Can Megan Stalter Just Be Serious for a Second?

In the weeks leading up to, and then during the fifth and final season of Hacks, Megan Stalter has run her own kind of Kaufman-esque publicity tour for both the Emmy-winning show and her personal brand.

Gossip accounts like DeuxMoi and Stalter’s own social media channels have been flooded with clips of the actress prancing around Los Angeles looking very much like she wants attention while screaming at onlookers that they’re invading her privacy. In one video, she’s reading aloud from Britney Spears’ memoir, 2023’s The Woman in Me. In another, she seems to be parodying Addison Rae’s 2024 sideboob paparazzi shot.

It’s a masterful marketing stunt that keeps her front-and-center of the zeitgeist but also lets her fanbase in on the joke.

“My favorite kinds of comedy,” Stalter tells me, “is not knowing where the bit ends. I like to explore that and, like, to create experiences and feeling.” She adds: “If I'm on stage, I want, at times, people to be like, ‘Wait. Is she serious?”

In the early seasons of Hacks, Stalter’s Kayla could have easily been an obvious, one-note joke about Hollywood nepotism. As the daughter of the head of the talent management firm where she can barely roll a call, Kayla actually wielded more power than the manager she was assigned to cover, Jimmy (played by series co-creator Paul W. Downs). Almost instantly, Stalter proved she could steal a scene simply by entering a room, and Kayla quickly became the id that lives in everyone who’s had to suck it up when they want to speak out.

The show was the first time that the actress, who’d previously found internet fame for her viral videos, had been on a real set. No one truly knew what she could do—least of all her. And, like Kayla—who’s since graduated from someone Jimmy treated like a whiny kid sister to his professional equal in their own practice—she needn’t have ever worried about being underestimated. If the final season of Hacks is about owning your legacy and going out on your own terms, no one has done it better than Kayla or the woman who plays her.

But when she’s not in character—either on Hacks or as one of her clickbaiting personalities—Stalter herself is a lot more, well, chill. When we meet in late March at the London West Hollywood, her makeup, save for a strip of aqua eyeshadow that she says is an ode to Kayla, is natural. The actress, who’d just recently accepted the Queerties Awards’ 2026 Vanguard Award in red hot pants, an American flag halter top, and a back tattoo reading “The Prettiest Girl in America,” is wearing a much more subdued Hilary MacMillan denim outfit mixed with a Courrèges polo. Her voice is also more leveled and a little husky; less rage-squeaky than what you see on any screen.

With the real Stalter, or at least the version of her that she puts on for one-on-one interviews, it’s possible to have a conversation without worrying you’re going to wake the beast. In fact, she’s emotional and measured as she carefully considers answers to each question.

Here, we discuss her knack for making memorable red carpet moments, her mentor/mentee relationship with Downs, life after Kayla, and more.

Marie Claire: Going back to the first season, it took a lot of courage and fearlessness to really own those early scenes, where you had maybe two lines.

Megan Stalter: Paul and [fellow series co-creators Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky] gave me a shot, and I was going to take any second I was on screen to make the most of everything that I got to say…because it's, like, my shot. I didn't finish college, and I didn't take formal acting classes. Every red carpet appearance or anything that I get to do in front of people, I want to have fun and make the most of it because it's my dream. We worked really hard to get here, and now I want to enjoy it.

MC: Does the concept of a “character actor” mean anything now that it’s so easy to associate an actor with one or two specific characters—or types of characters—and you can make a social media feed that reflects that?

MS: I get what someone means when they say “character actor,” but I just feel like all acting is a character, right? I think it's good to be thinking of it more just as acting than I'm a character actor. It's putting you in a box. I feel like I was so lucky to do Too Much and be like this romantic lead. But, I mean, that was still a character who was a little bit wacky.

MC: Kayla and Jimmy’s relationship seems to be similar to your actual relationship with Paul. You do red carpet stunts together, like when you parodied Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner’s Marty Supreme red carpet looks at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.

MS: Me and Paul have really good chemistry together. He makes me so much better as a person and performer. And I think, [the writers] ran with that in all the other seasons because it worked in the first season, and [fans] were so sweet about loving Jimmy and Kayla.

I knew how to perform on stage or make videos myself [before Hacks], but I didn't know what it was like to be on set. I didn't know what it was like to be in a scene with someone and being so present that you really feel like it's real in that moment. I learned everything I know about acting and being present and doing emotional scenes from [this show]. It's really easy to cry in a scene with Paul because I feel so connected to him, in the scene and in real life.

MC: Yeah, but it’s one thing to get along with your coworker. And it’s another to agree to wear orange spandex together on a red carpet.

MS: I feel like [Paul’s and my] relationship, in the show and in real life, I've just seen us rub off on each other … I'm so proud when we do something crazy on the red carpet because I know that I've encouraged Paul. Watching him be so funny in the orange outfit, like that was really moving to me. The orange outfits were Paul's idea.

Paul has made me a better actor and a performer and taught me to take this really seriously. And I hope that I've encouraged his wild side.

MC: Do you have a dream red carpet outfit?

MS: I would love to come into a red carpet on a horse. I actually am more saying no to my own idea because of scaring an animal. But if it's the right event and the animal’s not scared, I want to.

MC: How long does it take to come up with these red carpet ideas?

MS: It's really just you saying yes to your own idea and then getting other people on board with it. I have such an amazing team—they are so excited when I have a weird idea, and they all make it even better and weirder. Behind every bit is eight people who make it happen and come up with a million things to add to it.

