In Abroad, Liane Balaban plays a reporter who, between deadlines, dates and dishes on London's infamous males.
Although Balaban’s character, Amy Pearce, dates a series of spectacular cads, the 29-year-old actress says that her off-screen encounters were beyond reproach. “I was fortunate to be around handsome, educated, gorgeous men,” she says. “They were prime specimens of the British male species.” Her character may have a weakness for dashing and aristocratic Mr. Darcy types, but Balaban says that her cinematic crushes are more eclectic. “When I was 14, I had a thing for Wiley Wiggins in Dazed and Confused. Later on, I saw Alain Delon in The Yellow Rolls-Royce and thought he was a beautiful and mischievous man. A few years ago, I saw the Metallica documentary [Some Kind of Monster] and found Dave Mustaine strangely attractive. He was the only one who spoke from the heart — and he had great hair!” But, film fantasies aside, Balaban says that playing a single woman navigating London’s dating scene made her even more smitten with her fiancé, author Adam Gollner, and that playing a reporter only reinforced her decision made earlier in life not to pursue a career in that business. “It can be a dog-eat-dog world,” she explains. “Acting is competitive, but it’s different. I don’t mean to disparage writers, but actors aren’t as interchangeable because if you get a part, it’s a decision based on your essence: Are you the character or not?”
In Balaban’s case, her “essence” was first noticed when a family friend suggested that she audition for Allan Moyle’s 1999 film, New Waterford Girl. After landing the role of the misfit Moonie Pottie, the then high school student set off on a new career path. But it would be close to a decade before Balaban felt comfortable calling herself an actress. “I used to think I got into acting by a fluke, but now I don’t think that’s true,” she says. “I always enjoyed performing. I was just lucky enough to land a great role that launched my career.”
Find out what Balaban thinks about her Hollywood profile on the next page ...
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