June Squibb became famous when she was over 80. As a 94-year-old film star, she has no plans to stop working.

Some actors spend years working toward career milestones, like landing a lead role in a movie or receiving an Oscar nomination.

June Squibb spent three decades.

The 94-year-old star of the action comedy “Thelma” has been honing her craft since 1959, when she made her Broadway debut in “Gypsy.” It wasn’t until 1990, after three decades as a stage actress, that she made her film debut at age 61. Another two decades later, Squibb became one of the oldest people of all time nominated for an Oscar for their performance in the 2013 Alexander Payne film “Nebraska” at 84.

The fact that it took another 10 years after The She doesn’t mind Squibb becoming a real leading lady in the role of the title character in “Thelma” – she was never explicitly working toward those milestones to begin with.

“I mean, I knew she was the lead,” Squibb told Business Insider. “But that doesn’t really mean that much. It doesn’t change how I prepare or what I do when I’m working. It’s all the same.”

Written and directed by Josh Margolin – and loosely based on his own grandmother Thelma Post – the film is about an elderly woman who falls for a phone scam and sends $10,000 through the mail. When her family and the police can’t help her get the money back, Thelma takes matters into her own hands and races around Los Angeles on her friend’s two-seater scooter to exact revenge.

The film is a fitting vehicle for Squibb’s versatility as an actress, allowing her to show both vulnerability and unbridled joy in a role not often written for nonagenarian characters. Critics are already praising her star turn and suggesting that she should have been playing leading roles in films much longer, and Squibb is happy to oblige.

“I guess there’s going to be a point where I just feel like I don’t want to do it anymore,” Squibb told BI about his plans to continue acting. “I’m not at that point yet. I want to do it.”

For the latest interview in Business Insider’s “Role Play” series, Squibb talked about working with Payne, how a guest spot on “Glee” led to one of her closest friendships, and why she has no regrets about her film career.

On the fight to get permission to audition for “Nebraska”

You received your first Oscar nomination for Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska”, and that was considered your breakthrough role. But you had been in the film business for almost 25 years at that point. Did it ever seem strange to you that people were calling that a “breakthrough” role when you had done so much before?

(Before Nebraska) I did a movie called In and Out. I had a very small role in it, but it was a very funny movie and I was the one who laughed the most. Suddenly a lot of people knew who I was.

But I think the biggest thing (before Nebraska) was About Schmidt. I have to thank Alexander Payne because I did both of them with him (Nebraska and About Schmidt) and they made a tremendous difference. And I think About Schmidt, I don’t know – made me legitimate. It kind of made me a legitimate movie actress.

What was it like to play alongside Jack Nicholson in “About Schmidt”?

Jack was a gentleman and never made me feel less than him. Everything we did together was on equal terms, period. It really was. And I owe that to him.

I didn’t always know what I was doing and he could have stepped in and made it difficult for me, but he didn’t. In fact, it was the other way around. He showed me so much respect the whole time.

Nebraska has such a strong cast, but you steal every scene you’re in as Kate, who seems to be a real treat as an actor. How did your audition for Nebraska go after working with Payne on About Schmidt?

Strangely enough, both times – on “About Schmidt” and on “Nebraska” – they didn’t want to see me, believe it or not!

The first time, I think they felt like they wanted to bring people in from LA because they knew they were shooting in Omaha, but my agents insisted that they at least let me do a tape for them or something. So they finally did, and Alexander told me when he got it, he said, “I knew you were the part. I knew you were it.”

And then we got to Nebraska, and again (my agents) see Kate and start pushing. And the casting director, who knows me very well, says, “Oh, Alexander loves June, but we just don’t think she’s right for it.” He had the sweet little lady from About Schmidt in mind, and that was his opinion. After a lot of talking from the agents, they said, “Oh, put it on tape.” So they sent me the script and I put a scene or two on tape.

And again Alexander said to me, “My God, June, I had no idea you could do that.” He said, “You were Kate.”

So neither one nor the other! Isn’t that weird? Because we have a great relationship and I worked with him twice and they both had a huge impact on my career, but neither of them was a permanent fixture. People think that after ‘About Schmidt’ he probably asked me to do ‘Nebraska’. No, he didn’t. He thought I couldn’t – thought I wasn’t the right person for it.

About the friendship with Chris Colfer through “Glee” and the collaboration with Adam Sandler

You have made a lot of televisionbut there is one guest appearance I have to ask about: “Glee.” You played a retired Broadway legend and Madonna and “Cats” with Chris ColferWhat was it like returning to your theater roots on television?

It was wonderful because I got to know Chris and we’re close friends now. He’s like a member of my family. And it was fun because he wrote this episode and they wanted me to do it. And I’m so glad I said yes because from then on my whole relationship with him opened up.

I loved doing that. I had never sung much before a film. On stage, of course, I sang a lot, but there’s a difference – it’s so technical… So that was interesting for me. And it was fun. All the young people, oh God, we were dancing and singing everywhere.

You wear some very memorable T-shirts in Hubie Halloween. Tell me about working with Adam Sandler on this film.

He’s such a leader. He’s a real leader. He takes responsibility for everyone on his film set, and that’s admirable. I mean, because there has to be a leader. Usually that’s the director.

But he became the leader because of his position and everyone had so much fun. I think that surprised me in some ways. I mean, it’s not that you don’t enjoy filming, but it was like a party almost the whole time. And I think he knows everyone so well. That was the first time I worked with him, but most of the others had worked with him before and knew him very well.

About family dinners with Will Forte and the future of her career

You’ve had so many funny and notable co-stars over the years. Who was the most fun to be with on set or at the awards show?

Oh, Will Forte with Nebraska. He’s so much fun. He’s so smart, so clever, and we got along wonderfully. After we finished filming, we had dinner together about once a month.

We brought in anybody from the crew or cast that we talked to, and I brought my son and he brought his girlfriend at the time. But it was just so much fun. I loved him. I still love him. I saw him not too long ago. He has two little girls now, so it’s grown up. His wife and his two little girls, we had brunch together.

Can you remember ever turning down a role or regretting it?

No. I don’t turn anything down lightly, so it takes me some time. But once I’ve done it, I feel like I’ve done the right thing.

On the other hand, has there ever been something you didn’t achieve that has stuck in your mind to this day?

I don’t think it’s like that in film. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted something in film that I didn’t get or that wasn’t given to me. On stage, yes. Because I’ve spent a lot of time on stage where I felt like there was a role that I should have played or could have played.

Do you plan to continue working as long as you want for the rest of your career?

I think so. I don’t know the answer to that. I wonder sometimes, and I said to my agent, “How long am I going to do this?” And they say, “Well, people still want you to work. People still want you to do something.”

There are one or two things in the future now. I don’t know if I’m going to do them, but I also don’t know if I’m not going to do them.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

“Thelma” is now in theaters.

Read the original article on Business Insider