Anna Baryshnikov on Not Being a Dancer and Finding Stillness in Broadway's Time and the Conways

Anna Baryshnikov is making her Broadway debut as Carol, the youngest—and sweetest—daughter in Time and the Conways. Though she is the daughter of world-renowned dancer/choreographer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov and former ballet dancer Lisa Rinehart, Baryshnikov realized early in life that she would not join in the family’s dance legacy. “I was asked so much when I was younger if I was a dancer, that I just started answering that I wanted to be an actress without knowing what that meant.” Now she certainly knows. With several TV credits under her belt, including Good Girls Revolt and Superior Donuts and a memorable turn in Manchester by the Sea, Baryshnikov is a rising star. We hung out with her at Moxy NYC to talk about early influences and an unexpected recent moment in Time and the Conways.



Not Gonna Happen
You would think that being the daughter of two famous dancers, Baryshnikov was put into ballet class at a young age, and you would be right about that. “Yes, my parents put me in ballet; it did not go well. Ballet requires so much focus from a little kid, and I was just I was too scattered and not disciplined enough. I wanted to talk so badly. I think that's part of why theater appealed to me so much. I remember a ballet teacher saying, 'You really just have to listen and do what I say.' And I just remember looking at her and being like, 'That's not going to work.'"

Screaming Fairy
At the age of seven, Baryshnikov joined a local community production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She was cast as the fairy Peaseblossom. “My babysitter had told me that I had to project because she was worried that they wouldn't be able to hear me. So, we had rehearsed it, and it's very ethereal—it's A Midsummer's Night Dream!—​but I just start screaming my fairy lines. I was like, "WEAVING SPIDERS, COME NOT NEAR!”

Blue Period
Growing up near New York City, Baryshnikov was privileged to be taken to many cultural events. “My parents have very funky taste,” she says, “I was so lucky because I got to see Broadway, but I was also seeing [modern dance group] Mark Morris and some more experimental versions of theater. My favorite thing for a long time was Blue Man Group. I went for three birthdays in a row. My brother and I would do the marshmallow bit. I think I wanted to be a Blue Man Group member for Halloween, but my mom decided the makeup would be too messy.”




Day Jobs
Despite her name and obvious talent, Baryshnikov still had to take some less than glamorous jobs along the way. “I would have called myself New York's premiere babysitter for a while,” she laughs. Her other jobs included working the front desk at a yoga studio, being a hostess at a restaurant and a brief stint as an usher: “I was really bad at that because I either wanted to watch the show or be in the show.” She doesn’t mind listing her day jobs. “It's part of your job as an actor to figure out how do you spend the rest of your day. How do you actually make a living before you get a job? What's so special about being in Time and the Conways right now is that I get to go to work every day in this way that makes the dream of being an actor feel like a reality in a working, real way.”

Dancer Discipline
There is a portion of Time and the Conways that requires Baryshnikov to sit completely still for 30 minutes and then stand in stillness for another 15. “It requires more physical discipline than I imagined. I had to learn to sit a specific way to not hurt my back. It's funny because my whole life I've been saying, ‘I'm not a dancer! I'm not a dancer!" And then suddenly I'm like, "OK, tuck my pelvis, bring in my core." The only difficulty was the other night when a bug flew in my face and then I proceeded to sneeze. It's not perfect every night, for sure.”



Photos: Caitlin McNaney | Styling: Noa Bricklin | Makeup and Hair: Morgan Blaul