Ari Graynor
I was a precocious only child, and then I went through a fat, awkward stage for several years, so I learned to fall back on my humor and personality when I was growing up. It's how you survive, so I think it was more of a natural progression for me, developing into comedy.Collection: Humor
It is mind-boggling to me that there are so few movies about female friendship, considering women make up half the movie-going population.Collection: Friendship
I've started to get more stage fright the older I get.
I think a reason why actors get reputations for being crazy and neurotic is because your life task is constantly in flux.
My deepest fear about doing TV, especially about doing a network comedy, was what if it felt too surface-y? What if it felt too jokey?
As a kid, I watched a lot of TV.
When I was kid, I couldn't wait to take the world by storm, to be a woman - beautiful, powerful, confident, sexy, thoughtful, and deep. All the things I knew I was inside... even though I was only 4.
By 12, my body had changed, although instead of blossoming into Cindy Mancini from 'Can't Buy Me Love,' I more closely resembled Chunk from 'The Goonies.' My inside world may have been filled with a poetic and vital feminine life force, but the outside world saw and told me otherwise.
I don't know what I would have done without acting. I officially fell into it around age 6 in a class play that reimagined 'The Ugly Duckling.' My joy in performing was so boundless, you would have thought I'd just won a Tony.
At 21, my career took a comedic turn when I was cast in a new Broadway play called 'Brooklyn Boy,' by Donald Margulies, which was equal parts funny and sad. I realized that the more seriously I expressed my character's feelings, the funnier the scene became.
There's a lot of schlock out there.
I went through a little hippy dippy program at Brandeis and was bat mizvahed by the rabbi who married my parents. We celebrated the High Holidays and had the traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner.
There's something innately funny and warm about being Jewish. I think it's something to be embraced and respected.
Sometimes you can get stuck doing the same kind of thing over and over again, and then there's a certain moment in your life when you say, 'Wait, there's all this other stuff in me and all this other life.'
It's such a tough business. And once people see you a certain way, it's really hard for them to change their minds about you.
The real heart of comedy is uncovering a truth about yourself or about the world that you didn't see.
I've always sort of felt like I was from another time. The '70s is more my vibe. The clothes fit me better.
I have the personality where, although my ego can be healthy, sometimes I also feel like people won't remember me, or they won't know who I am.
As an actor, these kinds of big-comedic-centerpiece characters is just one thing that I love to do.
Don't believe anything you read on Wikipedia!
I'm not nearly as brave and confident in some of the ways that I think stand-ups are.
Humans are complex, and I think in entertainment in general, it's very easy to put people in boxes.
I was playing a lot of bigger, sort-of-comedic characters in slightly heightened realities, and it had been so fun and fulfilling for a long time. But it got to a point where I just felt like I didn't have that in me anymore.
You know what no one tells you about driving a truck? You are driving a truck. There are only side mirrors, and it does not handle like a Prius.
I think 'Nick and Norah' was a huge deal for me. It was my first foray into the studio world, and that character was such a gift.
People remember the last thing you did.
As an actor, there's no faking it.
Sometimes you can fall into bad habits on film or rest on your laurels, and you can't do that in theater. I think it's such a useful tool as a person and as an actor to go back and forth between those two mediums.
Henry Winkler is the most lovable man. He is like everybody's favorite grandfather.
Women care about their friends.
When I was a kid, I did dial the 900 numbers out of curiosity, but I was such a goodie-two-shoes that I immediately hung up because I didn't want it showing up on the bill.
There are a lot of female characters out there that, when they fall on hard times, they sort of stew in their fears and negativities and vulnerabilities. And there's something that's really truthful about that - when I've gone through hard times or breakups, I've spent a lot of time on my couch overeating and crying with friends, that's true.
I've been really interested and inspired by Nan Goldin, the photographer.
At the end of the day, if you're an actor, you want to act. And it's not something you can do in the living room alone. If you're a painter, you can paint at home. If you write music, you can write on your own.
More and more, people probably associate me in this world of comedy and these confident, brassy, big ladies, which I love, but my insides and who I feel like internally and the kind of work that I hope to continue doing feels very different from that.
I've been calling myself 'just an actor' since I was 6 years old. That's a long time.
The truth is, there are so few female roles in movies. That's really limiting. As an actor, you wanna be able to sink your teeth into something. You don't want to just be the best friend. You don't want to just be the girlfriend.
If I'm gonna stay in this world of comedy, then it has to be a really special character to me in a really smart piece of material.
I've always just admired women who were able to navigate through dramatic and comedic waters and sort of do it all.
I don't have to fear that if I do more comedy I'm not going to get to do everything I want. I'll get to do my 'Yentl.'
My worst nightmare when I was in school was that I would get into trouble. I never got in trouble. I was a good student.
Acting was the place where I could be free and feel confident.
I didn't want to study theater or go to school in the city. I wanted the all-American 'Here's your quad' college experience.
I'm such a theater geek. Most of my friends are in this community, and it's really important for me to keep doing it. It takes the ego out of acting, whereas movies tend to involve it.
As an actor, your life is constant ups and downs. My friends and I joke that when a job ends and nothing is lined up, you have nothing to do for the rest of your life. You just ride that wave.
I love to cook for people. I equate food with love.
I require a lot of stimulation, and there's so much I've learned being in front of the camera, I felt like I had more to give behind it.
Our everyday lives exist with comedy and tragedy next to each other.
When you get into comparisons in any way of, 'we want it to be like this' or 'we don't want it to be like this,' it takes away from the authenticity of what you're trying to say and what you're trying to make.
I'm a little quirky, a little offbeat, and I'm certainly not a classic beauty.