MC: You dressed like a Dunkin’ Donuts cup for the 2025 Video Music Awards and wore a DIY Diet Coke-themed bustier for the Las Culturistas Culture Awards. Are you just really thirsty?

MS: There’s just something about a pop star endorsing a drink or having a signature drink that they’re always talking about. I'd love to have a sponsorship of Sprite, or, like, ginger ale.

The coffee came from them reaching out to do a commercial. We were a part of making the outfit. I was like, it would be cool if we played with making a cup. And then my amazing stylist [Kat Typaldos] was running with it and doing the Dunkin’ bag and all that. But the Diet Coke corset was me being like, it'd be so funny to, first of all, wear something that I made, and then [have it be] something that, like, anyone can make.

MC: This is all so smart because it keeps your name in the press.

MS: Even though I feel like Hacks is a big break, I'm not looking for like [another] big break. I'm looking to just perform for forever. It's just so much fun. I think it's interesting that pop stars reinvent themselves, and actors and comedians, we can do that too. Like, literally take on different personas.

Lady Gaga is a performance artist—that's how I feel. I want to be able to do something crazy on the red carpet and take on a different persona. The acting doesn't have to end when the scene ends. We can reinvent ourselves and make fun of how serious everything is in Hollywood…I'm from Ohio. Like, I didn't know anyone famous. I know it's like a dream, but it’s also hilarious.

MC: You also still do fun bits on social media. Like when you pretend to be Jacob Elordi’s stressed-out publicist.

MS: There's this show—I'm not gonna say the name—but I heard that they were casting, and I wanted to audition for the show. [It] was a publicist character. So I started doing videos as a publicist online to try to get an audition for the show. And I chose Jacob Elordi because he's one of the most talked-about male actors, besides Timothée…I mean, if I were doing all my bits about one male actor, that would become stalkery.

MC: Wait, so did you get to audition for that show?

MS: No. I think they probably thought I wasn't right, which is totally fine. But I wanted to be like, if I can't have an audition, maybe this could be put in their head. It doesn't hurt to put out the video. I don't think I looked crazy. Also, if I looked crazy; I looked crazy. If I was casting for a show and someone did that, even if they weren't right for the part, I would think it was funny.

MC: You’ve also used the red carpet to make serious statements. Your 2025 Emmy red carpet outfit referenced the war in Gaza. You also wrote a powerful Substack after the ICE raids this winter. There, you talked about your childhood growing up in the Pentecostal church and your relationship with God. Why did you decide to post that?

MS: I felt just so overwhelmed and like, “What are we supposed to do?” [after Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed in Minneapolis when they attempted to stop mass deportation]. And don’t we have to be angrier and fight for each other and protect each other? People are being murdered in the streets, and it’s scary.

My only answer is God and loving each other and coming together, because most people do want to do good. Most people are against murdering innocent people. Yes, there is a group of people that fully are evil and doing evil things. But I think there's a lot of our country that desperately does want to come together. I think acknowledging what's happening and seeking out…vulnerable groups of people, protecting them, and then coming together in love and joy is what will conquer the true evil in our country.

MC: Do you still go to church?

MS: I actually feel even closer to God than ever before. I was very involved in church and felt extremely close to God [and] I did missions trips. And I feel close to God in a different way, probably, now.

I don't have a regular church I go to, but I mix it up, and I go to church sometimes. And I definitely want to find a church I regularly go to so I'm looking for that. My whole message is that God is for everyone. I believe that God is for queer people. And you can't tell someone they can't have something because they're different than you.

MC: You had very researched and informed answers for some of the haters who came for you in the Substack comments, particularly when it came to LGBTQIA+ comments. This has a bigger impact because you are an out queer woman who speaks about her positive relationship with religion.

MS: There are a lot of Christians, and a lot of people with different religions, that maybe judge how certain people live. Or [they] take the Bible and misinterpret or find something and then maybe preach their own beliefs. They can use it as a weapon. It's not what it's for.

It's empowering to hear other people that maybe have gone through something similar, and talking to other queer people that believe or have a relationship with God and also are fully queer. It’s healing, because a lot of people have been told they can't have that because they are a certain way. And I feel a lot of pain hearing people's experiences because the God that I worship wouldn't tell them that they can't have a relationship because they're gay.

MC: It was announced a few years ago that you were attempting to make a TV comedy about your experiences in the church. Is there any movement on that project?

MS: That’s still in the works, but there's nothing to report. My dream is to make that because that's so much of what my heart is—to make a comedy about God, while being able to show love for those people and not be completely, like, alienating the church is something that is really important to me to show in media.

MC: You seem so calm and chill when you talk about this, which is so different from your red carpet appearances or from Kayla.

MS: When I'm doing something like that or performing, I'm in a different place. That’s what I'm meant to do, and when you're doing what you're meant to do, there's some sort of energy that comes from somewhere.

MC: Hacks is ending and Too Much was only for one season. Do you have another project coming up?

MS: I do have a secret project that's going to happen that I'm really excited about, that I can't talk about. But I know you'll be absolutely loving and engaging with it and wanting more and more and more…It’s not a TV thing, but it's gonna be really amazing and big. It sounds like I'm making an escape room.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Photographer Joelle Grace Taylor | Stylist Kat Typaldos | Hair Stylist Clayton Hawkins | Makeup Artist Melissa Hernandez | Creative Direction Alexa Wiley | Art Direction Montse Tanús | Entertainment Director Neha Prakash | Shoot location The London West Hollywood