Greta Lee ‘Sold Pork Buns’ to Actors Who Are Now Costars When She Was a Waitress (Exclusive)

Years before Greta Lee broke out playing quirky characters on TV series like Girls, Russian Doll and The Morning Show, she worked as a waitress in New York City — and served some people she now works alongside. 

“They don’t remember that I once sold them pork buns,” Lee says in the new issue of PEOPLE. She calls the coincidence “wild,” but declines to name names or reveal who may or may not have been polite. “I could, but I'm choosing not to,” she says coyly.

The star’s days of jotting down orders are long behind her. Her new movie, Past Lives — a lovely and heart-wrenching drama about a married New Yorker (Lee) who wonders “what if?” when her childhood crush (Teo Yoo) visits from their native South Korea — has charmed critics and landed on early Oscar prediction lists.

For Lee, getting attention for her first major leading role at age 40 “is a total dream,” but not one she can bask in for too long. 

“I am still a mother of two very young children,” says the L.A.-based actress and writer, who shares Apollo, 6, and Raphael, 4, with her husband, writer-actor Russ Armstrong, 39. “It's a sharp pivot from great reviews to, ‘Where is my breakfast?’”

Lee’s long journey to this moment has been “twisty in unexpected ways,” she says. The child of South Korean immigrants — Peter, a doctor, and Jane, a former concert pianist turned housewife — Lee studied at Northwestern University (where she met Armstrong) and found success early on.

In 2007, she joined the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. “I thought, well, now I'm the Korean Scarlett Johansson, surely this is it,” she quips. “I'm done, I'm good!”

When the show ended in 2008, she struggled to find more acting work and waited tables. That’s when she found herself serving the rich and famous folks who’d one day become her costars. 

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compellng human interest stories.

Lee eventually landed a small role in the 2010 Broadway show La Bête and worked as an MTV VJ. In 2012 her performance in an Off-Broadway play, 4000 Miles, caught the eye of Girls creator and star Lena Dunham, who offered Lee a role. That led to other small spots in series like the Fox comedy New Girl, on which she played Kai, a love interest for Nick (Jake Johnson). 

In appearances like those, what Lee lacked in screen time, she made up for in sass: a withering glare or a memorably delivered line, like her oft-repeated “Sweet birthday baby!” from Russian Doll. 

Her ability to make the most of every scene left an indelible impression on viewers and colleagues alike. “I love her more than anything,” Lee’s The Morning Show costar Jennifer Aniston tells PEOPLE. “Not only is she an absolute joy to have on-set, she’s brilliant and so great at what she does. I don’t even know how to put words to it.”

Lee, in turn, says she watches and learns from the Emmy-winning Friends icon: “I have absolutely been stealing everything I can from working with her.”

Nora, Lee’s character in Past Lives, is a world apart from her quirky TV roles. “It’s a totally different acting style. Realism, naturalism, whatever you want to call it,” says Lee, “I’ve wanted to live in that space for quite some time.”

So much, in fact, that when director Celine Song offered her the role, Lee broke down in tears, she tells PEOPLE: “I had one of those very clichéd moments where I hung up and screamed into my pillow.”

Past Lives is in select theaters now and opens nationwide on June 23.

For more on Greta Lee, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.