Wendie Malick: ‘I Was a Late Bloomer’

Wendie Malick is the first actor to warn me that I’d smell like donkey for the rest of the day. Then she took me to the back of her house on the ridge looking over the Pacific Ocean to introduce me to said donkey, Luca, and her two horses, a mustang named Stuart and a buckskin quarter horse, Cassidy.

Malick — who features in Apple TV’s Shrinking (now in its third season) alongside Harrison Ford and Jason Segel — is perhaps best remembered for her role in the sitcom Just Shoot Me! (1997-2003), which garnered her two Emmy nominations. But she has been working steadily for decades, including at 75 as one of the stars, alongside Lea Thompson, of the Hallmark Channel’s The Chicken Sisters.

Though she loves to travel for work, Malick, a former model, recharges on this 50-acre estate on the edge of Los Angeles. It is peaceful and secure: The dirt roads leading to the eco-friendly house her husband built are filled with “No Trespassing” signs. “It’s my sanctuary,” she says. “When I’m in nature, I never feel alone. I feel like these are all my friends — the trees, the critters, all of it.” As hawks circled overhead and her preternaturally chill coonhound Sutter settled nearby, we talked about where Malick’s been and what she’s up to now.

She started modeling late

I was in the Broadway ticket booth in Times Square, and a modeling agent came up and said I’d be good for the Wilhelmina agency. At Wilhelmina, a woman asked, “How old are you?” I said, “25.” She said, “Two things: Never tell anybody you’re that old. And practice smiling in the mirror because you have a crooked smile.” I didn’t change my smile and I didn’t lie about my age. But she took me on anyway.

She loves loves loves animals

My best friends have always been dogs. My older sister, Bonnie, was a Collie. She was by my side all the time. My parents could leave me in a playpen with the dog nearby and just ignore me. I’m also pretty good with horses and miniature donkeys, but dog is my first language.

Her ancestral timing has been a wonder

My grandmother left Pennsylvania at 19 and went to Egypt as a missionary. My grandfather was a Coptic Christian there. They fell in love and came back together on the last successful voyage of the Lusitania before it was torpedoed by a German sub.

She didn’t get her big acting break until 39

That was Dream On, an HBO comedy that centered on a divorced book editor in Manhattan. It was the first time people realized I was funny.