Antonia Gentry steps out on the red carpet for the first time while attending the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday night (May 16) at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
The 23-year-old actress plays the title character Ginny in the new Netflix series Ginny & Georgia, which was released on the streaming service back in February.
Antonia is nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance for her work in the show. Also nominated in the category are Borat Subsequent Moviefilm‘s Maria Bakalova, Bridgerton‘s Rege-Jean Page, Normal People‘s Paul Mescal, and Emily in Paris‘ Ashley Park.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards marks the first time that Antonia has stepped out on the red carpet. Since her show debuted during the pandemic, there was no red carpet premiere for the show. That will probably change for season two!
Antonia is also set to present during the awards show this evening.
Antonia Gentry plays the role of Ginny on the new Netflix series Ginny & Georgia and she’s opening up about her real-life experiences were used in the show.
The 23-year-old actress appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday (March 19) and talked about the show’s success.
“There are moments where Ginny’s friends, they have microaggressions that they put on her,” Antonia said about her real-life experiences. “Some of it comes from my own experiences.”
Some of the examples that Antonia gave were scenes where Ginny is asked insensitive questions by friends, including ones about her race, hair, and body.
“Those are things that were said to me by some of my peers growing up,” she said. “They didn’t really realize how hurtful those comments were. To include them in the show I think is really important to bring up discussions about that.”
Antonia also opened up about how she didn’t know how to stand up for herself back then, though Ginny doesn’t have that issue.
“When I was that age, I was confused. I didn’t really address things in the moment. I didn’t really understand why I felt so much like an outcast sometimes,” she said. “Playing Ginny and playing those moments was very cathartic for me. I forgave myself, essentially, for not sticking up for myself. I forgave my friends for not being aware of what they were doing. It definitely brought me closure as an adult.”
The 23-year-old actress shared a statement to her Instagram on Thursday (March 4) where she discussed her character, Ginny, and thanked fans for their “voices and inspiration.”
Taylor tweeted, “Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse sh*t as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you 💔 Happy Women’s History Month I guess.”
In her post, Antonia expressed her gratitude for getting to play a character who “reflects all of life’s contradictions and imperfections.”
“Thank you for the love and support you have shown me and our show, Ginny and Georgia, over the last week. I never would have imagined something like this as a young girl — that is, having a voice capable of impact,” Antonia wrote.
“It is so meaningful to see the hundreds of messages from fans in my inbox who feel seen, heard and understood because of the show and its characters,” she continued. “It has also been fun to hear from those who were just happy to be along for an entertaining ride.”
Antonia added, “Finally, a character who was just as confused and imperfect as I was gets a chance to exist. Ginny Miller, though fictional, is a character who reflects all of life’s contradictions and imperfections,” she said, adding that she “fell in love with playing as Ginny Miller because she is a character who dares to be flawed, a character who tries her hardest to melt into the world around her seamlessly, but is consistently told no.”
She also expressed her gratitude for the “talented, earnest and honest women” she works with on the show, who “aren’t afraid of pulling back the curtain and exposing all of life’s intricacies — the good and the bad, all with a glass of wine in hand, and a tongue in cheek.”
The new Netflix series Ginny & Georgia, which is currently number one on the daily chart, is getting backlash for a scene in which two biracial characters talk about stereotypes.
The series has been compared to Gilmore Girls and follows a 15-year-old mixed race teen named Ginny (Antonia Gentry) who moves to a small town in New England with her 30-year-old mother Georgia (Brianne Howey).
A scene that is going viral on Twitter involved Ginny getting into an argument about race with her friend Hunter, played by Mason Temple.
“You don’t get it. You are closer to white than I’ll ever be,” Ginny says to Hunter. He replies, “Together we make a whole white person.”
“Your favorite food is cheeseburgers and I know more Mandarin than you do, you’re barely even Asian,” Ginny says in response.
Hunter then says, “Sorry I’m not Chinese enough for you. But I’ve never seen you pound back jerk chicken. Last time I checked, Brody twerks better than you. And I liked your poem, but your bars could use a little more work, homie. So really, how black are you then?”
