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.

Ari Graynor

I did babysit a little bit when I was young. I prefer babysitting for babies. I always loved babies. I was not as great with kids that wanted to be entertained and that wanted to talk.

Ari Graynor

Love Great Young

I'm a little quirky, a little offbeat, and I'm certainly not a classic beauty.

Ari Graynor

T Quirky Off

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.

Ari Graynor

World Think Thin

The Bowery Hotel is always a great place to meet people for drinks. It's so cozy in there, especially in the late fall and winter.

Ari Graynor

Great Winter Win

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.

Ari Graynor

Who Traditional Tradition

I prefer situational or character-based humor to gross-out gags and comedic set pieces.

Ari Graynor

Humor T Situation

I've had curly hair for years, and I never wore it curly. I didn't know what to do with it.

Ari Graynor

Years Year Wore

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.

Ari Graynor

Movies Where Unity

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.

Ari Graynor

You Us Truck

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.

Ari Graynor

Good Wing Win

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.

Ari Graynor

War Humor Age

As an actor, these kinds of big-comedic-centerpiece characters is just one thing that I love to do.

Ari Graynor

Love Us Thing

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.

Ari Graynor

Art World Then

You can't please everybody. All you can do is please yourself.

Ari Graynor

Yourself Yours Your

You can only really hear the beat of your own drum if you give yourself the space to sit in it.

Ari Graynor

Space Yourself Yours

I've done a bunch of Broadway, so I'm a theater nerd when I come to New York.

Ari Graynor

York Way UN

As a kid, I watched a lot of TV.

Ari Graynor

Watched Watch TV

Onstage was where I felt the most confident and in control and free, and as I've gotten older, it's gotten more and more daunting. And I think that's also part of my desire to keep confronting that and pushing through to find that childlike or youthful ignorance against fear and keep at it.

Ari Graynor

Fear Art Age

I was made fun of for being fat from fourth or fifth grade to eighth grade. That was pretty rough.

Ari Graynor

UN T Rough

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?

Ari Graynor

I've always sort of felt like I was from another time. The '70s is more my vibe. The clothes fit me better.

Ari Graynor

I was more of the kind of babysitter that liked holding the baby, sort of playing Mom, and then putting the baby to bed and watching TV while eating everything in their kitchen.

Ari Graynor

I started acting when I was seven, so I've read my share.

Ari Graynor

Working with David Gordon Green, and Jonah Hill, and Michael Cera, and Drew Barrymore, and all of those people - those are the best people in comedy to work with. Anna Faris. You know, that's my goal, to keep learning and to just keep working with the best people I can. And yeah, we do all hang out, and we all kind of know each other.

Ari Graynor

No one's up in arms about these PG-13 movies where it's literally about the end of the world.

Ari Graynor

Sitting around with Jim Carrey, coming up with bits, is, like, beyond a dream come true.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

The real heart of comedy is uncovering a truth about yourself or about the world that you didn't see.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

The worst thing you can have as an actor is too big an ego. It just kills creativity.

Ari Graynor

I love to cook for people. I equate food with love.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

When you look at all of the male characters on television and in film, it's not like every one of them are the people doing the right thing that you can point to as your own moral compass. We need to have all kinds of characters represented.

Ari Graynor

It is mind-boggling to me that there are so few movies about female friendship, considering women make up half the movie-going population.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

In high school, everyone told me I had a great personality and sense of humor, but I wanted to be the girl who boys liked because she was pretty on top of being funny. I was boy crazy.

Ari Graynor

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.'

Ari Graynor

Women care about their friends.

Ari Graynor

I think a reason why actors get reputations for being crazy and neurotic is because your life task is constantly in flux.

Ari Graynor

Comedy is funny when it comes from truth, and that's always the rule of them. It's about how far you can push that boundary.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

Humans are complex, and I think in entertainment in general, it's very easy to put people in boxes.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

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.

Ari Graynor

On stage, you have nothing to hide behind. It allows the work to live in a more organic place. It's almost like a meditation. You have to go on that stage and be as present as possible.

Ari Graynor

I was the girl who got out of my athletic requirement by managing the boys' sports teams. Which is pretty ingenious, because when I was a sophomore, I got a prom date out of it. That was really strong planning on my part.

Ari Graynor

The language can be different, but the emotional lives are the same no matter whether you're doing Shakespeare or Stoppard or something else... The emotional life is all the same.

Ari Graynor

I've been calling myself 'just an actor' since I was 6 years old. That's a long time.

Ari Graynor