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Jennifer Westfeldt
Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film Kissing Jessica Stein, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. She is also known for writing, producing, starring in, and making her directorial debut in the indie film Friends with Kids (2012).
Westfeldt's television work includes recurring roles on Notes from the Underbelly (2007–2009), Grey's Anatomy (2009), 24 (2010), and Younger (2017–2021) as well as guest starring on shows such as Girls, and This Is Us. Westfeldt made her Broadway debut in 2003 in the revival of Wonderful Town, earning a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Westfeldt is the daughter of Constance, a Jewish therapist, and Patrick M. Westfeldt Jr., an electrical engineer. Her mother later married Michael Perelson, also a therapist. Her older sister is journalist Amy Westfeldt. She grew up in Guilford, Connecticut, and attended Guilford High School, later attended Yale University, where she sang as a member of the a cappella group Redhot & Blue.
Upon graduating from Yale University with a B.A. in Theater Studies, Westfeldt started her career as a New York-based theater actress, starring in dozens of regional and Off-Broadway productions, including the long-running Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks. In 1997, she was cast as a series regular on the 20th Century Fox/ABC sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, alongside Ryan Reynolds, Traylor Howard and Richard Ruccolo. In 1997 Westfeldt co-wrote and co-starred with Heather Juergensen in a six-night-engagement Off-Broadway play based on a series of sketches called Lipschtick: The Story of Two Women Seeking The Perfect Shade, which caught the attention of major Hollywood studios. The play was optioned by Interscope Communications to be made into a film, but after two years, Interscope's option expired in 1999, Westfeldt and Juergensen decided to make the film independently.[citation needed]
Kissing Jessica Stein debuted at the LA International Film Festival in 2001, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature, and a Special Jury Award for Writing and Acting for Westfeldt and Juergensen. The film was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in March 2002. Westfeldt received the Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role as Jessica, and an Indie Spirit Nomination for Best First Screenplay. The film won the Audience Favorites Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Miami Film Festival, Best Feature at the Louisville Jewish Film Festival, and the GLAAD Media Award, and it was included on more than a dozen top ten lists in 2002. Variety wrote, "A fresh take on sex and the single girl, this buoyant, well-crafted romantic comedy blends pitch-perfect performances with deliciously smart writing." In Newsweek David Ansen said the film "knows what it wants, what its limits are, and delivers its delights accordingly." In 2014, The Advocate listed the movie as an essential film for LGBTQ+ viewers that "encourages exploration and self-awareness." In 2020, Kveller writer Mara Reinstein looked back on the impact that this "authentic" and "nuanced" movie had, writing, "I can't overstate how much Kissing Jessica Stein pioneered the gay rom-com."
Westfeldt made her Broadway debut in the fall of 2003 in the critical and commercial hit Wonderful Town, starring opposite two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy and directed by three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall. Westfeldt received a 2004 Tony nomination, a Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, and a Drama League Award for her role as Eileen Sherwood. Of her Broadway debut, John Simon of New York magazine wrote: "Jennifer Westfeldt leaps onto the Broadway stage in full-fledged acting and singing splendor as the adorable Eileen." Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote, "Jennifer Westfeldt makes a charming Broadway debut as Eileen, Ruth's boy-magnet of a sister." "Ms. Westfeldt's delightfully un-self-conscious interpretation suggests a virginal answer to the Vargas pinup girls," he added.
Westfeldt's next feature, Ira & Abby, marked her first solo screenwriting effort. The film debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It was acquired by Magnolia Pictures and released in the fall of 2007 to strong reviews. Westfeldt won Best Actress at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen in 2006 for her performance as Abby, where Ira & Abby also took home the Jury Prize for Best Feature. The film won Audience Award for Best Feature at the Boston Jewish Film Festival.[citation needed]
After one season on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, 20th Century Fox Studios cast Westfeldt as the lead of another series, the short-lived Holding the Baby on Fox. She went on to star in multiple pilots, including the WB's The Gene Pool opposite Chris Eigeman; The Untitled Paul Reiser Pilot on F/X; and Steve Levitan's Dante on NBC, opposite Morris Chestnut and Kevin Hart. In 2002, Westfeldt, along with her journalist sister Amy, sold a one-hour newsroom drama pitch to Touchstone/ABC; Westfeldt was attached to star. Called The Independent, the series was loosely inspired by her sister's experiences as a career journalist at the Associated Press.[citation needed] In 2006, she was cast as the female lead in ABC's Notes from the Underbelly, which ran for two seasons. Andrew Johnston wrote in TimeOut: "Jennifer Westfeldt is a total babe, with physical-comedy skills that, if properly honed, could approach Lucille Ball territory. In other words, she was basically born for TV. [Westfeldt] gets to show her serious side, too, and if the series gives her enough exposure to start competing with Hope Davis and Laura Linney for blond-WASP roles, Underbelly will have more than justified its existence." In 2010, with Alan Ball attached as executive producer, she sold a TV dramedy to HBO with her attached to star about the bird's nest custody agreement in divorce cases.[citation needed]
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Jennifer Westfeldt
Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film Kissing Jessica Stein, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. She is also known for writing, producing, starring in, and making her directorial debut in the indie film Friends with Kids (2012).
