- - Grace Van Patten Says Making Her Acting Debut on “The Sopranos” at 8 ‘Didn’t Feel Like the Start of Anything' (Exclusive)

Julia MooreSeptember 2, 2025 at 4:38 AM

Corbis/Corbis/Getty; HBO

Grace Van Patten at Paris Fashion Week in 2022 (left); Grace Van Patten in 'The Sopranos' (right) -

Grace Van Patten made her acting debut at age 8 on The Sopranos

Her dad, Timothy Van Patten, directed several episodes of the hit HBO series, and she says that seeing his career ups and downs helped her avoid having a "glamorized idea" of the industry

She's currently starring in Hulu's The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

Grace Van Patten got an early start in the industry.

The actress, 28, made her on-screen debut at just 8 years old, when she appeared in two episodes of The Sopranos, directed by her father, Timothy Van Patten.

She played Ally Pontecorvo, daughter of Eugene (Robert Funaro) and Deanne (Suzanne DiDonna), in the first two episodes of season 6, and the experience is one that's stayed with her in the two decades that followed.

"There were a lot of pivots from when I was 8 to, I guess, 18, when I really started working," Grace tells PEOPLE. "I went through so many things in between."

Her time on the show, albeit brief, helped her fall "more in love" with acting, she says.

"It was amazing," Grace recalls. "I fell more in love with doing it, but I was so young, I wasn't like, 'This is what I'm going to do forever.' It felt like a super fun thing that I saw all these amazing people doing, but could not picture it as a career."

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty; Dave Benett/Getty

Grace Van Patten at Hulu's "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox" New York Premiere (left); Wendy Rossmeyer Van Patten and Timothy Van Patten at Canneseries (right)

"I mean, I was 8, obviously," she continues. "And there was such a big gap in between [The Sopranos and other roles]. So yes, it was my first job, but it didn't feel like the start of anything, you know?"

Instead, she took away a love for the craft from the experience, but didn't really work again for a decade.

Other than a 2013 appearance on Law & Order, Grace spent her years from 8 to 18 doing "the normal thing."

"There are kids that really do start that young and do it consistently, but I think my parents were like, 'No.'"

She enrolled at New York's famous LaGuardia High School — fellow alumni include Timothée Chalamet, Jennifer Aniston and Al Pacino — where she did "four hours of acting every single day."

But by graduation, Grace still "really didn't know what I wanted to do," she says. "I knew I loved acting, but I still didn't see it as a career."

In retrospect, the Tell Me Lies star says that doubt was a side-effect of not having "much faith in myself," but it was also influenced by her dad's experiences.

"I saw my dad as a director, I saw how unpredictable it was, and it wasn't all just exciting and fun, and it didn't click in my brain that it was even possible," she says.

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

Grace Van Patten, June Van Patten, Wendy Rossmeyer and Anna Van Patten at Hulu's "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox" premiere on August 19, 2025

"I saw how fulfilling and creative and exciting it was, and then I saw how challenging and unpredictable and scary it was," she continues. "So I saw all the sides of it, which was really helpful. I didn't have this glamorized idea of it, and I think it hurt me less when things weren't happening. Because I'm like, 'No, that's just how it goes.'"

Amidst her doubts, Grace decided to take a gap year after high school. "Within that gap year, I did take classes and random things to just be like, 'Do I really just want to do acting?' I'd like to see if I could [love something else]."

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At the same time, she "just started auditioning and started working," and now here we are.

Disney/Andrea Miconi

Grace Van Patten as Amanda Knox, Gisueppe De Domenico as Rafaelle Sollecito in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox'

In 2021, she landed a role in Nine Perfect Strangers alongside Nicole Kidman, which she followed up with Tell Me Lies, which launched her — and her boyfriend and costar Jackon White — into new levels of stardom. Now, she's starring in Hulu's The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, her biggest role to date.

"It just felt very, very important to me, which I haven't experienced doing a job before," she says of playing Knox in the series. "The importance of telling something that really should be told."

New episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox drop Wednesdays on Hulu.

on People

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