99 Fun Facts About Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies is based on a 2014 novel by which Australian author?

Liane Moriarty built one plot thread on a friend's story of bite marks at kindergarten: after all the alarm, the biting turned out to be self-inflicted.

Who created and wrote the HBO series Big Little Lies?

David E. Kelley was a Boston lawyer until producer Steven Bochco hired him as a television writer, and he scripted every episode of Big Little Lies himself.

In which California town is Big Little Lies set?

Monterey replaced the Australian beach town of the novel when the story was adapted for American television.

Who plays Ed, Madeline's husband, in Big Little Lies?

Adam Scott plays Ed, who practises his Elvis karaoke at home and is mid-song at the school fundraiser when his guilt-stricken wife runs out.

Which Canadian filmmaker directed every episode of Big Little Lies' first season?

Jean-Marc Vallée shot all seven episodes handheld in natural light, with no marks on the floor, so the actors were free to move wherever a scene took them.

Which English director took over Big Little Lies for season two?

Andrea Arnold directed all seven episodes, after which the first season's director was brought back to rework her cuts, a step HBO called normal for television.

Which character does Reese Witherspoon play in Big Little Lies?

Madeline Mackenzie hides an affair with a theatre director; when her husband finds out in season two the marriage nearly ends, but the pair renew their vows.

Which character does Nicole Kidman play in Big Little Lies?

Celeste Wright is a retired lawyer who rediscovers her love of the work when she argues a case before the mayor, against her controlling husband's wishes.

In Big Little Lies, Shailene Woodley plays which single mother who is new in town?

Jane Chapman is the young newcomer who takes target practice at a shooting range while she hunts for the man who assaulted her.

In Big Little Lies, Laura Dern's character Renata Klein is married to whom?

Gordon is arrested in season two, and the fallout leaves the Kleins bankrupt with their belongings repossessed.

In Big Little Lies, Zoë Kravitz plays Bonnie Carlson, the wife of which character?

Nathan is Madeline's ex-husband, and their teenage daughter moves in with him and his new wife in season one, to her mother's dismay.

Who plays Perry Wright in Big Little Lies?

Alexander Skarsgård’s Perry looks like the perfect husband, but he is violent with his wife in private and is unmasked in the finale as the stranger who once assaulted another of the mothers.

Which screen legend joined Big Little Lies in season two as Perry's mother?

Meryl Streep's legal name is Mary Louise: the author wrote the part with her in mind and named it for her, and Streep signed on without reading a script.

Which Broadway musical does the community theatre fight City Hall to stage in Big Little Lies?

Avenue Q, a comedy performed with puppets, splits the town until the mayor is talked into letting the production go ahead.

Big Little Lies' Ziggy, Iain Armitage, went on to lead which sitcom?

Young Sheldon cast Iain Armitage in 2017, but he was first noticed as a small boy posting theatre reviews on YouTube, which is how agents found him.

Which character does Kathryn Newton play in Big Little Lies?

Abigail Carlson is the teenager whose secret project is a plan to auction her virginity online in the name of a cause, to her parents’ horror.

What is the name of the school at the center of the HBO series Big Little Lies?

Otter Bay Elementary exists only on screen: in the novel the parents feud at Pirriwee Public, which the author called 'a little bit of a dream school'.

Who pushes Perry down the stairs at the end of Big Little Lies' first season?

Bonnie shoves Perry as he attacks his wife and he falls to his death; the women tell the police he slipped, the lie that hangs over season two.

In Big Little Lies, what is Amanda Reisman, played by Robin Weigert, to Celeste and Perry?

Their therapist sees through the couple’s story, tells the wife she is being abused and urges her to plan a way out before the next attack.

In season two of Big Little Lies, Jane takes a new job at what kind of attraction?

An aquarium is Jane's new workplace, where her co-worker Corey asks her out and she slowly lets herself trust someone again.

In season two of Big Little Lies, what does Mary Louise go to court to win?

Custody of her grandsons is what Mary Louise sues for, but she loses after a video one of the boys filmed of his father's violence is shown in court.

What does Bonnie Carlson do for a living in Big Little Lies?

Yoga instructor Bonnie is the younger second wife whom her husband's ex cannot bear to keep running into, a grievance carried over from the novel.

What is the title of Big Little Lies' first episode?

Somebody's Dead opens with police at a school fundraiser where a parent has been killed, then hides both the victim and the killer until the finale.

Parents at Big Little Lies' fatal fundraiser dress as Elvis or which film star?

Audrey Hepburn came from life: a writer friend of the author spent a book tour hunting for the right pearls to wear as Audrey to a school costume event.

In what format did its two stars first plan to make Big Little Lies?

A feature film was the plan when the two stars optioned the book in August 2014; three months later they had recast it as a television project.

