Ari Graynor

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ari Graynor

• Her mother belongs to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.

• Her father belongs to Polish ancestry. He was born into a Roman Catholic family but later converted to Judaism.

• Her paternal grandfather’s surname was originally ‘Gryzna’ but it was later changed to ‘Graynor’.

• Her mother has worked in the community theatre with a performance art theatre group, Wellesley Players.

• She saw her first play, ‘Hello Dolly!’ when she was 4 years old. In the play, her mother worked in the chorus group.

• When she was in class 1, she returned home with tears in her eyes out of excitement after she got a role in the school play.

• She started acting professionally when she was 7 years old.

• When she was around 9 years old, she worked in the pilot episode for the show, ‘Willoughby’s Wonders’ along with fellow actor, Michael Angarano. But, due to a shortage of funds, the show wasn’t aired.

• Her parents would take her to auditions in New York when she turned 12.

• She performed in the theatrical play of Shakespeare, ‘King Lear’ at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Institute when she was 13.

• She has also participated in musical theatre and once did a tour of South Korea for the play, ‘Annie.’

• While studying in college, she often travelled to New York from Connecticut for auditions and while taking several leaves from college. She found the process of constant travelling very exhausting.

• In 2005, she dropped out of college after she got a role in the Broadway show, ‘Brooklyn Boy.’

  

• After making her debut in the TV show, ‘The Sopranos’ (2001), she didn’t work for over a year and a half.

  

• In an episode of the TV show, ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ on 29 June 2017, she claimed to have gone to a prom with the politician, Joseph Kennedy III.

  

• To prepare for her role in the show, ‘I’m Dying Up Here,’ she performed in an open mike show and used the jokes from the show in front of a live audience and received positive reviews.

  

• She has appeared in several American films and TV shows, including, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ (2003), ‘Date Night’ (2010), ‘What’s Your Number?’ (2011), ‘Bad Teacher’ (2014), ‘The Disaster Artist’ (2017), and ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ (2024).

  

• She is an animal lover and owns a pet dog which she has named Tootsie.