ARI GRAYNOR ISN’T HERE TO PLAY BY THE RULES. SHE MOVES THROUGH THE WORLD LIKE AN ARTIST FOREVER IN MOTION—ACTING, WRITING, PHOTOGRAPHING, AND, WHEN THE INDUSTRY NOISE GETS TOO LOUD, RETREATING TO THE STILLNESS OF HER 200-YEAR-OLD FARMHOUSE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK, CLEARING OUT INVASIVE PLANTS AND BUILDING THINGS WITH HER HANDS. WHEN SHE’S ON SET, SHE DISAPPEARS INTO CHARACTERS SO FULLY THAT SAYING GOODBYE FEELS LIKE A BREAKUP. WHETHER IT’S THE BOLD UNPREDICTABILITY OF NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST, THE DARK COMEDY OF I’M DYING UP HERE, OR THE RAW INTENSITY OF MONSTERS, GRAYNOR GRAVITATES TOWARD ROLES THAT LET HER EXPLORE COMPLEX, LAYERED WOMEN. WITH THE LATTER, SHE STEPS INTO THE POWERHOUSE PRESENCE OF ATTORNEY LESLIE ABRAMSON—A CHARACTER THAT STAYED WITH HER LONG AFTER FILMING WRAPPED.

Left Full look **Louis Vuitton**
Right Top **Petar Petrov**, skirt **Bottega Veneta**

Where are you right now?

I’m upstate, at home in the country. I bought this 200-year-old farmhouse about six months before the pandemic—62 acres of land, a lot of trees, a lot of space. So when I’m not working, I’m usually outside dealing with something—walking, building, pulling out invasive plants, trying to figure out how to take care of things. It’s a very different rhythm from set life.

You spent months on red carpets, at photoshoots, at award shows… then suddenly, it’s over. How does that feel?

It’s kind of like Cinderella at midnight—minus the endless housework. It’s fun, it’s dress-up, but it’s not real life. I love it, but I also love coming back to my quiet world. I’m an introvert, but it took me years to realise that. I love people, I love talking, but I recharge by being alone in nature. For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me, but then I was like, “Oh, I just need alone time.” What a concept!

If you could be friends with any character you’ve played, who would it be?

I feel like acting, at its best, is kind of like falling in love. You step into someone else’s world so completely that you can’t help but feel connected to them. So in that way, I’d want to be friends with all of them. But Leslie [from Monsters] would have been an incredible friend—intense, but great. Caroline from Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist would have been fun, in a chaotic way. Katie from For a Good Time, Call... too. And Cassie from I’m Dying Up Here—though I think she might’ve scared me a little. Oh, and Brenda from Mrs. America! Funny thing is, I didn’t even know her while I was filming, but after the show aired, we ended up meeting and now she’s like an aunt to me.

Left Full look **Giorgio Armani**
Right Full look **Louis Vuitton**

Do you ever miss your characters after a project wraps?

Oh, all the time. It goes back to that feeling of falling in love. When you play a character, you step so completely inside their world that they become a part of you. And often, you end up exploring pieces of yourself through them. With Leslie, I felt that most. She was hard to let go of. Playing her was such a beautiful opportunity to step into my own power and strength. She cared what people thought, but at the same time, she didn’t. She had presence, command, sharpness, and this charisma that I really loved. And getting to embody that—it stayed with me. I think sometimes, when you take on a role, it’s like practising parts of yourself that you want to bring forward in real life.

Do you still get nervous before stepping on set?

Always. I mean, even if you know a character inside and out, there’s still that moment of stepping onto a set and thinking, “Oh god, I hope I can actually do this.” When I had to do stand-up in I’m Dying Up Here, it was terrifying. I wasn’t a real stand-up comic, obviously, but I still had to get up in front of 150 people and tell jokes. That’s a different kind of vulnerability. And in Mrs. America, debating Cate Blanchett was probably the scariest day of my career. She’s not intimidating as a person—she’s actually the best—but the idea of standing next to her, holding my own in a legal debate? Terrifying.

Was she really intimidating?