Which co-star lost an Emmy to Nicole Kidman?

Reese Witherspoon was nominated in the same category for the same show, but she still left with an Emmy that night as one of its producers.

Which top Emmy did Big Little Lies win for its first season?

Outstanding Limited Series fitted when it won, but HBO then ordered a second season, and the Producers Guild moved the show to drama and restarted its voting.

In Big Little Lies, what does Celeste swing at Perry in self-defence, sending him to hospital?

A tennis racket is what she grabs when he seizes her; back from the hospital he tells her she is lucky he did not kill her, and she starts looking for a flat.

In Big Little Lies, which show does Madeline take children to on the day of Amabella's birthday party?

Disney on Ice was payback for Ziggy being left off the guest list: she got free tickets for the same day, and several invited children skipped the party.

Whose song Cold Little Heart plays over the opening credits of Big Little Lies?

Michael Kiwanuka's theme is really a ten-minute album opener that builds for minutes before he sings a word; the credits use only a short slice of it.

Big Little Lies' second season was built on what, written by the book's author?

A new novella gave the writers their template: the show had been made as a one-off, so its makers asked the author for more story.

In the season two finale of Big Little Lies, which prized possession of her husband's does Renata destroy?

A model train set is the one luxury he arranges to keep through their bankruptcy, so she wrecks it and walks out on him.

Which HBO miniseries kept Big Little Lies' first director from shooting season two?

Sharp Objects, with Amy Adams, had him committed, so a new director was hired; once it wrapped he came back to reshape the season in the edit.

In season two of Big Little Lies, which decision by Abigail infuriates her mother?

Skipping college is her plan, and the row it starts ends with her shouting about her mother's affair within earshot of her stepfather.

In Big Little Lies, Amabella accuses Ziggy of doing what at orientation?

Choking her is the charge Amabella makes at orientation; Ziggy flatly denies it, and the feud it starts between the two mothers lasts most of the first season.

In Big Little Lies, which false name hides the identity of Ziggy's father for most of season one?

Saxon Banks is the name he gave; an online search turns up an innocent Saxon Baker, and the real man is recognised only at the school fundraiser.

Near which Australian city is the novel Big Little Lies set?

Sydney is where the author has lived all her life; she invented the Pirriwee Peninsula nearby and has said she will set all her books in Australia.

In the novel Big Little Lies, at what school event does the fatal evening unfold?

A trivia night came first: the author pictured costumed parents rioting at one, then worked backwards to find out what could have caused it.

In season two of Big Little Lies, a class lesson on which subject gives Amabella an anxiety attack?

Climate change is the lesson, in an episode titled The End of the World; a furious Renata confronts the principal for teaching it to second-graders.

In Big Little Lies, which school project forces Jane to face the question of Ziggy's father?

A family tree is the homework; when Ziggy insists on writing in his father's name, his mother finally tells a friend how he was conceived.

What does Big Little Lies' author call the real impetus for her novel?

A radio interview did it: she heard of a grown woman who, back at her parents' home, hid under the bed when her father turned on her mother.

In Big Little Lies, what does Renata come away with when a row over a school petition turns physical?

An injured eye is the accidental result of a confrontation over a petition she never started; the apology that follows ends the two mothers' feud.

Which other Moriarty novel did Kidman and the show's creator adapt together?

Kelley and Kidman's partnership began with Big Little Lies and continued through The Undoing.

In Big Little Lies, which first-grader acts as the family DJ, choosing songs heard throughout the show?

Chloe was the director's device: he made her the show's 'main music freak' so that the soundtrack could come from what the characters themselves play.

Where do the five women walk in together in the final scene of Big Little Lies' second season?

A police station is where the series leaves them: one of the five texts that she is ready to confess, and the other four turn up to walk in beside her.

Which 2014 film by Big Little Lies' first director had already paired Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern?

Wild follows a woman who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail alone after her mother's death; Dern played the mother, and both actresses were Oscar-nominated.

Season two of Big Little Lies reveals which tragedy from Perry's childhood?

His brother died in a car crash with their mother at the wheel, and in the courtroom finale she is accused of having blamed and punished Perry for it.

For Big Little Lies, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern each won an Emmy and which other award?

Golden Globe night brought the show four wins from six nominations, and the two that got away were lost to its own cast, in categories their co-stars won.

Season one of Big Little Lies keeps cutting away to gossiping fellow parents doing what?

Giving statements to detectives is the frame: other parents talk about the five women all season, and only in the finale do the five take their own turn in the interrogation room.

Before she gave up work to raise her twins, what was Celeste's profession in Big Little Lies?

Lawyer is the career Celeste left behind, and one meeting spent arguing for Madeline's stage show is enough to make her want it back.

Mary Louise, Perry's mother in Big Little Lies, was deliberately given the real first names of whom?

