6 Questions For Amanda Crew of Silicon Valley
Amanda Crew is an actress who grew up in Vancouver, then moved to Los Angeles to end up playing Monica on HBO’s popular show about making it big in the Bay Area-based tech industry, “Silicon Valley.” In between stopping by the Tribeca Film Festival, promoting the show, and filming a new ensemble cast movie titled ” Table 19″ alongside Anna Kendrick and Lisa Kudrow, Amanda stopped by to chat about the real-life Silicon Valley and real life as an actress in Los Angeles (and Brooklyn).
Galore: Do you have a nickname?
Amanda Crew: Everyone wanted to shorten my name to Mandy, but I was like, no, don’t call me that! I wanted a nickname, but I didn’t want Mandy.
I wonder if Mandy Moore has people call her Amanda now.
AC: [Laughing] Yeah like, I’m an adult now, just don’t call me Mandy. Although I feel like I was actually looking at her Instagram the other day. You know, like one of those moments you’re like whatever happened to Mandy Moore and then you end up down a dark hole.
You were just in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival, no?
AC: It was a quick weekend trip, and it was super fun, because usually I’m in Manhattan. My friend just got a sick apartment in Brooklyn, so I was staying there and realized I love Brooklyn! I was like, this is how people live in New York. But yeah, I was there for Poor Boy, which is a film I have a very small part in. The director is a friend of mine, and it’s a really cool movie.
What are you up to now that you’re back?
AC: We’ve been doing a lot of press for Silicon Valley. We were up in San Francisco. There are a lot of people who watch the show who are actually in the tech world, and getting to meet some of those people has been awesome. I’ve met some really rad women. There was this women who is the CTO of some car soon-to-be-on-the-market that’s going to compete with TESLA. She’s the head of all of the engineers on the project… and it’s a pretty intimidating crowd, because you’re talking to these people who are super smart, and worth like, millions of dollars.
But they love your show!
AC: They always say that we’ve “nailed it.” I think it hits almost too close to home for them. It’s interesting to screen the episodes for that audience though, because a lot of jokes that average audience members don’t get, they’re laughing hysterically at. It’s like, some of the stuff I don’t even understand.
How did you decide you wanted to be an actress?
AC: I was really shy when I was young, but I really loved being onstage and performing. By the time I was 16, I knew I wanted to be an actress.
Vancouver must have been a good place to do that as well, since so many movies are filmed there.
AC: Yeah, it was such a great place to start my career. There are so many productions that come over there, and the pool that you’re competing against is much smaller.
What book would you want to star in the movie version of?
AC: Ooh, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget. She [Sarah Hepola] talks about alcoholism in such a different way than I’ve ever seen before.
