ALL GROWN UP
While exceptionally skilled siblings are an uncommon occurrence, the Marano sisters are one such example of famed beauty and brains. Both Vanessa and Laura Marano have made a name for themselves given their skill within the film industry; and although they may look alike, their talents are as diverse as their personalities.
Performing was a familiar world to them from a young age. Their manager and mother Ellen teaches at the Agoura Children’s Theatre in Southern California, where the two began acting even before it was their professional pursuit. “So, I probably started when I was around six,” recalls Vanessa. “We did plays, and then as we got older, we just helped out with the theater. I actually started writing the children’s plays for my mom kinda out of necessity, because there’s only so many times you can do Peter Pan,” she laughs. “I started getting into writing through doing that.” Even after the sisters were on series television, they’d still actively help their mom there on the weekends.
Vanessa repeatedly begged to act professionally as a little girl. But Ellen was concerned about the girls not having a childhood given that the industry is really hard on kids. Plus, there was the copious amount of driving in LA traffic that would obviously be involved, Vanessa acknowledges. In an attempt to kill the acting bug, her mom took her to an agency “that turned down children for no good reason,” she smiles with an understanding that only comes with age. Much to Ellen’s surprise, the agent instead decided to take her on. That wasn’t part of the plan, but what was really not part of the plan was little Laura, also in tow, responding to this news with, “Well, I don’t have an agent,” in the most adorable voice she could muster. “Oh honey, we’ll take you, too!” the agent declared. Vanessa was eight at the time and Laura five.
That first year, they didn’t do anything super theatrical. “Both of our first theatrical job was the same job, which was Without a Trace,” says Vanessa. “But we did commercials.” Laura fondly remembers her first big commercial appearance for JC Penny, where she beat up the boy who played her older brother on set. “We would see him on auditions, and he would be like, ‘Would you please not hit me, Laura?’ I don’t know—I was just a rambunctious child. I’m not sure why!” Laura chuckles. “Vanessa was not at all.”
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“I always thought I was the shy one,” discloses Vanessa, which she only believed until being on sets without her little sis around. “I was shocked to learn that apparently I’m very loud and have a lot of energy because I was comparing myself to my younger sister, who, between the two of us, I’m the introvert,” Vanessa sarcastically concedes. Aside from being extra voices in Finding Nemo and recurring roles on Without a Trace, the girls have pretty much done their own thing since the early years.
Vanessa is best known for her performances in two hit television shows: Gilmore Girls, where she played Luke’s daughter April Nardini, and Switched at Birth, in which she co-starred as Bay Kennish. When examining her extensive repertoire of work, it’s evident that she’s been drawn to strong female characters. “I have been very lucky that the films I have been cast in also align with a creative vision that includes a vast amount of multidimensional characters,” Vanessa reveals. “From both an on camera and behind the camera perspective, I hope to create characters and stories that entertain, but also say something more. I look back on to some of my favorite films and TV shows, and I have always been drawn to the world that characters are in, the people the story is about, and the feeling the piece elicits when you watch it.” This past year alone, Vanessa has played in two movies with rather varied genres.
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This Is the Year is a heartwarming coming-of-age movie featuring a fantastic soundtrack, where Vanessa plays high school girl Molly, who’s vibe was actually loosely inspired by Laura’s confidently care-free spirit. “Molly is actually the first character I ever played who had a high school experience similar to my own. Meaning… she was homeschooled.” So, even though they were differing in ages when Vanessa played the role, “I felt more connected to her experience than other high school characters I have played in the past.”
How to Deter a Robber premiered on the festival film circuit with favorable reviews for both its comedic thriller storyline and noteworthy acting performances, but Vanessa was drawn to playing the character of Madison Williams for a very different reason. “Maria Bissell, the writer/director of the film, is a woman after my own heart,” she says, echoing the same mentality that eventually inspired Vanessa and her sister to bring Saving Zoë to the big screen. “She basically took her career into her own hands, wrote the script, found financing, and created an opportunity for herself. I was inspired by her drive. That’s what made me want to do the project.”
Currently in post-production, This Game’s Called Murder is one of the most interesting projects that Vanessa has ever been a part of. “It’s eccentric to say the least. Adam Sherman, the writer/director, created a world that everyone had different opinions about. You couldn’t put the tone of the film into a box, which is what is so fun about it,” she divulges. “I would describe Jennifer, the character I was given the opportunity to play, as a cross between Norma Desmond and a Disney princess. It was a lot of fun to create that sort of persona and discover who she really was along the way;” not to mention that Disney has been a big part of both girls’ career journeys.
Laura’s role as Young Sarah Silverman on The Sarah Silverman Program gained her substantial recognition, but her breakout role was on Austin & Ally, where she played the co-leading role of Ally Dawson. Many other television and film roles are sprinkled across her résumé, yet one of her most recent performances is made even more impressive given its star-studded cast. In The War with Grandpa, Laura co-stars alongside Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Rob Riggle, Oakes Fegley, with Cheech Marin, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Walken. “What an absolute dream cast to work with! The whole experience was so unbelievably surreal. I think I just constantly took in everyone’s different process and way of working, and observing that in itself taught me so much just as an actress. I still can’t believe I got to be a part of that film,” she gushes.
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Since the age of nine, Laura has played piano—music seems to always have had a presence in her career. “Music truly brings me so much happiness. It’s such an incredibly healthy outlet for me in whatever I’m feeling … Being able to transform this outlet for my feelings into something even more meaningful, a way to connect with other people, has also brought me such happiness and made me feel so fulfilled.” In March 2019, Laura’s first EP, ME, was released. “When I decided to start releasing music independently, I knew it was going to be challenging, but I was excited by the creative control I would have,” which led to the EP’s next chapter.