The star cast in the role was born Mary Louise, and she accepted the part without reading a script, a first in her long career.

The actresses who play Jane and Renata in Big Little Lies were earlier daughter and mother in which 2014 film?

The Fault in Our Stars paired them as a teenager with cancer and her mother, and Renata's actress later helped talk her younger colleague into joining the show.

Which child does Ziggy finally name as the one who has been hurting Amabella in Big Little Lies?

Max, one of Celeste's twins, had frightened Amabella into blaming someone else, and his mother sees that he is copying what happens at home.

What do the women tell police caused Perry's fatal fall at the end of Big Little Lies' first season?

He tripped, the women all say, a shared lie that hides the push and binds the five of them together into season two.

In the novel Big Little Lies, Perry dies falling from what, rather than the staircase of the TV series?

A balcony at the school is where the book stages the death, and the witnesses agree on the spot to lie about what they saw.

Madeline's husband Ed is played in Big Little Lies by the actor best known as Ben Wyatt in which sitcom?

Parks and Recreation made him famous as a state auditor sent to the town of Pawnee, and he later led the thriller Severance.

On her counselor's advice in Big Little Lies, what does Celeste secretly rent as a first step to leaving Perry?

An apartment is her escape plan, and she is told to confide in friends as well, so that someone knows what is happening.

Besides the killer, what does the first episode of Big Little Lies keep hidden about its fundraiser death?

Who the victim is stays a secret until the season finale, so viewers spend seven episodes guessing both ends of the crime.

Jane is played in Big Little Lies by the star of which dystopian young-adult film series, as Tris Prior?

Divergent ran for three films with her as Tris, but the planned fourth and final chapter was never made.

Perry is played in Big Little Lies by the Swedish actor who broke through as vampire Eric Northman in which series?

True Blood ran from 2008 to 2014, though he was at first reluctant to play a vampire at all.

Bonnie is played in Big Little Lies by the daughter of which actress from The Cosby Show?

Lisa Bonet played Denise Huxtable on the sitcom, and her daughter's other parent is the rock musician Lenny Kravitz.

The creator of Big Little Lies also made which hit 1990s comedy starring Calista Flockhart as a Boston attorney?

Ally McBeal won the 1999 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, and its writer had worked at a Boston law firm before turning to television.

Which 2020 HBO thriller reunited Nicole Kidman with the creator of Big Little Lies, opposite Hugh Grant?

The Undoing became the first HBO show to gain viewers every week across its season.

After her husband's arrest in season two of Big Little Lies, which court process costs Renata her fortune?

Bankruptcy brings a disastrous hearing in which she refuses to cooperate, and Mary Louise later taunts her about it.

Midway through season one of Big Little Lies, where does teenage Abigail choose to live, to Madeline's dismay?

With her father is where she lands after a guidance counselor blames her slipping grades on stress at home.

What high-powered career does Renata Klein have in Big Little Lies, in the part that won Laura Dern an Emmy?

Tech CEO Renata leaves Ziggy off the guest list for her daughter's birthday party, a snub that sends Madeline on the warpath.

In season two of Big Little Lies, how does Celeste react when Mary Louise hints that Perry strayed to escape her?

She slaps her, and by the next day the two are talking over coffee, where Mary Louise admits her own marriage fell apart.

In Big Little Lies, Abigail's secret project to auction her virginity is meant to raise money for which group?

Amnesty International is her chosen cause, and the row when Madeline finds out ends with Madeline blurting out her own affair.

Madeline is disturbed in season one of Big Little Lies when Bonnie takes her teenage daughter where?

Planned Parenthood is one more sign of how close the two have become, at a time when Madeline is struggling to connect with her older daughter.

In Big Little Lies, Jane drives to which California city to confront a man she wrongly believes attacked her?

San Luis Obispo is home to an innocent man with a similar name, tracked down online by Madeline, who soon regrets it.

Celeste has an accident at the wheel in season two of Big Little Lies after taking which prescription drug?

Ambien leaves her with no memory of the accident at all, at a time when nightmares about Perry are wrecking her sleep.

In season one of Big Little Lies, where is Jane spotted by Madeline's ex-husband, raising fears about her plans?

A gun range is where he sees her, and she tells Madeline that she carries the weapon only for the comfort it gives her.

What does Renata discover on her daughter in season one of Big Little Lies, reigniting the bullying row?

A bite mark sends her straight after Ziggy again, although Amabella refuses to say who did it.

In season one of Big Little Lies, what happens to Madeline and her former lover mid-argument, alarming their spouses?

A car crash caused by a distracted teenage driver puts him in the hospital and leaves both of their partners asking why they were together.

How do Madeline and Ed celebrate the repair of their marriage in the season two finale of Big Little Lies?

They renew their vows after rounds of couples therapy, where Madeline promises not to repeat her mistakes.

