Pouring a heaping helping of herself into the story of PEN15, Maya Erskine's mother wasn't the only real-life figure from her personal life well-represented in the series. In the show, Fred Peters (Richard Karn) is an approximation of Erskine's actual father Peter Erskine who is no stranger to the spotlight as well.
In PEN15, Maya's dad Fred is a drummer, which is exactly what Erskine's father also does professionally. In PEN15 season 1, episode 8 "Wild Things", Maya and Anna watch Wild Things with a group from school. In real life, Erskine's dad Peter is credited on the soundtrack to the movie.
One of the things that made PEN15 such a great comedy was the connection between stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, and many of the events were drawn directly from their personal lives. Erskine and Konkle play middle school friends on the show, but they didn't meet until they were both adults. According to Distractify, Konkle and Erskine met in Amsterdam during an NYU study-abroad trip, and they soon began spending time with each other, becoming fast best friends in real life.
Despite meeting later in life, the connection comes through strong in the series.
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