Molly Gordon is freakin’ everywhere, and we love her. She starred in Life of the Party with Melissa McCarthy, has a key supporting role in our new favorite movie, Booksmart, and is in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s new film Good Boys. She was also a series regular on Animal Kingdom. Oh, and she’s BFFs with Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein.
Is it time for 18 things to know about Molly Gordon? Obviously it’s time for 18 things to know about Molly Gordon:
1. Molly Gordon was born to Jewish parents Bryan Gordon and Jessie Nelson.
2. She’s childhood pals with Ben Platt — they met in a local theater group. “We did like 50 shows by the time we were 10, playing every variation of a duo,” she told W Magazine. “He was my first kiss in a play.”
(Editorial note: Molly Gordon was notably missing from Ben Platt and Noah Galvin’s wedding, sparking rumors that they are no longer friends. If anyone has intel, it us up!)
3. Molly and Ben recorded the catchiest Yom Kippur song in existence. (And followed it up with a Hanukkah jingle.)
4. Her career dream? A sketch show. “I would love to have a show that is like, Inside Amy Schumer, Key & Peele — a sketch show. I love writing, and my parents are filmmakers who were actors first, so I always thought maybe I would want to do the other side of it, too. I just made something with my friends, and it was so much fun to help create stuff for other people. I think that’s a really beautiful part of this business. It would be fun maybe to just support someone and help them be funny and wonderful.”
5. She’s starred off-broadway in a show called “Alice By Heart,” inspired by Alice in Wonderland and set in a London tube station during World War II. We are blown away by her:
6. “Being Jewish in West L.A., my religion was watching comedy. That felt like God to me,” she told Vulture.
7. And yes, she’s also super close with Beanie Feldstein. Ben introduced them, obvs, and as Molly explains, “I fell just madly in love with her, and always wanted to be closer to her but we weren’t in the same grade and we didn’t go to the same school. So we were really close friends but we just didn’t see each other that much. When I moved to New York, and Beanie was finishing her last years at school. We got to spend so much time together and we became such best friends at that time. She’s just my favorite person in the world.”
8. Their friendship is truly the best:
(Editorial note: We are also not sure of the status of Molly Gordon and Beanie Feldstein’s friendship due to the rumors of Ben Platt and Molly falling out.)
9. Molly’s character in Booksmart is Beanie’s rival, but they both are headed to Yale in the fall. “So many movies about high school are like, ‘this is the smart girl, and this is the popular girl, and this is the slutty girl, and this is the theater kid,’ but this movie lets everyone be so many different things. That’s what I was so excited by. That’s what I was looking for and wanted to see more [of] when I was growing up,” Molly explains.
10. Beanie says Molly always brings “an incredible snack to the table,” giving her vegan cookies in the middle of the night.
11. She identifies as Hufflepuff. (Same, Molly, same.)
12. She went to NYU for two weeks, “which is probably the least anyone’s ever been in school. I was unhappy, and I’m a very happy person, and I just had a feeling that the program I was in wasn’t right for what I wanted to do.”
13. On her role in Animal Kingdom, a drama series from TNT, she said, “I was just so surprised, because I didn’t think I would ever do something that…dark. It’s been really exciting and different, and it’s been a college experience for me, in a way. On a television show, the pace is so fast, and you’re doing so much material that you really just have to learn as you go.”
14. On starring with Melissa McCarthy in Life of the Party, she explains, “That was the most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life. First of all, to be able to do a movie about being close to your mom and it was set in college? Melissa would always be like, ‘Is this what [college] is like?’ I was like, ‘I have no fucking idea,’ I really was just going with it.”
15. She’s also very close with Noah Galvin, who was also in Booksmart and “Alice By Heart” with her.
Can we join this Beanie/Ben/Noah/Molly friend group please!?
(Editorial note: you know what I’m going to say.)
Beanie and Molly also make a cameo in this video of dancing Evan Hansens (Noah was one):
15. “Your first best friend really is your first love,” she said of Booksmart being a film that “treats a female friendship like a love story.”
16. Her middle name is June, thanks to this delightful twitter exchange:
(Honestly, a thick sock and a sandal is an A+ look in my opinion!)
17. Another A-list friend group she’s a part of includes Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott, whom she has collaborated with on “Shiva Baby,” and Ayo Edebiri whom she’s worked with in “Theater Camp” and “The Bear.”
18. Last but definitely not least, you have to watch this clip from Theater Camp:
