Greta Gerwig made her mark starring in independent films such as HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS and NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS. In 2010 she appeared opposite Ben Stiller in Noah Baumbach’s GREENBERG, for which she was nominated for both a Gotham and an Independent Spirit Award.
Born in Sacramento, California, Gerwig studied ballet until her early teens and performed with the Sacramento Ballet, including playing the lead in “The Nutcracker.” She fenced competitively in high school, ranking in the top eight nationally in the Junior Fencers category. At the same time she began acting in numerous plays, with a particular fondness for musicals: she appeared in productions of Into the Woods; A Chorus Line; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; The Wiz (as Dorothy); The Boyfriend; and Babes in Arms.
She attended the same Sacramento Catholic girls’ school as DAMSELS’ Analeigh Tipton – then went to Barnard College at Columbia University on a scholarship, where she studied English and Philosophy, continued acting, and wrote two absurdist plays: Eloise in Suits and The There There. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Barnard in 2006, she was a writer-in-residence at the Vassar College and New York Stage & Film’s Powerhouse Theater Festival. Soon after, Gerwig went to Chicago to play the title role in Joe Swanberg’s HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS (which she co-wrote), where she met her co-star Mark Duplass and his brother Jay, which led to her playing a lead role in their film BAGHEAD. She followed by teaming with Joe Swanberg to co-write, co-direct, and star in NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS. As low-budget films by Swanberg, the Duplass brothers, Andrew Bujalski and others came to be known as “Mumblecore,” Gerwig became somewhat emblematic movement. Her other film credits include Mary Bronstein’s YEAST, and Ti West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL.
This past year Gerwig appeared in the remake of ARTHUR with Russell Brand and in Ivan Reitman’s NO STRINGS ATTACHED with Natalie Portman. She recently finished playing parts in Daryl Wein’s LOLA VERSUS with Bill Pullman and Debra Winger and in Woody Allen’s BOP DECAMERON with Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz, and Alec Baldwin.
Biography/Filmography courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics for Damsels in Distress which opens
