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Denise Grayson, who plays an intellectual property attorney in David Fincher's film _The Social Network_, perfectly exemplifies art imitating life, as she is a practicing intellectual property lawyer herself.
Denise secured her role in _The Social Network_ (2010) after being noticed by the film’s casting director, Laray Mayfield, at a party. When Laray asked if she was an actor, Denise hesitated to admit it, especially with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt nearby.
It took a tense four months before Denise learned she had the part. Initially, she wasn't even aware she was auditioning for a David Fincher project.
Her first feature film role was as an FBI agent in _Puppet_ (1999). She then appeared in the short film _Gasline_ (2001), which won the jury prize at Sundance. Writer/director Dave Silver cast her again in his first full-length feature, _Corn_ (2004).
Denise went on to star in three Hallmark Channel movies. In _Though None Go with Me_ (2006), she portrayed a sixty-year-old opposite Cheryl Ladd. This was followed by _Pandemic_ (2007) and _Citizen Jane_ (2009), where she played a bank manager alongside Ally Sheedy.
Currently, Denise splits her time between New York and Los Angeles. She is licensed to practice law in both New York and Florida. Despite her acting career, she volunteers for pro bono mediation work in California and coaches stand-up comedians, even though the connection between the two pursuits isn’t obvious.
In her twenties, Denise served as in-house counsel for Paine Webber (now UBS) and Bankers Trust (now Deutsche Bank), specializing in intellectual property law related to technology.
A prodigy from Brooklyn, New York, Denise entered college at 16, majoring in accounting and economics while taking public speaking courses to overcome shyness. By 20, she was studying law at the University of Miami. During her final year, she successfully tried six supervised felony cases. Although offered a position as a state prosecutor, she declined after feeling sympathy for a defendant in a major murder trial.
Returning to New York to be near her parents, who were teachers and artists, Denise pursued a legal career far removed from criminal defense. She worked during the early days of the tech boom and the Internet’s rise, eventually establishing her own practice representing major banks and financial institutions like Merrill Lynch, Chase, and Prudential. Simultaneously, she rekindled her childhood passion for acting, having played lead roles in school plays. She enrolled at Uta Hagen’s renowned HB Studios and studied there for years. Balancing two careers, Denise modeled and acted in commercials while practicing law. Though her lawyer peers thought her pursuits were unconventional, she quickly landed roles in off-off-Broadway productions and low-budget films. Today, her career is flourishing, reaching new heights.
