10 Things You Didn’t Know About Brie Larson

There’s been a lot of buzz around actress Brie Larson after her highly anticipated Oscar nomination and win for Best Actress in the film Room. The film received many nods from critics, swept the award shows with nominations and wins leading us to believe we will definitely be seeing much more of her in upcoming roles! However, we’ve also come to realize we don’t know much about this graciously talented actress, but upon taking a closer look she’s actually been in the biz for quite some time! The 26-year-old actress has an impressive resume, beginning on the Disney Channel, costarring with Beverley Mitchell in the film Right on Track until she moved onto bigger feature films like 21 Jump Street, Short Term 12, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Raising Dad, Sleepover and more recently took on the role as Amy Schumer’s sister in Trainwreck. Today, she’s recognized as the new ‘it’ girl in Hollywood — here’s 10 things you probably didn’t know about Brie Larson:

10. Her Longtime Boyfriend

Brie Larson has been dating the musician, Alex Greenwald for at least a year, possibly longer. He’s a guitarist in the band Phantom Planet, who is well known for singing the theme song for the show, The O.C. She has thanked him in all her acceptance speeches, at the Golden Globes she said: “Thank you to my friends, my family who supported me…and thank you to Alex, my love.”

2

9. Famous Best Friend

Her best friend is former co-star Shailene Woodley, and current star in the Divergent series. The two met in 2013 while filming The Spectacular Now and in an interview with GQ she said: “We spend a lot of time trying to be something else, some other illusion, some other idea of what a woman is. Shai saw me as a beautiful complete person before I was ready to identify that within myself. I felt I needed to come into my own. But instead, I was there all along.”

3

8. She is an Avid Gamer and Loves Star Wars

Brie Larson is a big Star Wars fan, she used this to her advantage when bonding with her 9-year-old co-star, Jacob Tremblay, who played her son in Room. He later told People in an interview, “She likes ‘Star Wars,’ like me. So, that’s why we’re best friends.” She’s also an avid gamer and a big fan of Nintendo and the Mario Brothers franchise. For her 15th birthday she held a Nintendo themed party.

4

7. She’s a Private Person 

This would explain how she’s managed to fly under the radar in Hollywood for so long! When asked about her highly coveted Oscar nomination in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Larson said she didn’t invite her friends over or family members to watch the announcements on television. Instead she chose to watch them privately, alone on her computer.  She just didn’t want to make a big deal of it, “It’s just such a public thing that I’ve never gone through before. I’m a fairly private person, so I wanted it to be just me, by myself.”

5

6. French is her First Language

She grew up speaking French fluently because her father is from a French-Canadian from Winnipeg. Today, she primarily speaks English and has admitted that as her English gets better, she is losing her ability to speak French.

6

5. Her Big Break

When she was only 6-years-old she was admitted to the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, making her the youngest student ever. Before that she was home-schooled. Soon after, at only 7-years-old, she started appearing in a parody commercial called “Mudslide Barbie” and various sketches on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She remembers telling her mother at this time that she was born to be an actor.

7

4. College Party

Brie Larson told the bizarre story about the one time she went to a college party with Rooney Mara in Rhode Island while the two were making a movie. She said, “For someone who never went to college I have the craziest story.” She went to a frat party hosted by the Frisbee team at Brown and got “contact high” from an adult substance at the party. Soon after she noticed the odd effects, the cops showed up at the door and she got so scared that she jumped out the window, ran down the street with Mara, until the two realized they had no idea where they were going and got lost. Out of nowhere a “young weird Ale looking fellow” in a full suit of armor that was made of aluminum foil came across them after attending a live action role playing party and gave them a ride home. So strange!

8

3. She has Credits Behind the Camera

She co-wrote and directed the short films, The Arm and Weighting. These films were well received by critics, The Arm event went on to win the Special Jury Award for Comedic Storytelling in 2012 at the Sundance Film Festival.

9

2. She has a Stage Name

Brie Larson isn’t her real name. She told Glamour magazine that her real name is actually Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers, but she ended up changing it when she felt her original surname was too difficult to pronounce, especially as an actress. She chose Larson because it was her great-grandmother’s maiden name and also took inspiration from her favorite “American Girl” doll, Kristen Larson.

10

1. She’s a Talented Singer

Before becoming an Oscar winning actress, Brie Larson was a singer! She signed her first recording contract with Universal when she was only 13-years-old. She released her first album, “Finally out of P.E.” in 2005 when she was only 15-years-old. She said the album was inspired by her experience in school when her P.E. teacher didn’t like her at all, even though she was considered a ‘teacher’s pet.’The album didn’t really take off, it only sold 3,500 copies in the U.S., and she even went on tour with teen heartthrob Jesse McCartney in 2000. She’s been able to use her vocal talents within her acting roles — this was proven when she sang Metric’s “Black Sheep,” which was used as a track in the 2010 film, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” She said she’s not giving up her career as a musician, but doesn’t know when she’ll go back to recording new songs.