Why Amanda From Tell Me Lies Season 3 Looks So Familiar

This article contains minor spoilers for "Tell Me Lies," so don't bother going to the bar with your classmates if you haven't watched through to season 3, episode 2, "We Can't Help It If We Are a Problem."

In the second season of Meaghan Oppenheimer's series "Tell Me Lies," we diverge from the main toxic love story of Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco — played by Grace van Patten and Jackson White, respectively — to focus on one of Lucy's best friends, Bree (Cat Missal), and her tumultuous albeit brief affair with Baird College professor Oliver ("Lucifer" star Tom Ellis). By the time season 3 kicks off, the situation between the older, married Oliver and the young, impressionable Bree is, thankfully, over ... but in that season's premiere, titled "You F***ed It, Friend," Bree spots a freshman girl leaving Oliver's office who seems to have a knowing smile on her face. Bree, understandably, panics.

That's why, when Bree is at a bar with all of her friends in the season's second episode "We Can't Help It If We Are a Problem" (a bar that inexplicably serves all of these underage college students, but whatever), she spots the girl, Amanda, and slyly corners her in the bathroom, pretending they were in the same "Econ class" and commiserating with her over boys. So, who plays Amanda?

That would be Iris Apatow, and if her last name looks familiar, I'd be willing to bet that you've seen the younger Apatow daughter in some of her writer-director father Judd's projects. (Her sister, Maude, is also an actor and currently stars on "Euphoria.") From her dad's original comedies to a project that stars another Hollywood "nepo baby," here's where you've seen Apatow before she snagged the role of Amanda in season 3 of "Tell Me Lies."

Have you ever seen a Judd Apatow movie? You probably have, and that probably means you have a passing familiarity with Iris Apatow as a performer, but you might not recognize her from "Tell Me Lies" immediately. In 2007, when the youngest Apatow was just five years old, she appeared in "Knocked Up" as Charlotte alongside her real sister Maude ("Sadie" in the movie), with both of them playing daughters to their actual mother, comedy powerhouse Leslie Mann as their mom Debbie, and Judd Apatow's stand-in of sorts, Paul Rudd as Pete. In "Knocked Up," using both of the Apatow daughters allowed their director dad to put the movie's protagonists, Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) and Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) — who conceive a baby unexpectedly after a hurried one-night stand — to grapple with the reality of their impending parenthood, as well as provide awkward and stuttering explanations as to why Ben is suddenly joining the family at the breakfast table. (In the film, Alison lives with Debbie and Pete in their pool house.)

Maude and Iris Apatow then showed up as fictional sisters Mable and Ingrid in their dad's 2009 movie "Funny People," where Mann, playing a woman named Laura this time, has to grapple with her former fiancé George Simmons (Adam Sandler) reappearing in her life after the famous comedian learns he might have a terminal illness. (Hilariously, their dad is played by Eric Bana this go-around. Maybe Judd wanted an upgrade.) Then, in 2012's "This is 40," which takes place in the same makeshift cinematic universe as "Knocked Up" and centers on Debbie and Pete, the two Apatow girls reprise their roles as Sadie and Charlotte, but what about non-family projects?

On the small screen, Iris Apatow has appeared in some Netflix projects; in "Love," she recurred as Arya Hopkins, an aspiring actor who's the daughter of in-universe star Steven Hopkins (David Spade). Her time on "Love" ran from 2016 to 2018, and after that, Apatow appeared in two movies — her dad's COVID-centered comedy "The Bubble" and the Canadian rom-com "Young Werther" in 2022 and 2024, respectively — before turning her attention to television once again with "Unstable," a series developed by famous father-son duo Rob Lowe and John Owen Lowe about (you guessed it) a father and son who work together at a cutting-edge tech company called Dragon.

So, who does Apatow play? She arrives in the show's second season as Georgia, the former stepdaughter of Dragon's chief operating executive Anna ("Fleabag" alum Sian Clifford), who obviously works closely with its CEO Ellis Dragon (the elder of the Lowes). Georgia is definitely intended to be a love interest for the younger Lowe's flutist and unwilling Dragon employee Jackson, and as Apatow told Bustle in 2024, she was excited to work on the series, even if it meant dealing with some irritating accusations.

Between the Lowes and the Apatows, you're probably thinking "nepo baby" over and over again, and Apatow hears you. Though she said it's hard not to take the critiques personally, she's owned it:

"At the end of the day, I'm proud of both things. I'm proud of the work that will come out of being on my own, but obviously [family connections] helped me. So, I always want to be very transparent that I am aware of that, and understand it now."

You can watch Apatow in "Tell Me Lies" on Hulu.