A Barbie breakout and star turn in Borderlands is all just par for the course for 16-year-old Ariana Greenblatt
PHOTOGRAPHY by TIM ASHTON
STYLING by RACHEL WAYMAN
CREATIVE DIRECTION by JUSTINE CULLEN
Ariana Greenblatt answers my Zoom call from the front seat of her mum’s car, casually sipping an In-N-Out drink on her way home from work (on her next film, Now You See Me 3). “I just got back from rehearsal and I'm grabbing lunch right now,” she tells me by way of explanation for her in-transit situation. “I was like, I'll make it home in time. But of course the line was so long, so of course I did not. But you know, it happens.”
It’s all pretty standard stuff — lunch at In-N-Out, getting caught in traffic or a queue — for any teen living in Los Angeles (for enquiring minds, Greenblatt’s order is “a lettuce wrapped cheeseburger with grilled onions, and fries”) and this summer has been one of the more ‘normal’ ones for the 16-year-old who lives a life that is anything but. Is she having a “Brat summer”? Well, not quite. You won’t find Greenblatt falling out of Delilah anytime soon, but outside of rehearsals, she’s been spending time with friends, including a girls trip to Hawaii. “It was so fun,” she says of the holiday. “It was just like us and it was the best trip ever.”
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Born in New York, Greenblatt’s gateway into acting was dance. Living in Florida at the time, she was a competitive dancer when she decided to go for the titular role in Matilda: The Musical. “I wanted to do it 'cause it was my favourite movie,” she recalls. “And I was like, whoa. I could be here on stage and dance and sing and act, all that. And I was like, that's fun.” She missed out on the role but on a subsequent family holiday to LA was asked to take meetings about three different roles. “I didn't even realise the meetings were actually auditions,” Greenblatt remembers. “I obviously had never auditioned for anything in my life. I booked all three of those roles and I was like, what the hell do we do now? Like, I have to do them… that's how it works.”
Two of those roles were guest star spots, and the third was lead in Disney sitcom, Stuck in the Middle. Greenblatt starred as the youngest of seven children, the spritely Daphne Diaz, opposite Jenna Ortega. Her parents moved across the country so that she could take the job and, as she tells it, the rest is history. “That's kind of how my life just changed,” Greenblatt says matter-of-factly. “I never wanted to stop.” From there, she landed roles in blockbusters — Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, In the Heights in 2021 and then, just casually, the biggest movie of 2023, Barbie. Greenblatt played America Ferriera’s unbothered and unimpressed daughter, Sasha. “I always say I never knew how big it was gonna be in the moment while filming, so it kind of just felt like a play date every day,” she explains. Though in saying that, she wasn’t totally immune from having surreal moments with costars like Margot Robbie. “I kept complimenting her teeth 'cause I was like, why do you have the perfect smile? I hate my teeth.” Greenblatt remembers. “And she was like, never touch your teeth. I love your teeth so much. I was like, okay. Awesome.”
This dynamic — Greenblatt as the precocious younger sibling, on set with people much older than her — has been a recurring theme for much of her career. She says she gets on with people older than her by virtue of being surrounded by adults most of the time. “It's so funny, I made a joke the other day. All the teen actors are friends and I'm out of the group,” she says. “I guess it's because a lot of them work with each other and I've only done movies with adults. So they just put me in that group. But I like normal people, they make me happy and they're most like me. Like, I feel like all the other teen actors I've interacted with, I'm like, what is going on inside your head? It's so odd to me.”
Her latest film, Borderlands, saw Greenblatt working with veterans like Cate Blanchett, Jamie-Lee Curtis, Jack Black and Kevin Hart. A film adaptation of the popular video game, Greenblatt stars as Tiny Tina, the “feral pre-teen demolitionist,” who is rambunctious and unruly. “Tina’s the most fun character I've ever played,” she says, explaining that she would work with director Eli Roth to improvise moments and not tell any of the other actors. “I was extremely feral. I mean, I would just like throw food at people and myself and I'd rub it in my hair and I would say the most random shit. And I would do cartwheels and jump on people. I was literally like a rabid animal; they definitely toned it down for the final edit.” Filming took place back in 2021 in Budapest and meant Greenblatt had to miss her middle school graduation. So the cast and crew threw her a surprise one instead, complete with speeches from Curtis, stunt doubles and a (loving) heckling from Hart. “They decorated my cap and gown and they played the graduation song through the speakers of the sound stage,” she recalls. “And they had Cate's stunt double on wires. It was perfect. I had so much fun.”
