Introducing Grace Van Patten, October 2017’s Vanities Star



1 / 5 Chevron Chevron Photograph by Kenneth Willardt. Van Patten wears clothing by Prada; earrings by Irene Neuwirth; hair products by Kérastase Paris; makeup by Chanel.

AGE: 20.

PROVENANCE: New York, New York.

FAMILY BUSINESS: She is the niece of actor Dick Van Patten—show business runs in her blood. “Everyone in our family made cameos on Eight Is Enough. I love to go back and watch.”

MOB DOLL: Thanks to her father, director Tim Van Patten, she was raised on the set of The Sopranos. “I got my first job at eight years old playing Pontecorvo’s daughter. I remember watching Jimmy Gandolfini transform from a gentle giant into a beast—he made me interested in acting.”

FAME: “I was accepted to LaGuardia high school of performing arts. It was four hours of acting every day of the week.”

FESTIVAL DARLING: Last year, Van Patten made her big-screen debut in Tramps, and this spring she earned raves Off Broadway in The Whirligig. “Each night was unpredictable and thrilling!”

CITY KIDS: This fall, she stars as Adam Sandler’s rebellious daughter Eliza in Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), on Netflix. “I love Noah because he is so passionate about New York City—it’s its own character in so many of his movies.”

UNPLUGGED: “I am foreign to social media. Nowadays, actors are getting cast based on how many followers they have—there’s no mystery anymore, and actors need a little mystery.”