Yahoo Lifestyle 'Second Chance Stage' Stars Reveal Their Biggest Second Chances
Like the contestants on Second Chance Stage, the new talent competition that offers individuals a second chance at their dream after years of putting it aside, the how's celebrity judges and host know firsthand what it's like to be given another shot.
Before achieving the success they have today, country singer Martina McBride, stage and screen actor Taye Diggs, Saturday Night Live star and actress Heidi Garnder and former NFL player and media personality Emmanuel Acho received an opportunity that set the stage for their respective careers.
The three judges and host of Magnolia Network's new series exclusively opened up to Parade about second chances in their own lives, which for one included a FaceTime from Oprah...
Courtesy of Magnolia Network
'Second Chance Stage' Stars Reveal Their Biggest Second Chances
Martina McBride
Her second chance: Getting to make a second album
"You know, I made my first album [The Time Has Come]—it didn't set the world on fire ... And so somebody saw something and gave me another chance to make another record, on which I was a little bit more evolved. And, you know, we talk about it being the right time—a little bit more evolved, a little bit more experienced, knew myself a little bit better, and made a second record [The Way That I Am] that was almost a different direction. So, yeah, that was my second chance."
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Taye Diggs
His second chance: a callback for How Stella Got Her Groove Back
"You never know at what point who's making a phone call to help you out... Actually for my first movie, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, I auditioned. The breakdown was for a tall Jamaican boy with dreads. So I knew I wasn't going to get it, but I just wanted to go in front of these people, and just show [them] who I was. So I went, did it, forgot about it, and then it disappeared. Then it came back. And I went and [auditioned again]. Didn't hear back, and then I got a call back. So somebody somewhere said something and I was able to come back ... So that's a version of a second chance."
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Heidi Gardner
Her second chance: getting another shot in front of an SNL talent scout
"I was at the Groundlings Theatre in L.A. I had just gotten into the Sunday Company, which is like the level right before the Main Company. And I was probably in it for three months. And I was just learning how to write sketch and perform every weekend. And some talent scouts from SNL came. This was probably in, like, 2016, and they watched like 12 of us just do a little short performance, and they didn't call any of us."
"And then a year later, they came back to the theater, and I had gotten into the Main Company at Groundlings, and they wanted to see the Sunday Company again ... and they sent out an email, and it was like, 'So SNL's coming and they want to see all the Sunday Company—and Heidi.' And I was like 'Oh, that's gonna piss everybody off.' I was like, 'What? How did that happen?'
Apparently, "The head of the theater at the Groundlings said, 'You also have to see Heidi. You have to. She's gotten like a lot better.' [Laughs] She just threw my name in."
Emmanuel Acho
His second chance: his post-NFL career
"I would say my second chance came in my second career [after leaving the NFL]. I was on [ESPN] and I was doing my thing. I always wear suits, exuberant suits, and the CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, he had sent an email to the head of ESPN, like, 'Yo, whoever's in that pink suit, I like him.' ... And so that gave me a second chance at confidence."
"My real second chance probably came when Oprah called. Just FaceTimed me one day cause I dropped this video, and she says, 'Hi Emmanuel.' She was like 'Do you have a second to FaceTime?' [Laughs] I was like 'Do I have a second to FaceTime? Do YOU have a second to FaceTime?' And we FaceTimed. She's in her kitchen, and she's like, 'What is your intention?' I said, 'My intention is to change the world. I truly believe I can. I'm currently working on writing a book.' [His first book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, came out in 2020.] She said, 'Books? I love books!' True story. ... once I was Oprah-approved, then my whole life changed."
Second Chance Stage, executive produced by Chip and Joanna Gaines, premieres Nov. 28 with two episodes on Max, followed by weekly two-episode drops.
