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For The Pitt<\/em>\u2019s 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 \u201coverwhelming in the most wonderful way.\u201d \u201cBecause I wasn\u2019t expecting it, it\u2019s even greater,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n That chapter also sharpened her perspective on her health. \u201cMy diligence on getting those mammograms every year definitely saved my life,\u201d says LaNasa, who is partnering with Novartis\u2019 \u201cYour Attention, Please\u201d campaign. These days, she\u2019s equally enthusiastic about the lighter stuff. \u201cI\u2019m a little bit of a spa rat,\u201d 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\u2019s loving right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt feels really great. In a way, because I wasn\u2019t expecting it, it\u2019s even greater. Obviously, you always want to be receiving acclaim for your work and feeling like you\u2019re at the top of your field, no matter what you do. So to have that happen, it\u2019s like a really beautiful experience that I think every working woman can relate to. That was really wonderful.<\/p>\n I think there was really a very spiritual element to it. I\u2019ll start crying. I\u2019ve spoken about this interview I saw with [Stephen] Colbert, and he was talking about grief. He was saying that if we\u2019re 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\u2019s overwhelming to have this kind of success in the most wonderful way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, as you know, or may not, I\u2019m 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\u2019t found out that I had dense breasts and I needed to be concerned about my breasts in my 30s, I don\u2019t think I would have been as diligent as I was. My diligence on getting those mammograms every year definitely saved my life.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a little bit bothersome to go get a screening, but it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was feeling great. I had just come from the premiere of Truth Be Told<\/em>, 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\u2019t personally need chemo. And so far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think understanding how scared you are when you\u2019re 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\u2019s going to get better.<\/p>\n Also, little extra things that they don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOK, well, I\u2019m a huge fan of the Sunday Riley C.E.O. Oil ($80). I\u2019ve been using it forever, and I hate to say it, it\u2019s about the only thing I use.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah. I wash my face and I put that on. Grant [show, her husband,] has now taken to stealing it, so I\u2019m buying it in doubles. They use it on me at work. I love it. I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne 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\u2019m like, \u2018Wow! I gotta work on that.\u2019 It\u2019s really helped a lot, and it feels so good.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a little bit of a spa rat. I also like the lymphatic body massage. I don\u2019t get enough of them. That is really nice when you can find one. They\u2019re harder to find. And I like alternating the cold plunge with the hot sauna. Cold plunge, hot sauna, cold plunge. That\u2019s my jam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHa! Yes! Take that Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what is funny about me? My hair is so straight that I really don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, 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\u2019t know if you guys have been to FaceGym. That\u2019s kind of fun. It\u2019s easy. You can get an appointment quickly, and it just relaxes your whole face. It just relaxes you so much. So I\u2019ll do something like that.<\/p>\n 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\u2019re so lucky to live in this beautiful state, and so we try to take advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nYou\u2019ve had such a long, interesting career. What does it feel like to have this kind of success at this point in your career?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You\u2019re partnering with Novartis on \u2018Your Attention, Please.\u2019 Why did this feel like something you wanted to be part of?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
For readers who don\u2019t know your story, what was happening in your life when you were diagnosed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You\u2019ve said that being a patient informed how you play Dana. What did you bring from that experience into the role?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
OK, this is NewBeauty, so we have to get into the beauty questions. What are you using and loving right now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Really?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What about treatments? Anything you\u2019re especially into?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You mentioned Grant stealing your products. You got my vote for hottest couple at the Emmys went to you two. <\/strong><\/h2>\n
But does the borrowing go both ways?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
When you\u2019re not working, how do you switch it off? What does unwinding look like for you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n