ELLE celebrates the smartest, funniest, small-screen stars we all love, starting with four of our favorites—Zooey Deschanel, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler and Allison Williams—who each star on one of the February issue’s multiple covers for its fourth annual Women in TV Issue. On newsstands January 14th, the issue features revealing profiles of each of the four cover stars, and also shines a light on a variety of other talented women making waves in the TV world and beyond.
“There’s no denying that funny ladies are having a major moment, so devoting our Women in TV Issue to the women making comedy was a must,” said Robbie Myers, ELLE’s Editor-in-Chief. “The covers we shot with Zooey Deschanel, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler and Allison Williams, are all distinctive, just like each of their personalities—both on screen and off. Their collective confidence, wit and ability to stay grounded in the face of such tremendous success make them exactly the kind of women we love to feature in ELLE.”
Zooey on how growing up in Hollywood affected her: “Definitely none of the kids I grew up with would have ever thought, Zooey will be on television and have her own show. I wasn’t the world’s most popular child, which gave me built-in tenacity. Nothing has ever come easy for me, and I think that’s a really good thing. I learned at an early age that you have to work hard for what you get.”
On the idea that girliness connotes weakness and how it comes up less and less: “There has been a shift. I really have stood up for myself on multiple platforms. It’s sort of the grown-up version of middle-school nastiness, and I’m just like, come on. If there’s one thing I’d like to graduate from, it’s girl-on-girl hate. I don’t believe in it.”
Allison on why she tends to wear high-end, American designers on the red carpet: “I wanted to establish a baseline: Here’s what I look like, I have long brown hair, I wear this kind of dress, this is the deal. You can count on it! Look at Jennifer Aniston: she’s America’s sweetheart for a reason. You know what she’s going to look like when she shows up to something, and there’s something so comfortable in that.”
On where she wants her career to go: “I want to play a villain. I want to play a romantic heroine. I want to play someone who’s on heroin. There’s nothing I don’t want to do. I want to play a guy at some point. I’ll gain 100 pounds, I’ll cut my hair off, I’ll do whatever. I’m not precious about any of it.”
Amy on the conflict between being a comedian and being a grown-up: “Now that I have kids, I’m up at 5:30AM no matter what. Sleep at this point is just a concept, something I’m looking forward to investigating in thefuture. But I’d like to say that I maintain that same sense of play and creativity and spontaneity – of being able to get into a room with people and say, ‘Let’s waste some time.’ When you’re a creative person, even when you’re in a position of power, you still have to be able to straddle both worlds.”
On why she’s heading into directing, production and writing: “I like to do things that challenge me and make me nervous. You learn early as an actor that creating your own material is the only way to have any control. Hollywood is like a bad boyfriend. You can’t stand around and wait to be asked to dance.”
BJ Novak on his ex-girlfriend/current collaborator/best friend, Mindy Kaling: “She’s a gangster and guys respond to that. This is not a girl who waits by the phone. This is a girl who picks up the phone and calls whoever she wants.”
Mindy on how the The Mindy Project getting green-lit served as a desperately needed distraction from her mother’s death: “Any person that’s been in the business knows they’re so lucky to have their show picked up – it happens to such a small fraction of shows. But I was lucky personally, because I needed a distraction so badly from my grief. Still my thoughts flutter toward her in scenes that I’m doing, every night before I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up.”
