Greta Lee became an “overnight success” when she starred in Past Lives two years ago. At the time, she was 40 years old and she had worked as an actress on stage and in films and television for the better part of two decades. But it was that quiet little indie film which turned her career upside down in a good way. Not only did Greta’s acting career go next-level because of Past Lives, but suddenly, she was one of the most in-demand fashionistas. That awards season, she got a brand ambassadorship with Loewe. Following that, she did a Calvin Klein campaign. Now she’s the new face of Lady Dior. That’s part of the reason why she’s one of Vogue’s November cover stars – her new Dior contract, plus her role in Tron: Ares, plus The Morning Show, A House of Dynamite and Late Fame. Basically, she’s spent the past two years working her ass off. Some highlights from her Vogue piece (I did not know anything about her, so I loved this profile):
Her career at the age of 42: “None of this is expected. And thank God it’s so different from what I imagined this career could be at this point. For women it was not guaranteed that you would continue to find any work in your 40s. That’s when you should go shut the door and lie down. But to have it be the opposite of that? I can’t pretend that it’s not incredibly confusing.”
She likes a chain restaurant like Houston’s: “There are far more interesting places to go to, but I like it here. I find it weirdly comforting. Maybe it’s the suburban kid in me.”
Life after Northwestern: “In those years, it was a really big question mark of whether I was going to make a living.” And that was paramount, as she was the first person in her family to go to school in the United States. “It was all about being successful in any way you could. And the expectations were high. I mean, school was not a casual thing.”
The lack of professional role models in the early ‘00s. “That has always been a source of hurt—internalizing years of feeling like, Well, if the only model is something that I physically cannot fit into, what am I doing? Even now, that’s a huge struggle for me because those have not really existed.”
She wants to stay rooted in real life: “As an actor, you feel this external pressure to create this narrative for yourself, and I find it really annoying because it’s so antithetical to my job. My job requires me to stay firmly in touch with all different kinds of people. And it’s not about me. Everything is set up so that the more success you have, the more isolated you become. What happens is—and I have seen this with peers—you get a little weird. You start thinking about yourself in an industry way. You become a product. I hate that, and I can see why it’s crazy-making and really damaging.”
She was given a bodyguard for the first time this year. “It was like, ‘At ease, sir. I got this. I am going to go to the museum.’ ” She understands the need for privacy and security but believes it’s overblown. “It’s a choice. If you don’t buy into it, it leaves you alone. And that’s key to doing my job. The more isolated you get, the more out of touch you are.”
She stays in shape because she’s a “Tracy Anderson addict”: She can be found daily at the fitness guru’s studio along with a cohort of nonindustry women—including some pushing 60. “I look at them like, Why the f–k are you here?” I know why I’m here.… But you are crushing it! It’s changed my perspective. I want to be able to roll around like this when I’m 80.”
She enjoys getting dressed up for work: “When you’re young, there’s a tremendous amount of consideration, all connected to this excitement of possibility. It feels like the world is infinite and anything could happen. I’m lucky that the people around me are old enough to understand we’re trying to recapture that feeling.” These days, however, “everyone has their phones. You go to a party, and people pretend to sip Champagne while they film themselves. Everything’s branded and corporate and lame. No one knows how to have fun anymore.”
The Millennial experience: Lee describes a meme of how young people spent their nights out before smartphones: “pictures of people raging inside some sweaty bar, dancing. Being a millennial, I feel so genuinely privileged that I got to experience that. If I were in my 20s now and all this were happening, it would be totally different.” Another cherished memory: visiting the local multiplex. “As a ’90s kid, that experience was everything, and I just wanted to get as close as I could to being part of that.”
She sounds so cool and grounded. Like, seeing her on red carpets, I thought she would be more of an airy-fairy artiste. While she is an artist who takes her craft seriously, she’s also spent most of her career without all of this attention, fame, money and access and it shows. She doesn’t live inside her own ass, is what I’m saying. And what she says about the Millennial experiences of just enjoying things and being in the moment is so real.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of Vogue.
