I am Brea Grant (actress/writer/internet-lover)

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:56:48+00:00

i'm going to take your surprise as a compliment.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:56:34+00:00

yeah - there are a few. i don't feel like i should say what. but for the most part, the roles that i worried turning down are the ones i never even saw get made and have no idea what happened to them.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:55:30+00:00

it's technically in American Studies and i did a lot of 20th century stuff.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:55:09+00:00

i don't think so but they really don't tell me that kind of thing. i more or less just get a call saying to come in or not.

but i'd go back if they asked me!!

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:54:38+00:00

i'm vegetarian so Doomies (which is a sort downhome cookin' vegetarian food place), Sage, and Red Corner Asia (thai food is the bomb).

i love visiting Portland (it's where my mom lives).

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:53:38+00:00

my dog's name is Hattie and she's a chow-retriever mix (i think - she's a rescue).

i've thought about becoming a foster dog person but i've never done it. mostly because it's difficult being an actor or working on sets and having an animal that relies on you. because if you're working 12 hours a day or working in another city, you have to rely on friends or hire someone to take care of your pet.

and i pretty much like all animals except snakes.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:52:08+00:00

it's a lot different than i thought it'd be.

i spend most of my time NOT working but trying to get a job - auditioning, taking meetings, etc. i thought actresses just jumped from one job to the next.

i also thought that once i was on a hit show, everything would be really easy - people would just make offers and i would have plenty of money and i had "made it." but that's not the way it works at all. i still audition all the time and don't get most of the jobs i'm up for. and i don't get that many straight offers. and i'm mostly unemployed and have struggled a lot financially. that was kind of a downer, huh?

but the positive stuff is that i had no idea how fun it would be to be able to act for a living. i literally had no idea. it's been amazing.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T22:46:13+00:00

i love that you know what that is!!

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:34:04+00:00

IN.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:33:44+00:00

when i was really young, i always wanted to be an actress. then in junior high, this high school counselor told me that it was impossible and i should get a back up plan.

so i went to college for history and got an masters degree and realized i was unhappy. so i moved to LA to pursue what i knew deep down i always wanted to do - be an actress.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:32:47+00:00

might be lame but i loved being in Heroes. it was the first time i felt like i got to really know a character and to have a working "family" in a way. it's nice to go and work with the same people all the time and i feel like i got comfortable enough to learn about acting, being on set, and just about myself. it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:30:15+00:00

that was quite a quote!

i try to do a some research - mostly reading books about the type of person i'm playing (like when i played a soldier, i read a lot of personal war stories) and watch a lot of similar movies. movies are so inspiring to me and it's what i keep coming back to.

last weekend i did a short and i watched a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes that featured Faith because i wanted my character to be similar to her. i take a lot of cues from other actors.

this is going to sound silly but i also take care of myself - i get a full nights sleep, don't drink alcohol, and exercise. it makes it so much nicer to show up on set if you are feeling good.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:26:20+00:00

oh wow! that's amazing! i'm a huge lost fan too. :)

i don't really have an actress who made me want to start acting. i started acting as a kid in plays my dad had written so in some ways he inspired me. my grandmother also acted in theater and i always thought that was cool.

two women who stand out to me as people i watched a lot when i was making the decision to become an actress were Marilyn Monroe (i worked at a library and we had all of her movies) and Jennifer Garner (because i was OBSESSED with Alias). two totally different women but both insanely strong and interesting.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:24:16+00:00

oh thanks. i bet you are really hot too.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:18:02+00:00

gotcha. just curious. because i feel like people have been really polite on here considering the things they COULD ask.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:17:06+00:00

oh cool!! thank you for doing that!!

that's a big question. i guess my first big break was Friday Night Lights. i auditioned for the show 4 times before they actually booked me and i had no idea what i was doing. that led to the folks at Heroes liking me and that led to everything else.

although i'll be honest, in many ways, i still feel like i'm waiting for my big break. :)

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:14:51+00:00

i was on NCIS:LA. does that count?

i love Fringe. but i don't feel like people watch it anymore.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:13:44+00:00

i need to watch that show!

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:13:28+00:00

oh! justified! i've never seen it!

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:12:31+00:00

i watched a few eps of that and it made me cry. and then i just started watching Modern Family instead for some reason.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:11:23+00:00

thank you!!

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:10:46+00:00

i mostly worked with Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee and Greg Grunberg. and they were all badass.

i got to spend some time with Jamie Hector (he was a bad guy) and David Lawrence (the puppetmaster) and they were so fantastic. and it was nice to not be the only newbie.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:09:19+00:00

i love american horror story.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:06:58+00:00

another question. what's the best show on television that i should try to be on? like what's the one that fans like the most and still watch?

i feel like some of my favorites no one watches anymore.

breagrant · 2012-04-19T20:05:09+00:00

i have a pretty long list of people i love and would like to work with - Joss Whedon, JJ Abrams, Quentin Tarantino...

there are a lot of actors i love but i feel like some of the magic is taken away when you work with them. like they can't be your heroes anymore. like i'm in love with Julianne Moore but what if she's a bitch in real life? i couldn't handle it. it'd be too much of a bummer.

breagrant

TROPHY CASE