Lena Dunham Reveals What She Said That Made Her Fail An Audition

Lena Dunham reveals she had a major audition fail as a young actress during a recent discussion with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle.

The 36-year-old Girls actress revealed that when she was 12 years old, she auditioned for director and producer Penny Marshall‘s Riding in Cars with Boys, which starred Drew Barrymore.

Click inside to read what she said…

Jess asked her how she was treated during the audition.

Lena said, “I was treated actually really well…there was no cruelty. The only thing I’ll say is I understand why I didn’t get the role because she asked all of the young actors to say our name, our height, where we were from and smile. And I said, ‘I’m Lena. I’m from New York. And I don’t smile on command.’ And Penny Marshall said, ‘It’s called acting, honey.’”

“The thing is, it’s like, she was right,” Lena continued. “Like, would you hire an actor who was like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t smile on command’?”

“I’m with, the thing is I’m with Penny on this one. And I remember going home and knowing that I had screwed the pooch so to speak. And my mother says that I lay in bed and for, and for like a week moaned, ‘My career is over.’ Even though I only ever had one audition. At 12 and I’d only ever had one audition. And that was it,” Lena said.

Lena has been promoting the new movie she directed, Sharp Stick, which recently released its trailer.