Long before Lady Gaga picked up an Academy Award or released her breakout single "Just Dance," she was known as Stefani Germanotta, the girl who played "Girl at Swimming Pool #2" on HBO's The Sopranos.
The singer reflected on her acting debut in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly and marveled over how far she's come since playing a background character in 2001.
"When I look back on that scene I can see exactly what I did wrong in that scene," Gaga remarked. "I didn't know how to listen in a scene! I was supposed to laugh, and it was sort of like, cue, laugh…. I see it and I go, 'oh, that's not a real laugh!'"
"I see a very non-specific actor [on The Sopranos]," Gaga said, before explaining how she's "grown a lot" since playing that pizza-eating teenager.
"I see myself as someone who is at least really striving to be specific without thinking about it, and that requires a lot of work ahead of time," Gaga expressed. "The nuance and being specific as an actor is something that can grow over time if you're willing to listen and really hear the other actor that you're working with."
Gaga used her starring House of Gucci role as Patrizia Reggiani as a prime example of that. "I really thank my acting teacher, Susan Batson, she and I worked for months and months on this before we filmed," said Gaga, who also praised the "incredible" director Ridley Scott for creating "a sanctuary for you on set to just fly."
Gaga's performance is already generating buzz that she could receive a second Best Actress Oscar nod.
House of Gucci is in theaters now.
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