Anna Van Patten is hardly the first of her clan to turn up on a hit TV show. She comes from a Hollywood dynasty that stretches back more than half a century, to the days when her uncle starred as jovial dad Tom Bradford on the relentlessly wholesome ABC family drama Eight Is Enough.
The difference, of course, is that unlike Anna, who just made her Euphoria debut on May 3, Dick Van Patten never had to work the pole at a desert strip club called the Silver Slipper. The closest to transgressive he ever got was peering over his newspaper to cast a disapproving glance when one of his TV daughters came home after curfew.
“I’ve never actually seen an episode of Eight Is Enough,” Van Patten, 27, admits. “I mean, I’ve seen small clips. I know, it’s embarrassing.”
There’s a decent chance you’ve seen Anna before, possibly even in full episodes. Last year, she shared screen time with her older sister Grace in Hulu’s The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, in which Grace played the title character and Anna played — appropriately enough — her younger sister. Before that, she had a recurring role on Gossip Girl, a part in the 2022 prestige horror flick Master and occasionally popped up for one-off appearances on shows like Law & Order SVU and FBI: Most Wanted.
Her appearance on Euphoria, though, is the sort that definitely gets noticed. She plays Kitty, a new stripper at the Silver Slipper whose harrowing encounter with a trio of customers in a lap-dance room adds yet another dimension of disturbing to the show’s unapologetically provocative plotline.
Anna Van Patten
Photograph by Lenka Ulrichova
A few days before the episode dropped, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Van Patten to ask about shooting that difficult scene, what it was like growing up with Grace — and with her dad, renowned TV director Tim Van Patten — and what she learned about life from “Uncle Dickie” (“He used to take me to the race track…”).
Your Euphoria debut — there’s some rough stuff in there. How difficult did you find it to shoot?
I’m fortunate in that I’ve never been in Kitty’s situation, but yeah, it was tough. It’s sad and it’s dark, but it serves a purpose in the greater story. And luckily, I had so many people there to support me through it. There was an intimacy coordinator, and you’re surrounded by the crew and the cast, and everyone was being very delicate. So, I felt like I could go to a darker place and put myself in Kitty’s shoes. Then I went home and took a shower and washed it off.
Did you do a lot of preparation for the part? How’d you learn to pole dance?
I had never been to a strip club in my life. But I’ve always wanted to try pole dancing so when I got the call back, I started taking pole-dancing lessons. I think I kind of manifested the part with those lessons. And then, when I heard that I got the part, I was in Budapest, so I went to one club there and tried to ask the girls questions. There was a language barrier, but I got a lot of inspiration.
Last year, you worked with your sister Grace on The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. How easy was it playing your sister’s character’s sister?
We’re completely different types of sisters [than the Knox siblings]. We had that big fight scene where I had to yell at Grace and it felt so surreal to film because Grace is really tough, and our real-life fighting style is just very different. I mean, growing up, we just fist-fought it out.
Who would win?
I started to after I got taller. But Grace has a very strong upper body. I have a strong lower body. So, it really depended.
Anna Van Patten
Photograph by Lenka Ulrichova
Of course, you’re both daughters of Tim Van Patten, who doesn’t get enough credit for pretty much inventing the modern prestige drama. He directed more Sopranos episodes than anyone. He did the Game of Thrones pilot and a bunch of other episodes. The Wire, Rome, Boardwalk Empire. Did you spend most of your childhood on TV soundstages?
Visiting sets was my favorite thing. He would bring us and say, “Go explore, do your thing.” And we’d go on these sets of ancient Rome or the 1920s and just kind of play around. Even just watching movies with my dad is so educational. He gets so excited when we put on an old movie and he’s like, “This was shot like this and that was shot like that.” It’s so fun.
Have you ever acted in anything your father directed?
I’ve auditioned for my dad’s shows — I auditioned for a part on Boardwalk Empire. But I just wasn’t right for it. But my dad helps me with my audition tapes all the time. He’ll get all excited about the camera angles and movements. He’ll be like, “Look directly into the lens,” and I’m like, “No, they tell you not to do that!”
Hold on, you’ve been turned down for parts by your own dad?
I didn’t have to audition for it, but I was almost in the Game of Thrones pilot. There’s a dead girl hanging from a tree and I wanted to be her so bad. I was going to play her but at the last minute my dad thought it might be too disturbing for him and 10-year-old me, so I didn’t get to do it. I’m still mad about it. He tried to make it up to me by letting me arrange [the placement] of all the dismembered body parts found in the woods after the White Walkers got them.
Your dad started out as an actor — before becoming a director, he played a high-school basketball player on White Shadow. Do you see a similar career trajectory in your future?
I did some directing classes in college [at the New School in Greenwich Village]. And it’s always in the back of my mind when I’m on sets interacting with different directors, imagining how he or she is doing it. It’s definitely a dream for the future. But right now I don’t know what story I’d want to tell.
Let’s talk for a bit about your famous uncle — your dad’s much older half-brother, Dick Van Patten. He died in 2015, when you must have been about 15. Did you get to know him well at all?
I wish I had spent more time with him. There’s like the New York Van Pattens [Anna grew up in New York] and the Los Angeles Van Pattens. But we’d spend holidays on the West Coast, and I’d see him then. Being around Uncle Dickie was the best. Some of my favorite memories are going to the racetrack with him.”
Dick Van Patten taught you how to bet on the ponies?
He sure did. I remember picking out horses based on their color and their names, what I thought was cutest. And then afterwards we’d get to meet the jockeys. He was kind of treated like royalty at the racetrack. He was just so fun. Larger than life.
Are there any more like you at home? Or are you the youngest Van Patten with Hollywood ambitions?
I have a 14-year-old sister and right now she’s kind of going through this thing — “Do I want to be an actress, or do I want to play basketball?” We’re pushing basketball. We’re telling her, “Go to the WNBA first and then think about becoming an actress after.”
Anna Van Patten; Hair: Kiley Fitzgerald; Makeup: Shayna Goldberg; Stylist: Chloe & Chenelle Delgadillo / Balenciaga
Photograph by Lenka Ulrichova