{"id":48468,"date":"2026-04-12T10:15:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48468"},"modified":"2026-04-12T10:15:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:15:34","slug":"heather-grahams-friends-called-her-nerdy-before-she-starred-in-boogie-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48468","title":{"rendered":"Heather Grahams friends called her nerdy before she starred in Boogie Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Before Hollywood came calling,\u00a0Heather Graham\u00a0said, she was dismissed as a \u201cnerdy\u201d teenager.<\/p>\n<p>The actress recalled being underestimated in high school before landing the popular cheerleader role in \u201cLicense to Drive,\u201d a turning point she described as a \u201chuge moment\u201d that launched her independence and her career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was nerdy. \u2026 You know, I was smart, and I was just, like, nobody thought I was that pretty,\u201d Graham recalled during an episode of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/dinners-on-me-with-jesse-tyler-ferguson\/id1683905652\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dinner\u2019s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I got this job as, like, the popular, pretty cheerleader, and I had very bad style and bad hair and makeup. Like, I did not know how to, like, do that. And then people were like, \u2018Oh?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The movie] came out right as I was graduating,\u201d Graham added. \u201cAnd I think people were like, \u2018Well, maybe we should have paid attention to her.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham revealed landing the iconic role as Mercedes Lane in \u201cLicense to Drive\u201d was a \u201chuge moment\u201d for her at 17.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was huge for me. Like, that was a huge moment,\u201d she explained. \u201cI got to make money. I was independent. I had a bank account, you know, and I could live on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Heather Graham appears on \u201cDinner\u2019s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson\u201d on April 7, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">Dinner&#8217;s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson\/YouTube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Heather Graham during a scene from \u201cBoogie Nights.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">G. Lefkowitz \/ New Line Cinema<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Graham began her career with small roles in commercials and TV before landing teen films such as \u201cDrugstore Cowboy\u201d and \u201cSwingers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She got her breakthrough with\u00a0\u201cBoogie Nights,\u201d \u201cAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me\u201d and \u201cBowfinger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham landed a role in the blockbuster film \u201cThe Hangover\u201d in 2009. She has since continued acting in films and TV while also expanding into writing and directing projects.<\/p>\n<p>Her latest film, \u201cThey Will Kill You,\u201d hit theaters March 27.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe title=\"Heather Graham on Young Fame, Rollergirl, and Becoming a Scream Queen\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PEVDs1PhpQk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The 56-year-old actress shared some of her beauty secrets in a recent interview with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/heather-graham-on-plastic-surgery-beauty-and-aging\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Us Weekly.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Graham claimed she\u2019s \u201cnever had an actual operation where they\u2019re cutting my face open.\u201d But she said she has tried a series of other methods, including \u201cmicroneedling, Botox \u2026 and a bunch of lasery things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of those laser treatments are torture,\u201d she said. \u201cLike, an hour and a half of your face getting blasted.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Heather Graham during the Los Angeles \u201cDie Hard\u201d premiere on July 12, 1988. <span class=\"credit\">Ron Galella Collection via Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Heather Graham on the streets of New York City on March 25, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">GC Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Heather Graham plays Dr. Molly Clock in \u201cScrubs\u201d Sept. 14, 2004. <span class=\"credit\">NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The movie star\u2019s goal is to stay away from\u00a0invasive plastic surgery\u00a0because she doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to look freaky,\u201d and her \u201cgoal is to look natural.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like some people get facelifts and they just kind of end up looking like \u2026 I mean, there are people that get it, and it\u2019s good. But I just don\u2019t want to be one of those people that got it and look freaky,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if [when] I got older, I wouldn\u2019t completely rule out. Who knows, in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham also tries to maintain a balanced diet and get 10 to 11 hours of sleep. She said she uses yoga as a way to stay in shape and manage stress, calling it \u201cso cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/04\/12\/celebrity-news\/heather-grahams-friends-called-her-nerdy-before-she-starred-in-boogie-nights\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before Hollywood came calling,\u00a0Heather Graham\u00a0said, she was dismissed as a \u201cnerdy\u201d teenager. The actress recalled being underestimated in high school before landing the popular cheerleader role&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}