Hey everyone, it's Kate Snow. For this episode of The Drink, I sat down with actor Daveine Joy Randolph,

who's best known for her Oscar-winning performance in the holdovers and that Oscar speech.

For this conversation, we sat down over two iced Vietnamese coffees at a restaurant called Ocean Prime in Manhattan.

If you're new to the drink, it's always about how people got to the

top of their field. Devine told me all about how she got her unusual start. She actually dreamed

of being an opera singer, but a surprising setback in college pushed her reluctantly at first toward acting.

We talk about the lessons that she has learned through rejection and her acting

career since then, her breakout role on Broadway, how she captured the attention of top Hollywood

directors and the new projects that she's starring in now. As always, you can catch all of my

conversations with top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries at NBCNews.com slash the drink.

I just keep thinking, like, if you hadn't made that pivot right then, you might be an opera singer right now.

Yeah, yeah. My life would be completely different.

Oh, here we go.

Devon Joey Randolph, Oscar-winning actor.

Rich and a dumb, popular combination around here.

I want to do a little cop monologue right now, okay?

Let's all just pretend. We're on long order and I'm Olivia Benson.

What is your drink?

Vietnamese ice coffee.

Ice coffee.

Chee-hmm.

Yum. Oh, that's so good.

...