👋 ELIZABETH GUEST is a writer, director, actress and comedian from Los Angeles. She was born on-location to parents that are also in the entertainment industry. Elizabeth will give you the shirt off of her back if ever needed. Her people pleasing ways have put her in some crazy situations. And she will tell you all about it, tonight (Tuesday) at The Elysian.

📸 @LIZZGUEST

SWEETER AT THE ELYSIAN
TONIGHT (TUESDAY): 7:30PM

Liz (Elizabeth Guest) will give you the shirt off her back. Not in this performance although you never know. But unfortunately that has led to some pretty uncomfortable situations. For Liz. Not the people who have gotten shirts. Anyway, she’ll be at the theater on this day at this time, but as far as the show description goes it sort of has to do with the shirt thing but not also not at all. Anyway, she's kind of a mess right now and can't say why or about what but please come to the show where more will be revealed.

Written & Performed by: Elizabeth Guest (@lizzguest) Directed by: Melanie Shaw

I am very sensitive, I wear my heart on my sleeve for better or worse. 

I have also gotten in trouble for giggling too much, when I'm in a situation where it's not appropriate to giggle.

And I was born on-location in Eugene, Oregon when both of my parents were doing a movie.

I have been in Los Angeles for most of my life, if not all of it. 

I grew up with both parents that are in the industry, my Dad is an actor, primarily a voice actor now, and my Mom is an actress and casting director. 

My parents were very supportive and encouraging of me going into the business, but my parents kind of made a concerted effort for me to have a pretty normal upbringing. I think if I had wanted to do anything else, they would have also been very supportive of that.

Growing up, I went to a really cool elementary school here in Los Angeles, Wonderland in Laurel Canyon, then a couple of Catholic Schools, and ended up at Immaculate Heart Middle School for middle school.  Meghan Markle went there. Fun fact. 

I went to Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks for high school, and also quite a few cool actors came out of there as well.

For college, I went to USC and pursued their theater program, but I transferred to their film school after a year because I knew that I could always find acting classes and I wanted to learn about all the other aspects of film. 

I really enjoyed the program at USC, especially their international cinema classes. I felt like I learned a lot about the world from all the movies I was exposed to. It was a great history lesson. 

Being in your family, is it hard to turn Hollywood off?

My whole family loves movies, so much. Television, everything. So, yes, I think yes, it is impossible to turn Hollywood off. Because even when we are doing something for fun, it usually involves some form of entertainment. We love talking about what we’re watching and we enjoy watching things together. 

I recently watched Casablanca again with my Dad. I’ve seen it so many times but it hits me every time.  I think that anything with heart, and a good love story really is  timeless. 

A Wonderful Life is another movie that we can all watch together. That is a movie that I have watched several times with my Mom. It is another perfect movie. 

As a family, do you watch movies that you parents are in?

I wouldn’t say that is something that we do often, but it can be really fun. I mean, it’s definitely different. I do not know that I fully forget that it is my Mom, or my Dad, whenever I watch their work.

We did recently watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation just because they were showing it to my nephew. My nephew is young and wasn’t super interested which was funny. He was mostly just confused when he saw that my Dad was on-screen.

Notes: Elizabeth’s Father is Nicholas Guest. Mr. Guest is known for Trading Places (1983), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).

Elizabeth’s Mother is Pamela Guest. Mrs. Guest is known for Blue Velvet (1986), Married (2014), and Nuts (1987).

Nicholas Guest plays Todd Chester, husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character, Margo Chester.

I love to watch movies, shows, documentaries and read. I also love crossword puzzles, singing, playing guitar, and walking . 

And eating.

I had to mention that.

I am reading Jerry Lewis’ book, The Total Film-Maker, because I am getting ready to make my first feature and that book was recommended to me. I also just finished reading this play by Sam Shepherd called Heartless because I am doing a reading with a family friend of ours. Shepard is one of my favorite playwrights. 

And then I am watching, embarrassingly enough, Gilmore Girls, which is embarrassing only because I've seen it many times, but it's just so great.

So I'm watching that again. The writing is just the best. I'm also trying to see, you know, all the award contenders.

‘One day at a time.’ 

I'm constantly having to remind myself that only so much can be accomplished each day.

I'm really excited to be doing my show at the Elysian Theater. It’s been a goal of mine for a while. I enjoyed a successful sold out run at the Lyric Hyperion Theater and my director Melanie Shaw and I were just talking the other day how we love that we keep getting more opportunities to share this show with more audiences. 

Melanie and I met in 2013 through a mutual friend and we’ve worked together a little bit over the years but this is the first project that we’ve both been involved in from the beginning. 

The idea for the show came from when we were on set shooting a video for a video game. That is when we both started talking about the project that came to be Sweeter.

We started to talk about the theme of people pleasing, and I kept telling Melanie crazy stories about my life and crazy situations that I have gotten myself into for being too nice. 

Melanie encouraged me to do my own show and include all these personal stories. And I’m so glad she did.

So last year, I started writing Sweeter. I would send scripts and ideas to Melanie and it has been such a great experience. It is very hard, obviously, but to have someone like Melanie who really cares about this project and my writing is wonderful, it is an energizer to the creative process. 

LaMill Coffee in Silver Lake. I think they have incredible coffee. And then anywhere on Larchmont Street.

Canter’s. I don't go there enough, but it's always a good choice. And then Musso and Frank's is also one of my favorite restaurants. 

The Old Place in Agoura Hills is another favorite. It’s a general store turned restaurant, and you feel like you are in a western movie. It’s not too far from the beach, and they have the best sourdough bread that I've ever had.

I would say L.A. is friendly when you least expect it. It has a diverse menu for me to eat. Even though I have to drive everywhere, there's always something new for me to see.

And for that, I am very grateful.

Well fed.