All about the rising stars and reliable veterans

Meg Stalter as Jessica

After finding success in the New York City sketch comedy scene, Ohio-born Meg Stalter became a viral sensation during the pandemic by routinely trying out new characters via Instagram. But it was her supporting role as daffy assistant Kayla on HBO’s Hacks (2021–present) that accelerated her onscreen career.

Over the last few years, Stalter has delivered memorable turns in movies like Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), Problemista (2023), and Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (2024). She was also a guest judge on a 2023 episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In her most high-profile role yet, Stalter leads Too Much as Jessica, who escapes to London to heal her broken heart.

“When she does naughty things or she makes mistakes, you believe in her in this way that I certainly never was able to pull off,” Dunham told Vanity Fair of Jessica. “It was really important to me that the character be somebody that people could root for — that she had that really beautiful openness.”

“Lena is someone I’ve been such a huge fan of, so it was really crazy to wrap my mind around being in the show,” Stalter told Rolling Stone. “But then when I got to know her, she felt like a sister and a friend. So now the show feels like a play that we did for each other, and that this really contains a special thing.”

Will Sharpe as Felix

Will Sharpe is a man of many talents. Stateside, he made a splash on season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus (2022) after years appearing on U.K. series like Casualty (2009–2010) and Defending the Guilty (2018–2019). But he’s also a force behind the scenes, having written and/or directed several films (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and series (Flowers, Landscapers).

“Felix is a grunge musician like [Felber] is, and is mixed-race British,” Sharpe told Vanity Fair of the character. “But I definitely felt in the writing of it, he necessarily becomes his own character.”

Rita Wilson as Lois

Since debuting on a 1972 episode of The Brady Bunch, Rita Wilson has been a force in film, TV, theater, music, and even journalism, having served as a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

Wilson, the wife of Hollywood dad Tom Hanks, is likely best known for her work in films such as Now and Then (1995) and Jingle All the Way (1996), as well as series like The Good Wife (2011–2014) and Dunham’s Girls (2013–2017), on which she played the mother of Allison Williams’ Marnie.

She’s also a successful producer, having helped usher Nia Vardalos’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise (2002–2023) onto the big screen. Her other notable producing credits include Mamma Mia! (2008), its 2018 sequel, and the Hanks-starring film A Man Called Otto (2023).

On Too Much, Wilson plays Lois, Jessica’s mother. “I feel liberated working with Lena,” Wilson told the New York Times. “I felt that way on Girls, and I felt that way on Too Much.”

Rhea Perlman as Dottie

Rhea Perlman won four Emmy Awards for her turn as brassy waitress Carla on all 11 seasons of Cheers (1982–1993).

While Perlman’s stayed busy over the last 30 years, the actress has been especially prolific as of late, having appeared in buzzy series like Poker Face (2023–2025) and The Studio (2025). She also played a pivotal role in the Oscar-winning Barbie (2023) as Barbie inventor Ruth Handler.

Perlman plays Dottie, Jessica’s grandmother. Dunham told Vanity Fair that Perlman’s character was inspired by her own grandmother, whose name is also Dottie.

“Lena has a way of creating and directing that makes people feel free,” Perlman told the New York Times. “Maybe some people would be turned off by that much sex and that much talk of sex. But she made it so funny and so real.”

Emily Ratajkowski as Wendy

Actress, supermodel, and author Emily Ratajkowski rose to international fame after appearing in Robin Thicke’s much-discussed “Blurred Lines” music video in 2013. She went on to feature in David Fincher’s Gone Girl (2014) and the Amy Schumer vehicle I Feel Pretty (2018), as well as Entourage (2015), in which she memorably appeared as herself.

Ratajkowski has used her profile to speak out on women’s issues, and in 2021 published My Body, an essay collection that became a New York Times bestseller.

She plays Wendy, a “knitting influencer” who begins dating Jessica’s ex, Zev (Michael Zegen). It’s her first major role in several years. Ratajkowski said in a 2023 interview that she stepped away from acting after growing tired of making herself “digestible to powerful men in Hollywood.”

“I wanted her to be somebody that women would recognize as a modern trope of social media — easy to stalk and also hate because she’s cheesy, she’s posting a lot — and then find out that she’s actually somebody that our girl, and maybe the audience, would want to be friends with,” Ratajkowski told Vanity Fair ahead of the show’s release. “I really liked the idea that she’s self-aware.”

Janicza Bravo as Kim

Janicza Bravo is first and foremost a director. In addition to directing an episode of Too Much, Bravo has also helmed episodes of hit shows like Atlanta (2016), Poker Face (2023), and The Bear (2025). She also co-wrote and directed feature films Lemon (2017) and Zola (2020).

If she’s in front of the camera, it’s probably in a Dunham project, as she previously appeared in her HBO series Camping (2018) and her 2022 film Sharp Stick.

