It’s been more than 20 years since a small-time actress known only as Stefani Germanotta took an uncredited role in season 3, episode 9 of The Sopranos.

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In the years since, that same woman has become a household name — not as Stefani Germanotta, but as her icon alter-ego, Lady Gaga. But back in 2001, she was just getting started, and so gratefully accepted an uncredited role as “Girl at Swimming Pool #2” in the popular HBO series.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gaga revisited that performance and reflected on how years of work have changed her as a performer.

“When I look back on that scene I can see exactly what I did wrong in that scene,” she said. “I didn’t know how to listen in a scene! I was supposed to laugh, and it was sort of like, cue, laugh…. I see it and I go, ‘oh, that’s not a real laugh.”

Over the last two decades, Gaga has been awarded numerous times for her talents as a performer both in music and acting. Since that long-ago day when she struggled to giggle realistically in a brief Sopranos scene, she has taken on far more challenging roles and risen to prominence among the nation’s celebrity elite. She compared the old acting role to a far more recent one: Her role as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci.

“I see a very non-specific actor [in The Sopranos], and now I see myself as someone who is at least really striving to be specific without thinking about it, and that requires a lot of work ahead of time,” Gaga said. “I really thank my acting teacher, Susan Batson, she and I worked for months and months on this before we filmed, and Ridley Scott, an incredible director who creates a sanctuary for you on set to just fly.”