She’s the most incredible woman in the world, which somehow makes it even more terrifying to stand across from her and think, “Okay, now I have to hold my ground and debate Cate Blanchett.” A legal debate, no less. She’s so sharp, so precise—so yeah, wildly intimidating. But honestly, Monsters as a whole came with a lot of fear and self-doubt for me. I had moments of wondering, “What if I get in my own way? What if I can’t do this?” And then the courtroom scenes started, and it was like, “Okay, this is where Leslie lived. This was her arena.” I just wanted to do her justice, to honour her completely. I think fear is always a good thing. It doesn’t feel comfortable—no one loves sitting in that space—but when you don’t have it, you actually miss it. It’s an engine, a sign that you’re doing something new, pushing yourself somewhere unfamiliar. It’s scary, but that’s where growth happens.

How obsessed were you with the real-life Leslie before shooting?

Honestly, I didn’t know that much about her before getting the job. I knew the case, but I wasn’t super familiar with her specifically. But once I got the role, I became completely engrossed—like, full-on, year-long deep dive into everything Leslie Abramson. I watched every video, read everything I could find, and tried to go beyond what happened in the courtroom. I wanted to understand where she came from—her family, her history, her psychology. When you’re playing a real person, and especially one you have access to through footage and records, it’s like this ongoing scavenger hunt. You start collecting all these tiny details, little clues about who they were and why they operated the way they did. And then, as an actor, you get to interpret those details—like mixing paint colours to create something that feels whole, layered, alive.

Ryan Murphy always creates these incredible female characters—powerful, even in their vulnerability.

Yes, absolutely. What he’s done for women on television—giving them these full-bodied, juicy, complicated roles—is really unparalleled. Maybe unparalleled isn’t quite the word, but it’s definitely a gift. He creates these singular, richly layered women who feel real, and that’s rare. When I came on board for Monsters, I actually auditioned the day before the actors' strike and then, miraculously, got the offer the day the strike ended. But at that point, I hadn’t read any of the scripts—I only had a couple of scenes for the audition. One was Leslie’s introduction at the adoption agency, and the other was her first meeting with Erik. Even just from those few pages, I could tell how much depth was there. The way she was introduced, the way she spoke about her own life and work—it wasn’t the obvious choice, but it got straight to the heart of who she was. And that’s what Ryan, Ian Brennan, Brandon Kirby, David McMillan—our main writers—do so well. They write women with range, with contradictions, with truth. I’ve been waiting to play a woman like Leslie for a long time. Roles like hers are rare. She was rare. And to have a character like that on television? Even rarer.

Left Full look **Giorgio Armani**
Right Full look **Loro Piana**

Your character had such a serious presence, but you brought this energy that shifted things—made us feel something different.

Oh, that’s really kind of you to say. I always saw Leslie as no-nonsense and tough, but she also had incredible charisma, humour, and warmth. I mean, Joan Didion was one of her best friends—that alone tells you she wasn’t dull. Playing her, I wanted to find the balance—going deep without losing myself in it. Over the years, I’ve learned how to hold that space, but Leslie was a challenge because she had spent decades hearing the worst of humanity. As an actor, you want to absorb everything, but as a lawyer, she couldn’t. There were scenes—especially with Cooper and Nicholas—where I just wanted to break down, but my job was to hold the space, not fall apart. And weirdly, that boundary became a gift. It kept me present, kept me focused. And having such incredible scene partners helped—we’d shoot something emotionally brutal, and then Cooper would be like, “Okay, what’s for dinner?” That kind of levity saved us.

Let’s talk about the power suits.

Oh, please! Paula Bradley, our costume designer, was incredible. We had a mix of vintage and custom-made pieces—YSL, Chanel, incredible tailoring. That red suit? Vintage YSL. The green one? Vintage Chanel. The black one I wore with the family was an unreal vintage Ungaro. I usually live in… well, let’s say, very not power-suit clothing. But when you step into something like that, it changes your whole body language.

So what first introduced you to acting? Did someone lead you to it, or did you just find your own way?

It kind of just happened. My first-grade class put on a play—How Yucky Duck Became Sir John Swan. We didn’t audition, everyone was just assigned a part. But I remember getting off the bus that day, in tears of joy, because I had been cast in a play. And that was it. I was an only child, so I spent a lot of time creating worlds on my own—talking to myself, dressing up, making up characters. And my mom did some community theatre, so there was always that little window into it. She was in the chorus of Guys and Dolls and Hello, Dolly! when I was little, so I grew up around the Wellesley Players. But I think it was just one of those things where, the way some kids pick up a paintbrush or sit at a piano and just know—for me, it was acting. After I played Molly in Annie at a community theatre, I told my parents, “This is what I’m going to do.” And, unbelievably, they listened. They supported me. And from there, I just kind of found my way.

