'Succession' actor Nicholas Braun says he's really 6'7'' and has lied about his height in case it sp

Redeem now

  • "Succession" actor Nicholas Braun, who plays "cousin Greg" on the HBO show, is known for his towering height.
  • The exact measurement has been in dispute for years. Braun told Insider he's really 6 feet 7 inches tall.
  • Braun said his height used to be an impediment to getting roles, so he'd tell people on casting calls that he was shorter.
  • Now, he's embraced it. He's cast himself as the famously tall WeWork founder Adam Neumann in a TV show he's producing about the company's scandals.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you Google "Nicholas Braun height" — as I did before interviewing him — you will come across a vigorous debate on celebheights.com.

Since he was a gangly teenager in "Sky High" in 2006, and even now, as he stars as the skyscraping cousin Greg Hirsch on HBO's "Succession," Braun's height has been the subject of evolving speculation. It doesn't help that he's given different answers in different interviews. The number celebheights.com settled on was 6 feet 6 inches.

The real number, Braun told me, is 6 feet 7 inches. He said he's misrepresented his height when applying for parts in case casting directors would be intimidated by it.

"Six-seven is the real number," Braun said. "I used to make it shorter because most people hear 6'7" or even 6'6" and I think are a little spooked by it, like I'm going to be too tall. I'm just talking about in auditions or when I'm going for a part. So I used to sort of make it low, 6'4", 6'5". I'm really 6'7" when I stand."

Nicholas Braun as "cousin Greg" in "Succession." HBO

Braun said his height made him stand out from other actors when he was trying to get roles as a kid — and not necessarily in a good way. But lately, he's decided he likes the altitude.

"It's been the biggest impediment to getting roles I think my whole life. Because even as a kid when I was younger, like 11, 12 years old, I was very tall, I just kept being very tall," Braun said. "But everybody's got something that can get in the way. I'm just gonna embrace it from here on out."

Lately, Braun's height has been an advantage. He's cast himself as WeWork founder Adam Neumann — reportedly 6 feet 5 inches tall — in a forthcoming TV series about the rise and disastrous fall of the company, a project he's also an executive producer on. Braun said he's still looking for a showrunner on the project and is hoping to shoot it by the end of the year, after wrapping up the next season of "Succession."

WeWork founder Adam Neumann, center, in 2017. Scott Legato/Getty

Braun is attracted to characters like Neumann, he said, because he's fascinated by people who are "living in a delusion," like Anna Delvey and "the Fyre Fest guys."

"Somehow they convinced themselves that they're in the right, no matter what they do," he said. "No matter what the illegal or immoral stuff that they do."

And his career has taken off thanks to his role as Greg in "Succession." Braun spoke to me as a spokesperson for Miller64, a beer he says is good for people who don't want to fully commit to a dry January because of its low alcohol content. He will also star in "Zola," premiering later this month at the Sundance Film Festival, based on a Twitter thread that went viral in 2015 that recounted a not-entirely-true madcap weekend trip involving a road trip to Florida, a sex worker with a violent pimp, a murder, and a leap from a four-story window. And at the age of 31, he's just bought his first apartment in New York. 

"It's my first purchase like that. I'm like Greg getting his apartment in season two [of 'Succession']," he said. "I can, like, run around and kick high kicks in the air here. So that's pretty exciting. It's a very steady time."

A picture of a switch and lightbulb Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know. Subscribe to push notifications

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyvtcKhpqWZo2Kvs63Up2SsrZOYsrS%2FyKilZpmTqbyzeceeoKCgpGKwor7EnqlmamBnfW59