Brit Marling

Last updated

Brit Marling
Brit Marling TIFF 2014.jpg
Born1982/1983(age 40–41)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education Georgetown University (BA)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • screenwriter
Years active2007–present
WorksSee filmography

Brit Marling (born 1982or1983) [1] is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Sound of My Voice (2011), Another Earth (2011), and The East (2013), each of which she co-wrote in addition to playing the lead role. She co-created, wrote, and starred in the mystery series The OA (2016–2019), [2] [3] and the thriller miniseries A Murder at the End of the World (2023). [4]

Contents

Early life

Marling was born in Chicago, Illinois, [5] the daughter of property developer parents John and Heidi Marling. [6] [7] She was named "Brit" after her Norwegian maternal great-grandmother. [8] She has a sister, Morgan. Marling grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, [9] and Orlando, Florida, where she attended the arts program at Dr. Phillips High School. [7] Marling was interested in acting, but her parents encouraged her to focus on academics. [10] She graduated from Georgetown University in 2005 with degrees in economics and studio art, and was her class valedictorian. [11] [12]

Career

At Georgetown, Marling met her long-time collaborators, future directors Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij. [13] Marling spent the summer of her junior year interning for the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs as an investment analyst. [14] She felt a life spent there would have a lack of meaning and eventually turned down a job offer from the firm, [13] opting instead to move to Cuba with Cahill to film the documentary Boxers and Ballerinas. [15] Co-writing the documentary with Cahill and Nick Shumaker, and co-directing with Cahill, the film helped Marling gain recognition in 2004. [16] In 2005, Marling moved with Cahill and Batmanglij to Los Angeles. She attended auditions and was offered roles in horror films, but turned them down. [17] She stated she "wanted to be able to cast herself in roles that wouldn't require her to play the typical parts offered to young actresses, the perfunctory girlfriend or a crime victim." [18] She was discovered by talent agent Hylda Queally. [19]

Marling with her frequent collaborator Zal Batmanglij speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California Zal Batmanglij & Brit Marling (6998271749).jpg
Marling with her frequent collaborator Zal Batmanglij speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California

In the summer of 2009, she joined a group of freegans with friend and co-worker Zal Batmanglij, living in tents and retrieving food from dumpsters, [20] to explore how other young people were constructing a meaningful life. [21] Marling co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in the 2011 films Sound of My Voice and Another Earth , directed by Batmanglij and Cahill, respectively. Both of these films were featured at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, with Another Earth winning the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for outstanding film with science, technology or math as a major theme. [22] In 2012, she played the daughter of Richard Gere's character in Arbitrage . In 2013, she collaborated with Searchlight on the film The East , in which she also played the lead role. Directed by Zal Batmanglij and co-written by Marling and Batmanglij, The East is based on the duo's experience as freegans and their concern with the side effects of prescription drugs. [20]

Marling and Batmanglij collaborated to create the drama series The OA which debuted in 2016 on Netflix. [2] It was written by Marling and Batmanglij, who produced the series along with Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B, and Michael Sugar of Anonymous Content. [23] The show's second season, entitled "Part II", started filming in January 2018, [24] and was released in March 2019 to positive reviews. [3] [25] [26]

In June 2024, Marling and Batmanglij entered an agreement to develop television and film projects with independent production house Sister, led by Cindy Holland who had been the vice president of original content for Netflix when The OA was developed. [27]

Despite having many roles in films she has co-written, Marling stated she "get[s] a lot more pleasure in acting in other people's stories" [20] since "one of the great pleasures of acting is surrendering to someone else's point of view of the world." [28]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2004Boxers and Ballerinas Documentary
Co-director with Mike Cahill
2007The RecordistCharlie Hall Zal Batmanglij's AFI thesis short film [21]
2009Political DisastersBrit [29]
2011 Sound of My Voice MaggieAlso co-writer and producer
Nominated—Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Another Earth Rhoda WilliamsAlso co-writer and producer
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Sitges Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Writing
2012 Arbitrage Brooke Miller
The Company You Keep Rebecca Osborne
2013 The East Sarah Moss / Jane OwenAlso co-writer and producer
2014 The Better Angels Nancy Lincoln [30]
I Origins Karen
The Keeping Room Augusta
Posthumous McKenzie Grain

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2011 Community PageEpisode: "Early 21st Century Romanticism"
2014 Babylon Liz GarveyMain role [31]
2016–2019 The OA Prairie Johnson / OA / Nina AzarovaCo-creator, co-wrote 10 episodes
2023 A Murder at the End of the World Lee AndersenCo-creator, wrote 7 episodes, directed 3 episodes

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References

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