Caroline Aaron Didn’t Know ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Would Be a Hit at First: It’s ‘Thrilling’

By now it’s clear that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is definitively one of the best TV comedies of our time — but even some of the show’s stars didn’t expect the adoration it received upon its 2017 premiere. Caroline Aaron, who plays Shirley Maisel on the Amazon streaming series and has since the very beginning, is a prime example of this fact.

“I’ve gotten to do so many different things over all these years. All of us have said how much we’ve done, but we’ve never been in this kind of a hit,” Caroline exclusively told Closer Weekly at the Critics’ Choice Awards, presented by FIJI Water, when asked about how she feels about her career right now. “It’s unbelievable, it’s so surprising and so thrilling.”

“No, it just goes to show you that I shouldn’t go to Vegas. Don’t listen to me. Don’t put your money down on my table in Vegas,” the 67-year-old actress joked, saying it is the show she is “most proud of altogether” in her years of showbiz. “The thing about it is this is so specific, this world and this time period — in New York, it’s a Jewish family, it’s the ’50s.”

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel comes to us from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and follows Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a Jewish housewife who seems to have it all — a husband, two children, and a fabulous NYC apartment. This, of course, until she decides to explore her potential as a female stand-up comic.

Caroline and onscreen love interest Kevin Pollak (Moishe Maisel) play the parents of Midge’s estranged husband, Joel (Michael Zegen). Alex Borstein plays Midge’s manager, Susie Myerson, while Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle play Midge’s parents, Abraham “Abe” Weissman and Rose Weissman. Just three seasons in — and with more on the way — the show has received numerous Golden Globes and Emmys among other awards and accolades.

Despite being a part of a fabulous acting ensemble on one of the most successful TV series out there, Caroline admitted how it’s not always easy to not worry. In fact, that’s the exact advice she would give her younger self.

“Look forward to the ride and don’t be so nervous about what’s next. Even though I’m telling myself that, I can’t do it. It’s so scary. My daughter is an artist, she didn’t get a job recently and I told her, ‘If you want to live a creative life, you need to make friends with uncertainty.’ It’s true,” Caroline, who shares daughter Sydney and son Ben with longtime husband James Foreman, reasoned. “The advice I would like to give to myself is to become better friends with uncertainty because I’m longing all the time about what to know, even what will happen next season.”

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