Ari Graynor

Ariel Geltman Graynor, born April 27, 1983, is an American actress. She is known for her work across television, film, and theater, including television appearances in series such as The Sopranos, Fringe, Bad Teacher, I'm Dying Up Here, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Her feature film work includes roles in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Sitter, For a Good Time, Call..., and The Disaster Artist.

Graynor was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joani Geltman, a parenting expert, and Greg Graynor, a contractor. Her mother comes from a Jewish family, and her father converted to Judaism from a Polish and Roman Catholic background; Graynor was raised Jewish. Her paternal grandfather's surname was originally Gryzna. She attended the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in 2001, and later attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. During a 2017 interview on CBS, she noted that she went to prom with future congressman Joe Kennedy III.

She first came to prominence playing Caitlin Rucker on season three of the HBO series The Sopranos. Her early screen career included a role in the film An American Crime, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007, and an early second-season appearance on UPN's Veronica Mars as a bus driver's daughter. She made her Broadway debut as Alison in the 2005 play Brooklyn Boy following its premiere at South Coast Repertory, and also appeared in The Little Dog Laughed.

On television, Graynor played pop star Elvina on CSI: Miami and had a recurring role on Fringe as Rachel, the younger sister of Agent Olivia Dunham. Her film work during this period included Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist in 2008 and the October 2009 comedy Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore and based on Shauna Cross's novel Derby Girl.

Graynor continued acting in theater throughout the 2010s. In 2010, she appeared off-Broadway in Trust at the Second Stage Theatre Company alongside Sutton Foster, Zach Braff, and Bobby Cannavale. In fall 2011, she returned to Broadway in Woody Allen's segment "Honeymoon Motel" in Relatively Speaking. In November 2012, she starred in David West Read's Broadway play The Performers at the Longacre Theatre with Cheyenne Jackson, Henry Winkler, and Alicia Silverstone. She later appeared off-Broadway in Anna Jordan's play Yen at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in January 2017.

In 2012, Graynor starred in and served as executive producer for the comedy film For a Good Time, Call.... Her other notable projects include the films The Sitter and The Disaster Artist, as well as the television series Bad Teacher and I'm Dying Up Here. In 2024, she starred as defense attorney Leslie Abramson in the Netflix drama series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.