Zoe Kazan

Zoe Kazan
Kazan at a screening of The F Word in 2014
Born Zoe Swicord Kazan
(1983-09-09) September 9, 1983
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater Yale University
Occupation
  • Actress
  • playwright
Years active 2003–present
Partner(s) Paul Dano (2007–present)
Parent(s)
Relatives

Zoe Swicord Kazan (born September 9, 1983)[1][2][3] is an American actress and playwright. Kazan made her acting debut in Swordswallowers and Thin Men (2003) and later appeared in films such as The Savages (2007), Revolutionary Road (2008) and It's Complicated (2009). She starred in happythankyoumoreplease (2010), Meek's Cutoff (2010) and Ruby Sparks (2012), writing the screenplay for the last. In 2014, she starred in the film What If and the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge, for which she received an Emmy nomination. In 2017, she portrayed Emily Gardner, based on Emily V. Gordon, in the film The Big Sick.

Kazan has also acted in several Broadway productions.

Early life

Kazan was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord. Her paternal grandparents were film and theatre director Elia Kazan and playwright Molly Kazan (née Thacher).[4] Elia was an Anatolian Greek emigrant from Istanbul.

Kazan was educated at the private Wildwood School, Windward School, and also at the Marlborough School, located in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. She attended Yale University (also her grandfather's alma mater), where she was a member of the Manuscript Society, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre.[5]

Career

After her film debut in 2003 playing Samantha in Swordswallowers and Thin Men, Kazan went on to play her first professional stage role in the 2006 off-Broadway revival of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie starring Cynthia Nixon. In 2007 she had a small role in The Savages, which starred Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. She also guest appeared in an episode of the supernatural drama Medium as a friend of the main character's younger self. She next appeared in the films Fracture and In the Valley of Elah. In the fall of the same year, she returned to the stage in a The New Group production of 100 Saints You Should Know and Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want, directed by Ethan Hawke.

Kazan in 2012 at the Deauville American Film Festival.

In January 2008, Kazan made her Broadway debut opposite S. Epatha Merkerson and Kevin Anderson in a revival of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called her performance "first-rate", adding, "Ms. Kazan is terrific in conveying the character's self-consciousness."[6] In the fall, she appeared on Broadway as Masha in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull opposite Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard.[7] The same year she had roles in August, Me and Orson Welles and Revolutionary Road.

Kazan is also a playwright. In 2009, her play Absalom premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, KY. The play, about a father's tense relationships with his children, had been extensively read and workshopped since Kazan's junior year at Yale University.[8] She capped off the year playing Meryl Streep's daughter in the Nancy Meyers comedy It's Complicated. She appeared in the Broadway production of A Behanding in Spokane with Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell until June 6, 2010. She also played a main role in the movies I Hate Valentine's Day and The Exploding Girl, which were both released in 2009.

In 2010, she had a main role in the comedy-drama happythankyoumoreplease as Mary Catherine, the cousin of Josh Radnor's character. She also starred as Millie Gately in 2010 (alongside Paul Dano, playing her husband) in Kelly Reichardt's independent western drama Meek's Cutoff. In the fall, Kazan played Harper Pitt in Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.[9] On the small screen, Kazan then appeared in four episodes of HBO's Bored to Death as Nina, the love interest of a fictionalized Jonathan Ames played by Jason Schwartzman.

Her play We Live Here, about a dysfunctional family, received its world premiere production from October 12 to November 6, 2011 at the off-Broadway Manhattan Theater Club in New York City.[10] Among the ensemble cast was Amy Irving and the director was 2010 Obie Award winner Sam Gold.

Her next project, for which she wrote the screenplay, was Ruby Sparks, a comedy-romance film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and starring Kazan herself, along with Paul Dano, Chris Messina, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Deborah Ann Woll, and Steve Coogan.[11][12]

In 2014, her third play Trudy and Max in Love opened at the South Coast Repertory[13] and she played the role of Denise Thibodeau in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge.

In July 2016, it was announced that Kazan had co-written the script for Wildlife, with Paul Dano. The film would be an adaptation of a Richard Ford novel of the same name. Neither Kazan nor Dano will act in the film.[14]

In 2017, Kazan co-starred in the critically acclaimed independent film The Big Sick alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Holly Hunter.

