Hulu’s latest series dives deep into the twist-filled story of Natalia Grace Barnett.
“Good American Family” is a fictionalized drama about the Ukrainian orphan who was accused by her adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, of being an adult posing as a child. Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass play the Barnetts, whose perspectives take center stage in the early episodes of the season that premiered on March 19.
Pompeo and Duplass are seasoned actors, but a complete newcomer was cast opposite them as the figure at the heart of the series — and she’s stealing every scene she’s in.
Here’s what to know about Imogen Faith Reid, the breakout star who plays Natalia Grace on the new show.
Imogen Faith Reid was the first person cast for ‘Good American Family’
“Good American Family” has been in development since 2020, when series creator and co-showrunner Katie Robbins was first approached by Hulu to develop a scripted series about Natalia’s story. When the streamer finally ordered the show to series, it was contingent on casting Natalia.
Robbins and her team cast a wide net to find the right Natalia, embarking on an international search. Reid, a UK-based actor who had only done some body-double and stand-in work before, submitted a self-tape. Robbins was impressed by the shades Reid brought to the character and knew instantly that the young actor had something special.
“It was that kind of moment where you see her and you’re just like, this person is a star,” Robbins told BI.
After a series of callbacks, all over Zoom, Reid landed the role. Finding out she got the part was “surreal,” as she’d assumed she wouldn’t get the role since it was based in the US.
Reid said Disney, which owns Hulu, hooked her up with an acting coach. She also worked with a dialect coach to learn Natalia’s American accent.
Unlike the real Natalia, who was a child during the events of the series, Reid is 27 years old. Robbins recalled that the team had many conversations before they decided to cast an adult, largely because the perspective-shift format of the show required Reid to play multiple (and sometimes very mature) versions of Natalia.
“She’s playing a version from Kristine and Michael’s perspective in which she appears to be an adult. She’s playing a version of herself from Natalia’s perspective in which she is a child,” Robbins said. “The role demanded such emotional vulnerability and goes to such dark places that the idea of casting a young person in that role felt not right.”
Robbins said it was also important for them to cast authentically. Natalia has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. Duplass told Today.com that Reid has a different type of dwarfism and had to work with a movement coach to learn how to move like Natalia.
Reid told Today that she could relate to Natalia as a fellow little person. “I understand the daily struggles that we go through and the judgment that we perceive in everyday life,” Reid said.
Reid hasn’t spoken to the real Natalia Grace
While some true-crime dramas have input from the real people they’re based on, “Good American Family” doesn’t. The showrunners and Reid confirmed they weren’t able to speak with Natalia Grace. Robbins said they would have loved to speak to her, but it just “wasn’t possible.”
Reid wasn’t familiar with Natalia’s story before working on the show, so she dove into research and developed her own version of the character. Despite not speaking to Natalia, she emphasized how important it was to her to fight for justice for the woman she was playing.
“Throughout the show, my passion for Natalia, for my version of Natalia, just grew stronger and stronger,” Reid said. “I was so passionate about portraying this character and just wanting the empowerment and the fight for justice and for her story to be seen and heard.”
Reid was starstruck working with ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ actor Ellen Pompeo
After she was cast in “Good American Family,” Reid posted the news on Instagram and shared how thrilled she was to work with Pompeo. Even now, Reid, a major “Grey’s Anatomy” fan, still can’t believe she got to work with Meredith Grey herself — and said that it surpassed her expectations.
Pompeo was a critical part of the experience for Reid, who praised her as an invaluable mentor.
“‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was like my comfort show. So to have someone from my comfort show playing my mom was so surreal,” Reid told BI. “And Ellen was just such an amazing mentor for me as a person who’s just started out. She would remind me that I have a voice, I can speak up.”
The ‘Good American Family’ showrunners and Reid’s costars praised the star
Robbins said she was “astounded” by Reid’s performance as multiple versions of Natalia when they got to work on set.
“Immy, perhaps most of all, cares so deeply about doing justice to this story and worked so hard and gave so much of herself,” she told BI. “There is such vulnerability in this performance.”
Duplass also sang Reid’s praises, recalling how the younger actor brought a sense of infectious joy to the set. In particular, he said working with her reminded him of when he was new to the craft himself.
“Immy was such a bright light,” he told BI. “Ellen and I have been doing this for a long time and we’re so grateful for our jobs. But real talk for a second, you get grumpy, you get used to it, and you lose your ability to truly appreciate the space that you’re in.”
“Then you get to see Immy, who is showing you and reminding you what it was like when I was at the Sundance Film Festival with my first $3 independent film when I was 25 years old. And I remember how grateful I need to be to be here. And every day she brought that to me and it was a real, real gift.”
“Thank you. I was just annoying,” Reid joked in response.
“Good American Family” airs weekly on Wednesdays on Hulu.
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