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Bra, skirt, Dolce & Gabbana. Bracelet, ring, Bulgari.
At 15, before she even got her driver’s license, Ariana Greenblatt starred in a Disney Channel show and an Avengers movie, braved the freezing cold onscreen with Adam Driver, and landed a role in the one of the greatest films of the year: Greta Gerwig. Barbie.
“It’s definitely surreal and really crazy,” Greenblatt says of her career so far.
But right now, as she zooms in from her home in Los Angeles, she’s a high school sophomore, relaxing in a gray hoodie and dainty layered necklaces. Some of her classmates may recognize her work, but they keep her on track. “Let me tell you,” she admits, “teenagers don’t care pooh about what I do. … They definitely keep me humble in the most beautiful way.
Although she is in class all day, she is bubbly, lively and energetic with the stage presence of a seasoned performer. In fact, if Greenblatt ever gets nervous about roles, she turns to her younger, even more fearless self for advice. “What would six-year-old Ariana do right now?” she says, referring to the age she started acting. “She wouldn’t care. And she would do what she does best and just be yourself. The method has worked so far. “I was able to work with the actors of my dreams that I never imagined I would meet in my life.”
This includes Gerwig and Margot Robbie, who produces and stars in Barbieand whom Greenblatt idolizes since he saw suicide squad. During the audition process, she was just happy to be on Zoom with the two of them. “My only thought in my head was like, Listen, whatever it is, cherish this moment forever [and] meeting these two beautiful inspiring women at least once. That’s all I wanted. When she was cast, Greenblatt’s mother and brother announced the news by surprising her with a Barbie cake and afternoon tea (as she would be filming in London) while performing the song “Barbie Girl”.
From left to right: Margot Robbie, Alexandra Shipp, Ariana Greenblatt and America Ferrera in Barbie.
The film’s plot remains a hot pink mystery, but the trailer released in April offers a clue: the kaleidoscopic Barbie Land is home to several Barbies (like Robbie, Issa Rae, Hari Nef and Dua Lipa) and Kens (like Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa), but Robbie’s doll wants to venture out into the real world. Perhaps that’s where the humans come in, like Greenblatt, America Ferrera, and Will Ferrell, whose roles were recently confirmed via character posters. All Greenblatt can say is, “Everyone had such a great time doing it, and it really shows on camera.” A professional answer, but also apparently true: during production, the actors were watching films related to Barbie every Sunday at the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill, she said.
Greenblatt also gushes about the “basic memory” she shared with Robbie on set: During a lunch break, Robbie offered her sushi and matcha lattes as they discussed Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey and were playing music for each other. “It was just such a special moment for me that I’ll never forget because, keep in mind, we were doing this, but she was also watching trailers for movies that haven’t even been released yet… then giving grades, and then she does six things at once,” Greenblatt recalled in awe.
Originally from Florida, Greenblatt was a dancer “since I was literally born” before getting into acting. The journey began with her and her family flying to Los Angeles for a vacation and a few “meetings”, which she would later realize were auditions. She ended up booking three roles, including a guest spot on Disney Channel Liv and Maddie featuring Dove Cameron. The whole process was just starting to click for her. “I was six years old thinking that everything I watched was always real life.” But she fell in love with it.
Bra, skirt, Dolce & Gabbana. Bracelet, ring, Bulgari.
After that, she was cast as a series regular on Disney’s stuck in the middle, in which she played the youngest and most mischievous of Jenna Ortega’s on-screen siblings. The two still stay in touch with “happy birthday” texts and support from afar. “We definitely congratulated each other on our successes,” says Greenblatt. Like Ortega and other child stars before her, Greenblatt is in this transition out of the Disney Channel spotlight and into the next steps of her career. Although she still plays teenagers, most of her castmates are much older and generally quite renowned.
Take on her role as young Gamora in Infinity Warone of his first jobs after stuck in the middle. She shared scenes with Josh Brolin, barely 9 years old. “Being painted green at 5 a.m. and in front of this guy wearing this little gray suit with dots all over his face was really out of this world and I was just obsessed with it,” she says. The job could be daunting for anyone, but Greenblatt knew it: she belongs here.
She would go on to shoot other intense projects, like the vibrant screen adaptation of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s musical. In the heightsor science fiction 65filmed in New Orleans and Oregon, where she and Driver “filmed outdoors for three to four months…in the rain, in the mud, in the wind, in every climate you can think of”.
Borderlands was difficult in different ways. Starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis, and co-written by The last of us‘ Craig Mazin, this is Greenblatt’s first video game adaptation. She’s not a gamer, but she performed every night, often to frustration, to prepare for the rambunctious role of Tiny Tina. She wanted to stay true to the original character, but also give her “my own little twist” and imbue her with “normal teenage girl feelings”.
Bra, skirt, Dolce & Gabbana. Bracelet, ring, Bulgari.
After all these names, Greenblatt still has a long list of dream collaborators, which she displays on screen in her notebook: Natalie Portman, Timothée Chalamet, Joaquin Phoenix, Winona Rider and Angelina Jolie (girl interrupted is a current favorite), Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, “and then Tim Burton, of course.”
When I pitch the idea of her appearing in season 2 of Wednesday, which Burton directs and Ortega directs, Greenblatt almost shouts, “Sisters get together?” But she’d love to collaborate with the filmmaker on anything, honestly.
Greenblatt has an “urge to steer” herself and has observed Gerwig on the Barbie together. Even when she’s with her friends, she says, “We could do a really stupid TikTok, but I have to make it cinematic, somehow.” His ultimate goal is to write and direct his own film from scratch. And, she adds in classic teenage fashion, “getting a really sick car.”
Hairstyle by Vernon François for Redken; makeup by Karo Kangas for Westman Atelier; produced by Rhianna Rule.
A version of this story appears in the May 2023 issue of ELLE.
Erica Gonzales is senior culture editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously a staff writer at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There’s a 75% chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.