“Eso es lo que ella dijo!” (That’s what she said).
The tongue-in-cheek phrase comes from the popular sitcom The Office. While the show provided comedic relief for viewers all across America for eight years, it served a different purpose for Luke Grimes’ wife, Bianca Rodrigues.
The Yellowstone actor has revealed that Rodrigues — a native of Brazil — learned to speak English from watching the show. The model moved to America speaking only Spanish, but became fluent in English thanks to subtitles.
“She moved to the States without knowing a word of English,” Grimes recounts to People. “And when I met her, she had only lived here for two years, but she spoke beautiful, fluent English. I was like, ‘How did you learn it so fast?’ And she said, ‘I watched The Office with subtitles.'”
In a full-circle moment, Grimes appears in a new romantic comedy alongside Ellie Kemper, who played Erin Hannon on The Office from 2009 to 2013. The two play love interests — Jake and Helen — in Happiness for Beginners, which is now available on Netflix.
The actor and musician says Rodrigues and Kemper had a chance to meet while he was filming on set.
“She got to meet everyone,” he says. “We all hung out on the weekends, and it was great.”
Grimes took on the Netflix project during his downtime away from Yellowstone. Production on the second half of Season 5 is at a standstill due to complications with Kevin Costner’s filming schedule and the ongoing writer’s strike. Costner is set to depart the show when it resumes, according to reports.
Outside of acting, Grimes has launched a music career. He signed a record deal with Mercury Nashville/Range Music in December of 2022 and released his first single, “No Horse to Ride,” that same month. He is currently working on his debut album.