Iris Apatow Is More Than Her Name

Despite the Hollywood-insider access her name has afforded over the years, Iris Apatow is still learning how to trust her instincts—as both a public persona and an actress. When we speak in late September, the 22-year-old is minutes away from catching a flight to the set of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, one of the most anticipated films of 2026. She’ll star as Proserpina Trinket, the younger sister of the infamous Capitol chaperone Effie Trinket, who was played by Elizabeth Banks in the original Hunger Games film trilogy. For the travel day ahead, Apatow’s dressed in a sweatshirt emblazoned with a single phrase, all in lowercase letters: “you left me in a fucking coconut bra.” Apatow identifies it as a line from the upcoming season 3 of the Hulu drama Tell Me Lies, in which she’ll star as Amanda, a college freshman about whom Apatow is terrified to divulge anything. (“I don’t have some media-trained answer,” she confesses.) She sheds the sweatshirt so as not to distract from the interview at hand. “I forgot I was wearing it; I’m so embarrassed,” she says, laughing.

Apatow has spent years growing up around the glow of celebrity. (Her first role was in her father’s film Knocked Up when she was just 5 years old). Her bevy of industry connections makes frequent headlines: Her parents are director and producer Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann; her sister is Euphoria actress and freshly minted film director Maude Apatow; she’s best friends (and former roommates) with pop star Olivia Rodrigo; and she lives in New York with her boyfriend, White Lotus actor Sam Nivola. But, even with these extraordinary surroundings, Apatow understands how much work she has to do to “be, at some point, taken seriously,” she says.

No matter her circumstances, rejection comes with her job title—and she’s learning not to internalize the dismissal. Not long ago, she and Nivola both auditioned for the lead roles in a romantic comedy: Nivola got the part; Apatow did not. “That was hard, because I was like, ‘Oh my God, somebody has better chemistry with my boyfriend than I do,’” Apatow says. “What the hell?”

When she auditioned for Sunrise on the Reaping, she was dissatisfied with her own self-tape, and fully expected it would disappoint the casting directors as well. When, at a bar with friends, she checked her phone to see a message from her agents—telling her to call them ASAP—she thought initially to ignore it. “At first I was like, ‘I can’t do this right now, guys. It’s going to hurt me too much.’” When their news turned out to be celebratory—she was going to be in one of the most beloved book-to-film franchises of all time!—she was shocked. “I could not believe it, to be honest,” she says.

Now, Apatow’s working to grow her confidence. She studied film for two years at the University of Southern California, and she says she’d one day love to direct—or even to pull a Girls and write something she can then star in.

Still, as she tries to forge a path of her own, Apatow makes no attempt to hide the family she comes from. She’s proud to share a surname with her sister, whose directorial debut feature, Poetic License—which also stars their mother, Mann—she says she’s “so impressed with.” And she considers herself “very lucky,” not only for the privileges that come with being an Apatow, but also for the protections her loved ones have provided. Earlier in her teenage years, she occasionally sought to rebel against that protection, “to give more of myself to everyone and be out there [on social media],” she says. Her 791,000 Instagram followers and 552,000 TikTok followers might relish the access her carousels and videos with Nivola and Rodrigo (and other celebrities, including Tate McRae, Griff, and Maddie Ziegler) provide. But Apatow has slowly learned that “I have to take back that power and keep my life to myself—most of it, at least,” she says. “Focus on my work and not put myself in positions to get hurt.”

She continues, “Part of that is protecting your peace and not oversaturating yourself in a way that will make you start to hate the industry. It’s really hard to detach yourself from how people see you. I think I’ve learned what’s not supposed to be out there. But it’s taken a long time.”

Sometimes she sees other performers making the same mistakes she made as a younger personality, and it “really stresses me out,” she says. “When I see people acting how I used to, I’m like, ‘Oh, no. You’ll figure this out later, I promise.’”

Take the day 15 minutes by 15 minutes.

Be kind to everyone, and learn everybody’s name. Everybody. It’s so important. It makes your days better and their days better.

Going to film school. That was a real risk, and it was really hard, and I only made it through two years. But also just anytime I’ve acted professionally, it feels like a deep risk. I’m always like, “This might be a disaster.”

My dream is to be in a Sofia Coppola movie. I have never felt more seen than by the movies she makes. Everything she makes, to me, is perfect.

I love the book Dear Diary by Lesley Arfin. It’s my favorite book of all time. It’s quite dark, but in such a beautifully written way that, I think, inspired a lot of my own writing in college.

Chase Infiniti is the greatest. I just saw her movie [One Battle After Another], and I loved Presumed Innocent, the show she was just in. She’s so good.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In any role. That was my favorite show as a kid.

Sleigh Bells, they’re my favorite. And also it’s always Ariana Grande. Or Lana Del Rey.

I like LoveShackFancy and Dôen. And then for makeup, I pretty much use only MAC.

I get all my style rules from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. That’s who you should get your style rules from. Not me.

It’s a lot of fan edits. Hayden Christensen fan edits, specifically. That’s all it is! I actually watched Star Wars for the first time recently and...I don’t know how it happened. [The edits] are just all there. And probably also The Summer I Turned Pretty.

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