Lizzy Greene
Lizzy Greene: Everyday Teenager, Extraordinary Things
By Aris Pangan
Lizzy Greene is recognized as the headstrong and determined Sophie, daughter of Jon and Delilah Dixon in ABC’s drama A Million Little Things. She has already achieved a lot at the age of 16 after starring in her breakout role as Dawn on Nickelodeon’s Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn. She earned the role at the impressive age of 10, but as she discussed with us her acting career started even earlier, “I started out in theater when I was about eight years old, I got my start in that by doing talent shows and I’ve always had this knack for wanting to perform and make people laugh.” She owes a lot to Fun House Theater and Film, and its director Jeff Swerarningen. She emphasized how long she could talk about the theater and its director, labeling it as “one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me”.
Looking at Lizzy’s filmography, it isn’t hard to spot the difference between her roles. She went from a children’s sitcom to an adult drama dealing with suicide, sexual assault, and serious mental health issues. Although these roles are “two completely different parts of the endzone” as Lizzy said, the transition for her was not as difficult as one would think. Lizzy occupied the role of Dawn on Nickelodeon from 10 to 15 years old and was casted as Sophie shortly after, expressing “I have to say I think that was probably the most perfect time in my life to be on Nickelodeon. Right when I turned 15 I think I sort of started to outgrow it and when I got on ABC, I was also 15 at the time and I feel like my acting really grew with me and my work grew with me and that’s why I feel like it was such an easy transition.” In addition to transitioning between roles while simultaneously moving into a different stage of life, Lizzy gave a lot of credit to her fellow cast members on A Million Little Things: “I’m with such an amazing cast. It’s like going to a master class every day.”
Sophie’s character is resilient, even after the death of her father. When speaking about her character, Lizzy noted “I enjoy how strong she is. I think Sophie is particularly strong because she lost her father obviously in a very traumatic way and she’s still come out stronger than she was before.” In addition to her strength and determination, Sophie also displays musical ability, which led us to ask if she is pursuing it in her own life: “Yeah, totally. Singing was kind of my golden ticket into the business, and I’d love to get back into it.” Lizzy added that she’s actually working on her own music with the sound mixer from A Million Little Things.
Although Lizzy has an arguably unconventional job for someone her age, she expresses that she enjoys normal things outside of work: “I’m a basic teenager. I was raised an athlete so I love to run everyday, and I always try to find different workouts around Vancouver or Boston. I just love being active so that’s probably one of my favorite things. I also love to cook.” She laughed as she described, “Our apartment always either smells good or always smells bad, from me burning something or something’s being made that’s very good.” As she approaches her late teenage years, she also mentioned how she’s learning to drive and starting to look at colleges.
She entertained by answering some hypothetical scenarios, including wanting Blake Lively or Reese Witherspoon to play her in a movie about her life. When asked about her own dream role, Lizzy stated “Just some kick butt character, like a female James Bond or a Lara Croft just for the athleticism, like a Marvel character or something would be amazing. At the same time I’d also love something that’s super super challenging. I just went and saw the Joker, and I think that would be an incredible journey to play a role like that.”
When discussing the future, Lizzy is taking it one step at a time and remains optimistic: “The first thing I’d say is I’d hope to be happy. I really love movies, so I’d love to get into more feature film acting jobs. I think that would be amazing and a great experience.” In addition to different types of jobs, Lizzy reflected that she just hopes to be working because of how much she loves it.
Lizzy represents what it means to enjoy life to the fullest, even when publicly portraying serious issues at a young age. A genuine soul, her authenticity shines when discussing those she works with and her adoration for acting and the people within its community. She has done an amazing job so far as Sophie Dixon, and we are excited to see her return with the rest of the cast of A Million Little Things on January 23rd!
Photographer WILLIAM CALLAN @williamcallan
Creative Direction ALEKSANDAR TOMOVIC @alekandsteph
Stylist MARNI SEABRIGHT @marniseabright
Hair GUI SCHOEDLER for Exclusive Artists using Kevin Murphy and ghd tools
Makeup KATHY JEUNG @kathyjeung
Production @BELLOMediaGroup x @MaisonPriveePR_LA x @bonnetalex18
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