Breaking Big: Ariana Greenblatt talks first movie role in Avengers, life after Barbie, and Borderlands (exclusive)

Some actors work their entire careers before breaking into a large-scale Marvel movie. Ariana Greenblatt did it right out of the gate.

The now-16-year-old rising starlet landed her first movie role with 2018's Avengers: Infinity War at the age of 8, playing the part of young Gamora, who appeared in flashbacks and one Soul Stone-enhanced vision to show how Zoë Saldana's galactic assassin came into the care of Josh Brolin's Thanos. "Looking back I'm like, 'Damn! I can't believe I just casually did that,'" Greenblatt tells Entertainment Weekly.

Life moved fast for the actress since then. She gained widespread attention as Sasha, the daughter of Oscar nominee America Ferrera's Gloria in Barbie. She also played Rosario Dawson's younger counterpart in the Star Wars series Ahsoka, and now she'll appear as the off-her-rocker explosives expert Tiny Tina in Borderlands, based on the popular video games.

Greenblatt speaks with EW about her career journey ahead of the new film's release this Aug. 9.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Are you still feeling the Barbie love even this long after the movie came out?

ARIANA GREENBLATT: Yeah! I feel like I will feel the Barbie love for the rest of eternity, which is the biggest blessing. I can't look at pink the same and I can't listen to certain songs the same, but it brings great memories. So, not complaining.

You also played Young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War. Did that prepare you for big Hollywood blockbusters before Borderlands?

I totally think so. That was my first movie I ever filmed. I was thrown into the crazy world of Marvel and secrets and green screens and CGI and dots and all of that. It was really a test to use my imagination, which definitely helped me prepare for other crazy movies such as Borderlands and Ahsoka and all those things. I really have to use my brain to create the world around me.

What do you remember from your days filming those scenes?

I was 8 years old, so I remember the prosthetic giving me a headache, prank calling with Josh Brolin, seeing Chris Hemsworth getting a haircut. I was so young, I wasn't starstruck by anybody. I was more starstruck by people on Disney Channel than RDJ [Robert Downey Jr.]. I talked to RDJ in passing. It was so weirdly normal in my head, but looking back, I'm like, "Damn! I can't believe I just casually did that."

Did the makeup and prosthetics get better by the time you got to Ahsoka?

Everybody who works in the Star Wars and Marvel worlds has it down to a T. I feel like when I did young Gamora, I enjoyed the process more. I found it so fun and relaxing and I was learning all this. Then, when I got to Ahsoka, the call time was like 4 a.m., and I was like, "I don't want glue all over my face." But I took a nap, and they let me connect my phone to the speaker so I could play my music.

Do you still remember all your lightsaber moves?

I don't think I could forget it. That was the craziest, most intense stunt training boot camp I've ever done for a role. It's so specific. I feel like I'd have to refresh my memory for each pose to hit, but I definitely could remember some things, for sure.

In the timeline of shooting Ahsoka and Barbie, when did you audition for Borderlands?

Borderlands actually came before Ahsoka and Barbie. I filmed Borderlands three and a half years ago, I want to say. I was 13, and I filmed it two weeks after filming another movie, 65. It was such a whirlwind in my life. It was so exciting, and everything was going and going.

Do you remember your audition?

I was in the middle of filming another movie, so I got home at a really late time and was like, "Oh my God! I have this tape. I need to get in by tomorrow." Luckily, my acting coach — she's my family friend at this point, she's known me since I was 6 years old — lives where we were filming. We were going through the sides and really breaking it down. It was two scenes. The one that I really remember was this crazy monologue where Tina is screaming and running and exploding things and taunting Cate Blanchett's character, Lilith. You really get hit with a bang with those sides. I was like, "What the hell are they making me do?" I made that tape I think at 3:00 a.m. I was delirious and had work the next morning, but I had to get it in. My mom went to Walmart or Target, and she created this Tina outfit to resemble the video game. It was definitely a team effort, but those sides were crazy. I think the delusion helped with the Tiny Tina aura because she makes no sense, and she's crazy. She doesn't use her brain, and that's the mental state I was in for sure.

When I saw you in Borderlands, I first thought of Louise from Bob’s Burgers.

I was obsessed with those ears. Before filming, I would wear bunny ears every single day. Everyone probably thought I was a freak, but I needed to feel this energy of being a bunny.

During CinemaCon, you mentioned that you modeled Tiny Tina after Harley Quinn. Were you already into Margot Robbie in Birds of Prey and Suicide Squad?

I've always loved Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad movies. When I was reading the [audition] sides and looking at pictures of Tina and videos of people playing her [in the games], it was very much that energy: those crazy eyes and crazy vocal inflections and all of that. When I auditioned for Barbie, and I got to the point where I had a meeting with [director] Greta Gerwig and Margot, the only thing I promised myself that I was going to say to Margot was like, "Hey, I did this movie with Cate, and your character inspired mine," and blah blah blah. I fully geeked out. She was like, "That is so cool. Thank you."

What was the most fun day you had on set?

The most fun day for me... it was just me in my crazy little room set-up for Tiny Tina's living quarters. It was [director] Eli Roth and I going back and forth speaking in code. It's not in the movie, so I'll just spoil it. There was this mannequin that we had. We cut the head off and filled it up with spaghetti. Eli was like, "Go feral. Throw the spaghetti at the camera, throw it at me, throw it on your face, eat as much as you can, put it in your hair." I've never gone so wild in a scene before that. It wasn't even scripted. I was shoving my face with disgusting gluten-free pasta. It was the most let-loose moment I ever had in my entire acting career.

How would you describe your connection to Eli?

I describe it as Eli and I share a brain. It's so weird. I mean, Eli’s a teenage girl and he won’t admit it. It’s just so crazy how fast we clicked. We only spoke in inside jokes. We were filming a scene and he was saying, "It is tone orange. It needs to be tone red." I was like, "I got it." We spoke in music and stupid references. We can't have a conversation without referencing a niche thing from however long ago. We weirdly listened to Michael McDonald. He bought me a shirt with his face on it. I have a Tom Cruise mug from him. We would watch Empire, an Andy Warhol film. It's literally eight hours of just the Empire State Building. Same shot, same frame, just the sun goes down, and it's riveting. It's fantastic. My Dinner with Andre is also an incredible reference that we always bring up. It got out of hand. People were like, "What are they saying?" But it worked.

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A version of this story appears in EW's complimentary Comic-Con 2024 Preview print edition, being passed out in San Diego throughout the convention.