Marielle Heller
American actress, director, and writer
title: "Marielle Heller" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1979-births", "living-people", "people-from-marin-county,-california", "american-women-film-directors", "film-directors-from-california", "ucla-school-of-theater,-film-and-television-alumni", "american-people-of-jewish-descent", "21st-century-american-actresses"] description: "American actress, director, and writer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marielle_Heller" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American actress, director, and writer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Marielle Heller |
| image | Marielle Heller - Maryland Film Festival - 2016 (30354425543) (cropped).jpg |
| caption | Heller in 2016 |
| birth_name | Marielle Stiles Heller |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Marin County, California, U.S. |
| occupation | |
| years_active | 2000–present |
| spouse | |
| children | 2 |
| relatives | Emily Heller (sister) |
| :: |
| name = Marielle Heller | image = Marielle Heller - Maryland Film Festival - 2016 (30354425543) (cropped).jpg | caption = Heller in 2016 | birth_name = Marielle Stiles Heller | birth_date = | birth_place = Marin County, California, U.S. | occupation = | years_active = 2000–present | spouse = | children = 2 | relatives = Emily Heller (sister)
Marielle Stiles Heller (born October 1, 1979) is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She is best known for directing the films The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), as well as acting in The Queen's Gambit (2020).
Early life
Heller was born in Marin County, California, to Steve Heller, a chiropractor, and Annie Stiles-Heller, an artist and art teacher. She grew up in nearby Alameda, along with her younger brother and sister, Nate and Emily. Her father hails from a Jewish family in New York. Heller started off as an actor, calling acting her "first love." She was part of the Alameda Children's Musical Theater, where she participated in as many as four plays a year, including the roles of Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh, Templeton the rat in Charlotte's Web, and Polly in The Magician's Nephew.
With time, she graduated to community theater, as well as productions at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School. She graduated in 1997. She studied theatre at UCLA and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Additionally, she was honored with a Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship and The Maryland Film Festival Fellowship.
Career
After returning to the US, she worked as an actor at the Magic Theatre, the American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the La Jolla Playhouse. She was in the world premiere of David Edgar's Continental Divide directed by Tony Taccone. She also acted in shows Spin City and Single Dads."
The Diary of a Teenage Girl was Heller's debut film, that she both wrote and directed. It is based on the 2002 graphic novel titled The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures by Phoebe Gloeckner, which she received as a Christmas present from her sister in 2006. The story's protagonist, Minnie, is a 15-year-old girl living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976 who begins an affair with her mother's 35-year-old boyfriend, Monroe. Heller was taken with Minnie's character, a young woman who is confident in her sexuality and, noting the lack of films that represent young women in such a way, she set to adapting the graphic novel to play. With Gloeckner's blessing, she worked the script into a screenplay. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2015, and later received a limited release in August 2015. The film stars Bel Powley as Minnie. Previously, Heller was selected as a 2012 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and 2012 Sundance Directing Fellow, where she had submitted the script for the Sundance writer and director workshop. She then proceeded to direct a teaser for the film using grant money from the writer's workshop. The film received critical acclaim at Sundance, and was in competition in the U.S. Dramatic category. The film also won the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. In 2016, the film was named best first feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Heller's writing credits include screenplays, theatrical plays, and pilots for ABC and 20th Century Fox, such as the ABC pilot The Big Apple and a film for Disney, titled Renegade X.
Heller next directed Can You Ever Forgive Me? about literary forger and writer Lee Israel, based on the author's memoir. She teamed up again with Archer Gray, who she first worked with on Diary. With a limited budget, filming a movie set in the 1990s was a challenge. She cast Melissa McCarthy in the title role based on the actress's performance in the 2014 film St. Vincent. They shot on location in bookstores where Israel had sold her forgeries, including the Argosy Bookstore and Westsider Rare & Used Books. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018. It was released on October 19, 2018, by Fox Searchlight.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/A_Beautiful_Day_in_the_Neighborhood_02_(48735008732).jpg" caption="Heller at the 2019 [[Toronto Film Festival"] ::
In January 2018, it was announced that Heller would direct A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a film that chronicles an interview Tom Junod conducted with child entertainer Fred Rogers for Esquire magazine, and how the encounter impacted the journalist's life. The screenplay was written by Emmy-nominated producers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. Tom Hanks, who portrays Mr. Rogers, agreed to join the project once Heller signed on as director, as they had met previously through Hanks' son, Colin. It was filmed in Pittsburgh.
Heller played a breakout acting role in the Netflix show The Queen's Gambit as Alma Wheatley. Heller is friends with the director Scott Frank and was going to play the part of Beth's biological mother, until the original actress fell out.
Media image and directing style
Heller has said she is drawn to stories about people "trying to talk about something that people are uncomfortable talking about" and "human beings trying to navigate through the world." Drawn to storytelling, she progressed from an actor to a writer, finally beginning to direct when she dreaded turning her screenplay for Diary over to someone else. She has said that becoming a mother made her change the kind of stories she tells, because she wants "to do good in the world".
In 2020, she was listed, among others, as one of the several female directors snubbed for Academy Awards and Golden Globes nominations for Best Directing, as only men were nominated. Fellow director Greta Gerwig, who also was not nominated, included Heller in her list of women who could have been competing for the Golden Globe. Actress Natalie Portman, as a sign of protest, wore a dress embroidered with the names of these women, including Heller, on the 2020 Oscars red carpet.
Filming days for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood adhered to a shooting schedule of ten-hour days that did not break for lunch so that Heller and other cast and crew members could potentially still have nights with their children. She believes sustainable working hours on film sets will allow more female directors to continue working after they have families.
Personal life
Heller is married to comedian Jorma Taccone, having met at UCLA while studying acting. Together they have a son, born in December 2014, and a daughter born in August 2020. They live in Brooklyn, New York.
Heller's brother, Nate, is a musician who composed the scores for all four of her feature films. Her sister, Emily Heller, is a stand-up comic, as well as a producer and writer for the HBO comedy series Barry. Her brother-in-law, Asa Taccone, is the lead singer of the band Electric Guest, and her father-in-law, Tony Taccone, is a theater director. When asked about her greatest source of inspiration, she answered: "Every member of my family, each of whom is completely their own person, and works on being thoughtful and creative every day. And I find inspiration in all of my friends, and my husband, all of whom are working toward living life as an artist every day."
Filmography
Film
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | The Diary of a Teenage Girl | |||
| 2018 | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | |||
| 2019 | A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | |||
| 2024 | Nightbitch | |||
| :: |
Acting roles ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Liberation of Everyday Life | Flora | Short film |
| 2010 | MacGruber | Clocky | |
| 2014 | A Walk Among the Tombstones | Marie Gotteskind | |
| 2016 | Paper Anchor | Caroline | |
| Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping | Documentary Crew Member | ||
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Transparent | Episode: "New World Coming" |
| 2016 | Casual | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | What the Constitution Means to Me | Filmed play |
| Also executive producer | ||
| :: |
Acting roles ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | White Power | Party People | Short |
| 2002 | Spin City | Carrie | Episode "Eyes Wide Open" |
| 2005 | Awesometown | Waitress | Short |
| 2008 | All-for-nots | Heather | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | Single Dads | Jill | Episode "Meeting Girls in the Park" |
| 2020 | The Queen's Gambit | Alma Wheatley | |
| 2021 | MacGruber | MacGruber's mother | |
| :: |
Theatre
This list is adapted from her biography on The Nervous Breakdown:
- Continental Divide (by David Edgar)
- Hamlet – Ophelia
- King Lear – Cordelia (San Diego Rep)
- Much Ado About Nothing – Hero (Theatricum Botanicum)
- Peninsula (by Madelyn Kent) – starred (SoHo Rep)
Awards and nominations
::data[format=table]
Directed Academy Award performances
Under Heller's direction, these actors have received the Academy Award nominations for their performances in their respective roles. ::data[format=table title=""]
| Year | Performer | Film | Result | Academy Award for Best Actress | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Melissa McCarthy | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | |||
| 2019 | Richard E. Grant | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | |||
| 2020 | Tom Hanks | A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | |||
| :: |
References
References
- (August 5, 2015). "Interview: Marielle Heller on Seeing Herself in "The Diary of a Teenage Girl"".
- "Register".
- "Marielle Heller Annie Stiles-Heller Photostream". Zimbio.
- (November 1, 2018). "Alameda's Marielle Heller Is One Hot Hollywood Director".
- "Cast and crew of 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' felt deep connection to city with Tree of Life tragedy".
- (December 13, 2019). "Marielle Heller's Land of Make-Believe".