Westfeldt's television work includes recurring roles on Notes from the Underbelly (2007–2009), Grey's Anatomy (2009), 24 (2010), and Younger (2017–2021) as well as guest starring on shows such as Girls, and This Is Us. Westfeldt made her Broadway debut in 2003 in the revival of Wonderful Town, earning a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Westfeldt is the daughter of Constance, a Jewish therapist, and Patrick M. Westfeldt Jr., an electrical engineer. Her mother later married Michael Perelson, also a therapist. Her older sister is journalist Amy Westfeldt. She grew up in Guilford, Connecticut, and attended Guilford High School, later attended Yale University, where she sang as a member of the a cappella group Redhot & Blue.
Upon graduating from Yale University with a B.A. in Theater Studies, Westfeldt started her career as a New York-based theater actress, starring in dozens of regional and Off-Broadway productions, including the long-running Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks. In 1997, she was cast as a series regular on the 20th Century Fox/ABC sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, alongside Ryan Reynolds, Traylor Howard and Richard Ruccolo. In 1997 Westfeldt co-wrote and co-starred with Heather Juergensen in a six-night-engagement Off-Broadway play based on a series of sketches called Lipschtick: The Story of Two Women Seeking The Perfect Shade, which caught the attention of major Hollywood studios. The play was optioned by Interscope Communications to be made into a film, but after two years, Interscope's option expired in 1999, Westfeldt and Juergensen decided to make the film independently.[citation needed]
Kissing Jessica Stein debuted at the LA International Film Festival in 2001, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature, and a Special Jury Award for Writing and Acting for Westfeldt and Juergensen. The film was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in March 2002. Westfeldt received the Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role as Jessica, and an Indie Spirit Nomination for Best First Screenplay. The film won the Audience Favorites Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Miami Film Festival, Best Feature at the Louisville Jewish Film Festival, and the GLAAD Media Award, and it was included on more than a dozen top ten lists in 2002. Variety wrote, "A fresh take on sex and the single girl, this buoyant, well-crafted romantic comedy blends pitch-perfect performances with deliciously smart writing." In Newsweek David Ansen said the film "knows what it wants, what its limits are, and delivers its delights accordingly." In 2014, The Advocate listed the movie as an essential film for LGBTQ+ viewers that "encourages exploration and self-awareness." In 2020, Kveller writer Mara Reinstein looked back on the impact that this "authentic" and "nuanced" movie had, writing, "I can't overstate how much Kissing Jessica Stein pioneered the gay rom-com."
Westfeldt made her Broadway debut in the fall of 2003 in the critical and commercial hit Wonderful Town, starring opposite two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy and directed by three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall. Westfeldt received a 2004 Tony nomination, a Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, and a Drama League Award for her role as Eileen Sherwood. Of her Broadway debut, John Simon of New York magazine wrote: "Jennifer Westfeldt leaps onto the Broadway stage in full-fledged acting and singing splendor as the adorable Eileen." Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote, "Jennifer Westfeldt makes a charming Broadway debut as Eileen, Ruth's boy-magnet of a sister." "Ms. Westfeldt's delightfully un-self-conscious interpretation suggests a virginal answer to the Vargas pinup girls," he added.
Westfeldt's next feature, Ira & Abby, marked her first solo screenwriting effort. The film debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It was acquired by Magnolia Pictures and released in the fall of 2007 to strong reviews. Westfeldt won Best Actress at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen in 2006 for her performance as Abby, where Ira & Abby also took home the Jury Prize for Best Feature. The film won Audience Award for Best Feature at the Boston Jewish Film Festival.[citation needed]
After one season on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, 20th Century Fox Studios cast Westfeldt as the lead of another series, the short-lived Holding the Baby on Fox. She went on to star in multiple pilots, including the WB's The Gene Pool opposite Chris Eigeman; The Untitled Paul Reiser Pilot on F/X; and Steve Levitan's Dante on NBC, opposite Morris Chestnut and Kevin Hart. In 2002, Westfeldt, along with her journalist sister Amy, sold a one-hour newsroom drama pitch to Touchstone/ABC; Westfeldt was attached to star. Called The Independent, the series was loosely inspired by her sister's experiences as a career journalist at the Associated Press.[citation needed] In 2006, she was cast as the female lead in ABC's Notes from the Underbelly, which ran for two seasons. Andrew Johnston wrote in TimeOut: "Jennifer Westfeldt is a total babe, with physical-comedy skills that, if properly honed, could approach Lucille Ball territory. In other words, she was basically born for TV. [Westfeldt] gets to show her serious side, too, and if the series gives her enough exposure to start competing with Hope Davis and Laura Linney for blond-WASP roles, Underbelly will have more than justified its existence." In 2010, with Alan Ball attached as executive producer, she sold a TV dramedy to HBO with her attached to star about the bird's nest custody agreement in divorce cases.[citation needed]