20 Questions with Anne Winters

Photographed by LISA RICHOV
Styled by BRANDON NICHOLAS

Location: Villa Premiere Boutique Hotel & Romantic Getaway, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Anne Winters
@annewinters

Where are you from?
I am originally from Dallas, Texas.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?
Three words to describe myself: fun, adventurous, and talented.

What’s your favorite movie?
My favorite movie, Legally Blonde. That’s what I’m trying to recreate right now. I don’t know if you could tell.

Favorite holiday?
My favorite holiday is Christmas because I … Hold on, I was chewing on a seed. Don’t edit that out because that’s funny. My favorite holiday is Christmas because I love Christmas lights and sparkly things, and Christmas is that.

Dream place to travel?
I want to go to Bali so badly. That’s my next place I want to go.

What’s your favorite memory?
My favorite memory is winning my Emmy, which actually happened this day last year. So my mom just sent me a throwback photo of me winning my Emmy last year, today. Best memory ever!

What’s your biggest weakness?
My biggest weakness is I’m just such a hard worker. I feel like that’s what everyone says in a job interview. No, I’m just kidding. I would say my biggest weakness for myself would be self-doubt or overthinking something, when realistically, I think I actually should think I’m really good at something and I’m really criticizing myself. So basically, I’m just awesome and I need to realize that.

What’s your biggest strength?
My biggest strength is once I start something or when I have my mind set to something, I go for it and I am great at it, no matter what it is. I know that no matter what I have my mind set to, I will do it well.

When are you most inspired?
I’m most inspired when I hang out with certain people that really motivate me. When I hang around a group of people or people that I admire work-wise or whatever, and hear their story or see some sort of success that I’m trying to achieve at that time, that’s when I’m most inspired. Watching the Oscars and seeing a really great speech really inspires me.

What makes you smile the most?
The first thing that came to my mind was my dog, because every time I see her, she’s smiling already. I wake up and she’s already smiling next to me. I don’t know what it is, but she knows when I’m going to wake up and she’s just sitting there. So she makes me smile probably the most during the day. But a lot of things make me smile. I’m a very happy person, so I just smile at a lot of things.

What’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
People would be surprised that I’m deaf in one ear. I’ve been deaf in my left ear since I was, I don’t know, two, maybe younger. But I don’t really say it that much unless it comes down to filming and they have the entire cast on this side and I have to react to them on my left side, then I have to say something. But yeah, I’m actually deaf in my left ear and it’s been like that for a long time, so I don’t really know the difference.

Sweet or savory?
I definitely like savory better, savory food over sweet. But at the same time, once I have enough savory things, I like sweet things.

What’s a song you can listen to on repeat?
Blow Your Mind by Eve. It’s like a really old pop 90s, 2000s song. And it’s so freaking good. Any pop fun song that you heard in the early 2000s is my jam.

What’s a top highlight in your career?
A top highlight in my career would be winning the Emmy. But I would say, I don’t know, anytime I find out I’m booking something. It’s really just crazy. When I found out I booked “13 Reasons Why”, that was crazy. I jumped up and down for a good 20 minutes! It was fun.

What’s your favorite time of day?
My favorite time of day would be around 4:00 PM. I don’t know why, but the morning’s done, I get all of my errands done. I’m such a morning person so I wake up at 6:30, get everything done, and 4:00 PM is my winding down time. And then I go to bed really early. So 4:00 PM is my, if you want to hang out with me 5:00 maybe, let’s go out. Let’s have a drink. And then I’m probably going to go to bed.

What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do but have been scared to try?
One thing I’ve always wanted to do is skydive, but I’m really nervous to skydive. Everyone’s done that though, so I don’t know. I’m next, I know I am. I will skydive eventually, but yeah, not today.

Any projects you’re currently working on?
Right now I’m working on The Orville. It’s on Hulu. It’s on its third season. I come in as a new character, her name is Charly Burke. She’s really smart and bad-ass and she is the navigator on the ship and she has really cool storylines. I’m so excited!

What is something you learned about yourself this past year during COVID-19 quarantine?
During COVID I feel like it was just a learning experience for everybody. I was in a relationship, and broke up during COVID. But not only that, I learned a lot about myself and yeah, I think it was a good time for everyone to kind of really see what they wanted to do. And since you have so much off time and you don’t have to be anywhere and everyone’s schedules are normally busy with other people putting a schedule in front of you, I thought it was a really good time to figure out, what do you want to do? Without a job in place, or this or that?

So I don’t know. That was the biggest thing I discovered, is what do I really want to do? And that’s why I ended up optioning the book of Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes, which I’m producing, and it’s going to be an MTV show which I’m really excited about. And without COVID, I probably wouldn’t have had time to sit down, read a book, and think about where I wanted my career to go. So I’m really grateful for that. Obviously, it was a really hard time for everybody.

Spirit Animal?
Miley Cyrus. I freaking love her. And she was the one who inspired me, Hannah Montana, to be an actress. And she’s not an animal, but I feel like she’s kind of an animal in a way. We’re all animals in a way. And she’s just my spirit animal. Me and Miley Cyrus would be best friends.

What would you like to say to your fans?
I would love to say to my fans, thank you guys so much for supporting me, following my journey. Even though sometimes I’m not doing something, sometimes I am. Just whatever’s happening to me, you guys support me no matter what. And I love that. And thank you so much. I love you guys and I want to meet all of you. I have so many people that come up to me, and then people that don’t message me, and they’re all like, “Oh, I saw you and I didn’t come up to you, I was so nervous.” I’m like, “Come up to me!” I love meeting everybody. So if you see me on the streets, maybe in Puerto Vallarta, maybe in L.A., wherever it is, come up and say hi. Because I love you guys.