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ALISON BRIE

Photography Frederic Auerbach / Creative Director Deborah Ferguson

Interview by Sydney Nash

dress and boots by LOUIS VUITTON, fine jewelry by STEFERE

Alison Brie is an American actress. Born near Hollywood, Brie grew up knowing she wanted to pursue acting. Following her graduation from the California Institution of the Arts in 2005, Brie landed the role of Trudy Campbell on AMC’s hit Mad Men. She went on to star as Annie Edison in NBC’s Community and recently appeared alongside her husband Dave Franco in The Disaster Artist and Steven Spielberg’s The Post. She currently portrays Ruth Wilder in Netflix’s critically-acclaimed series GLOW, which follows a group of women in the 1980s who are brought together to star in an all-female wrestling show. Brie was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award this awards season for her role. She currently resides in Los Angeles with fellow actor and husband Dave Franco and their cat, Harry.

Congratulations are in order! Your performance as Ruth Wilder in GLOW has earned you nominations for both a Golden Globe and a SAG Award. What were you doing when you heard the news and how did you react?

Thank you so much! I was actually dead asleep. I didn’t realize when the announcements were happening so for both nominations I was woken up by a ringing landline phone (yes we have a landline and the Glow girls make fun of me about it constantly) and I worried that there was some kind of emergency. But instead it was such fun news! I was very surprised and excited and honored to be recognized in this way for a show I’m so proud of.

You grew up in Pasadena and have said you knew you wanted to be an actor from an early age. However, you decided against going to a performance arts high school and avoided professional acting as a child. What was the reasoning behind your decision and how did it affect your development as an actor?

I think a major deterrent was taking this commercial acting class when I was 13 or 14. I had been doing children’s theater programs as a kid, and plays and theater acting classes in middle school, and I loved performing so much and the commercial class just really put me off. I vividly remember being grossed out by the idea. So I told my parents I didn’t want to go on auditions or do anything like that until I was older. I think I just wanted to stay in regular school with my friends. And theater to me was still in the realm of “fun” – i loved doing the work, and rehearsing and discovering characters, but I didn’t want acting to be my “job” till I was an adult.

Tell me about the first role you ever had.

The first role I ever had was Toto in the Los Feliz Jewish Community Center’s production of The Wizard of Oz. I was probably 7 years old. I did the whole show on my hands and knees and my only dialogue was barking. My mom sewed knee pads into my costume. It was great.

blouse, skirt and boots by LOUIS VUITTON, fine jewelry by STEFERE

Your first big television role came straight out of college when you played housewife Trudy Campbell in Mad Men. What was this experience like being such a young actor on a huge television hit?

It was incredible. Although when I first booked the job in the first season of the show none of the episodes had aired yet, so I didn’t really know it would be a hit. I was excited about the material because the writing was so fantastic. It reminded me of theater, with so much subtext and juicy characters. After I had shot a couple episodes I got a hold of the pilot and I remember thinking, “oh no…this is too good, nobody is going to watch it.” But of course, people fell in love with it as much as I did and it ended up being this amazing second education for me. It’s where I really learned how to act for the camera after theater school. I loved working on it so much.

You’ve recently starred in many high-profile films, including The Disaster Artist and The Post. How has the experience of acting for film differed from acting for television? Do you prefer one over the other?

I think the biggest difference is the speed. TV moves really quickly. It never stops moving. And you’re always learning new things about your character as you go, whereas in film you have all the information from the start of the project and much more time to prepare. But I love the pace of TV. I end up developing a shorthand in the way I prepare because I get to live with the characters for so long – for years! And a tv cast and crew can really become a family because you get to come back to working together year after year, which is really nice. But I love working in films too! The way I approach the characters doesn’t really change at all. Honestly, I’m always happy just to be working at all.

What’s been your most challenging role as an actor? How did you prepare to play this character and what lessons did it teach you?

Definitely playing Ruth Wilder on GLOW has been my most challenging and also most fulfilling role. Because we do all of our stunts on the show, I knew going into it that I’d be learning to wrestle and be responsible for that physical aspect of the character as well. I trained so hard to prepare for season 1 of the show! In addition to the 4 weeks of wrestling training that I did with the cast, I worked with my personal trainer, Jason Walsh at Rise Movement, doing strength training and we got after it! I wanted to be really strong to be able to execute all the moves, of course, but also to avoid injuries, and also because I wanted Ruth to have the type of body that would excel at wrestling. I wanted it to make sense that she turned out to be good at this thing that she never would have thought she would be good at. And the flip side was emotional preparation. I could relate to the character on many levels so that was a great starting point, but I really wanted Ruth to feel like a real, vulnerable, open character. I’ve learned so much from this character and from this job. Learning to wrestle proved to be unbelievably empowering. It showed me a different and powerful way to use my body and really pushed me to connect with my body on a deeper level than I had before. As an actress I think there has always been a pressure to be small and that can translate into trying to be very skinny and punishing your body or feeling like your body is your enemy. This job has really bound me to my body and myself and opened up a whole world of inner power I didn’t realize I wasn’t accessing before.

