Kathryn Hahn might be one of those actresses where you know the face, but can’t quite place the name. That’s about to change. She has worked steadily for years in TV shows like Crossing Jordan, Girls, Parks and Recreation, Transparent and the new Showtime series, Happyish. Hahn’s no stranger to the big screen either with roles in movies such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Step Brothers, We’re the Millers and the upcoming probable summer blockbuster, Tomorrowland.

Her latest movie is The D Train in which she costars as Jack Black’s wife, Stacey Landsman. In The D Train, Dan Landsman (Jack Black) has never been the cool guy. That’s about to change – if he can convince Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), the most popular guy from his high school who’s now the face of a national Banana Boat ad campaign, to show up with him to their class reunion. A man on a mission, Dan travels from Pittsburgh to LA and spins a web of lies to recruit Lawless. But he gets more than he bargains for as the unpredictable Lawless proceeds to take over his home, career, and entire life.

Kathryn recently sat down with a few of us to discuss her increasingly visible acting career.

Q: So I heard about your Christopher Walken impression [which had made the news the morning of the interview].

Kathryn: [laughs] I’m very gifted at impressions [sarcastically]. Just throw out any name and I’ll give you an impression. Someone asked me to do an impression and it was embarrassing. Where was that? In People?

I saw the headline on Entertainment Weekly.

Oh seriously?!

You’ve gone viral!

Oh great. It was nothing. It was a weird kind of accent.

It was one of the top headlines on Entertainment Weekly this morning.

Oh good [laughs]. Who doesn’t have a bad Christopher Walken impression in their back pocket? It’s horrible, horrible [laughs].

Sometimes you get to be the crazy character. This time [in The D Train] you get to react to the crazy characters.

It was so refreshing. I rarely get to play the grounding parts – the anchor. I was really intrigued with [my character] because why was she with [Jack Black’s crazy character] all this time? I was really interested in investigating that. In high school, I don’t think he was really on her radar. Why did she stay in that town? She’s a nurturer. Over the years, the cloud over him has gotten bigger and bigger and darker and darker. She’s had to pull him up continuously. She must get something out of it – one of those classic enablers. She absolutely is the grown up in that family.

How much rehearsal time did you have?

Like a minute and a half.

That much?

Yes, it was luxurious. No, it all came together incredibly fast. It was such a labor of love. And our producer Dave [Bernad], you would just want him to go into battle with you because his determination to get this made was really moving. I think Jeffrey Tambor and I were the last to sign on and we started shooting a week and a half later. We had a couple of conversations and a couple of really good meals and I dove in. It was a short shoot and it all happened really fast. The first scene I was in the car after the reunion [towards the end of the movie], which was a great place to start so we could build backwards from that. And I was really impressed with Jarrad [Paul] and Andrew [Mogel] finding themselves as directors during the filming of the movie. It was really exciting to see the birth of them as directors.

Have you gone to any of your reunions?

I went to my high school reunion – I think it was my ten year reunion. I went to an all girls Catholic high school in Cleveland, Ohio. I’m still really good friends with a couple of the ladies from my class. [Reunions] are just nightmares. No matter how well you’re doing in real life, or not well, reunions are a fertile ground for reinvention. You can decide what you want to show of yourself all of these years. It’s an idealized version of yourself and that’s what you’re going to show. Ultimately, you walk into that gym, or wherever you are and you literally become your 15 year old self again. I don’t know any who’s had the greatest reunion experience unless they were wasted [laughs].

Did your classmates treat you differently after going back to the small town from Hollywood?

That was a different bird ten years ago. It’s an insecure place to be for anybody. A lot of the people I went to high school with still live in Cleveland and they have beautiful, awesome lives. You look at all of your alternative selves. It was awesome to see people with these huge families in these big gorgeous houses with woods in the back and their kids walk to school. You think, ‘wow, that sounds like an awesome life.’

I’m from Ohio too so I understand.

No way honey, where?

The Dayton-ish area.

Oh okay! Great school.

So how did you get out of Ohio?

First, I got out of Ohio by going to Northwestern University, so just a quick jaunt up the 90 West. Then after Northwestern, I went the other way and went to Manhattan for a chunk. A lot of my family is still in Ohio. I love it. Dayton’s beautiful, by the way.

Who were you in high school?

I kind of tap danced between a lot of different groups. I was liked by a lot of people, but I kind of skirted between groups. I’m the oldest kid in my family and I worked hard in high school. I worked very hard and got good grades, not that I remember anything [laughs]. There’s something about going to a single sex high school that was really valuable for me and for a lot of young women. You didn’t have to worry about clothes. You weren’t afraid to raise your hand. Being smart wasn’t seen as being uncool and I was grateful for that. I was in drama, in the art group – everything but sports. I was never, never an athlete.

Was there a moment when you knew you had to be an actor?

Oh yea, it was very early on at The Cleveland Playhouse, which has now folded and makes me very sad, but it was this beautiful regional theater. In my mind, it was the most beautiful and romantic little theater. I would take classes there called The Curtain Pullers. It’s like a happy place in my mind. When I think of my beginnings, I think of this little stage with this little ghost lamp on it. It’s like my happy place. What was the question?

The seminal moment when you knew you had to be an actor.

I think it would be that. I remember seeing a Charles Dickens play there and I was mesmerized. My parents let me take classes and I did a few plays there. There were a lot of graduate students and I filled in small parts for a lot of the graduate plays from Case Western. I think they had an acting graduate program. And there was a regional acting group which I think has disbanded. I remember my mom would give me $3 on Saturdays and I’d spend it on healthy choices like Snickers and a Coke. I would just hang out with the actors and think, ‘I love this!’ All I wanted to do was put my [Broadway makeup artist and wig maker] Bob Kelly makeup on and I thought I was in heaven.

You’re known as a comedic actress, but you didn’t perform much comedy in this movie.

Which is okay. I went to school thinking that I could play anything and when you’re in school, you can. I [had played] a gazillion different things. I love doing some like this [a low budget indie movie] as much as I love doing a big studio comedy as much as I love doing [Amazon’s TV show] Transparent.

This must be an exciting time. You’re like a casting stealth weapon.

It is an exciting moment. After having kids, it feels like I’m not trying so hard. I don’t have to push that hard. Your priorities shift.

You mentioned you have children.

19 and counting [laughs].

How do you juggle all the balls of being a wife and mother and having a career where you have to travel?

You can’t. I’m always just trying to be where I am at the moment. When I’m with my family, it’s hard not to be thinking about work. When I’m at work, it’s hard not to be thinking about family. So I just try to be present wherever I am. Wherever I am, I try to give 100%, but it never feels satisfying. It’s like The Myth of Sisyphus and the boulder keeps rolling down. I’m crazy grateful that I get to do what I love and I’m excited that both of my children get to see their mom do what she loves.

And you have Tomorrowland coming up where you get to play with all the toys and George Clooney.

I wish I got to play with the toy that is George Clooney! We don’t have any scenes together, but we do share an imdb page together which I’m very excited about.

The D Train is playing in select theaters now.