This profile is part of Queerty’s 2023 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year.
Name: Alison Brie Schermerhorn, 40
Bio: Before becoming a household name with a résumé full of likable, flirty, Type-A (and occasionally body-slamming) characters, Alison Brie attended high school in Pasadena, Calif. After playing Toto in a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz, she caught the acting bug, going on to study theater at CalArts. It didn’t take long for Brie to nab her first onscreen role in an episode of –– get this –– Hannah Montana.
Still, her big break came in 2007 as the doting wife Trudy Campbell in Mad Men. From there, she scored a lead in cult-favorite series Community. As the perky, studious, and surprisingly deep Annie, she laid the blueprint for a booked and busy career. With an irresistible contagiousness and relatability, she made her mark in films like Sleeping With Other People, How to Be Single, and Promising Young Woman.
That being said, Brie can’t be pinned down. She showed off her chops as Ruth Wilder (a.k.a “Zoya the Destroyer”) in the ’80s women’s wrestling series GLOW. In 2020, she co-wrote and led psychological drama Horse Girl.
And speaking of equestrians, she voiced a character in the critically acclaimed BoJack Horseman.
After meeting via friends at Mardi Gras in 2011 (filled with “48 hours of drugs, sex, and a lot of making out”), she began dating Dave Franco. However, the couple kept their relationship fairly private until tying the knot in 2017. The two collaborated on a handful of projects like Franco’s directorial debut.
And they continue to surprise each other….
Coming Out: When reading “Thirst Tweets” for BuzzFeed, you might as well keep it real! Back in February, Brie and Franco appeared on the video series to promote rom-com Somebody I Used to Know, which they co-wrote and Dave directed. The tweets were thirsty AF, but one especially hit home.
Franco read the tweet in question: “Listen, I am bisexual for a reason and that reason is strictly to be used in a threesome by Dave Franco and Alison Brie.”
The two high-fived before the actress added, “That’s also why I’m bisexual.”
The choice of venue for the reveal surprised her hubby, who asked, “You’ve been waiting for this tweet from someone you don’t know who they are or what they look like?”
Self-assured as ever, Brie said, “Yeah,” and Franco concurred it “checks out.”
There was also *that* moment went Brie educated Franco on “bussy,” a term she learned from LGBTQ+ podcast fave Las Culturistas. But we’re getting off track.
It seems the happy couple fully supports each other. Though Brie “never wanted to get married” before Franco, the two inspire each other to “go do whatever we want.”
As she told People, “Something about being married made me feel so settled, almost more free … rather than like trapped.”
Even before coming out, Brie has always been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and female reproductive rights.
In addition to promoting National Coming Out Day, supporting trans rights and LGBTQ+ youth for Spirit Day, she starred as Sloane in the gay holiday flick Happiest Season. Furthermore, she spoke passionately about the importance of a queer-helmed and focused Christmas movie.
“I think that kind of representation is really important,” she told Hollywood Reporter. “It’s sort of like a cart-horse scenario. The story exists because [director Clea DuVall], herself, said ‘Oh, there’s a hole here in my experience as a moviegoer and as a queer woman.'”
Her onscreen alter-egos also seem to have encouraged her to live life authentically.
Brie shared a steamy make out scene in Spin Me Round with Aubrey Plaza. “She and I have really great chemistry,” she told Business Insider. “It was really easy to shoot a scene like that together.”
And she found empowerment on the set of GLOW. “The show is about women’s bodies, it’s about women taking ownership of their bodies,” she said to W Magazine, adding, “I think this show changed my life and I carry with me those lessons all the time.” (She also attended a Melissa Etheridge and Pat Benatar concert with co-star Betty Gilpin, which sounds like the best time.)
At the end of the day, Brie is a free spirit. It’s certainly evidenced by her “penchant” for nudity and the character she wrote for herself in Somebody I Used to Know, who fittingly strips down.
“I’m a very comfortable naked person,” she told People. “I love streaking … I always think it makes other people laugh. It’s just one of my favorite things.”
frapachino
Household name? LOL!
Man About Town
Does she own any dresses that aren’t overwhelmingly distasteful?