Left Top **Petar Petrov**, skirt **Bottega Veneta**
Right Dress **Courrèges**

Do you feel more at home on stage or in front of the camera?

It used to be the stage—just because I did so much of it for so long. But now? This is probably the longest I’ve ever gone without doing a play since I was six years old. I think it’s been about seven years, which feels wild. I was supposed to do one during COVID, but it got pushed, and then other things just didn’t line up. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, though—I’ve been reading more plays, really feeling the pull to go back. But I’ll be honest, I also feel scared to do it again. Which is funny, because when I was younger, I never had stage fright. Auditions didn’t make me nervous, performing didn’t make me nervous. But now? I feel more anticipation, more nerves than I used to. Right now, I feel at home in front of the camera. But I’d love to get back on stage and find that feeling again, because theatre is a whole different way of being.

Why do you think people are so obsessed with murder stories?

It’s such a fascinating question. I think, psychologically, it has something to do with our shadow selves—the part of us that either fears what could happen to us or fears what we might be capable of. It’s that deep, unsettling curiosity about the darkest corners of human nature. That’s my little Dr. Freud take on it, anyway. And then, of course, there’s just the storytelling. Murder mysteries keep you on edge—you want to understand, you want to piece it together. There’s also something strangely generous in that curiosity. I think people genuinely wonder, “How does someone become that person? How do things escalate to that point?” We’re fascinated by each other’s lives, even if we don’t always know how to be curious in everyday life. True crime is just the most extreme version of that. What do you think?

When I’m stressed, I watch mysteries. They take me out of the moment.

Oh, I love that. My escape is Love Is Blind. Or The Ultimatum. I cannot get enough. I mean, I still watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, and there are a lot of things I don’t agree with about them—the whole idea of worshipping at the altar of marriage is ridiculous—but somehow, it’s the only thing that quiets my brain. I think I’m just fascinated by human nature on that level. We all have our thing.

Left Trench coat **Lemaire**, dress **Gabriela Hearst**, bikini **Louis Vuitton**
Right Dress **Courrèges**

Ryan Murphy builds these different worlds—American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Feud… do you ever wish you could step into one of them?

I’d love to do something with him again. He creates these incredible characters, these vivid, intricate worlds. I think I’d really love to step into a Feud project. Horror? That scares me a little more.

You don’t watch horror?

Never.

But acting in it is different, right?

I guess, but even that feels exhausting to me. It seems like your body would just be jacked up the whole time. But a very glamorous Feud? Sign me up.

Left Dress **Courrèges**
Right Coat **Louis Vuitton**

You’ve played so many period characters—Mrs. America, Winning Time, Monsters—all from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. Is that a world you feel drawn to?

Definitely. I feel like there’s something about my sensibility that just fits with the 20th century. I love working in those spaces. The ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s? That all feels right to me. But once we hit the 2000s, I’m like, I don’t know about this one. Hopefully, there’s another Ryan Murphy period piece in my future. Fingers crossed.

You also do photography, right?

Yes! It’s funny, there are many things I’ve done for years that I didn’t take seriously until later, and photography is one of them. I started in high school, but only recently did I begin seeing it as a real part of how I create. When I was working on a film I want to direct, I put together a lookbook, and that process made me realise—oh, these photos really show how I see things. The composition, the light, the intimacy, the space between people—it all connects to how I approach storytelling. I even made a website for my photography. It’s password-protected because I’m paranoid about the internet. I don’t understand how people don’t just take images and use them elsewhere. I should probably just make it public, though.

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Discover the full story in our SS25 Issue - out now.

Interview by Aykun Tasdoner

Photography by David Roemer

Fashion by Aryeh Lappin

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Production by Jean Cabacungan-Jarvis

Production on set Nika Bregvadze

Hair by Chika F.K

Make-Up by Olivia Barad at See Management

Nails by Miki Higuchi at Art Department

Photographer’s assistant Ernesto Urdaneta