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(above image): lunch compliments of TESSE RESTAURANT

You currently star as the lead role in Netflix’s GLOW as Ruth Wilder, a struggling actress turned female wrestler. What drew you to this role?

I was so surprised by the pilot script for GLOW. It was unlike anything I had ever read, and especially different from all the pilots I was reading that year. The world of women’s wrestling in the 80’s seemed so exciting and crazy and like an amazing risk and adventure. It seemed like, and proved to be, a total actor’s dream job where I’d be able to showcase so many different skill sets – great physical comedy; deep, nuanced character moments; and then really strong physical stuff in the ring. I read it at a moment when I really wanted to do something different from the projects I’d previously done and I didn’t feel like I was getting the opportunity to show a different side of myself as an actor. And that’s exactly how Ruth feels as an actor. I could totally relate to feeling underestimated and wanting so badly to push boundaries but getting penned in by the industry. I also really loved the relationship between Ruth and Debbie – and the shock that such a tenacious and endearing underdog character could perpetrate such a terrible action against her closest friend. It gave Ruth a lot of depth and a lot to struggle against, and that is so fun to play.

While GLOW contains many comedic elements, it also has its fair share of drama, especially in this latest season. Tell me how you balance the comedic moments with the more intense storylines.

Well I think this is the best thing about our show, and it all comes from the writing. Our writers are incredible at weaving stories together in a very real way and letting the characters be fully realized people. It’s such a joy to get to be totally goofy and silly in one moment, and be laughing my head off with the girls on the show, and the next moment find myself in a really quiet, intimate scene with Marc or Betty, or even alone. It’s a real testament to how much our writers/show runners Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch trust us as actors to give us all different types of material to work with.

GLOW explores numerous interpersonal relationships and storylines, specifically between the women wrestlers. Tell me what it’s like to work on an almost all-female set, portraying a genre that is typically dominated by men.

It’s so wonderful to be able to work on a set with this many women. It really does feel different from other sets i’ve worked on. It’s inspiring to see so many women behind the camera, as well as in front of it. And it’s so cool to just look around the cast and see so many different types of women represented on the show; each bringing their own unique strengths and perspective to the show. As a cast it really feels like we have ownership over the set and have the type of environment that allows us to take big risks in our performances. It’s an incredibly supportive atmosphere. We feel seen and heard and often I think we’re given great opportunities to push ourselves to shine in different ways. I’ll be directing an episode this season and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It will be the first thing I’ve ever directed and it’s an incredible vote of confidence to get the opportunity. That kind of support, and the desire to foster new female talent makes our show a really special place to work.

jumpsuit and boots by LOUIS VUITTON, fine jewelry by STEFERE

jumpsuit, jacket and boots by LOUIS VUITTON, fine jewelry by STEFERE

GLOW is undoubtedly entertaining, funny and heartbreaking at times, but there exists a message of female empowerment as well. If there’s one thing you want audiences to take away from the show, what would it be?

I think it would be the idea of women owning their own power. This show is about a group of women who are taking big risks to take their lives and careers into their own hands. They are taking ownership of their bodies and using them in a powerful way. I hope the show inspires other women, and men, to take pride and ownership in who they are and let that light shine in a way that also empowers those around them.

At the end of season 2 of GLOW, we see the women heading for Las Vegas to headline a live show. Any more information you can give us on season 3? Any new challenges for Ruth?

Hmmm…what can I say about season 3….you’ll get to see a different side of Ruth and Debbie’s relationship, that has been really fun to play with. And I guess a different side of Ruth and Sam’s relationship too. Vegas opens up a lot of things for a lot of the characters. It’s a dangerous place to be, where it feels like rules don’t exist. But mostly Ruth continues to be soul-searching and trying to figure out who she is and what she wants from this life.

As an actor, you seemed to have almost worked on it all: drama, comedy, hit television series, Oscar-nominated films, Spielberg! What’s your next big career goal?

Well I’m very excited about directing this season, so that’s been a big point of focus for me this year. And I’ve been doing some writing as well, and that’s been really gratifying. I’d love to be in a really, really big budget movie some day. It’s something I’ve never experienced and I’m so curious what that experience would be like.