INTERVIEW: Actress Robin Karfo Discusses Long and Fruitful Career Plus “A Brush With Love”

With nearly 50 years in the game, Robin Karfo is an accomplished actor, writer, and coach known for her brilliant roles in television and film. You might recognize her from Grey’s Anatomy, CSI: Cyber, or How to Get Away with Murder alongside Viola Davis, sharing the screen with some of Hollywood’s finest.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Robin's artistic journey began at the High School for the Performing Arts, followed by training at NYU. She made her mark in Off-Broadway productions, collaborating with legends like Tom O'Horgan and appearing in Wrong Guys, produced by The Public Theatre.

Now thriving in California, Robin has graced stages at renowned venues like The Magic Theatre and Berkeley Rep. As a writer, her solo piece “Cages” received a nomination for “Best Original Script,” and she co-wrote the delightful Hallmark rom-com “A Brush with Love.”

What got you into acting in the first place? And how did growing up in Brooklyn play a role in that journey?

It may be hard to believe, but when I was growing up in Brooklyn, it had a very small-town feel. My neighborhood had mom-and-pop stores, the Italian butcher, and the Jewish deli man. We even had this tiny shop that only sold stockings—this was pre-pantyhose! Those vendors knew you. They knew your mother. It was a true melting pot of ethnicities and races. It instilled in me an appreciation for our differences as people and the value of that. New York is a people-watching place. Actors create and inhabit characters, and growing up in Brooklyn built an internal library of characters for me to draw from. My journey as an actor began because of my Jr. High School English teacher, Mr. Biancoviso. He pointed me towards the School for Performing Arts in Manhattan—the school the movie Fame was based on—and the rest is history. 

What made you pack your bags and head to California? How did that change things for you career-wise?

At that point, I had close to a decade of performing on New York stages under my belt, Off-Broadway, which was a great training ground for me. That was a very creative time, which I’m grateful for. But eventually, I wanted another game. I wanted to branch out into TV and film, so I headed west to LA. I’ll never know how my career would have evolved if I had stayed in New York. Those two cities are very different, and the industry in each of them is an entirely different animal. I have found that there are pros and cons to both. Theatre gave me a solid foundation, whereas TV and film were new territories—and I loved that. Working opposite Emmy- and Oscar-winning actors on the sound stages in Hollywood has been a blast. 

You’ve tackled both drama and comedy—how do you switch gears when prepping for a character in each genre?

I’m not sure if I switch gears. There is a consistency in how I approach my work across both genres. As they say, comedy is serious business. I love that. I just go for the truth in the character and the situation and let it fly. 

Can you walk us through your writing process for your solo piece, “Cages”? What themes were you trying to dig into with that one?

When I was living in Marin County, I took a performance workshop at the College of Marin with a brilliant performance artist, Claire Blotter. Wow! Was she thinking out of the box? One class she brought in a bunch of hats, threw them on the floor, and told each of us to choose one and let the hat inspire a character as we wrote down what they had to say. I grabbed a fedora, and a Sax playing New York Jazz musician, Jack, showed up. I’d say he’s a cross between my father, Al Pacino, and me. Out of that monologue came my one-woman show, Cages, wherein I played three characters simultaneously by interacting with life-sized video projections of the alternate characters. I wasn’t consciously chasing any theme really. I had a story to tell about these three people and simply told it. In the final analysis, I guess you could say one theme would be how love sometimes misses its destined target.  

What are some of the toughest challenges you’ve faced in the entertainment biz over the last fifty years, and how did you manage to get through them?

I’d say a big challenge was keeping the faith—keeping my eye on the dream. There can be a lot of counter-intention coming our way as artists, and I’ve had to learn to turn off those external and internal voices that would say, “Who are you kidding?” I’ve kept putting one foot in front of the other and learned how to celebrate my wins, big and small. Fortunately, I love being an artist. It really is my true purpose, so none of the challenges ever felt unsurmountable. I’m stronger because of them.  

As a co-writer for “A Brush with Love,” what was the highlight of that project for you? How did you vibe with the team during the process?

I was invited to help with refining dialogue, which, as an actor, I have a strength in. The story was essentially already there when I began to help. My team was simply Michael O’Brien, one of the executive producers. We had a great working rhythm together. I’d never contributed to the development of a TV movie, so the highlight was that it was a first for me and opened my eyes to another potential avenue for my career. The movie later embraced two other writers, but I was finished by then.

Theatre and TV are totally different worlds—do you have a preference for one over the other?

Different worlds indeed, both having wonderful aspects to them. There is nothing like stepping onto a stage in a dark theatre and feeling the presence of each person sitting out there who has come to have an experience with you. I love that so much. And boy, does it take training and focus to maintain your character’s life from curtain up to curtain down—non-stop. It’s a wild ride. The energy exchange between the audience and the actors is palpable and delicious. Then cuts to being on a sound stage with the presence of dozens and dozens of collaborating artists who make “movie magic” happen. There is a speed at which production flows on a set. Time is definitely money there, so you have to know your part and do it as flawlessly as you can. I love both those worlds, but have to say that theatre—the centuries-old ritual of theatre—is where my heart lives. 

Out of all the roles you’ve played, which one hits home the hardest for you, and why?

Crazy as it may sound, the role that challenged me the most was actually one I prepared for a scene in my acting class. I was studying with the late, great Milton Katselas in Beverly Hills. I reworked a section from Terrence McNally’s Master Class, based on the magnificent opera singer, Maria Callas. I did extensive research. I read every biography, listened to every recording, and watched every video of her performing in the greatest opera houses on the planet. I dipped myself into Maria’s universe. I related to her as a fellow New York Greek-American and as a singer-actress. In McNally’s play, Maria doesn’t sing. However, I wanted to study with an opera coach to learn an aria. In the green room, before taking the stage, I asked Maria to help me and to guide me through it. And she did. Her presence was palpable, and I found myself singing the aria in a way I never had in rehearsal. On the final note, the theater of a hundred fellow actors rose to their feet.

How do you think acting has evolved over the years, especially with all the streaming and digital stuff taking over?

I can’t say that acting has evolved, per se. We had greats centuries ago in the amphitheaters of Greece, and before movies had sound. And every year we see new dynamic actors show up on big and small screens. I watch a lot of streaming content, and there is a huge banquet of genres and styles generated by writers and actors. Everything from the grittiness of Breaking Bad to light and fluffy entertainment. And actors are inhabiting characters for us to relate to and be inspired by. But, as I’ve said, that’s been going on for a long time. What’s new is the crossover some actors have launched into by creating their own streaming content. I experienced the thrill of doing that in the theatre with my one-woman show, and it’s ridiculously empowering.  

What’s on your radar right now? Any exciting projects lined up for the coming year?

I’ve been doing some soul-searching, and what’s on my radar is getting back to creating content. I love to write and want to construct pieces for both the theatre and TV/film. I’ve been walking the planet for decades this lifetime, and I feel I have a point of view that is worth communicating. I’m also just about to launch an online course, The Thriving Artist Course, to help fellow artists navigate a sane, healthy, balanced life and career. My website will soon reveal more, which is RobinKarfo.com