A.J. Langer in ‘My So-Called Life’ in August 1994. Photo:
Mark Seliger/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
The actress also shares her experience working on the iconic teen drama and why she thinks it still resonates with viewers three decades later
When A.J. Langer auditioned for My So-Called Life, she was originally up for the part of Angela Chase — a role that eventually went to Claire Danes. But when she learned the character Rayanne Graff hadn’t been cast yet, Langer did everything she could to make a good impression on the casting director.
“I just was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make this happen,’” she tells PEOPLE in a new interview. “I went to Brittany Murphy’s house, borrowed a zip-up bodysuit, then borrowed my brother’s Levi’s jeans and a pair of Doc Martens, drew a line on my eye, and went in. I took my picture off my résumé because my picture was quite conservative, and I was hoping they wouldn’t remember me, which is always good. When you don’t get something, they usually don’t remember you.”
When she read for Rayanne, Langer, 50, “felt so good.”
“Then next thing I knew, I was testing, and there was just something that happened when I went up the elevator. I walked off the elevator, and this strut, this Rayanne waddle, this thing happened in my body,” says the actress, adding, “It just felt so magic to me personally to find that this is a character that is a match for me. And I think that was the beginning of me learning [there were] whole sides to myself that I hadn’t accessed yet that Rayanne was going to help me unlock.”
Claire Danes and A.J. Langer in ‘My So-Called Life’.
Mark Seliger/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Although My So-Called Life was canceled after only one season, Langer left an indelible mark as her character, with acting highlights including episode 10, “Other People’s Mothers,” in which Rayanne overdosed. It was a powerful moment covering a topic that had rarely been tackled with teens on TV before.
“When it comes to the drugs and the overdose, it was not something that I had ever experienced. But I researched what these drugs do, what the effect is, and then mixed that with Rayanne’s personality,” she recalls, saying she “threw” herself “into this character.”
Another acting highlight for Langer occured in the episode 17, “Betrayal.” After Rayanne sleeps with Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto), she and Angela shared a moving moment rehearsing a scene from the 1938 play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. As Rayanne performed on Liberty High School’s stage, her lines in the scene — “Take me back,” she implored — stirred up emotions in her and in Angela, who understood their friendship was now broken by Rayanne’s actions.
“There was so much there, but the simplicity of it, and the fact is you don’t want to take your eyes off Claire, even though for Rayanne, it was just so hard to look at her,” she explains. “The lines from that scene have stayed with me forever.”
“I think Rayanne was one of those people that feels everything — and for the good and the bad, it’s a lot to feel everything,” she continues. “So I think that moment was brilliant.”
A.J. Langer, Claire Danes and Wilson Cruz in ‘My So-Called Life’.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Danes recalls the brilliance creator and writer Winnie Holzman achieved in crafting that particular scene.
“It was so smart, the premise too,” Danes, 45, tells PEOPLE. “The play within the play, the Hamlet style of storytelling that Winnie achieves there to be communicating to each other tacitly through this other story. It’s a really imaginative way for them to communicate with each other indirectly and for us to understand where they’re at with each other and their relationship in that moment. And it’s also totally believable. Every high school puts on a play every year, so very rooted in reality, and also an artful way to go into their relationship, into their friendship.”
These days, Langer (who became a countess and moved to England) is prioritizing time with her teen kids, Joscelyn, 17, and Jack, 15, whom she shares with her estranged husband Charles Courtenay, the 19th Earl of Devon, “before they head out into the world.” She’s also working to empower women in the social enterprise space.
Whenever she’s stopped by fans, she says they remark how the show helped them with difficult discussions.
“A lot of people say, ‘I couldn’t even talk to my kids about these things, but we sat and watched the show together, and then we were able to have conversations on how to start,” she says. “It’s just cool to me that it meant that much to so many people, because it definitely meant that much to me.”
All 19 episodes of My So-Called Life are available to stream on Hulu.
