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BeforeBefore she was cast as Gretchen Cutler
on FX’s unromantic comedy You’re the
Worst, Aya Cash had never bared all
on camera. In fact, she’d always been
explicit about not parading her pri-
vates off-Broadway or in series such as
HBO’s The Newsroom. Heck, she even
managed the nearly impossible feat of
staying clothed as Leonardo DiCaprio’s
assistant in The Wolf of Wall Street.
That all changed in the pilot of Worst.
At a wedding, Gretchen — a hard-partying
commitment-phobe— meetsJimmyShive-Overly
(Chris Geere), a bile-spewing British novelist as
cynical as she about finding “the one.” The two end
up spending a steamy night together that’s as raw
and unforgiving as the characters themselves.
“The scene was terrifying for multiple rea-
sons,” Cash recalls. Yet she was pleased with the
outcome. “It felt real and messy to me in the way
that having sex with someone for the first time is.”
Withseasontwonowairing,Cashsaysherlove
sceneswithGeerehavegotteneasierinsomeways
— “You get used to being in pasties with people
around” — but not in others. “It’s even weirder now
because Chris and I, who are both married in real
life, have become such good friends.”
Given her non-traditional San Francisco up-
bringing (mom is poet and author Kim Addonizio;
dad is former street performer Eugene Cash),
she’s a good fit for a sitcom that pushes the limits
of the genre.
As for her character, Cash says she first chan-
neled her inner Gretchen while a student at the San
Francisco School of the Arts. “I was a slob! I took
pride in smoking and drinking and not eating well.”
While she outgrew that stage, playing Gretchen
has taught Cash a thing or two about speaking her
mind.“Iappreciatehernotcaringwhatothersthink.
I’ve learned that you can have an opinion and piss
people off, and it’s okay.” —Michele Shapiro
Cash
Course
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