For The Pitt’s Katherine LaNasa, the biggest moment of her career arrived when she least expected it. After a stretch that included breast cancer and time out of work, the actress behind charge nurse Dana Evans is now experiencing a level of success she calls “overwhelming in the most wonderful way.” “Because I wasn’t expecting it, it’s even greater,” she says.
That chapter also sharpened her perspective on her health. “My diligence on getting those mammograms every year definitely saved my life,” says LaNasa, who is partnering with Novartis’ “Your Attention, Please” campaign. These days, she’s equally enthusiastic about the lighter stuff. “I’m a little bit of a spa rat,” she says. We had a chance to sit down with the star to talk early detection, her success as nurse Dana and the treatments she’s loving right now.
You’ve had such a long, interesting career. What does it feel like to have this kind of success at this point in your career?
“It feels really great. In a way, because I wasn’t expecting it, it’s even greater. Obviously, you always want to be receiving acclaim for your work and feeling like you’re at the top of your field, no matter what you do. So to have that happen, it’s like a really beautiful experience that I think every working woman can relate to. That was really wonderful.
I think there was really a very spiritual element to it. I’ll start crying. I’ve spoken about this interview I saw with [Stephen] Colbert, and he was talking about grief. He was saying that if we’re going to love our life, we have to love all of it. We have to bless all of it. We have to bless the hard time, too. So I was trying to really stay in gratitude, even though I had cancer and I was unemployed, and it was kind of scary. I thought, I still have my family, and I have all these wonderful things in my life. Just nature, life. I have life itself. The gifts were so much bigger than anything I ever expected to happen in my life. It’s overwhelming to have this kind of success in the most wonderful way.”
You’re partnering with Novartis on ‘Your Attention, Please.’ Why did this feel like something you wanted to be part of?
“Well, as you know, or may not, I’m a breast cancer survivor. I was just so lucky that I was really good at getting my mammograms, and I caught my cancer early. I understand the fear around it. If I hadn’t found out that I had dense breasts and I needed to be concerned about my breasts in my 30s, I don’t think I would have been as diligent as I was. My diligence on getting those mammograms every year definitely saved my life.
It’s a little bit bothersome to go get a screening, but it’s definitely worth saving your life. There are just so many advances in medicine now. We just need to go take care of it for ourselves, for our family members, for everybody. So it was just a very natural pairing. It felt very organic.”
For readers who don’t know your story, what was happening in your life when you were diagnosed?
“I was feeling great. I had just come from the premiere of Truth Be Told, the show I did with Octavia Spencer. I thought I looked really cute. I just felt like I looked healthy and looked good, and I felt good, and I got my routine mammogram, and I had cancer. I had surgery. I had to remove the cancer. I had radiation. I didn’t personally need chemo. And so far, so good.”
You’ve said that being a patient informed how you play Dana. What did you bring from that experience into the role?
“I think understanding how scared you are when you’re a patient in the emergency room. I had some reasons after I had cancer that I had to go back to the emergency room. So it was actually very specific, very interesting that I got to have that exact experience and be pretty freaked out. The way that the nurse treated me in triage really changed my experience. She could see that I was freaked out, and she said sometimes the first period after cancer can be really bumpy. It can be bumpy for a little while, but it’s going to get better.
Also, little extra things that they don’t have to do, like when they would give me a warm blanket before I had a scan. That helps so much. I also had a doctor in Atlanta who explained everything to me about my radiation. He wasn’t one of those doctors who just has no bedside manner, leaves you in the dark. He explained everything to me about the breast, about the tissue, about the radiation. That was really, really helpful. It made me feel way more calm, like I really understood what was going on. Him taking the time made me feel really cared about. So I wanted to put that level of care, these people who were so careful with me, into Dana.”
OK, this is NewBeauty, so we have to get into the beauty questions. What are you using and loving right now?
“OK, well, I’m a huge fan of the Sunday Riley C.E.O. Oil ($80). I’ve been using it forever, and I hate to say it, it’s about the only thing I use.”
Really?
“Oh yeah. I wash my face and I put that on. Grant [show, her husband,] has now taken to stealing it, so I’m buying it in doubles. They use it on me at work. I love it. I’m not allergic to it. I use it after the shower. I use it before I go to bed. I love it. I really like the Tatcha Rice Wash ($40). I really like that product.”
What about treatments? Anything you’re especially into?
“One of the things I have been doing a lot of is the gua sha massage and the buccal face massage. You know what that is? The gua sha is with the stone, and that kind of makes your face really snatched. But also, the buccal massage just really helped with my tightened jaw. I was starting to even see it in interviews, my jaw just clenched. I’m like, ‘Wow! I gotta work on that.’ It’s really helped a lot, and it feels so good.
I’m a little bit of a spa rat. I also like the lymphatic body massage. I don’t get enough of them. That is really nice when you can find one. They’re harder to find. And I like alternating the cold plunge with the hot sauna. Cold plunge, hot sauna, cold plunge. That’s my jam.”
You mentioned Grant stealing your products. You got my vote for hottest couple at the Emmys went to you two.
“Ha! Yes! Take that Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys!”
But does the borrowing go both ways?
“You know what is funny about me? My hair is so straight that I really don’t need a brush or a comb. I rarely use either, so I always steal his comb. I bought him a really nice, really nice comb. He has a very nice comb. I steal his shaving cream. His comb and his shaving cream.”
When you’re not working, how do you switch it off? What does unwinding look like for you?
“Well, it looks like those beauty treatments that I talked to you about. Really taking the time out, even if I just go get a face massage sometimes. I don’t know if you guys have been to FaceGym. That’s kind of fun. It’s easy. You can get an appointment quickly, and it just relaxes your whole face. It just relaxes you so much. So I’ll do something like that.
But I really like to get out in nature, and I really like to get out of town in nature in some way with my family. If we have a long weekend, we will go for it. We might drive up to Big Sur or down to Laguna and either go in the ocean or hike in the mountains. We’re so lucky to live in this beautiful state, and so we try to take advantage.”