In the season two finale of Big Little Lies, what does Celeste show the court to expose Perry's violence?

A video her son filmed proves the abuse, and she argues that Mary Louise would bring the twins up to become the same kind of men.

What does Mary Louise ask Jane to agree to when she visits Jane's workplace in season two of Big Little Lies?

A paternity test is her request, and she later lurks in the parking lot outside Jane's apartment to get a look at Ziggy.

The children of Big Little Lies start first grade on TV, but which school year do they begin in the novel?

Kindergarten is where the book begins, at an orientation day where Ziggy is accused of hurting a future classmate.

In the novel Big Little Lies, which punishment does the person who pushed Perry receive after turning themselves in?

Community service, 200 hours of it, follows a manslaughter conviction, although everyone present had agreed to lie for her.

In the novel Big Little Lies, the false name Perry gives Jane really belongs to which of his relatives?

His cousin had been taking the blame since childhood, when Perry would give that name to stay out of trouble himself.

In the novel Big Little Lies, what does Celeste set up for Ziggy a year after her husband's death?

A trust fund is her way of providing for him, and by then she has gone back to work and begun speaking publicly about abuse.

What is the name of the beachside primary school at the heart of the novel Big Little Lies?

Pirriwee Public is where Jane is heading at the very start of the story, on the day she first meets Madeline.

Which 2013 bestseller, optioned by CBS Films, did the author of Big Little Lies publish just before it?

The Husband's Secret turns on a letter that a wife opens, and a New York Times review measured Big Little Lies against it.

Big Little Lies won the first Emmy ever awarded in which category, introduced in 2017?

Music Supervision went to Susan Jacobs for the first-season finale, in the year the Television Academy created the award.

Which Big Sur landmark on California's State Route 1 is featured in the opening credits of Big Little Lies?

Bixby Bridge opened in 1932 and ended the winter isolation of Big Sur residents, who had relied on an often impassable coast road.

The surprise renewal of Big Little Lies led which Hollywood body to restart its awards voting?

The Producers Guild had classed it as a one-season show, so news of a second season forced a fresh vote with it moved to drama.

In season one of Big Little Lies, what does Ziggy do to Amabella when classmates try to patch things up between them?

He kisses her, an innocent peace offering that nonetheless lands the parents of all four children in the principal's office.

In season two of Big Little Lies, what medical emergency strikes Bonnie's mother at Amabella's birthday party?

A stroke fells her moments after she has a vision of her daughter drowning, and in the hospital she asks Bonnie to help her die.

Mary Louise turns up uninvited at which seasonal get-together at Madeline's house in season two of Big Little Lies?

Pumpkin carving is interrupted by her arrival, and soon afterward she takes a home in the same building as Jane.

In Big Little Lies, what is the job of Joseph, the married man with whom Madeline had an affair?

Theater director Joseph works with Madeline on a stage musical, and the two are revealed to have had their affair a year earlier.

In season two of Big Little Lies, what is the name of Jane's co-worker and love interest, played by Douglas Smith?

Corey unsettles her at the beach by asking whether she is one of the five women the whole town is whispering about.

Which character, the wife of Madeline's former lover, makes a pass at Ed in season two of Big Little Lies?

Tori approaches him at a bar while her own husband watches from a nearby table, and she later tells Ed she has fantasized about him.

One of the real-life siblings cast as Celeste's twins in Big Little Lies later played Ryan in which superhero satire?

The Boys cast Cameron Crovetti as the son of the menacing Homelander, a part he auditioned for before that show had even aired.

The actress who plays Madeline's teenage daughter in Big Little Lies later played which Marvel hero's daughter?

Ant-Man's daughter Cassie Lang was her part in the 2023 film Quantumania, taking over a character seen in Avengers: Endgame.

Which later Oscar nominee for The Whale had a small part as school mother Jackie in Big Little Lies?

Hong Chau appeared in the first season in the same year as her breakout film, Downsizing.

Which broadcaster premiered Big Little Lies in the United Kingdom and Ireland in March 2017?

Sky Atlantic showed it about three weeks after the American debut, while Australia saw it on Showcase just a day after HBO.

Before Big Little Lies, season two's director had won an Oscar for which short film about a single mother?

Wasp follows a struggling single mother of four, and its maker went on to win the Cannes Jury Prize with three feature films.

The child actress who plays Madeline's younger daughter in Big Little Lies starred as Kate Pierce in which Netflix film?

The Christmas Chronicles cast Darby Camp as a girl who believes in Santa Claus, and she returned for the sequel two years later.

Renata is played in Big Little Lies by the daughter of actor Bruce Dern and which actress?

Diane Ladd, Bruce Dern and their daughter were all given Hollywood Walk of Fame stars at a single ceremony in 2010.