‘Matlock’s’ Skye P. Marshall on manifesting her dream job: ‘You have to be delusional to succeed in this industry’
Skye P. Marshall knows how to manifest her dreams. Long before landing her breakout role in Matlock, she had created a vision board with one very specific goal: "CBS procedural drama." How is that for accuracy?
"It is a vision board come true," Marshall tells Gold Derby (watch the video interview above). After serving in the U.S. Air Force and then working a corporate job in New York, Marshall decided to pursue acting at age 28. It took more than 10 years for her to land this dream job on Matlock, but Marshall quickly corrects any misconception that she struggled in Hollywood. "I didn’t have any struggles," she asserts. "Because I accept it for what it is. You have to be delusional to succeed in this industry. The second you start being realistic, your expectations of how the industry is supposed to respond to you become your struggle."
"We are artists," she continues. "We are paid to play make believe. The make believing doesn't start when they say 'action.' It starts the second you desire to pursue this. In order for me to create that new reality that only lived in my head, I had to build a vision board. I had to see exactly what it is that I wanted to pursue." After consistently booking smaller parts over the next decade, Marshall said she was ready for her starring role. "That's when the magic started happening."
In Matlock, Marshall plays Olympia Lawrence, a junior partner at the Jacobson Moore law firm. When a woman named Madeline "Matty" Matlock (Kathy Bates) shows up claiming to be a widowed, retired lawyer with aspirations of returning to the workforce, Olympia reluctantly takes the mysterious senior under her wing.
"Kathy Bates is not what I expected," Marshall reveals. "I had put her on a pedestal. I understood that she was a national treasure. I understood that she was iconic. When I first met her I wanted to bend the knee and say, 'Your Grace.' Then, she reminded me very quickly that she is a woman from Memphis. She didn't come from money. She was the underdog who booked Misery when she had to go toe-to-toe up against some [big] names, just like I had to do for Matlock. She's so grounded and so real. She's always a student — way more than she wants to be the teacher. She's way more the cheerleader than she wants to be the coach. Her goal is to be supportive and lift me up — and everybody involved. She knows every single background actor and crew member's name. She's living her life on purpose and not on entitlement. The only version of me Kathy was going to get along with was my authentic self from Chicago, Illinois — and that's who I brought."
Photo credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
When asked about the complicated character of Olympia, Marshall lights up. "I get to be this powerhouse and she's still messy," she says beaming. "She's connected to the culture. She moves with intention. She chooses her clients based off of a heartfelt mission and not just trying to bring in a bag of money — granted, she gets that in class actions — but she's taking on clients who can't technically afford her hourly rate. I love that her mission is always to do good under the umbrella of this fancy law firm."
With Bates' Matty Matlock as the centerpiece of this drama, Olympia's commanding presence remains at the forefront. After all, Matty is in Olympia's world. Marshall draws inspiration from a recent Kerry Washington interview she read, where the actress stated, "As the supporting character on a show or movie, you have to go into your story as the lead."
"I'm not worried about Madeline Matlock," Marshall says. "I'm not worried about the scenes that take place in the Kingston home. None of that is any of my business. I go into the character, Olympia, as if I am the lead of my show. I am the lead and these are my supporting actors. When I remind myself of that, that's where that vivacious energy, that gumption, that pace, the drive — I bring that to every single scene."
In the season premiere twist, viewers discovered that Matty Matlock was actually Madeline Kingston, a happily married, but grieving grandmother who is on a mission to discover who is responsible for her daughter's opioid overdose. While conning the lawyers at Jacobson Moore, Madeline hopes to find a missing case file that will give her the answers she's long been seeking. However, Olympia has caught on to Matty's deception, and finally confronted her about this double life.
"Fans forgot that they were rooting for a con artist," Marshall laughs. "I think they forgot that Madeline can still get caught! That twist at the end of Episode 16 — they just didn't see it coming. When I read the script I almost fell on the floor! It was gorgeous. [In the last two episodes] you're going to see how Olympia was raised by a marine. Gloves are off. She's not playing any games."
Marshall was nominated for Best Drama Supporting Actress at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards for her performance on Matlock. She called it an "honor" to be recognized. "There's a lot of people who haven't had that acknowledgment. You go into Matlock with that leading desire of seeing Kathy Bates and then I'm like, 'Bing bong! Hi!' And they're like, 'Wait a minute — who's this Black lady? I ain't never seen her before.' I'm this secret sauce on the burger! I think I took a lot of people off guard. You see Kathy surrounded by some phenomenal actors — and I'm glad I was able to slide in there as the secret sauce. They don't know where I came from or what my name is. They're just all very curious. To grab and keep their attention has been a true honor and I'm humbled by it."
The two-part season finale of Matlock airs April 17 on CBS. All episodes are streaming on Paramount+.
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