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Mary Elizabeth Ellis is opening up about her new hobby.
The television star, 46, spoke with PEOPLE about the new passion she has found in her life during an event at the Paley Center in New York City.
Ellis plays Emily in Netflix’s A Man on the Inside, which follows Ted Danson’s Charles Nieuwendyk as a retiree-turned-private investigator. In season 2, the actress said Emily is “finding her new passion in life, which is nice because I think that’s important, especially as a woman in her 40s.”
Ellis compared herself to Emily, as they are in the same age group. “It’s like, who am I? What am I still into? And for me it’s kickboxing,” she said.
“I do kickboxing with my friend Kendra Smith, who also did stunts,” the actress added. “So, we do a lot of fun stunt things.”
Ellis shared that she began kickboxing “about 5 or 6 years ago.”
“I probably think I’m better at stunts than I actually am, but I enjoy it,” Ellis said, adding that the activity allows her to “feel tough all the time.”
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Sharing more about her character’s journey as the series evolves, the actress said, “Season 1 was really about her taking care of her dad. He lost his partner that he had been with forever, and she was really concerned that her dad lost himself in that.”
“In season 2, she starts to look at herself a little bit more in her own grief, like what she’s going through, and so I get to work on healing myself a little bit more in the season,” she added.
The comedy’s second season, which premiered Nov. 20, follows Charles as he is assigned with helping Wheeler College president Jack Berenger (Max Greenfield) crack a case and must go undercover as a college professor.
The cast also includes Mary Steenburgen, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, Stephanie Beatriz, Gary Cole, Michaela Conlin, Lisa Gilroy, Madison Hu, Sam Huntington, Jason Mantzoukas, Constance Marie, Linda Park, David Strathairn and Jill Talley.
Danson also told PEOPLE about the hobby he picked up later in life.
“I picked up a new hobby of doing a podcast with my friend Woody Harrelson,” he says, referring to his podcast Everybody Knows Your Name. “We’ve done about 150 episodes. I really enjoy talking to people that I wouldn’t have had the nerve to go talk to at a party or whatever.”
