A look at Ari Graynor who plays Leslie Abramson in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

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Ari Graynor made her film debut in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River in 2003 when she was 20 years old. 

Actress Ari Graynor, who was born and raised in Boston, has appeared in TV shows such as I’m Dying Up Here, The Sopranos and Fringe. She studied English and Drama at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and made her Broadway debut in the play Brooklyn Boy by Donald Marguiles in 2005.

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When it came to her role as defence attorney for Lyle and Erik Menendez in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Ariel Graynor told Marie Claire that “I auditioned for this the day before the actors strike and got the offer the day the strike ended, which is an unbelievable miracle because like so many other people, I was really in a tailspin during the strike.Then came this incredible, true gift of a lifetime to play this woman that I'm just so in love with. When I got the material, it was just a few scenes: the intro to Leslie when she's in the adoption office and the first time she meets Erik.”

A look at Ari Graynor who plays Leslie Abramson in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez StoryA look at Ari Graynor who plays Leslie Abramson in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
A look at Ari Graynor who plays Leslie Abramson in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story | Getty Images for Netflix

When it came to Ari Graynor’s view on defence attorney Leslie Abramson, she told Marie Claire that “I fell deeply in love with her. I mean, I really love her. I miss her in the way you miss somebody that has left your life. I'll find myself tearing up thinking about her. I have deep respect for her and admiration and think that she was such a multifaceted human being. First of all, she went to law school in 1967 as a single mom in her early 20s. She came up as a public defender, working in juvenile courts. 

“Her being a defense attorney was really about wanting to fight injustice and fairness and the belief in the legal system that everybody deserves a defense and really fighting for the underdog. She believed people are more than the worst thing that they did.”

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As for Ari Graynor’s own personal view on the Menendez brothers, she told Variety that “I feel very close to them in this bizarre other reality. And I hear they’re extraordinary people who, as Leslie said at the end of the show … will make their lives meaningful and contribute beautifully to society. It sounds like from everything I’ve heard is that they are amazing. Erik is teaching meditation, they’re working on the [prison reform initiative] GreenSpace project. I would love to get to hug them one day.”

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