The Next Big Thing: Ari Graynor

Styled By Tom Soluri
Hair By Seijii for The Wall Group
Makeup By Gita Bass for Exclusive Artist
Retouching By Christel Bangsgaard
Assistants: Jon Hutt and Zack Gross  
Shot at Ramscale.com
 
            This month, as Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a light, comedic film that follows an amazing night in New York City and stars Juno’s Michael Cera, hits theatres, look for Ari Graynor to become a household name you associate with laughter. “You can feel the magic in the movie of this city that has that amazing energy, and it’s beautiful and it’s young and it’s pulsing with love and excitement,” she says. Her character, Caroline, indulges a bit too much and is basically drunk throughout the entire movie. Luckily, her friend Norah is there to take care of her. “I love that while she’s so crazy and out there and having this insane night in New York, there’s this really beautiful friendship between her and Norah. Even though Norah is kind of always cleaning up after her, they just really love each other and look out for each other. I just think it’s really sweet and really realistic.” Later this year, look for Graynor to team up with Cera again in Youth in Revolt, where she plays his dad’s (played by Steve Buscemi) girlfriend—with just a wee bit of an age difference.
            Graynor, who describes herself as an “East Coast girl at heart,” shuttles back and forth from New York City and the Hollywood scene of L.A. when she isn’t working on a film. Growing up outside of Boston as an only child, Graynor says she was attracted to the world of fantasy as a little girl. “I would take all my mom’s clothes and hand-me-downs of family members and just spent a lot of my time playing dress up and make-believe and talking to myself and creating all these situations in my head,” she says.
            Now 25, Graynor converted that land of make believe into a blossoming career that started with television theatre and transitioned into film, encompassing not only film but local and regional theatre as well. She says her mom and dad, a therapist and contractor (respectively), were incredibly supportive of her early desire to act. “It was amazing because from the second I started saying [I wanted to act] at 7 years old, they never questioned it,” she says. “They just kept with me, and they were the ones who were in the car eight hours a day with me, driving me into the city for auditions. They just completely stuck with me and never questioned for one second that I wouldn’t be where I wanted to be.”
            And she’s been where she’s wanted to be for a long time, starting with a role on The Sopranos at age 17. Of course, she was thrilled and excited about the opportunity, but says it was also terrifying. “I thought I was going to throw up the entire day,” she says. “I was incredibly, incredibly nervous.” Her character donned underwear and a tank top and busted out a little dance routine. “I just thought, well, if I could come in and do this, then I can do anything,” she says. “It felt like a very empowering, big moment to get over all of that teen self-consciousness and just be able to go do it. It was quite an introduction to the world of film and TV.”
            Graynor valued the importance of a college experience, so she went to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and completed about half the necessary requirements for graduation before landing the role of Alison on Broadway’s “Brooklyn Boy.” Written by Donald Margulies and directed by Daniel Sullivan, the show garnered her a Clarence Derwent Award. Bestowed by the Actors’ Equity Association, the honors are given to promising men and women in supporting roles, and she joins the likes of Annette Bening, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich and Billy Crudup. It’s clear she made the right decision to leave college, as “‘Brooklyn Boy’ remains one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had the privilege to be a part of,” she says.
            She enjoys not only the camaraderie of live theatre, but the challenge. “It’s like running a marathon, you know. No matter what, you have to do the show eight times a week,” she says. “Each performance [must be] as full as the one before it and as full as the one to come. You can’t have an off night because people are paying $100 a ticket to come see you and they don’t care if you’re tired or sick of doing it.”
            At the time of our interview Graynor was in the middle of shooting Whip It!, a movie about a girls’ roller derby staring Drew Barrymore and Juno’s Ellen Page. To train, she had to partake in a roller derby boot camp. “I’d never been on roller skates before, and I came into training a little late, so it took me a couple days to not fall while standing on the skates,” she says. Her days consisted of skating, ibuprofen and bed. But like every area of her life, Graynor is always up for an adventure.