Personal life

Kazan has been in a long-term relationship with actor Paul Dano since 2007.[15][16]

Filmography

Kazan at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Swordswallowers and Thin Men Samantha
2007 The Savages Student
2007 Fracture Mona
2007 In the Valley of Elah Angie
2008 August Gal Employee
2008 Me and Orson Welles Gretta Adler
2008 Revolutionary Road Maureen Grube
2009 The Exploding Girl Ivy
2009 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Grace Lee
2009 I Hate Valentine's Day Tammy Greenwood
2009 It's Complicated Gabby Adler
2010 happythankyoumoreplease Mary Catherine
2010 Meek's Cutoff Millie Gately
2012 Ruby Sparks Ruby Also writer
2013 Some Girl(s) Reggie
2013 The Pretty One Laurel/Audrey
2013 What If Chantry
2014 In Your Eyes Rebecca Porter
2015 Our Brand Is Crisis LeBlanc
2016 My Blind Brother Francie
2016 The Monster Kathy
2017 The Big Sick Emily Gardner
2018 Wildlife Co-writer with Paul Dano
2018 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Alice Longabaugh
2019 Untitled Lone Scherfig Project Clara Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Medium Izzy Episode: "The Boy Next Door"
2008 Speechless Stood Up Girl #2 Documentary
2008 After Iraq Herself Documentary
2010 Bored to Death Nina 4 episodes
2011 Showing Up Herself Documentary
2014 Olive Kitteridge Denise Thibodeau 2 episodes
2017 The Deuce Andrea 2 episodes

Theatre

List of theatre credits
Year Title Role Theater Notes
2006 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Sandy Acorn Theatre [17]
2007 100 Saints You Should Know Abby Playwrights Horizons [18]
2007 Things We Want Stella Acorn Theatre [19]
2008 Come Back, Little Sheba Marie Biltmore Theatre [20]
2008 The Seagull Masha Walter Kerr Theatre [21]
2009 Absalom ---- Actors Theatre of Louisville Playwright [22]
2010 A Behanding in Spokane Marilyn Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre [23]
2010 Angels in America Harper Pitt Signature Theatre [24]
2011 We Live Here ---- Manhattan Theater Club Playwright [25]
2013 Clive Joanne Acorn Theatre [26]
2014 Trudy and Max in Love ---- South Coast Repertory Playwright [13]
2014 When We Were Young and Unafraid Mary Anne Manhattan Theater Club [27]
2016 Love Love Love Rose Roundabout Theatre [28]
2017 After The Blast ---- Lincoln Center Theatre Playwright[29]

Awards and nominations

Year Nominated work Award Category Result
2009
It's Complicated
 National Board of Review Award Best Cast Won
2012
Ruby Sparks
 Detroit Film Critics Society Breakthrough Performance Won
Saturn Award Best Actress Nominated
Independent Spirit Award Best Screenplay Nominated
2015
Olive Kitteridge
 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Nominated
Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated
2017
The Big Sick
 Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Actress in a Comedy Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "CUE & A: Zoe Kazan". Playbill. March 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Zoe Swicord Kazan - California, Birth Index". FamilySearch. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
  3. ↑ "30 Under 30 – Zoe Kazan". BroadwaySpace.com. 2011. Age: 27 (09/09/83)
  4. ↑ "Nicholas Kazan Biography". FilmReference.com.
  5. ↑ "Zoe Kazan Biography". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Theater Review: 'Come Back, Little Sheba'". January 25, 2008.
  7. ↑ "The Seagull". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Zoe Kazan, Charles L. Mee, Naomi Wallace Are Among 2009 Humana Fest Writers". Playbill. November 13, 2008. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Announcing the Cast of ANGELS IN AMERICA". Signature Theatre Company. 2010.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Ruby Sparks - Movie Trailers - iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  12. ↑ Stephen Holden (July 24, 2012). "She's Everything He Wants, and Therein Lies the Problem 'Ruby Sparks,' Written by and Starring Zoe Kazan". The New York Times.
  13. 1 2 "Review: 'Trudy and Max in Love's' amorous, adulterous journey". Los Angeles Times. January 13, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  14. ↑ McNary, Dave (July 29, 2016). "Paul Dano to Make Directorial Debut With Indie Drama 'Wildlife'". Variety. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Actual Couples Explore a Fantasy, the Aesthetic Sort". The New York Times. July 20, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Love and Mercy's Paul Dano relates to Brian Wilson's tortured genius". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 4, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  17. ↑ "A Teacher Still Warping Young Minds, but Gently". The New York Times. October 10, 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Review: '100 Saints You Should Know'". Variety. September 18, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  19. ↑ "A Boys' Guide to Narcotizing the Pain". The New York Times. November 8, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Theater Review: 'Come Back, Little Sheba'". The New York Times. January 25, 2008. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Marquee value: The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre". Playbill. August 18, 2008. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  22. ↑ "'Absalom' an intriguing, complex debut for Kazan". The Courier-Journal. March 14, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ Als, Hilton (March 15, 2010). "The Theatre: Underhanded". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  24. ↑ Dziemianowicz, Joe (October 29, 2010). "'Angels in America' review: Zachary Quinto flies high in perfect revival of Tony Kushner play". Daily News. New York. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Theatre Review We Live Here". The New York Times. October 12, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Clive: Theater Review". The Hollywood Reporter. February 2, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  27. ↑ "'When We Were Young and Unafraid,' theater review". Daily News. New York. June 17, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  28. ↑ "'Take a Look at Roundabout's Love, Love Love,'". Playbill. October 4, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Zoe Kazan's After the Blast Opens Off-Broadway | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
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