“As soon as I had finished ME, I thought about continuing the stories I told on that EP. I already had a few songs I had written at a similar time as some of the songs on ME, so I started reworking those songs to make them fit the story and style I wanted for my next era of music,” recounts Laura. “From that came my second EP, YOU. The reaction to this EP has been so incredible and validating, and though I’m still constantly working on more music, I still get excited doing streaming parties with my fans or hearing their favorite songs on this EP.”
“Something To Believe In” is one of Laura’s biggest hits. In addition to the original track, she has also released stripped down and remixed versions. “I think in general, a lot of artists, including myself, love the idea of reworking songs and giving our listeners different versions for them to enjoy,” offers Laura. With the second EP in general, “I just became obsessed with the idea of storytelling, and how there can be so many different perspectives of the same story. The same is true of a song’s production. At the base of all three of those versions is the same song, told in three completely different ways, which I absolutely love.”
Laura’s musical inclinations were evident even in her IGTV show, for which she wrote the opening jingle. Created at the onset of pandemic shutdowns, she wanted to do something extra special for her fans. Life of Laura, coined LOL, “was centered around the effects of the pandemic,” Laura reflects. “My main objective was to have fun and make sure anyone who was watching was having fun, too … It was something I knew had an expiration date, but I am so glad I did it!” She filmed a bunch of episodes in late April with the intent of launching in June.
“When George Floyd was killed and the protests started happening around the country, my original ‘premiere’ episodes just didn’t feel appropriate, so at first, I just thought I should push back the show. Then, I realized I completely had the wrong perspective.” She decided to use her platform (nearly 10 million Instagram followers strong) to educate and inform her audience. “I knew I actually had the opportunity to bring someone on and use my voice to amplify theirs.” For this reason, Laura instead premiered with a series of conversations with activist Zyahna Bryant. “Afterwards, the content of the majority of the show still was more on the random side,” as she had always wanted it to be an amusing outlet for her fans, “but I am so grateful the first three episodes were about something way more substantial and important.”
The sisters have both nurtured sustained careers, that speak to socially current matters, with much diversity, yet they have known for some time that they wanted to broaden their repertoire even further. “As an actress, you don’t have a lot of creative control, and we were at a point in our career where we were going through some hardships for sure,” recalls Laura. Their mom handed them a stack of books with teenage girls on the cover and said, “If you girls are going to continue to do this, then we should try to take control of our careers, and try to option books.” Alyson Noël’s 2007 book Saving Zoë rose to the top as something special. Alyson was currently watching the season of Gilmore Girls that Vanessa was on at the time they reached out to her, and, all reasoning aside, she trusted the girls with the project in spite of them having no prior producing experience.
Though Saving Zoë came out in 2019, the film had actually been in the works for years prior. It took the family 10 years to get the movie made, and when they did get the green light, they shot the whole thing in 15 days. “When we first optioned the book, we were a little too young for the characters. By the time we made it, we were definitely a little too old for the characters,” Laura relays as the girls giggle. “But we both loved it so much we had to do it!” The story explores a heavy topic and very real issue that is quietly prevalent even in statistically safe communities: human trafficking. Vanessa and Laura co-star as high school girls Zoë and Echo. Zoë gets caught in a dark world of perverse deception. The film follows Echo as she struggles to cope with her older sister’s murder a year prior. Laura calls it “a love story between two sisters.”
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Not only did the girls play the leading roles, they also simultaneously produced the feature alongside their mother. As their entrée into production, it finally gave them a taste of what it was like behind the camera. “On Saving Zoë, Laura and I were both acting and producing while my mom was the only one fully in the producing chair… it was a lot to say the least,” Vanessa confesses. “After Saving Zoë, both Laura and I felt strongly that our next producing project would only involve one of us in a starring role. It’s a lot of hats to wear when you are both producing and acting.”
The production of The Royal Treatment, the sisters’ latest joint venture film, was announced not long ago. A Netflix romance flick, starring Laura alongside Mena Massoud of Aladdin, the film will be produced by Vanessa, Laura, and their mom. “Knowing that we wanted to produce more projects, when this script landed in Laura’s lap, it felt like the perfect opportunity for us all to continue our growth in the producer space,” Vanessa acknowledges. “Netflix has been such an amazing partner throughout the process, as has Chloe Smith, our producer on the ground in New Zealand,” where the movie was filmed. “It is also really nice to be doing a comedy, considering our first film covered such a heavy topic.”
It’ll be the first project Vanessa has been a part of solely as a producer. “That opportunity in itself excites me. When you grow up in the entertainment industry rooted in one perspective, the ability to pivot to an entirely new perspective is a gift and one that I do not take for granted,” she says with gratitude. “What is nice for me about The Royal Treatment is that I can fully immerse myself in the producing process and also alleviate some of the pressures from both Laura and my mom.”
This will be the second time Laura acts in and produces the same movie. “Although I do imagine the workload will be slightly less than Saving Zoë—we did that movie on an insanely low budget, I truly just didn’t sleep—there is still quite a lot for me to do on this film, but I am beyond excited and grateful to be working on it! Netflix is literally the dream partner, and Mena is so lovely, so I’ve never felt more thankful!”
It’s easy to see how working with someone who knows you inside and out, backwards and forwards, is a rare gift. Having the opportunity to build upon similar interests is something not lost on either sister. Vanessa and Laura Marano understand that it’s one of those little luxuries with a big impact. With so much potential between the duo, it’ll be exciting to see what the future holds for this exceptionally talented sister act.
Managing Editor Lauren Barisic
Photographer Josh Williams
Stylist Jenny Dayco
Hair & Makeup Valerie Noble
Assistant Dean Bais
