At that time, her mother was finishing the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) and together with the four-year old Lyanka lived in a dormitory.

In the corridors of the institute, Lyanka was noticed by chance was offered a role in the short film One, based on a story by Ray Bradbury.

At the insistence of producers, Gryu worked under the stage name Lyana Ilnitskaya, a name the executives felt was more palatable to Russian audiences.

In 2000, Ilnitskaya was filmed by director Oleg Pogodin in Triumph: Diary of the Red, a story revolving around the main characters, children, playing adult games.

In 2016, Gryu performed in the US independent film Impossible Monsters by Nathan Catucci and FX's television series The Americans.