Random Casts Of ‘American Horror Story’ (13 items)

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  (#3) Angela Bassett

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  In addition to acting in five seasons of American Horror Story, Angela Bassett has also directed two episodes: Roanoke's sixth installment and Cult's ninth. Bassett, however, isn't the biggest fan of the horror genre, as she confessed to Collider:

  I don’t really like horror shows, horror movies, or any of that. I’m really a lightweight, in terms of that.

  Bassett does, however, look past the gore and terror in the show for inspiration: "What I saw, in addition to the horror, was that the writing was so wonderful and the characters were so realized. It wasn’t just fright night, so I could appreciate that."
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  (#2) Sarah Paulson

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  Sarah Paulson has been one of the shining stars of American Horror Story since its inception, and she has appeared in every season thus far, apart from 1984. The show's anthological approach to tackling a new storyline or horror trope each season has kept her on board with every installment.

  She shared in an interview with Collider:

  It’s the beautiful and terrible part of American Horror Story, from an acting standpoint. Every year, you get to try something completely different, and it’s an entirely new story. Artistically speaking, you just never get that lucky.

  Paulson is outspoken about her love for the show, and she even went behind the camera in 2018 when she directed the sixth episode of Apocalypse. She obviously enjoys her work, saying in the same Collider interview, "I’d rather be on American Horror Story than on anything I could think of, ever.  If you’re in the group of actors that Ryan Murphy wants to write for, you count your lucky stars."
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  (#7) Gabourey Sidibe

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  Gabourey Sidibe didn't take her own acting abilities into consideration when she explained why she was cast in Coven:

  American Horror Story has been my favorite show since it first aired and, somehow, I ended up on it! I can only speculate that I did something nice for someone once and so my prayers were answered.

  She shared in the same Parade interview that she immediately accepted when she saw Ryan Murphy's name attached to the show. "I knew I’d be challenged in a certain way and I knew that I needed to just go for it without knowing what would be asked of me because the reward would be greater than the risk."
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  (#8) Jessica Lange

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  Jessica Lange has strong opinions about how her seasons of American Horror Story compare - she appeared in every season up until Apocalypse. She agreed with Gold Derby's analysis, saying:

  Of the four that I did, I would put them in exactly the order that you just did, Asylum first, Freak Show second, Murder House third, and then Coven, which was the other season that I did, in fourth place.

  Lange, whose acting in the show earned her two Emmys, fed off the frenetic energy on set. "You never had time to prepare," she explained. "You never knew where your character was going. You never knew the next scripts, when you were even going to get it. Sometimes you’d only get it the morning when you would start shooting that episode."
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  (#4) Lily Rabe

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  Actress Lily Rabe brings an exquisite vulnerability to all the characters she plays on American Horror Story, and she thrives on the challenges brought to her by the show's demanding scripts. "It’s all over the spectrum in terms of information, so you just have to be ready to roll with the punches and be on your toes. You have to be pretty game," she said to Rolling Stone.

  Rabe feels a great sense of camaraderie with the cast and crew, also revealing to the magazine:

  It’s a massively appealing thing; a television show. You have a steady job for five or six months and you have this feeling of family. And yet you get this incredible luxury of playing someone new every year.
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  (#5) Kathy Bates

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  American Horror Story fans were delighted when horror icon Kathy Bates signed on to play Madame Delphine LaLaurie on Coven. In a press interview for Coven's debut, she told a journalist, "I’m just hoping they don’t ask me to do something really horrific." As indicated by subsequent seasons, however, Bates seemingly adapted to the type of gruesome horror the show is known for.

  Later in the interview, she pointed to the series's exploration of female identity in culture as one of the reasons she initially signed on, saying:

  It throws that patriarchal view of women in your face. That idea of woman as witch, and woman as mysterious and powerful, is one of the underlying messages of the show.

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