At 24 years of age, it's hard to believe that Brie Larson has been acting for the better part of 10 years. What's even harder to believe is that she's just now becoming a household name thanks to her star-making role in Short Term 12. We got to know this ingenue—who counts Shailene Woodley as her best friend in the biz—as she begins to make the awards show rounds and takes her place as one to watch in 2014.
Glamour: Congrats on your Independent Spirit Award nomination! The show itself is one of my favorite red carpets when it comes to fashion. Anything goes!
Brie Larson: [It's funny] because getting dressed up for these shows really isn't my thing since I feel most comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt, but this is part of the process I guess! It's finding new ways to find myself through all these weird sort of experiences, so I enjoy the challenge.
Glamour: Speaking of a challenge, your role in Short Term 12 is exactly that. Did you have a feeling it was going to garner critical acclaim when you were making it?
Brie: I couldn't have ever expected it. I still don't understand it because it's never happened before. My brain can't comprehend it.
Glamour: How did you decompress after a day of filming?
Brie: Before I made Short Term 12, I was really into the method approach of becoming the character, which was always at the detriment of my mental health. I'd play a role for two weeks that was really troubled and then end up in therapy for six months. I'd end up spending more on therapy than I was paid to do the job. It just didn't make sense, and as I started getting older, I realized it wasn't sustainable if I wanted to have a healthy relationship with my family and my significant other. I had to know how to be myself. I couldn't just be a different person for an entire month.
Glamour: Wow. So what changed for you?
Brie: When I shadowed a woman that had my character's job, she told me she had had her job for 20 years and was just such a solid person. I didn't understand how somebody could have witnessed and been through so much emotional turmoil and how she could get through that. She said you just have to let go. So now, I spend my 12 hours at work working my ass off and then come home and make pasta, play video games, watch SNL, and just do the things that I get simple joys out of instead of getting so caught up in my character's problems.
Glamour: It's a story about ultimately needing someone in your life when it seems like all hope is lost. Who is that person for you in real life?
Brie: My mom. She's the strongest and most selfless person I know. I can certainly imagine that she relates to Grace because she throws herself into helping others, which in turns takes you further away from yourself.
Glamour: Your parents are both chiropractors, so what did they say when you told them you wanted to act?
Brie: We lived in Sacramento. I was six years old, and my mom was doing the dishes, and I said, "I want to be an actor." She thought that was the most confusing thing, like I was just repeating something I heard on the TV or a kid said at school. But I was relentless about it. I wanted to be an animator and even drew a 300-page storyboard of The Lion King. I was so upset when we went to Disneyland and my mom didn't bring it with us because I wanted them to see it. The creative arts was just something that was always in me. Once I started getting into the arts more, my mom understood that and did whatever it took to help me achieve that dream.
Glamour: Was that your mom's decision to change your name from??Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers to Brie Larson?
Brie: Well, my real name is hard to pronounce, and it just got extremely frustrating to correct people all the time. Plus, I never went by Brianne. It's a name you get called when you're in trouble! [Laughs] Larson is a family name from my great-grandmother.
Glamour: This has been a pretty great year for you, with Short Term and The Spectacular Now. What do you know about Hollywood or the business that you didn't know before???
Brie: This industry is made for creativity, but it moves at such a quick pace that it almost feels like it's a stock market. My stock has risen this year, but who knows what next year could bring? It might crash! [Laughs] You don't know! I've been doing this for so long—and just when you think you understand how things work, you realize, "No, you were just on the first level of it." It's interesting, complicated, and kind of beautiful at the same point.
Short Term 12 and The Spectacular Now both come out on DVD and Blu-ray today.
