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I was telling my friend Heather the other day that I interviewed Jamie Denbo who created a show all about the Ren Faire. Her reaction, like mine, was…FINALLY! Why hasn’t this subject been explored and put on display for all to see before? Denbo created “American Princess” which airs on Lifetime on June 2nd. I invited her to tell me about this show and how she became an actress, producer and top improviser.

Denbo came to Hollywood in a unique way. She didn’t train a traditional top acting school or have famous parents. She got a taste of theater and performing after a random audition for the Ren Faire. She says she was hooked on a life of immersing herself in other characters ever since. After a short stint at Disney World, she found her way to New York and trained under the original UCB founders – Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, and Ian Roberts. She found the experience of doing improv in New York strangely competitive at the time, unlike it is now. But she learned the UCB style and brought it to LA, launching the UCB Los Angeles theater and school.

During that time she created her most well-known character, Beverly Ginsberg of “Ronna & Beverly” –  a cult alt comedy act that was a live show, TV show and podcast (with guests like Jon Hamm, Connie Britton, Michael Strahan, Bob Odenkirk, Jack Black, Leslie Grossman, Paul Feig, Ben Platt, Will Arnett, Michael Bolton, etc.). She played Beverly for 12 years while also appearing in guest star roles on the biggest shows on TV. She has had recurring roles on “Orange is the New Black”, “The Good Place”, “F is for Family”, “Speechless”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

Despite all of her success, like many actors, she felt unfulfilled in some ways waiting for an audition to get a small part on a TV show. She says found joy and a sense of control in creating her own shows and projects. For many years she wanted to tell the stories of the colorful characters who live and breath the Ren Faire life and finally had the chance to do it. “American Princess” tells the story of an American socialite who joins a Renaissance Faire after her wedding goes awry, only to discover there’s a lot more to life than she once thought.

When Amanda (Georgia Flood), an Upper East Side socialite, runs away from her own dream wedding, she realizes that the life she thought she wanted wasn’t actually right after all. After impulsively joining a Renaissance Faire, Amanda experiences an unexpected awakening that leads her to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about the pursuit of happiness. She quickly develops new friendships, rivalries and romances that, much to the confusion of her family, opens her eyes to new beginnings.

Not only does “American Princess” have Denbo’s sense of humor and great character development skills, but it’s also being executive produced by Jenji Kohan (“OITNB”, “Weeds”) so it’s comedy pedigree solid. Denbo is also a mom of 2 but to be honest, we didn’t get to talk about motherhood much in this episode because we were diving in deep about the world of improv, Disney, Ren Faires and making television. Listen to this episode to hear the rest of Denbo’s story and watch “American Princess” on Lifetime Sunday, June 2 at 10 pm ET/PT.