Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Marielle Heller

By Rueben | December 25, 2019

Today’s Women Behind the Scenes spotlight is focused on actress, writer, and director Marielle Heller.

Marielle was born in Marin County, California, but grew up in nearby Alameda. Acting was her first love, performing in the children’s musical theater in Alameda, eventually moving on to community theater and productions at her high school. She studied theatre at UCLA and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

When she came back to the states, she worked as an actor at a number of theatres such as the La Jolla Playhouse and the American Conservatory Theater (among others).

Among her acting credits are appearances in the TV shows Spin City and Single Dads and in box office films like MacGruber, A Walk Among the Tombstones and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

Marielle’s writing credits include screenplays, theatrical plays and pilots for ABC and 20th Century Fox. She made her film debut as a writer and director with the big screen adaptation of cartoonist Phoebe Gloeckner’s 2002 graphic novel Diary of a Teenage Girl. That same year (2015) she directed an episode of Transparent, and then she directed two episodes of Casual the following year.

In 2018, she was the director of the Melissa McCarthy-led film Can You Ever Forgive Me?, but it was her work as director on A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the film that stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, that has garnered her the most attention to date.

Marielle has been honored with numerous fellowship opportunities for her work including the 2012 Sundance Screenwriting Fellowship and Directing Fellowship, the Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship and the Maryland Film Festival Fellowship. She was also awarded Sundance Institute’s prestigious Vanguard Award.

She is married to comedian, director, actor and writer Jorma Taccone. They have a son and live in New York. She can be followed on Twitter @badpostmarielle.