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Zoe Kazan

Zoe Swicord Kazan (; born September 9, 1983) is an American actress, playwright, and screenwriter. She made her acting debut in the film Swordswallowers and Thin Men (2003) and later acted in films such as The Savages (2007), Revolutionary Road (2008), and It's Complicated (2009). She starred in Happythankyoumoreplease (2010), Meek's Cutoff (2010), Ruby Sparks (2012), What If (2013), The Big Sick (2017), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and She Said (2022). She also wrote Ruby Sparks and co-wrote Wildlife (2018) with her partner Paul Dano.

Kazan made her Broadway debut in the revival of the William Inge play Come Back, Little Sheba (2008). She has since acted in the Anton Chekov revival of The Seagull (2008), Martin McDonagh's A Behanding in Spokane (2010), and the revival of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable (2024). Also a playwright, she wrote Absalom (2008), We Live Here (2011), Trudy and Max in Love (2014), and After the Blast (2017).

On television, she acted in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. Her other television roles include in the HBO comedy series Bored to Death (2010), the HBO drama series The Deuce (2017–2019), the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America (2020), and the Netflix miniseries Clickbait (2021).

Early life and education

Kazan was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord. Her paternal grandparents were film and theatre director Elia Kazan and playwright Molly Kazan (née Thacher). Elia was an Anatolian-Greek emigrant from Istanbul, and Molly was a Mayflower descendant. The family surname was originally Kazantzoglou (Greek: Καζαντζόγλου).

Kazan was educated at the private Wildwood School, Windward School, and at the Marlborough School in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. She attended Yale University, where she was a member of the Manuscript Society, and graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre.

Career

2003–2009: Early work and Broadway debut

After her film debut in 2003 as Samantha in Swordswallowers and Thin Men, Kazan had her first professional stage role in the 2006 off-Broadway revival of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, starring Cynthia Nixon. In 2007, she had a small role in The Savages, starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and guest-appeared in an episode of Medium. She next appeared in the films Fracture and In the Valley of Elah. That fall, she returned to the stage in a The New Group production of 100 Saints You Should Know for which she received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play nomination. That same year she acted in Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want alongside Paul Dano and Peter Dinklage directed by Ethan Hawke.

In January 2008, Kazan made her Broadway debut opposite S. Epatha Merkerson and Kevin Anderson in a revival of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called her performance "first-rate", adding, "Ms. Kazan is terrific in conveying the character's self-consciousness." In the fall, she appeared on stage as Masha in a Broadway revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (2008) opposite Kristin Scott Thomas, Carey Mulligan, and Peter Sarsgaard. That year she also had roles as Gal Employee in the drama August with Josh Hartnett, Gretta Adler in the period drama Me and Orson Welles with Zac Efron and Maureen Grube in the romantic drama Revolutionary Road starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Kazan is also a playwright. In 2009, her play Absalom premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky. The play, about a father's tense relationships with his children, had been extensively read and workshopped since Kazan's junior year at Yale. She ended the year playing Meryl Streep's daughter in the Nancy Meyers romantic comedy It's Complicated also starring Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. She returned to Broadway acting in a production of Martin McDonagh's play A Behanding in Spokane with Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell until June 6, 2010. She also had lead roles in the movies I Hate Valentine's Day and The Exploding Girl, both in 2009.

2010–2016: Breakthrough and leading roles

In 2010, she had a main role in the comedy-drama Happy. Thank You. More. Please. as Mary Catherine, the cousin of Josh Radnor's character. She also starred as Millie Gately in Kelly Reichardt's independent Western drama Meek's Cutoff (2010) acting alongside Michelle Williams and Paul Dano. In the fall, Kazan played Harper Pitt in Signature Theatre Company's 20th-anniversary production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. On the small screen, she appeared in four episodes of HBO's Bored to Death as Nina, the love interest of a fictionalized Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman. Her play We Live Here, about a dysfunctional family, received its world premiere production from October 12 to November 6, 2011, at the off-Broadway Manhattan Theater Club in New York City. Among the ensemble cast was Amy Irving, and the director was 2010 Obie Award winner Sam Gold.

Kazan's starred in the title role of Ruby Sparks (2012), a comedy-romance film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and starring Kazan, Paul Dano, Chris Messina, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Deborah Ann Woll and Steve Coogan. Kazan wrote the film and served as its executive producer. Eric Kohn of IndieWire praised the film declaring it a "startlingly insightful and whimsical romance". She received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. The following year she starred in the romantic comedy What If directed by Michael Dowse starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe. The film premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival under the title, The F Word. The Hollywood Reporter wrote of their pairing, "Kazan and Radcliffe don’t have physical chemistry so much as an innocent, cheerful alignment of personalities".

In 2014, her third play, Trudy and Max in Love, opened at the South Coast Repertory. Also in 2014, she starred in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge acting alongside Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, and Bill Murray. The role earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. In 2016, she received critical praise for her performance in the A24 horror film The Monster which was directed by Bryan Bertino.

2017–present: Career expansion

In 2017, Kazan co-starred in independent romance drama film The Big Sick with Kumail Nanjiani, Holly Hunter, and Ray Romano. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews. The film went on to received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination. In 2018 she co-wrote the film Wildlife with her partner Paul Dano, who also directed. The film is based on the Richard Ford's 1990 novel of the same name. The film starred Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal. That same year Kazan starred in Joel and Ethan Coen's Western anthology film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, in the vignette "The Gal Who Got Rattled". Many critics considered her performance one of the film's highlights.

In 2020, Kazan starred in the limited series The Plot Against America as Elizabeth "Bess" Levin, a version of the mother of author Philip Roth, on whose book the show was based. It debuted on HBO, and also featured Winona Ryder, Anthony Boyle, and John Turturro. Kazan starred in Clickbait, a limited series for Netflix. The following year she starred in the drama film She Said portraying journalist Jodi Kantor acting opposite Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey. In 2024 she returned to Broadway acting in the revival of the John Patrick Shanley drama Doubt: A Parable acting opposite Amy Ryan and Liev Schreiber. In the play Kazan portrays an innocent nun Sister James who suspects a priest of misconduct. Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly wrote of her performance, "Kazan deftly manages to convey Sister James' struggle between innocent naivety and the loss of inner light that comes with considering ugly possible truths".

Personal life

Kazan has been in a relationship with actor Paul Dano since 2007. They have two children: a daughter born in August 2018 and a son born in October 2022.