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Normalcy is an aspirational concept for anyone living in the public eye, and Greenblatt says she’s still figuring out her own boundaries. Particularly when it comes to things like social media, she’s honest that it’s a work in progress. “Sometimes I'm okay with it and sometimes people are loving on Ariana Greenblatt and it's positive energy,” she explains. “And then I have moments where like, you know, people misunderstand what I say or they make fun of me or whatever, blah, blah, blah, what the internet does, they do it best. It definitely makes me sad, but I think I've gotten good with knowing when to shut it off, knowing when to log outta my main accounts and just kind of stay on my private ones. But yeah, it's a hard place to grow up and find yourself in normal life while being watched by everybody and having anyone comment anything about you, especially when you can't kind of defend yourself. Because it's a waste of time. The internet's a tricky place.”
And in moments when her abnormal normal life gets a bit much, she has people like Billie Eilish to turn to. Greenblatt met the musician at the Barbie after-party and says it was a rare, genuine fangirl moment. “I’m her biggest fan, like, it was crazy,” she enthuses, lighting up at the memory. “I loved her so much. I literally, my wrap gift was going to her concert at the O2 in London. No one told me that she made a song for the movie until they asked me to do a private screening and I heard Phineas play the piano and I heard her and I sobbed — like there's a video of me after my face is puffy and red and I can't even open my eyes — sobbing. Because I always said to myself, I don't wanna meet her as a fan. I wanna meet her when she's coming to watch something I did. And I always said that, and I never knew how or when that was gonna happen.”
But she got her moment with Eilish. “I kind of told her everything I'd been wanting to tell her for five years and she was like, take my number, text me whenever you need” Greenblatt says, having successfully manifested the dream of millions of teens. “It's honestly taken me like 10 months to get to a point where when I'm going through something, to reach out first. Like, she's always checking in on me, but I was going through whatever and she's kind of like the only person I feel like would understand.”
What kind of advice does Billie Eilish give to an impressionable teen? “Her piece of advice is like, it will be different for everybody. Don't listen to other people and what they're telling you. 'Cause you're gonna make your own decisions and you're gonna figure it out yourself. And I'm like, you are right. It's so true 'cause she knows me. She knows I'm not gonna listen to what anybody says. That's just who I am. And she was like, I know you're not gonna listen to anybody, so listen to yourself and don't be dumb but have fun and like, don't be a weirdo. And I was like, awesome.”
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When I ask if there’s been a moment where she’s stopped and thought about trading in Hollywood for a more average high school life, Greenblatt says it hasn’t occurred to her. “I mean, because I'm always the one that's pushing myself and everyone around me is there to support me and make sure I'm happy,” she explains. “I've never really had to have the conversation of like, I don't wanna do this, I wanna be a normal kid 'cause I'm always the one that wants to keep doing it. I am still learning the balance between a kind-of normal social life and my work life. I'm figuring that out. I'm finding the key. But I do think that going to a normal school and having friends that aren't in the industry, but still understand my perspective and what I do, is really refreshing and nice. I think my parents, my family and my team, they can tell when I get burnt out and they're like, all right girl.”
So just like other teenagers, it’s all a work in progress for Greenblatt. But she’s already figured out that she wants to try her hand at writing, producing and maybe even directing one day. “I mean, there's a lot of stories I wanna tell,” she explains. “I think a couple years ago I was kind of just thinking that whatever role comes my way is what's meant to be. But I think because I’m a teenage girl and I’m receiving these scripts written about a teenage girl that are so inaccurate and dumb, I feel inspired to create my own and to be the voice for people my age because I have the voice and platform.”
Borderlands is out now.
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