Quotes from Ari Graynor

As an actor, these kinds of big-comedic-centerpiece characters is just one thing that I love to do.

I was the kind of kid that always loved babies. I was, you know, four years old, and I would have my baby doll that I would bring with me everywhere and fake breastfeed on the beach and diaper.

Onstage was where I felt the most confident and in control and free, and as I've gotten older, it's gotten more and more daunting. And I think that's also part of my desire to keep confronting that and pushing through to find that childlike or youthful ignorance against fear and keep at it.

You know what no one tells you about driving a truck? You are driving a truck. There are only side mirrors, and it does not handle like a Prius.

There's a certain truism that you can't be self-conscious in comedy.

It took me a solid four or five years to feel really comfortable in front of the camera.

More and more, people probably associate me in this world of comedy and these confident, brassy, big ladies, which I love, but my insides and who I feel like internally and the kind of work that I hope to continue doing feels very different from that.

There's pressure to come up with something genius every time. I feel like I keep letting myself down with my Twitter posts. I have to start keeping a journal of rough drafts of prophetic ideas about the world.

I don't know what I would have done without acting. I officially fell into it around age 6 in a class play that reimagined 'The Ugly Duckling.' My joy in performing was so boundless, you would have thought I'd just won a Tony.

I want the power that comes from expressing myself creatively and putting something back into the world. Being someone's muse would be flattering, but it could get old fast.

I've started to get more stage fright the older I get.

I'm not nearly as brave and confident in some of the ways that I think stand-ups are.

I've done a bunch of Broadway, so I'm a theater nerd when I come to New York.

I think 'Nick and Norah' was a huge deal for me. It was my first foray into the studio world, and that character was such a gift.

It is mind-boggling to me that there are so few movies about female friendship, considering women make up half the movie-going population.

I'm an only child, and in college, I was given a single, and then I lived with people for, like, two years but were my best friends, and we had a really fun time. And then I lived alone or with a boyfriend. I've never really had a bad roommate situation.

I love being onstage. As I've gotten older, it terrifies me more and more, which is interesting.

Sometimes you can fall into bad habits on film or rest on your laurels, and you can't do that in theater. I think it's such a useful tool as a person and as an actor to go back and forth between those two mediums.

Twitter's a lot of work! That's the first thing I would say. There's so much pressure to be funny.

I think the good news for me in life is that I really trust my instincts when I come to work. Maybe less in life and in love, but in work and in comedic beats, I feel pretty confident.

On stage, you have nothing to hide behind. It allows the work to live in a more organic place. It's almost like a meditation. You have to go on that stage and be as present as possible.

I think casting a show is an art form in and of itself. We're all so different - the cast is made up partly of real stand-ups, partly of actors, and then partly of just legendary actors.

Sometimes you can get stuck doing the same kind of thing over and over again, and then there's a certain moment in your life when you say, 'Wait, there's all this other stuff in me and all this other life.'

I've always sort of felt like I was from another time. The '70s is more my vibe. The clothes fit me better.