes many artists do

Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke is such a natural fit for Wild Card that she had several answers for many of the questions. The self-described “verbose” musician/actor talks to Rachel about h

John C. Reilly

From "Step Brothers" to “Chicago,” John C. Reilly imbues every one of his roles with humor, empathy, and heart. In his latest project, a vaudeville stage show called "Mis

Noah Kahan

Noah Kahan's breakthrough album, Stick Season, made him known to millions of fans. But he tells Rachel that experience left him feeling like he knew himself even less tha

Rita Wilson

Rita Wilson tells Rachel that she was tired of always being cast in the same kind of “nurturing” roles. And so she decided to explore a totally different career  – one in