One to watch: Nine Perfect Strangers’ Grace Van Patten on creating viral TV

It was The Sopranos’ patriarch James Gandolfini who gave Grace Van Patten her very first acting lesson, aged eight. With a small part on the award-winning show, Van Patten would watch from the sidelines, absorbing some of the most renowned performances in small-screen history. “I remember chatting to James [Gandolfini] and him being the sweetest, most down-to-earth person, then hearing ‘action’ and watching him transform.” It was Van Patten’s first real taste of show business and one that shaped her future. “I was fascinated. I remember thinking, ‘That’s what I want to do.’”

After a smattering of small television parts, Brooklyn-based Van Patten, 24, enrolled on the prestigious drama course at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, honing her craft alongside future stars like Timothée Chalamet, who has become a friend for life. And it wasn’t long before the offers came flying in. Her first post-college gig was with indie director Noah Baumbach, who personally cast her for his kooky dramedy The Meyerowitz Stories, in which she starred alongside Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller and Emma Thompson. With such a stellar cast and set visits from Baumbach’s partner Greta Gerwig, it was, she says, a “masterclass in greatness”.

In August, Van Patten will have her mainstream moment playing Zoe, a character coming to terms with a family tragedy, in one of this year’s most-anticipated new releases, Nine Perfect Strangers. The series, based on the novel by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty and produced by the team behind The Undoing (two of the biggest TV phenomenons in recent years), is a twisted tale of nine burnt-out individuals brought together on a healing retreat by an ethereal, enigmatic leader named Masha. It is an ensemble cast of Hollywood’s finest, led by Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Shannon and Regina Hall. Their energy, Van Patten says, was an honor to behold. “Watching Nicole [Kidman] in process… I learnt so much. The first time I ever saw her on set was also the first time we were all supposed to meet her in the script. She walked in and I could not believe it. She was hypnotic; this force of nature.”

Shooting mid-pandemic, in a tight-knit bubble on location in Australia, sounds eerily close to the show’s plot, but Van Patten explains that, as a crew, they created a community and made friends for life. “Everyone was in the same boat,” she says, “No one had been working. It was everyone’s first job in months, so we were all desperate to connect. We all spent a lot of time together off-set and really bonded.”

As for how Nine Perfect Strangers will be received, Van Patten believes there is something for everyone in it. “All nine people come from very different walks of life and are dealing with very different trauma,” she says. “Everyone is going to be able to relate to a person in the show.”

What time of day do you feel your most creative?

“Whenever the sun is shining and I’m near water.”

Which female directors do you look up to?

“Debra Granik. And Michaela Coel – she is a walking genius. I cannot believe she wrote, directed and starred in I May Destroy You. That show really moved me.”

Do you have any plans for behind the camera?

“I would love to do it all. [But] it’s going to take a lot of work to get there. I am always reading articles and finding weird stories to turn into something. I am very curious.”

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

“My little sister, June.”

Where would we find you at 2am and 10am on a Saturday?

“At 2am, most likely asleep. At 10am, up drinking coffee or matcha and maybe getting brunch at Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope [in Brooklyn] or Café Luluc, which has the best pancakes in the world.”

What is your go-to karaoke song?

“No Scrubs by TLC or Cleanin’ Out My Closet by Eminem.”