Ariana Greenblatt Has Befriended All Her Idols

Ariana Greenblatt was far from home on her 17th birthday. She’s been filming Now You See Me 3 in Budapest, so she celebrated her big day like any modern teen would: with TikTok trends and an IG photo dump. The only difference is that her casual hangout pics and impromptu videos wandering around Budapest singing Faye Webster are seen by millions of people.

It’s a unique situation for the rising star, who has had a year full of massive movie roles. Greenblatt can feel the pull between already being an old pro in Hollywood, versus her longing to soak in her last few years as a teenager. “When I was younger — ‘younger,’ as in two years ago — I just wanted to be 18,” Greenblatt recently told Nylon. “I still crave freedom, but I’ve always wanted the teenage experience.”

Originally from New York, Greenblatt now lives in Los Angeles, the city that gave her her start. During a summer trip to LA with her family, she was cast for a lead role in Disney Channel’s sitcom Stuck in the Middle, making her on-screen acting debut at 8 years old.

And she hasn’t slowed down since, racking up roles in attention-grabbing projects like Avengers: Infinity War, In the Heights, and Ahsoka.

Greenblatt’s rapid ascent as a teen actor has been idiosyncratic. Unlike many of her cohorts, she’s often been the only young person on set, which has caused her to grow up quicker than most. “I have felt like an adult for a while,” Greenblatt told Bustle. “It’s so easy to get used to the fact that I am treated like an adult and I work like an adult,” she added to Nylon.

This has been the case for Greenblatt’s two most recent (and highest-profile) movie roles. She played the jaded teen Sasha in a world full of adult dolls in Barbie, and the childish pyromaniac Tiny Tina among a band of grown-up rogues in Borderlands. This trend will continue when she stars in Now You See Me 3 next year alongside Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, and more established stars.

At this point, Greenblatt is used to working with stars twice her age in massive blockbusters, but the pressure can still get to her sometimes. “It’s big impostor syndrome,” she told Nylon. “I’m like, ‘Why the f*ck am I here? What am I doing? I'm the only underage human in this building. What is happening?’”

There is one benefit. As she recently proved in a viral prank-call video, her contact list is filled to the brim with impressive names. “Honestly, everyone who was my idol became my friend, which is unreal,” Greenblatt told Bustle.

That list includes her Borderlands co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis (“Jamie would massage my head on set. She was very motherly.”), Cate Blanchett (“She’s such a boss, but she’s so professional. She’s light-hearted. She has a great sense of humor.”), and her Barbie director Greta Gerwig (“Watching Greta fully changed my perspective on directing because she did it so effortlessly.”).

Being close with such industry titans has inspired Greenblatt to try her hand at creating her own films. She’s developing two original scripts with her Borderlands director Eli Roth (one in the horror genre, and one she wrote inspired by a movie night with her friends), but the project she really wants to tackle next is a real teen drama.

“The emotions and feelings and experiences are so fresh and so new,” Greenblatt told Nylon. “Everything feels scary and big and crazy. I want to capture this time and these feelings.”

Freshly 17, Greenblatt knows now’s the time to relish in her teen years. Even if she will be surrounded by adults most of the time.

Top image credits: David Koma jacket

Photographs by Max Montgomery

Styling by Oliver Vaughn

Hair: Marc Mena

Makeup: Jen Tioseco

Manicure: Zola Ganzorigt

Talent Bookings: Special Projects

Photo Director: Alex Pollack

Editor in Chief: Charlotte Owen

SVP Fashion: Tiffany Reid

SVP Creative: Karen Hibbert