For Rosemarie DeWitt, There Are No Small Roles

When Rosemarie DeWitt first came to LA, she experienced what she now calls a “rude awakening.” The New York native started blossoming on her hometown stage in her early 30s, winning an Obie for Craig Lucas’s Small Tragedy and earning raves for her work in the first revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. She decided to give Hollywood a try against the advice of her agent: “He’s, like, ‘You don’t have enough juice, you have to go out there when you’re more established.’” DeWitt quickly booked a lead in the 2006 pilot Standoff, about two FBI hostage negotiators who are also (twist!) in love. It was a major breakthrough—and a wake-up call.