Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: The Pitt

The Pitt: Katherine LaNasa on The 2 Shows That Inspired Evans' Accent

The Pitt star Katherine LaNasa shares how ABC's Abbott Elementary and HBO's Mare of Easttown helped inspire her Pittsburgh accent.

Published Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:37:08 -0500

by Tom Chang

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Article Summary

The Pitt star Katherine LaNasa says Abbott Elementary and Mare of Easttown helped shape Dana Evans’ accent.
LaNasa looked to Lisa Ann Walter and Julianne Nicholson performances to capture a tough Pennsylvania sound.
For The Pitt, LaNasa worked with dialect coach Susanne Sulby to fine-tune Evans’ distinct Pittsburgh accent.
LaNasa says the accent was hard to master, requiring a very different mouth movement to sound right on The Pitt.

One of the brightest spots in the HBO Max hit medical drama The Pitt is Katherine LaNasa's stoic, unflappable charge nurse, Dana Evans. Dealing with the front lines at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, from unruly and violent patients to the on-edge doctors always on the verge of a breakdown from the nonstop crises at the ER, it takes everything for Evans NOT to quit. After her assault at the end of season one, Evans did her diligence in carrying a sedative on hand in case another patient got violent, which happened in season two, much to Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinovich's (Noah Wyle) disapproval, given the potential litigation and medical liability. When not locking horns, she's the undeniable source of strength for the ER ward. The Emmy winner spoke with Variety on where she got her tough Pittsburgh accent from.

The Pitt Star Katherine LaNasa on How 'Abbott Elementary' and 'Mare of Easttown' Inspired Her Pittsburgh Accent

LaNasa revealed it was Lisa Ann Walter's school teacher, Melissa Schemmenti, from ABC's Abbott Elementary, which shares a makeup room hallway at the Warner Bros lot, and Julianne Nicholson's Lori Ross from the HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown. "I was watching them, even though I knew it wasn't exactly that [accent] for Pittsburgh," LaNasa said. "I just wanted to get a sense of it, and I would listen to it when I was in the bathtub."

When LaNasa was cast, she went to dialect coach Susanne Sulby for her expertise in Pennsylvania speech patterns that made her one of the most sought-after in the industry. "It was a hard accent to learn," LaNasa said. "It's very muscularly different from how you move your mouth." For more on her career and upcoming work, you can check out the entire interview.

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