The name Judy Greer doesn't immediately sound familiar to you?
You are not alone in this.
Born in Detroit in 1975, the actress has been in front of the camera for more than half her life in Hollywood, but rarely makes big appearances.
She mostly plays supporting roles: the best friend, wife or mother of the respective protagonist.
This is also the case in her new film “Hollywood Stargirl”, which has been on Disney+ since June 3rd.
To mark the occasion, we reached Greer via video call, which she takes makeup-free in her messy Hollywood home office in the mornings, as unpretentious as it is when someone isn't a well-known global star.
Miss Greer, in your new film "Hollywood Stargirl" you play the mother of the young protagonist. How do you wrestle something interesting out of such an – at least on paper – interchangeable supporting role as you have often played?
The nice thing is that this time I wasn't solely responsible for making the character three-dimensional.
There are actually a lot of standard roles like that, so I know exactly what you mean.
But here it was already laid down in the script that the mother is a driving force in the story.
She is a costume designer and hoping for her dream job, which is why she spontaneously moves to Los Angeles with her daughter Stargirl in the first place.
A character with a goal and ambitions, that is not a matter of course in supporting roles and is worth a lot.
However, who knows whether I would not have agreed to this project even without these qualities.
Because I find this young title heroine at the center of the story, who spreads love and joy everywhere she appears, just very adorable.
You have a similar reputation, don't you? That you are always cheerful and a pleasure to work with.
At least I try.
So there's definitely a little something to it.
But I've also managed to surround myself with many wonderful people in my life who inspire me.
And we folks from the American Midwest are generally quite nice people, they say.
However, if you ask my husband, he will certainly confirm that I can be quite passive-aggressive at times.
Midwesterners are also said to be very pragmatic and down to earth. Is the cliche true here too?
I am indeed very pragmatic, and down-to-earth, too, I think.
In any case, I'm not aloof à la Hollywood.
And I don't know if that will still happen after 25 years.
You've lived in Chicago more or less since you finished your studies and started your screen career in Los Angeles. What does the city mean to you?
Over the years, my relationship with Los Angeles and specifically the Hollywood Borough where I have lived for most of the last 25 years has gone through many ups and downs.
There's a lot I love about here, from the weather to the architecture to the LA Dodgers baseball team.
What has been exciting over the years has been the changes in the city that began when there was a kind of exodus in the arts and entertainment industry in New York some ten years ago.
Many were annoyed by the tiny apartments and high cost of living there and moved to Los Angeles.
Suddenly we experienced a mini-renaissance here: the restaurants, the art world, the music scene - everything was more exciting than it had been for a long time.
That's when I fell in love with the city all over again.
Are there still low points?