Ginny & Georgia has a magic recipe for success and its star, Brianne Howey is the key ingredient as to why we are so obsessed with Netflix’s story about a mother daughter double act road-testing suburban life. For his latest GLAMOUR UK column, Josh Smith Meets… Brianne, who opens up about not being deterred by the on-screen age difference, hopes for season three and how playing a mother made her poignantly reflect on her relationship with her own.
I am exactly the same age as Brianne Howey, but like the rest of the world, who has fallen in love with her for playing the larger than life mum literally on the run, Georgia in Netflix’s mega hit, Ginny & Georgia, I would be open to her adopting me. Maybe becoming best friends might be a better option, but either way IRL - well, virtually - it’s not hard to see why the world is obsessed with Brianne, she’s warm, open and honest from the get-go.
It’s a Friday late afternoon when Brianne enters the Zoom chat, giving an instant hit of serotonin complete with a beaming smile, her blonde hair tossed to one side over a casual khaki knit and coming live from her ‘back house’ in LA. It looks fresh out of Architectural Digest and that needs to be mentioned first and foremost. “I am not mad at you saying that,” Brianne laughs, “cause I am always saying to my husband, ‘let's get art in here, let’s spruce it up!’” Plot spoiler: it puts my main house to shame.
Away from home, life is life-ing in the best possible way for Brianne right now. The second season of Ginny & Georgia has been racking up huge viewing figures. It has been watched for 504.8M hours since it premiered at the beginning of January whilst holding the top spot on Netflix globally for four weeks and officially entering Netflix's all-time most popular english-speaking TV list at number 10 beating the likes of Emily In Paris and 13 Reasons Why.
“To see the response to season two has been such a blessing because it's not the easiest show to make because of the subject matter,” Brianne shares, reflecting on the show’s success and the emotional toll of filming a show which sees her pack her life up for six months to move to Toronto. “The fact that it's being received so well makes it worth it, above and beyond a million times.”
“Season two really stretched us,” Brianne adds. “I was stretched in ways I didn't even know I was capable of. There's a heavy responsibility with telling some of the more nuanced storylines and we don't take it lightly. It's also very important to us that these storylines aren't glorified. As an actor it isn't easy, going to places in your life that you're drawing from and everybody responds differently, but I am one of those people - it sticks with me a little bit. I'm an emotional being. I go home and it's hard to turn it off.”
Ginny & Georgia's subject matter is intense. The show covers everything from sexism to racism, self-harm to abuse. And what may seem like a dramedy aimed at teenagers on the surface is anything but - even my boyfriend's 70 year old parents are obsessed - and it’s starting important cross generational chats across the world in the process.
I wonder what conversation Brianne is the proudest of starting with the show. “That it's okay to ask for help,” she replies. “A lot of people feel uncomfortable living in that vulnerability but it's actually incredibly courageous. That's not something we're taught and it is an important life skill. The fact that Ginny (Antonia Gentry) can recognise in herself that she needs help, is important. We also aren't always self-aware of these things. We can put our own blinders on. What Ginny does is a pretty huge life skill that we could all only hope to work towards one day.”
One such conversation-starting scene is when Georgia discovers her daughter, Ginny, is self harming. “The second I read that scene, I had a knot in my stomach up until the day we finally got it out and off the page.” Brianne tells me. “As much as Ginny & Georgia are going through these motions we're feeling that tension too. We also have two seasons of tension with all the scenes we had shot up until that point, so even for us it's cathartic to finally acknowledge this horrifying, horrible secret. It's an explosive moment but it's nice to finally explode, get it out, come back together, hold each other and cradle each other. When I'm watching the show - which isn't always my favorite thing to do because I can nitpick things - seeing what Antonia is going through, my heart's breaking. I'm crying. To get to have that moment too, as an actor and just as someone who loves her, it feels a lot more real.”
The bond between Brianne and Antonia on and off screen is apparent. It’s a bond that has pushed Brianne forward and taught her new things. “I was just with Antonio last night - I just love her so much,” she says. “Getting to work with Antonia onscreen and offscreen, I feel so safe taking big risks with her.
The show is certainly reflecting the real everyday lives of many - especially young people - dealing with their own mental health. Would the show have helped her growing up? “Definitely,” Brianne responds, “I've never seen anything like it. Whether or not they even affect you, maybe they affect somebody that you love, it helps take the shame out of the equation if we at least start talking about it. We don't necessarily have all of the answers, but the fact that the show can start the conversation is a really beautiful step.”
Whilst the characters have their own battles to deal with, Georgia’s shopping list of problems are extensive, ranging from three murders to fraud. How much more can one woman take, I joke. “Georgia always has a glass of wine in her hand. It makes sense, Brianne laughs. “These girls need a vacation. Both of them need to go on a quick little holiday, take their mind off things. It's a lot but that's also life though, right? Life is chaotic.” Hard agree.
