Greta Gerwig
Greta Celeste Gerwig (/ˈɡɜːrwɪɡ/ GUR-wig;[1] born August 4, 1983) is an American actress, writer, and director. Initially known for working on mumblecore films,[2][3] she has since expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. Gerwig was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018.[4]
"Gerwig" redirects here. For other people with the name, see Gerwig (name).
Greta Gerwig
- Actress
- Screenwriter
- Director
2006–present
2
Gerwig began her career working with Joe Swanberg on films such as Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and Nights and Weekends (2008).[5] She has collaborated with her husband Noah Baumbach on several films, including Greenberg (2010) and Frances Ha (2012), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination, Mistress America (2015), and White Noise (2022). She also acted in such films as Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress (2011), Woody Allen's To Rome with Love (2012), Rebecca Miller's Maggie's Plan (2015), Pablo Larraín's Jackie (2016), Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (2016), and Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs (2018).[6][7]
As a solo filmmaker, Gerwig has written and directed coming-of-age films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), and the fantasy-comedy Barbie (2023), all of which earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture. For Lady Bird, she received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay,[8] and for Little Women, she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Barbie, which she co-wrote with Baumbach, became the first film from a solo female director to gross over $1 billion worldwide, and earned her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.[9]
Early life and education[edit]
Gerwig was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in the River Park neighborhood.[10] She is the daughter of Christine, an OB-GYN nurse, and Gordon Gerwig, who worked for a credit union on small business loans.[10][11] She is close to her parents and they make an appearance in Frances Ha as her character's parents.[11] She has an older brother, a landscape architect, and a sister, a manager at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.[12][13][14] Gerwig has German ancestry.[13]
Gerwig was raised a Unitarian Universalist.[15] She attended St. Francis High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Sacramento, and graduated in 2002.[11][16] She has described herself as having been "an intense child."[17][18] Gerwig showed an early interest in dance and later took up competitive fencing but had to quit, in part due to the high costs.[18][19] She had intended to complete a degree in musical theater in New York; however, she ended up graduating from Barnard College with a degree in English and philosophy.[18][20] Outside of class, she performed in the Columbia University Varsity Show with her dorm-mate Kate McKinnon, who starred in Gerwig's Barbie (2023).[21][22]
Career[edit]
2006–2009: Early work[edit]
Gerwig originally intended to become a playwright, but she turned to acting when she was not admitted to playwriting MFA programs.[11] In 2006, while still studying at Barnard, she was cast in a minor role in Joe Swanberg's LOL, and appeared in Baghead by Jay and Mark Duplass. She began a partnership with Swanberg, which resulted in the duo's co-writing Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), and sharing both writing and directing duties on Nights and Weekends (2008). Through these films, she became known as a key figure in the rising mumblecore film movement[2][3] and was often referred to as an "it girl".[5][23][24] Despite her consistent association with the movement, Gerwig dislikes the term "mumblecore", and has defended the style by saying, "People had gotten used to a version of a movie at a film festival that was like a calling-card for the real movie you were going to make later. What was different about these movies was these filmmakers were like, 'There is not another movie. This is the real movie.'"[25]
Although she had an association with a number of other mumblecore filmmakers and appeared in several films, mainstream success remained elusive. Of this period in her life, Gerwig has said, "I was really depressed. I was 25 [in 2008] and thinking, 'This is supposed to be the best time and I'm miserable' but it felt like acting was happening for me, and I went back to acting classes."[18] In order to support herself financially, she worked as a nanny and a tutor for the SAT.[26]
Directorial style[edit]
Gerwig's films tend to be based on her own experiences. In a behind-the-scenes video on the set of Lady Bird she said, "I tend to start with things from my own life, then pretty quickly they spin out into their own orbit."[75] Gerwig presses her actors to incorporate their personalities into their performances as well, and says of her writing and directing, "it's all about actors."[75] By contrast, she allows little line improvisation and the script is followed fairly closely.[11]
In an interview with Maclean's, Gerwig cited Woody Allen as a major influence in her work stating, "His influence is hard to measure because it runs so deep".[76][77] Her other influences include Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch, Carole Lombard, Joan Didion, Patti Smith, Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis, Mia Hansen-Løve, John Huston, Mike Leigh and Agnès Varda.[78][79][80][81]
Personal life[edit]
Gerwig lives in Manhattan with filmmaker Noah Baumbach, her partner since late 2011.[82][83] They have two sons together, born in March 2019 and February 2023.[84][85] Twelve years into their relationship, Gerwig and Baumbach got married at New York City Hall in December 2023.[86]
Gerwig has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.[87]