After Ginny appears to be shocked and disgusted, she replies, “Excuse me?” Hunter then says, “What? Literally, what. Because if we’re going to play that game, let’s do it. Oppression Olympics, let’s go.”
One tweet with the video clip of the scene has been viewed 4.7 million times so far. “I’m done with netflix,” the person who tweeted it said.
Ginny & Georgia is already shaping up to be one of Netflix‘s next big shows, and already, fans are wondering about whether a second season is on the way for the mother-daughter dramedy.
The first season follows teenager Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and her mother, Georgia (Brianne Howey), as they settle in a new town, hoping for a fresh start – but the secrets in Georgia’s past may jeopardize their future.
The creators of the show chatted with O Magazine about what to expect with a potential Season 2.
“We always knew we wanted to build to that cliffhanger. Everything else in the middle was a fun discovery,” showrunner Debra J. Fisher explained, going on to say that, if renewed, a new season would explore the fallout of Ginny’s decision to run away from her mother, Georgia, with her little brother Austin (Diesel La Torraca) in tow.
“She’s doing exactly what her mother does: Always running,” the showrunner went on to explain.
“Season 1 really did feel like a season 1. We just started uncovering some of the layers for all characters, across the board, that we want to dive into. Deb and I are hoping we get the chance,” creator Sarah Lampert adds.
The creators also discussed casting for the show, explaining that Antonia was found quickly, but Brianne took longer.
“It was on our very last day. We were supposed to have all these decisions made. Then we received a very late tape one night from Brianne Howey who had just returned from Europe, getting engaged to her fiancé [Matt Ziering]. We watched it and we were like, we have to have this woman come in and read with Tony (Antonia) right away.”
Among the many things to explore in another season is the mother-daughter relationship itself and the many revelations about their family: Ginny has to grapple with the fact that her mother killed her last husband, Kenny, for instance.
“The relationship between Ginny and Georgia is the third character in the show. It lives on its own. It’s constantly changing and evolving. There are so many scenes where the two of them are communicating with each other over everyone’s head. They’re intrinsically wound,” said Sarah.
Ginny’s experience as a biracial woman also creates a divide between the two.
“Ginny is going through the world in a different way than Ginny is and Georgia can’t ever grasp that. In the same way, Ginny can’t understand the trauma and sacrifices Georgia went through to get Ginny to Wellsbury. There’s a lot of room for them to hurt each other’s feelings with what they can’t understand about each other,” she explained.
Although Season 2 has not yet been confirmed, it is likely that it wouldn’t come out until 2022.
Netflix‘s brand new show, Ginny & Georgia, has been drawing some comparisons to another popular mother and daughter duo series – Gilmore Girls.
Showrunner Sarah Lampert opened up the comparisons and revealed that it wasn’t their intention with the show.
“It was definitely an inspiration, but no more so than My So-Called Life, Buffy, Veronica Mars,” Sarah shared with TV Line in a new interview.
She adds that any stories that had “strong, dynamic, smart, funny, witty, powerful female characters just inspired what I wanted to write about.”
“I think that a relationship between a mother and a daughter, especially a teenage daughter, is one of the most complicated, nuanced, messy, push-and-pull relationships that you have in your life,” Sarah continued, “and I think there’s room for, honestly, hundreds of shows about them. Mother-and-daughter relationships are so interesting to me, and every Mother’s Day, I just send my mom an apology card for the high school years.”
Scott Porter, who plays Mayor Paul Randolph on the series, faced some backlash with Gilmore Girls fans after posting about Ginny & Georgia on his social media, emphasizing that the Netflix show was “so much MORE”.
“I didn’t mean it in the way that we are a greater some of its parts than Gilmore Girls was. What I meant was we have a lot of different storylines that Gilmore Girls would never have stepped into,” he told E! News about the misunderstanding. “We deliver a different kind of storytelling. And, yes, the mother-daughter comparisons, of course, are right there.”