Whilst we are on the topic of chaotic lives, even with Georgia’s complex past, there was a plot twist in season two that Brianne didn’t expect. “Georgia and Cynthia's relationship took a turn that I didn't see coming,” she says, reflecting on a new murder on Georgia’s growing list: helping Cynthia by suffocating her husband Tom, who has been in a vegetative state in a hospice throughout the season. “I don't know if that was always part of the plan. What Georgia does in her mind's eye is a favor to Cynthia by releasing Cynthia's husband from the pain and anguish that the family are going through. That was news to me when we sat down for our season two arc meeting!”
Speaking of narrative arcs, Brianne’s own story has taken many turns since the role of Georgia first landed in her life. “I was in Europe with my now husband, then boyfriend,” she says looking back. “I was on a show that didn't get renewed for a season two called The Passage for Fox. I was disappointed and we took advantage of the time and thought, ‘let's go on a little trip because I'm not gonna go back to do this show.’ I maybe had a feeling he was gonna propose just because we so rarely get these pockets of time together somewhere so magical.”
“The self tape [request for Ginny & Georgia] came through and I was only in Europe for 72 more hours,” Brianne continues. “He hadn't proposed yet and it was a really long self tape and it was for a mom character. I thought, ‘hey, this role is incredible, this script is incredible but I don't know how realistic it is that they would take me seriously for this role.’ I was like, ‘I'll be home in three days. Can I go in person?’ And they were like, ‘I don't know, it's kind of a gamble. We'll see.’ And I didn't wanna make my husband Matt play this angsty 16 year old for a day and a half with me running the scene. I'm a nightmare to do a self-tape with. I'll do it 105 times, I'll nitpick everything! I got home and luckily they said, ‘please send in a self tape now.’ I did it within minutes and then days later I was in the room in person with the creator showrunner, then days after that I was doing chemistry reads with Antonia. Days after that we were sending in tapes to Netflix and a week later I was in Toronto shooting Ginny & Georgia!”
And did the proposal happen at any point during that real life drama? “Oh yes,” Brianne beams. “It was super magical, beautiful, lovely and it was a nice way to go into the room too, coming off of a great trip so it made the audition more fun!” Rejoice team, she got the ring on it!
I am interested in why Brianne initially doubted whether she could play ‘a mom.’ At the time she was approached about the role Brianne was 30 years old - now 33 - and her on screen daughter, Antonia Gentry is just eight years her junior IRL. And having spoken to many actresses about how at a certain point in their career they begin to just be offered ‘mom roles,’ such is the sexism and agism still rife in the entertainment industry, I wonder if that deterred her? But then again, Ginny isn’t ‘just’ a ‘single mum’ she is a fully fleshed out character in her own right, she is not in the shadows of her daughter, she goes toe-to-toe with her.
“Shockingly, no,” Brianne replies. “I thought the role was just incredible. Georgia is larger than life. If she was a one-dimensional character who happened to be a mom, sure, maybe that wouldn't be as enticing and if being a mom was only defining characteristic. But she's so much more than that. Her being a mom in addition to all of her other colours only makes her even more interesting. That's the whole reason Georgia does what she does is because she is a mom. She would literally die for her children. She would literally kill for her children. I did not even think twice about it. It felt like an opportunity of a lifetime and there was so much to play with. Georgia is on the run. She's living in all the grey areas of her life. There's nothing black and white about her. She has these very complicated love triangles. And the most defining characteristic about her that blinded me to everything else was that she's a survivor. She's overcome so much. She's been through so much. She's so complicated and dynamic. I really didn't even, it didn't know, it didn't phase me.” Alexa, play Destiny’s Child's ‘Survivor’.
Playing a mother on screen also gave Brianne the chance to poignantly reflect on her relationship with her own mother. “The amount of times we're going through these scenes and I see myself in Ginny thinking I did that to my mom,” she shares. “I had boys sneaking in and outta my room - I did those things! So to have the tables turned is ironic, funny and endearing. My mom passed over a decade ago, I lost her to cancer, so it's also interesting to go through the motions of the show and to not physically have her here.”
“I already thought I had so much admiration and respect for my mom. I watched her work so hard. She was such a hustler. A single mom who had me and my sister really young and worked 24/7. I just bow down to her even more after playing Georgia and knowing she kind of had to be a good cop and bad cop at times. It's nice that getting to play Georgia allows me to think about my mom in a fun new way that isn't just surrounded by grief, that's more creative and I can lean into some of the fun memories.” It’s truly evident Brianne’s performance is all the richer for their real life relationship and her mother’s incredible legacy. “Thank you so much,” she replies.
As our time wraps up, with the internet crying out for Ginny & Georgia season three, I need to know what Brianne would love to see happen next. “I love that Georgia is learning so much from Ginny,” she says. “It's the first time in Georgia's life where we are seeing her pivot in a way that wasn't planned. She's so calculated, so controlling. Ginny is her achilles heel, I love seeing Georgia completely thrown and Ginny's the main person who can do that. The show is the tension between Ginny and Georgia - it's the push, the pull, the contrast between them. But I also love when they're just ridiculous. I'm here for all of it. I want to keep having some fun and hopefully they go on a vacation !” Find me another pairing who needs a break, a sunlounger and a bloody big cocktail more… I’ll wait!
Ginny & Georgia seasons 1 and 2 are available on Netflix now.
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