- (October 15, 2018). "Alameda's Marielle Heller Is One Hot Hollywood Director".
- (March 19, 2014). "Marielle Heller '97".
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- "MD Film Fest {{!}} About The Festival {{!}} Producers Club".
- (September 6, 2018). "TIFF 2018 Women Directors: Meet Marielle Heller — "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"".
- (January 29, 2016). "'Diary of a Teenage Girl' challenged perceptions of young women and sex". Meredith Corporation.
- Davis, E., [https://www.indiewire.com/2015/07/watch-kristen-wiig-alexander-skarsgard-bel-powley-star-in-the-new-u-k-trailer-for-diary-of-a-teenage-girl-262433/ "Watch: Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård, & Bel Powley Star In The New U.K. Trailer For ''Diary Of A Teenage Girl''"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 25, 2020 , ''[[IndieWire]]'', July 1, 2015.)
- (June 7, 2012). "MARIELLE HELLER AT THE SUNDANCE DIRECTORS LAB, PART ONE".
- "Prizes & Honours 2015".
- (September 8, 2018). "Archer Gray Projects Take on Female Colors". Variety.
- (May 1986). "Groucho, can you ever forgive me?". Survey of Ophthalmology.
- (September 5, 2018). "WE GET SCARED WHEN WOMEN CHARACTERS ARE IDIOSYNCRATIC': Director Marielle Heller on Melissa McCarthy going to 'really dark places' as a washed-up writer in Can You Ever Forgive Me?". The Hollywood Reporter.
- "Seeing truth in the fraud".
- (March 19, 2018). "Marielle Heller insists Tom Hanks' 'beautiful' Mr. Rogers movie 'not a biopic,' reveals plot details". MSN.
- (March 20, 2018). "Soulful, Inspiring Mister Rogers Movie Trailer Just Might Make You Cry".
- "The Queen's Gambit". IMDb.
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- (February 10, 2020). "'Fashion statements: Oscars stars use their clothes to make political points".
- (November 22, 2019). "'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood's' Marielle Heller Pushes for 'Sustainable' Hours on Movie Sets".
- (August 6, 2015). ""The Diary of a Teenage Girl" Director Marielle Heller Is Here to Remind You: Women Have Sexual Thoughts Too".
- (January 3, 2015). "10 Directors to Watch: Secrets of Marielle Heller's Sundance 'Diary'".
- (June 6, 2010). "21 Questions with Marielle Heller".
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- "Awards".
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- Wiseman, Andreas. (June 26, 2015). "Edinburgh 2015 winners revealed".
- "EIFF 2015 Awards: Audience Award Goes to "Big Gold Dream"".
- Menéndez, Sara. (November 29, 2015). "Palmarés del Festival de Cine de Gijón 2015: 'Right Now, Wrong Then' y Arturo Ripstein son los grandes triunfadores".
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- (December 21, 2015). "The Women Film Critics Circle 2015 – Ganadores".
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- "2015 EDA Award Winners – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS".
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- Leimkuehler, Matthew. "Dove Awards 2020 adapt to COVID-19 year with audience-free show".
- Eggert, Jessica. (February 22, 2019). "Nia DaCosta, Debra Granik and Marielle Heller Discuss the Limitless Potential of Women in Film".
- Giliberti, Luca. (January 18, 2021). "2021 Critics' Choice TV Awards: Full List of Nominations by Shows".
- (March 8, 2021). "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television, Commercials and Documentary for 2020 -".
- Avila, Pamela. "'Pose,' 'I May Destroy You,' 'Hacks' sweep LGBTQ critics' Dorian TV Awards".
- "Ted Lasso, the Handmaid's Tale, and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist lead Inaugural HCA TV Awards Nominations – Hollywood Critics Association".
- Tangcay, Jazz. (February 2, 2021). "'Truffle Hunters,' 'Time' and 'Dick Johnson Is Dead' Among Producers Guild Doc Nominations".
- Lewis, Hilary. (September 19, 2024). "Montclair Film Festival: 'Conclave' to Open, 'The Piano Lesson' to Close, 'Unstoppable' as Fiction Centerpiece (Exclusive)".
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- "Canina (Nightbitch)".
- ACN. "'Canina (Nightbitch)' amb Amy Adams o el documental sobre Christopher Reeve se sumen a la programació de Sitges".
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