Amy Adams is promoting Apple TV+’s new Cape Fear series, costarring Javier Bardem and Patrick Wilson. There are four episodes out, with new ones coming on Fridays. I’m going to wait until the end of the season so I can binge it. I hated having to wait between episodes of Widow’s Bay.
On a recent episode of the SmartLess podcast, Amy told hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes that she’d always wanted to be a doctor, but didn’t pursue a medical career because she was bad at math. Instead, she took dance classes which led to her acting career. Amy said that she still wants to work as an ER doctor because she’s great in a crisis and dreams of volunteering at Cedars-Sinai Hospital one day. She backed up her claim with a crazy story about the time she helped save a man’s life after he’d been stabbed in the neck. From E! News:
Amy Adams has knowledge about sharp objects.
The Enchanted actress recently detailed an instance in which she, her father Richard Adams, her husband Darren Le Gallo and their daughter Aviana Le Gallo were among the first on the scene after a man had been stabbed in the neck.
“We were in Santa Monica and coming out of our favorite restaurant,” Adams explained during her appearance on the June 22 episode of the SmartLess podcast. “And these people were screaming and a guy was walking and they’re yelling, ‘He’s dying.’ And my husband’s like, ‘That’s blood.’”
After instructing her husband to stay with their daughter, Adams and her father went to help the man, using beach towels they’d had with them to try and staunch the blood flow.
“He was bleeding and his friends were freaking out,” the 51-year-old recalled. “And I’m sitting there somehow going, ‘You need to calm your pulse rate. Take a deep breath in.’ I literally was just so focused. I was like, ‘The more you struggle, the faster you’re going to bleed. Just lay down. Let’s elevate this.’”
Not only did Adams and her father help save the man’s life, but they even saw the fruits of their labor a year later.
“A guy walks up to me in the restaurant and he’s like, ‘I heard a story that you and your dad were on the scene of a guy getting stabbed,’” Adams recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s you.’ And it was him and he was like all teary and he had his son with him. It was so crazy.”
But while Adams has only played a medical professional once—she appeared in a few episodes of Dr. Vegas in the early aughts—she said she originally aspired to become a doctor in real life until being “bad” at math steered her towards the arts.
“I still wish I could have been a doctor,” she admitted. “I wanted to work in emergency medicine. I’m really good in a crisis.”
As she framed it, “I’m not that smart, but I’m that focused.”
In fact, she still hopes she might make her way into a hospital someday.
“I have this fantasy that when I retire from acting,” she said, “I’m going to be one of the seniors that volunteers down at Cedars[-Sinai Hospital].”
That is a wild story! Thank goodness Amy stayed calm and knew what to do. She mentioned that she and her dad have coincidentally been on the scene of more than one emergency. I don’t know whether to be alarmed or relieved if I ever ran into them. It’s equally crazy that she ran into the man they saved a year later. That must have been such an emotional encounter. I can totally see Amy as a hospital volunteer when she retires. She has that even-keeled, calming aura.
Amy’s story came up after Sean Hayes shared a similar tale about helping a gunshot victim he encountered while driving home from the Will & Grace set one evening. He didn’t know what to do, but instinctually took his shirt off to apply pressure to the wound and called 911. That man also lived. I’m not bad in a crisis, but I’ve thankfully never been in any situations like Sean and Amy’s. Amy and Sean’s experiences are inspiring me to finally renew my 2013 CPR certification and sign up for a first aid class.
Photos credit: Dave Starbuck/Future Image/Cover Images, Roger Wong/INSTARimages
That is so cool!
It is interesting that she’s incredibly level headed in a crisis … maybe it’s her previous aspirations or just her nature.
I find I’m a bit like that. If there’s an emergency, my head clears, I become outwardly very still and calm and go into helper mode of directing others “you calm 911, now!” “You go get a blanket from the closet” “hi seriously injured person, what’s your name? Just stay still, you’re going to be okay, help is on the way …”
I think it was because I grew up in a house on a weird intersection where there were frequent car accidents. Plus my mother was an RN, so my siblings and I had someone modeling emergency response, directing us on what to do. At some point when we heard the brakes squeal, then the metal crash then silence then more crashing we’d all just immediately go into first responder mode … some leading small children out of the street, one calling an ambulance others grabbing blankets and towels and rushing in to help victims, provide comfort.
Sure sounds like she’s talking about ADHD. ADHD folks are generally calm during crises, I don’t remember why 😂. But the ability to hyper focus is what that sounds like. I also think it’s funny she says she’s not that smart, but is that focused.
I agree she does have a calming aura, I’ve always liked her.
It makes me a sad that she says she is “not that smart” because she is bad at math.
I basically failed all my math courses in school, got a mercy pass so I was able to graduate, and always had people telling me I couldn’t do it. Turns out, I just needed to learn a different way.
I went back, upgraded all my math and sciences, and didn’t get below a 90% in any of them! I think we force people into learning one way and it fails a massive segment of the population (particularly women) and teachers/guidance counselors are WAY too comfortable telling us that we’re just bad at something or just not smart enough when really they just suck.
Agreed.I had flunked statistics in Ph.D. class and took it again but also sat in on Masters Stats class. The professor in the Masters class taught in a visual way that spoke to me. I went back to the class I flunked and understood and passed with flying colors. Stella got her groove back!
It’s a sexist trope that women are bad at math. I bet she could have done it and still can.