Category: Interviews

Grace Van Patten and Emily Mortimer on Acting

Written by Jess

Comments are off

Grace chatted with her Good Posture (2019) co-star, Emily Mortimer. Read the interview here or below!

Photo Sessions > Photoshoots from 2021 > Session 007

Lonely and Amazing: Grace Van
Patten and Emily Mortimer on Acting

INTERVIEW – At the height of the pandemic, Grace Van Patten was told that she’d be leaving Brooklyn, where she lives, and heading to Australia for eight months. The reason was Nine Perfect Strangers, the Hulu limited series about a mysterious wellness retreat that was slated to shoot in Los Angeles but was moved Down Under amidst the COVID of it all. For the 24-year-old actor, the hardship of traveling across the world during such an uncertain time was softened by the fact that, as the grief-stricken Zoe Marconi, she would be acting alongside actors like Michael Shannon, Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, and Nicole Kidman. Those names come with a built-in intimidation factor, but Van Patten has also been acting since 2006, when she made her debut on The Sopranos, and also grew up around the industry (her parents are the filmmaker Tim Van Patten and the actor Wendy Rossmeyer). Even her neighbor back in Brooklyn is a show business veteran. That would be the actor and director Emily Mortimer, who recently called up Van Patten to discuss the life-changing experience of working on Nine Perfect Strangers, her upcoming fantasy film Mayday, and the emotional mindfuck of their chosen profession.
Continue reading Grace Van Patten and Emily Mortimer on Acting

Grace for The Laterals

Written by Jess

Comments are off

Gallery Interviews Photoshoots

Grace was recently photographed and interviewed for The Laterals. Check out the photos and interview below!

Photo Sessions > Photoshoots from 2021 > Session 006

Grace Van Patten proves that when you have a sense of purpose, everything falls into place a little bit more

Grace Van Patten doesn’t ever miss: whether it’s on-screen, on the red carpet, or on an early morning zoom interview. It’s not every day you get the chance to speak with someone who can uplift you through a computer screen from thousands of miles away—but perhaps that’s exactly what gives her that je ne sais quoi. She compels you. Because some people are just good people, and you can feel it.

Born in New York, the city had a unique inscription on her early upbringing, impressed with artists and visionaries. Her father, Timothy Van Patten, is a prominent actor/director/screenwriter/producer with a dossier of acclaimed titles. However, Grace has taken the lead on her own remarkable career. At only 8 years-old, she made her television debut in a diminutive drama series called The Sopranos. She continued to accrue a range of designations from Boardwalk Empire to The Meyerowitz Stories. However, it was Grace’s first feature film Tramps that garnered her critical acclaim. Her character, Ellie, lends a charm that’s relaxed and freshly intimate; which feeds into the film’s emotional undercurrents guised in humor and vulnerability. She was fantastic here.

Grace’s career is finally catching up to the reputation she’s perfected on the casting radar. In her latest venture, she’s captivated the masses with Nine Perfect Strangers, a star-studded ensemble that makes it clear she’s right where she belongs. This original series from Hulu follows nine individuals at a boutique health-and-wellness resort. With the promise of healing and transformation, the resort’s director (Nicole Kidman) implements unorthodox treatments that reveal secrets, lies, and an array of drama over their 10-day stay. Grace takes on the role of Zoe Marconi, a teenager who arrives with her family who is struggling with a loss. The youngest of all the participants, her character appears withdrawn and guileless, yet somehow brings a humor and awareness that’s exceedingly profound. Next up on the roster is Mayday, a bold fantasy film that transports Grace’s character to a dreamy, dangerous land where she joins an army of girls in a never-ending war. Directed by Karen Cinorre, there is nothing quite like it.

Unlike most twentysomethings, she is someone who seems young, but inquisitive—and somehow embodies an other-worldly soul. Grace Van Patten doesn’t ever miss.

Continue reading

Discovery: Grace Van Patten

Written by Jess

Comments are off

Articles Interviews

Discovery: Grace Van Patten

INTERVIEW – Originally, Grace Van Patten was going to study theater at USC. After graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School Of Music & Art and Performing Arts, however, the New York City native took a gap year. She began auditioning in the city without an agent, and took community college classes in psychology and philosophy so she could start college as a sophomore. Then, of course, things began to change. “I got a job that took up a school year, so I had to postpone again,” she explains on a sunny Sunday morning in Brooklyn. “Then I just kept working, so school kept getting postponed and here I am.”
Continue reading Discovery: Grace Van Patten

Growing Up Grace Van Patten

Written by Jess

Comments are off

Articles Interviews

Growing Up Grace Van Patten

“I kind of shied away from it because everyone did it…and then I got into LaGuardia — that’s when it sealed the deal for me.”

WWD – It’s early Wednesday morning and Grace Van Patten, having arrived ahead of schedule for her already early call time of 7:30 a.m., is chatting away in the makeup chair, Aretha Franklin’s “Something He Can Feel” playing from her iPhone.

The bright-eyed energy could be a result of her youth — she’s 20 — but as she gets talking, it’s clear, first, that she’s very excited she has an acting career to discuss and, second, already a busy lady.

Following photos, she’s due at rehearsals for the upcoming Hamish Linklater play “The Whirligig,” in which she stars alongside Norbert Leo Butz (“I love saying his name”) and Zosia Mamet.

“I still have nightmares from my high school plays of just blanking out on stage,” she says over the purr of a blow-dryer. “So I’m nervous, but I’m really excited for the challenge. I’m just dedicated and disciplined on it, and [I like] having that routine — diving in.”

Van Patten is a native New Yorker; a graduate of “Fame” high school LaGuardia; the daughter of director Tim Van Patten, and niece of actors Dick Van Patten and Joyce Van Patten — so clearly acting runs in her blood.

“Since I was visiting my dad on sets, I was always so interested in it, and so curious, and I knew I loved it,” she says. “And then during middle school I kind of shied away from it because everyone did it, and I was, like, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ I was super into sports and painting. And then I got into LaGuardia — that’s when it sealed the deal for me.”

Even still, after graduating from high school she wasn’t sold on pursuing acting as a career, so she took a year off to take classes at a community college. “I took psychology, philosophy, English — I just tried to take in as much as I could. And I did become super interested in psychology, but I never got that click. Acting was always on my mind.”

On April 21, she’ll be seen in “Tramps,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was scooped up by Netflix. “It’s a romantic adventure, I like to call it, but it has a little of everything — we got to explore chemistry, relationships, action, adventure.”

“Tramps” conveniently shot in New York, where the actress lives in Cobble Hill with her family. Blooming acting career aside, she doesn’t plan to make the L.A. jump anytime soon.

“I do love L.A., in small doses. I grew up going back and forth because my dad’s family is out there and sometimes he’d be working out there,” she says. “But New York all the way. I’ll love it forever.”