Betsey Brown (filmmaker)

Last updated
Betsey Brown
Born
Relatives Peter Vack (brother)

Betsey Brown is an American actress and director best known for starring in The Scary of Sixty-First and for directing and performing in the 2021 satire Actors. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Brown was born and raised in Manhattan. Her father, Ron Brown, is a filmmaker, and her mother, Jane Brown, is a psychoanalyst. Her brother is actor and filmmaker Peter Vack. [1]

Career

After appearing in a number of short films and bit roles, Brown wrote, directed, and starred in the 2015 short film Shegetsey Betsey, which won the Audience Award for Best Experimental Short at the New Orleans Film Festival. [1]

Brown starred in the 2021 film The Scary of Sixty-First , directed by Dasha Nekrasova. [3] Her feature debut, Actors, was released in 2021. The film's approach to transgender themes has attracted controversy; a 2023 screening of Actors at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago was cancelled due to public outcry. [4] It has been defended by prominent queer artists as "far more sophisticated...than anyone gives Betsey credit for" [5] and "an examination of cis people's attitudes towards trans people." [6]

Brown frequently collaborates with her brother, Peter Vack. [2] She appeared in his 2017 film Assholes, while he starred in Actors. She starred as Rachel Ormont alongside Nekrasova and Chloe Cherry in Vack's film www.RachelOrmont.com, which premiered at the 2024 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. [7] [8] That year, Brown served a juror for the 2024 Florida Film Festival. [9]

Filmography

Film

Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
YearTitleRoleNotes
2005 A Perfect Fit Girl at Ballet Barre
2010ConsentSamantha
2012ForelsketBetsey
2015 Lace Crater Maybe Susan
Shegetsey BetseyBetseyShort film, also wrote and directed
2017AssholesAdah Shapiro
2021 The Scary of Sixty-First Addy
ActorsBetseyAlso wrote and directed
2022Hannah Ha HaCaitie
All Jacked Up and Full of Worms Samantha
2023CaviarAntigone Corday
The Sweet East Betsy Ross Girl
2024www.RachelOrmont.comRachel Ormont
Carnage for Christmas Radio Operator (voice)Post-production
TBANaked in the ParkPost-production

Television

YearTitleRowNotes
2013–2014 The Carrie Diaries Jen #32 episodes
2014 A Crime to Remember Gretchen Fritz1 episode
2015 Forever Lucy Templeton1 episode

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2015 New Orleans Film Festival Audience Award for Best Experimental ShortShegetsey BetseyWon [1]
2021Molins Film FestivalAudience Award Being Different - Best Actress The Scary of Sixty-First Won [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 King, Michelle Lyn. "On fearing success". The Creative Independent.
  2. 1 2 Hammond, Caleb. "How Actors Writer-Director Betsey Brown Turned a Rare Moment of Sibling Jealousy into Her Feature Debut". MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  3. Lodge, Guy. "'The Scary of Sixty-First' Review: Nothing Is out of Bounds in This Rude, Riotous, Post-Epstein Horror". Variety. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  4. Brown, Debbie-Marie. "The Music Box cancels Actors, but the discourse continues". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  5. https://weard.substack.com/p/my-self-imposed-humiliation-ritual
  6. https://letterboxd.com/yugiohmachinima/film/actors-2021/2/
  7. Chapman, Wilson. "Dasha Nekrasova, Chloe Cherry, Betsey Brown Cast in 'www.RachelOrmont.com' From Director Peter Vack (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. "SF Jewish Film Festival: www.RachelOrmont.com". Roxie. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  9. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Evnewx1DA/
  10. n.a. "Awards List 40th edition TerrorMolins". TerrorMolins. Retrieved 15 April 2024.