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Hollywood's Top Oscar Contenders Margot Robbie, Cillian Murphy, Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Halle Bailey and More Join the Newest Season of PBS SoCal's 'Variety Studio: Actors on Actors' Premiering Jan. 11

Ten years of conversations with television and film’s biggest stars celebrated in all-new 20th anniversary special debuting Jan. 18.
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Select programming will also be available to stream on PBS.org and the free PBS App. Members of PBS SoCal | KCET get extended access through PBS Passport.

Los Angeles, Calif. – Jan. 4, 2024 – PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS station, announced today the lineup for the 19th season of the Emmy® Award-winning series VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS. Co-produced with Variety, the newest season of half-hour specials features intimate and exclusive conversations with the biggest contenders in this year’s Oscar® race: Margot Robbie, Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Halle Bailey and more. All four 30-minute episodes of the new season will premiere back-to-back locally in Southern California on Thurs., Jan. 11 at 8 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal with encore airings on Fri., Jan. 12 at 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on KCET. All episodes will stream on pbssocal.org following their premieres and will also be available to watch on the free PBS Video app.

Additionally, PBS SoCal reported that Variety’s Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis and Senior Entertainment Writer Angelique Jackson will host a one-hour, 20th Anniversary special for VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS revisiting the most inspiring, entertaining and candid conversations from the show over the past decade. The special features both Television and Film actors as they discuss roles, auditions, directing, technique as well as diversity and representation in Hollywood. Conversations with actors Brad Pitt, Jane Fonda, Viola Davis, Hugh Grant, Octavia Spencer, Zendaya, Martin Short, among others are highlighted in the new VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS 20th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL premiering on Thurs., Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Fri., Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. on KCET.

The 19th season of VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS will be airing on PBS stations across the nation following the premiere on PBS SoCal. This season’s Variety’s Actors on Actors issue hit newsstands on December 6 and clips of all 22 celebrities featured in the new season are available on Variety.com.

The new season of VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS will feature the following pairings and will air as listed below:

Thurs., Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Fri., Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. on KCET

This episode features Cillian Murphy ("Oppenheimer") with Margot Robbie ("Barbie") and Bradley Cooper ("Maestro") with Emma Stone ("Poor Things").

Thurs., Jan. 11 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Fri., Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. on KCET

This episode features Robert Downey Jr. ("Oppenheimer") with Mark Ruffalo ("Poor Things") and Colman Domingo ("Rustin," "The Color Purple") with Jacob Elordi ("Priscilla," "Saltburn").

Thurs., Jan. 11 at 9 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Fri., Jan. 12 at 10 p.m. on KCET

This episode features Michael Fassbender ("The Killer") with Carey Mulligan ("Maestro"), Greta Lee ("Past Lives") with Andrew Scott ("All of Us Strangers") and Halle Bailey ("The Little Mermaid," "The Color Purple") with Rachel Zegler ("The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes").

Thurs., Jan. 11 at 9:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Fri., Jan. 12 at 10:30 p.m. on KCET

This episode features Emily Blunt ("Oppenheimer”) with Anne Hathaway ("Eileen"), Taraji P. Henson (“The Color Purple”) with Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) and Paul Mescal ("All of Us Strangers") with Natalie Portman ("May December").

In May 2019, VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS took home a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy award, has been nominated for another Daytime Creative Arts Emmy for the 2022 season and has been awarded the Emmy for best entertainment programming at the 2015 and 2016 Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards. Now in its 19th season, VARIETY STUDIO: ACTORS ON ACTORS, an interview special that features pairings of prominent actors discussing their craft, is produced by PBS SoCal in partnership with Variety Media, LLC.

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About Variety

Now celebrating its 118th year anniversary, Variety is the leading and most trusted voice of the entertainment industry. Featuring award-winning breaking news reporting, insightful award-season coverage, must-read feature spotlights and intelligent analysis of the industry’s most prominent players, Variety is the trusted source for the business of global entertainment. Read by a highly engaged audience of industry insiders, Variety’s multi-platform content coverage expands across digital, mobile, social, print and branded content, events and summits.

About PBS SoCal

PBS SoCal is the flagship PBS station for diverse people across California and delivers content and experiences that inspire, inform and educate. PBS SoCal offers the full slate of beloved PBS programs including MASTERPIECE, NOVA, PBS NewsHour, FRONTLINE, and a broad library of documentary films with works from Ken Burns; as well as educational content including PBS KIDS programs like DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD and CURIOUS GEORGE. PBS SoCal showcases the best of PBS and is a leading source for arts, culture, and news in Southern California. Through innovative storytelling, the programming explores and expresses our dynamic local communities helping residents understand and connect with the region's diverse communities and ideas. For additional information about PBS SoCal productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit pbssocal.org. Locally produced original content and PBS programs are available to stream on the FREE PBS App, which is available on iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO SmartCast TV. PBS SoCal is available to livestream on the PBS App, YouTube TV, Direct TV now, Hulu TV Live and Local Now.

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