Brooklyn Decker

From Runway to Screen

Brooklyn Decker appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2010 wearing a yellow bikini.

That magazine issue sold millions of copies and put her on the radar of major Los Angeles studios. But she didn't want to be just a static image pinned to casting directors' walls around the world. In 2011, she made her movie debut in Just Go With It alongside Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.

The film performed well at the box office, grossing $214 million worldwide.

Decker played the perfect girl (a role she knew well), but her intention was to move away from the stereotype of the model who tries to act. She did so by choosing projects where looks weren't the only driving force of the plot.

The gamble paid off.

The Battleship Flop

In 2012, she starred in Battleship. The production cost $209 million, and critics showed it no mercy.

That commercial failure could have ended her career before it truly began. Hollywood is often merciless with models-turned-actresses when a big-budget production misses its financial targets. But Decker chose to change course and pursue smaller roles in independent comedies.

She appeared in films such as What to Expect When You’re Expecting in 2012 and Results in 2015. In the latter, she worked under director Andrew Bujalski and handled denser dialogue with less polished characters.

Independent film allowed her to fail without taking an entire studio down with her.

Seven Years on Netflix

Her real career stability came with television. In 2015, she joined the cast of Grace and Frankie, playing Mallory Hanson for seven consecutive seasons.

Working side by side with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin gave her a veneer of legitimacy that action movies had denied her. The series ended in 2022 and became one of the longest-running original productions on the platform. During that time, she also invested her money in technology.

In 2017, she co-founded Finery, a digital wardrobe organization platform that was later sold to Stitch Fix in 2019.

She didn't just put her face on ads. She worked as creative director and got involved in the company's code and logistics. In 2021, she appeared in the film On the Verge and continued managing her investment portfolio in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her family.

Filming for her appearance in the series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy in 2024 took place entirely in animation studios.