GRIFFIN DUNNE Just SAY YES

The This Is Us alum shares his thoughts on taking chances and his new film projects

- Lindsay Hoffman

Griffin Dunne never planned on acting. Born into a Hollywood family, he was set on something else — journalism, inspired by his aunt and uncle, writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. “I thought I’d be a New Age journalist, like Hunter S. Thompson,” Griffin, 69, tells Closer. But appearing in a high school play changed everything. The thrill of performing hooked him, launching a career that included starring roles in 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, the cult classic After Hours and the role of lovable but troubled Nicky Pearson in This Is Us.

Today, Griffin is busier than ever. He has a new dramatic comedy in theaters now, Ex-Husbands. “It’s a complex role for a man my age,” he says. “I hope it opens doors for more stories like this — funny, honest and relatable.” He’s also developing an Amazon series based on his father Dominick Dunne’s Vanity Fair articles and starring in Caught Stealing, out next August.

Your father, Dominick Dunne, was a producer and studio executive. Was it assumed you’d do something in Hollywood?

No. In fact, I was sort of resistant to it as a teenager. I was going to have nothing to do with movie-making and star-making. Then I got talked into auditioning for a play in high school and changed my mind completely.

What do you consider your big break?

It was the unexpected opportunity to be cast in [1981’s] An American Werewolf in London. I was quite inexperienced. I’d done some theater, maybe a small part in a movie. It was bewildering. Suddenly I went from very tiny parts to co-star and shooting in London and flying over on the Concorde. Directors that I admired were introduced to me. It was quite a break.

What roles are you most often recognized for in public today?