Brie Larson’s Self-Care Routine Involves Board Games & Love Is Blind

For Brie Larson, success and wellness go hand in hand. The 35-year-old actor has starred in a range of hit projects like Captain Marvel and Lessons in Chemistry. Larson’s self-care routine carries her through each role, whether she’s playing the part of main character or executive producer (or both).

“I've been on this wellness journey my whole life,” Larson says during an early October mocktail mixology class in New York City. “Once I moved out, I started becoming more interested in taking care of myself because my job demands that I am able to focus and stay awake. There's been many twists and turns with that, but I’ve been on it for a while.”

With early call times and hectic filming schedules, Larson looks for simplicity and ease in her wellness practices — she’s a big fan of “five-minute increments” of TLC. That’s why Larson’s partnership with Thorne, a nutritional supplements brand, makes so much sense. “You can rely on Thorne to have really high-quality ingredients,” she says. “It’s exactly what it says it is. You can feel and taste the difference.”

Her go-tos are the brand’s Daily Greens Plus, Collagen Plus, Amino Complex, and Magnesium Bisglycinate. “My toxic trait is that I always think I'm one product away from being unstoppable,” Larson jokes. With plenty of projects coming up (including her West End debut in Elektra in January 2025), it seems like she’s well on her way to that goal.

Here, Larson opens up about her favorite ways to unwind, her tips for dealing with an overwhelming “crush,” and her penchant for picking up stray hobbies.

Elite Daily: Can you walk me through your ideal self-care day?

Brie Larson: Not waking up to an alarm or a dog yelling at me. Then once I'm up, I am first drinking water, then having coffee, and I'm sitting outside doing NY Times’ Wordle, then Connections, then Strands, and then Spelling Bee.

Later, I would probably do a sauna and an ice bath because that's just so good for my mental health. I’m drinking lots more water, too. I've also definitely had breakfast at this point. By my house, there are these really good mini breakfast burritos. I’d get a selection of those. Then, maybe watching reality TV — I’m watching Love Is Blind Season 7 right now — and working on a puzzle.

Then I’d order takeout and put on really cozy PJs. There's this brand I love called Gelato Pique and it’s the coziest thing in the world. And then I’d play video games.

ED: Describing your role in Lessons in Chemistry, creator Lee Eisenberg told LA Times that you “carried the show on [your] back.” When you are taking on a labor-intensive role like that of executive producer and main character, how do you find balance?

BL: Lee said that? Wow. I do try to find balance, but it can be very hard. I try to journal in the morning and not look at my phone for 30 minutes. Honestly, when you’re producing a show, it's very difficult to have those 30 minutes. I've never had an infant, but I would imagine it's like that. It consumes your whole life. But it's OK because it's just a period of time, and I was working with great people, and we had a lot of fun.

ED: With that kind of schedule, how do you make the most of breaks on set?

BL: I had a lot of board games on set. In between takes, we would play Code Names, Boggle, or Spot It. We had multiple tubs of board games that went with us. As I've gotten older, I've become more interested in those little five-minute increments when I can allow myself to shut off, have fun, and laugh. That's what it's all about. Otherwise, you have no stamina.

ED: You described finding roles you connect with as “the most intense crush you can ever imagine.” It can be hard to center yourself when experiencing *any* type of crush. How do you do it?

BL: I would define a crush as having a passion for something. Right now, I have a crush on dancing. It’s all I think about. It’s all I want to do.

So whatever kind of crush you have, it’s about figuring out what you can do to be a complete you outside of the crush. For example, before I start a job, I get really interested in being grounded. I train, I take my supplements, and I'm like, "OK, I am whole, and I am me.”

When I go into something where I feel like I'm being pulled in a lot of different directions, I know mostly where I'm standing. That’s going to shift a little, but I know mostly where I'm standing. Everybody's super different in what works for them, but my first priority is me.

ED: You’re set to star in the Greek tragedy Elektra. Is it ever challenging to differentiate between yourself and your character when playing such an emotional part?

BL: When I take a role, prepping is two-pronged. There's prepping to play the character, and then there's prepping to not play the character. We haven’t really started working on Elektra yet, so I still have to come up with a routine.

Sometimes it's as simple as just taking a hot bath at the end of the day. Sometimes it's a specific scent or going for a walk. But you have to come up with a ritual.

Maybe it's silly, but it’s to remind yourself, "I'm not playing that character anymore." My hair is usually a huge part of that. I did a film where I had a middle part, so at the end of the day, I would brush it to the other side. That was my way of saying, "I'm me now." Having dogs helps, too. They're not like, "Oh, great show tonight." They don’t care.

ED: I saw on your X account that some of your hobbies include foraging for mushrooms and scuba diving. What else fills your cup?

BL: I love a niche interest like bird watching or mushroom foraging. I love being in a room with a group of people that are really focused and passionate about something.

When you have people that are getting together and talking about mushrooms, I'm in. I also love a bingo night. I love a Rotary club meeting. I went salsa dancing in Berlin once. I am like, "Sign me up." I feel like my life is collecting these niche interests. Right now, I'm really passionate about rubber stamps.

It's also part of my job — being interested in other ways of being. On Captain Marvel, I worked with all these very specific craftspeople. There was one lady who handled all the fur costumes on the movie. She made Chewbacca costumes, too. And I was like, "I'm going to need us to get coffee and find out how you got on this path. How do you know that's what you're supposed to do?"

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.