In Too Much, Bravo plays Kim, a colleague of Jessica’s. When pondering what “too much” means in the context of the series, she told the New York Times, “It’s just to wake up and move through the world. I did it this morning. I’m doing it now. We are all in this room because we’re exactly too much. If we hadn’t been a lot, then we wouldn’t be here.”

Michael Zegen as Zev

Michael Zegen has played key roles in some of the most popular series of the last two decades, from Rescue Me (2004–2011) and Boardwalk Empire (2011–2014) to The Walking Dead (2012) and The Penguin (2024).

Zegen also starred on Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023) as Joel, the estranged husband of Rachel Brosnahan’s titular comedian.

The actor appears on Too Much as Zev, Jessica’s ex. Online sleuths have speculated as to whether Zev is based on Dunham’s real-life ex, Grammy-winning musician and producer Jack Antonoff, though Dunham denies any explicit connection.

“That ex-boyfriend is very much an amalgamation of every ex that I’ve had, or that a friend’s had,” Dunham told Vanity Fair in May. “It’s this quotidian acceptance of unkindness that eats away at a person over a long period of time and degrades their sense of self. If someone were to say, ‘Who inspired that character?’ I’d be like, ‘Do you have time for me to give you the 42 examples?’”

Andrew Rannells as James

Andrew Rannells won a Grammy and was nominated for a Tony for his star-making role as Elder Kevin Price in the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon. While he regularly returns to the stage — he was nominated for another Tony in 2017 — Rannells is also a consistent presence onscreen, having starred in series such as Big Mouth (2017–2025), Black Monday (2019–2021), and Girls5eva (2021–2024).

He’s perhaps best known, however, for stealing scenes as Elijah on Dunham’s Girls (2012–2017).

On Too Much, Rannells plays James, Jessica’s brother-in-law. Last year, Dunham let it slip to the New Yorker that she plays James’ wife (and Jessica’s sister). “Andrew and I play spouses,” she said. “I’m in the show! I think I just accidentally revealed that. But it’s a smaller part. Not a walk-on, but it’s not a lead.”

“It’s not Girls, but it’s Lena and it’s me — so it’s sort of Girls-adjacent,” Rannells told Us Weekly.

Adèle Exarchopoulos as Polly

French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos found fame starring alongside Lea Seydoux in the Palme d’Or-winning film Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013). She was nominated for a César, France’s national film award, for her turn in the boundary-pushing romance, and won another in 2024.

In recent years, she starred in Ira Sachs’ acclaimed Passages (2023) and voiced Ennui in Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (2024).

Exarchopoulos plays Polly, Felix’s intimidating ex-girlfriend.

Daisy Bevan as Josie

The daughter of actress Joely Richardson and producer Tim Bevan, Daisy Bevan has been acting on both the screen and stage for most of her life, with notable turns in The Two Faces of January (2014), The Outcast (2015), and The Alienist (2018).

Bevan plays Josie, a coworker of Jessica and Kim.

Richard E. Grant as Jonno Ratigan

Richard E. Grant was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn in Marielle Heller’s 2018 drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?, but the English actor first gained prominence in the U.K. comedy classic Withnail and I (1987).

A prolific performer, Grant has appeared in dozens of film, TV, and theatrical productions over the last four decades. Highlights include Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1991), Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001), and Pablo Larrain’s Jackie (2016), as well as series such as Doctor Who (2012–2013), Girls (2014), and Game of Thrones (2016).

In recent years, he appeared in blockbuster projects like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Loki (2021), not to mention the much-memed Emerald Fennel thriller Saltburn (2023).

Grant plays Jonno Ratigan, Jessica’s boss at the London ad agency where she finds work. “I worked with Lena on a few episodes of Girls in the noughties & delighted to be reunited with her again,” he wrote in an Instagram post promoting the series.

Naomi Watts as Ann Ratigan

Naomi Watts broke out with a surreal leading turn in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). She later received Academy Award nominations for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams (2003) and J. A. Bayona’s The Impossible (2012). 

While Watts parlayed her critical success into roles in The Ring (2002–2005) and Divergent (2015–2016) franchises, she’s also worked with many of the best living filmmakers, including David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises), Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar), Michael Haneke (Funny Games), Peter Jackson (King Kong), and Gus Van Sant (The Sea of Trees), among many others.

She also re-teamed with Iñárritu for the Oscar-winning film Birdman (2014), and with Lynch on Inland Empire (2006) and Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).

Watts has pivoted to TV in recent years, leading Netflix’s hit series The Watcher (2022) and playing magazine editor Babe Paley in Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024), the latter of which landed her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Next up is another Murphy series, All’s Fair.

Watts plays Ann, Jonno’s glamorous wife.