ALLISON WILLIAMS Learning to Let go

THE GIRLS ALUM AND REGRETTING YOU STAR SPILLS ON FINDING FREEDOM IN AUTHENTICITY

- Jennie Noonan

After graduating from Yale with a degree in English, Allison Williams, then 22, took a class in auditioning.

“My first audition after that class was for the Untitled Lena Dunham Project at HBO,” the actress shared on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast in June, adding that she thought, “Obviously I’m not going to get this part, it’s an HBO show, but I’m going to use this to practise my new audition skills.”

She did, in fact, get it — and for six seasons, from 2012 to 2017, Williams played outwardly confident and often cringeworthy Marnie Michaels in Girls. The landmark series became a cultural touchstone and a launching pad for its young cast.

Striking gold right out of the gate has left the actress somewhat spoiled. “I really don’t do very many things,” she said on the Room Tone podcast in June. “I find the experience of being part of something I don’t believe in to be soul-crushing, so I try to avoid that at all costs. I am privileged enough to be able to be selective.”

The latest project to make it over the line is Regretting You (in cinemas October 23), the second big-screen adaptation of a Colleen Hoover bestseller after last year’s controversial It Ends with Us - which, after its release, was overtaken by an ongoing lawsuit between its leading lady, Blake Lively, and costar/director Justin Baldoni.

“I love reading Colleen’s books, which is also what made it super intimidating to play one of her characters,” Williams told