Molly Gordon

Being Jewish in West L.A., my religion was watching comedy. That felt like God to me.

Every show we love got made by accident.

I'm hyperrealistic to a fault.

I'm trying to manifest more of the good.

I've met a lot of really good people, so I want to continue to be surrounded by that kind of energy.

I grew up with a mom as a director and still didn't believe it could happen for me, because it was so hard for her.

I'm very grateful for what I have. But it doesn't mean that I don't want more.

I can be naive, I can be twisted, I can be dark. I just haven't always been given those opportunities.

I get to explore things that are really near and dear to my heart. Can we accept love? Can we have a work life and a romantic life?

I've been with men and we were so happy together. But the happiness made them so angry and sad.

If anyone wants to hire me, what a treat. I'll do anything.

I had a very realistic view of what it's like to be in Hollywood, which is that you have beautiful success, but then years of absolutely nothing where you can't pay off your house.

That was my dream. I wanted to be on 'SNL' and just get to make a fool out of myself.

When my parents introduced me to Robert Altman and John Cassavetes movies, I was just so floored with the freedom that they both allowed their actors to have, and I was like, 'Oh my god, I want to create a space where people can play in that way.' And Nora Ephron.

My mom lost her mom at a very early age, and she was so excited to be a mother. Sometimes that can translate into a too-much thing, but in my childhood it was just like, 'I want to enjoy this, and I want my daughter to because I didn't get to enjoy this.'

That's what theater does, right? You all become this little family.

Sometimes I don't want to meet my heroes because I have no cool as a human.

When I'm at a Broadway show, I always get a white wine and peanut M&M's, and eat the entire thing. I feel like they're healthy because there's protein, but they're not.

I remember my parents showing me films that I was too young to see, like 'The Graduate,' 'Silkwood,' and 'Anchorman,' which I think I saw when I was 11. I was so fascinated by every element of the filmmaking process, whether it be the visuals or the score, and wanted to be in the pot of that creativity.

I had a little too much energy as a child.

I love robes. If it were up to me, society would allow us to wear robes publicly on the street!

Elaine Stritch is my style icon and she never wore pants.

I love to be comfortable and I'm obsessed with dresses!

My love language is drinking multiple drinks. I love being with a friend while we sip coffee, juice, a smoothie, and tea for about 4 hours.

I have a pair of vintage loafers that I wear with everything - and then like, 15 different polka dot dresses, so this is just kind of my vibe I would say.

I couldn't have been a waiter at Balthazar. You have to be really professional, know all the wines. I could barely say my own name.

A movie is made up of your compromises and your mistakes, and they end up being beautiful, and to not freak out about those things. And I feel like once we got Zen with that, we really found our groove.

I think a big piece of advice that was given to us and that kept happening was that mistakes are gonna happen all the time, everything's gonna fall apart, you're gonna lose your financing. You're just gonna have to reinvent, reinvent, reinvent and every obstacle is an opportunity for a new idea.

I love a sweater, and I love a coat.

I feel like I'm a private creative person or something. And actually, working on 'Shiva Baby' and watching girls my age be so unapologetically themselves and ambitious and knowing that I wanted that too but I was doing it more privately, was a really big shift for me.

I think I had written all this material and I just hadn't showed it to anybody because - I think what holds most people back is just fear of failure, and all you have to do is be brave enough to fail and if you fail, look, you might not make anything else, or you'll try again and you'll learn from that experience.

A job doesn't lead to another job. Yes, people are more aware of you, but it's kind of this clean slate every single time you go into an audition or a self tape.

I think getting to be on 'The Bear.' A lot of times it's like, 'Oh, I didn't catch that.' Or, 'I watched it on a plane!' So to get to be on something that's so in the zeitgeist is so cool, and I feel very lucky to be part of that.

I've struggled with work-life balance and, 'Oh, can I only be in pain to produce good work?'

My mom always was like, 'Have multiple plates spinning. Don't wait around for people to give you opportunities.' I feel like I never got bored as a kid. Even as an actor, when I wasn't getting jobs, I was finding ways to be creative and wasn't waiting around for someone to go, 'Molly, here's your chance to be creative.'

I grew up in such a creative household and I had so much energy.

I was brought to films at such a young age. And I would see my parents breaking down stories at the dinner table and realizing, oh, they're making these stories that I see at the movie theater.

Directing is such a huge responsibility. So after doing that, you kind of want to go into an acting job where you don't have to do the schedule at the end of the night and you can just hang out with the cast and the crew. And when that's over you're like, I want to go back and direct.

I'm such a comedy nerd and a Groundlings nerd, 'SNL' nerd.

I'm lucky that all the guys on 'Animal Kingdom' are so lovely and kind and super goofy too.

I remember a drama class that I took where they were like, 'Okay, so the first thing you do is think about the worst thing that's ever happened to you. And then you think about it getting worse and worse and worse and then you die.' And it's like, Oh my God, that's not going to make me cry.

I had a conversation with my girlfriends the other day about how sometimes you can't cry when you're shooting a scene, and the minute they yell 'Cut,' you're sobbing. It's performance anxiety.

Your first best friend really is your first love.

I read 'Booksmart' a couple of years ago, so I always knew that it was this wonderful project.

I would literally have played a rag on 'The Bear.' I just wanted to be around that set.

For me, it's not about the size of the role. It's about the film-maker, script and character.

This business can be isolating, so having other people show me how to handle it has been so helpful.

When I've worked with Melissa McCarthy or Seth Rogen, the last 20 minutes of every take, you always improvise. I was like, What if the whole movie was just that?

Longevity in friendship is only possible if you guys allow each other to change.

Friendship love is just as important as romantic love.