The Olympic gold medalist opened up about starring as Logainne in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, how gymnastics prepared her for eight shows a week, and her journey to the New York stage.

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Every four years, my family has always made a point of watching the Olympics, and gymnastics has always been a particularly big part of that. My mom and my sister did gymnastics in high school, and I dabbled in middle school, so there was never any question that we'd be cheering on Laurie Hernandez when she competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Nearly a decade later, the Olympic gold medalist has kicked off her theater career, making her Broadway debut in & Juliet, and is now stepping into the role of Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre. And while Laurie may be stepping onto a stage instead of a balance beam, she told me that many of the lessons she learned as an elite gymnast have carried over into theater.

Laurie and I hopped on Zoom to celebrate 10 years since the 2016 Olympic Games and chat about all things Spelling Bee. 

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Laurie: My love for musical theater has definitely bloomed over the last few years. It kicked off in 2016 when I saw Hamilton for the first time. A couple of weeks later, I was on Dancing with the Stars. We had a Broadway night — we got Chicago — and Idina Menzel was a guest judge. I remember geeking out and being so excited.

When the Olympics got delayed, I was thinking, I don't know what to do with my time. I wound up taking an online acting class and writing class, and I had such a blast. The Olympics ended up not working out, and I retired in 2021. But I always thought I might want to get into acting and entertainment, so I wasn't shocked that it was a career path for me once I retired from gymnastics.

In 2022, I started at NYU for drama and creative writing. I just graduated this past May, and I'm so relieved! I've had such a blast in this world, and I could not wrap my head around the fact that my acting career kicked off while I was graduating. I graduated while I was in & Juliet, and I could not have been more grateful for the opportunity. 

I was getting ready to take a big vacation when I got the audition for Spelling Bee. I was so happy to join the cast and, again, grateful for the opportunity. Everyone is so talented, kind, and lovely. This is definitely a new chapter for me.

Laurie: I have never been so excited to jump into a character before. Logainne's like a wound-up, shaken soda can. The lid has not been released yet. She feels very caught in a pressure cooker.

I remember talking with Danny Mefford, our director, during the audition and saying, "I understand her. I get it. I get this pressure of feeling like I'm addressing all of America and hoping that they're not disappointed in me."

Logainne is larger-than-life. Her internal world is so vivid and bright, and it often overcomes her. She believes she's addressing the American people, and this Spelling Bee is so important. The only way the audience understands that is if we literally see it shaking out of her. 

I also had a lisp growing up, so it was very easy to put that back on. I feel like I'm tapping into my old speech therapy days. Even though I'm singing more often than anything else, I get to lean on the acting aspect. It has just been such a lovely experience.

Laurie: The "Woe Is Me" reprise was something I was really looking forward to, just because it's so rich and has such a strong arc to it. Logainne is trying to hold herself together, and then she starts to crack in those moments.

It sounds horrible of me, but I wanted to see: how devastating can I make this? How absolutely gut-wrenching can I make this moment? It's a really fun challenge as an actor.

And then, of course, the rant. I don't want to spoil it, but I did get to write the rant. There's a little bit of a "wink-wink" moment in there that the audience seems to pick up on pretty quickly. That's been very fun.

Laurie: It 100% helped with doing eight shows a week, especially for & Juliet. I played Charmian, so I had a dancer's track, and I was singing ensemble as well.

I was having to tap into warm-ups, cool-downs, taking care of my body — all things that I did while training for the Olympics. I remember telling the whole cast, "This is Olympic-level stuff." There's a lot of physicality that's happening, but there's a mental game to it as well.

Especially for a show like & Juliet that is so exciting and high-energy — if you're coming in on a day where you're feeling really down, you have to safely get yourself to a place where you have a lot of energy and figure out where you can rest.

There was so much intentionality that I felt like I was back in my training days; I definitely tapped back into that.

Laurie: There are so many. I found a video online of me getting the medal put over my head, which is such a nuts moment.

I have so many memories that aren't gymnastics-related at all, of all of us hanging out in the Olympic Village and just laughing with one another. Moments where we're all doubled over and, to this day, if we're in a room together, we'll still talk about it because it was just that funny to us.

Back in 2016, it was such a pressure-cooker environment, and it still is. I think what was special about our team was that we gave each other moments to breathe. We were like, "I'm here for you. I'm your support system."

That felt amazing. So there are a lot of those moments that are very precious to me. Winning team gold was such a relief, too. As soon as that score came up, we were like, "Oh my God, we're done!"

Laurie: It was always flight series — so for me it was a back handspring, layout step-out, layout step-out. So it was three in a row.

I broke my wrist on that when I was 14. I slipped and put my hand down to catch myself. I remember thinking, I'll just do a back handspring layout. I'll just do two in a row instead of three. They said, "If you want to be considered for the team, you have to do a triple series."

That wasn't the only skill I had a problem with but, every time it came up, there was always a part of me that had my fingers crossed. Every other skill, I kind of knew how to maneuver it or save it if I was a little off. I could problem-solve really quickly for the other skills.

For some reason, that one moves so fast that if I'm off by an inch, I'm just off. So I always had my fingers crossed for that.

Laurie: The first time I saw the show, I was just giggling my little butt off and thinking, This is so fun! This is so cheeky! Then I saw it again and again, and the more that I saw it, the more I recognized a heartbreaking side.

In my head, the entire thesis of the show — and I don't know if this is right or wrong — is that being a kid is so hard. Everything can feel like the worst thing in the world. Everything can feel like the best thing in the world. It feels so vibrant, and that can be tough to grapple with.

For Logainne specifically, she has such high energy, and it always feels like the sky is falling — but we see that she turns out okay. I think that's a lovely moment to recognize. We need to make it through the hardest parts, but we're going to be all right.

It's such a brilliant show. There is such rich comedy in there, and I could not be more grateful and excited. As an actor, a theater nerd, and just as a person, being part of this show is a dream come true.

This role has made me so happy. Everything else that happens after this, I'm giddy and ready for it.

Keep up with Laurie on Instagram, @lauriehernandez.