Brit Marling

Brit Marling
Name	Brit Marling
Caption	Marling at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival
Birth date	7 August 1982
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Georgetown University
Occupation	Actress, screenwriter, producer
Years active	2005–present

Brit Marling is an American actress, screenwriter, and producer known for her work in independent films and television series that explore philosophical and speculative fiction themes. She gained critical acclaim for co-writing and starring in the films Another Earth and The Sound of My Voice, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Marling later co-created and starred in the acclaimed Netflix series The OA, further establishing her reputation for creating intellectually ambitious and genre-bending narratives.

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, she was raised in the suburb of Winnetka, Illinois. Marling attended Georgetown University, where she earned a degree in economics and was a student of the School of Foreign Service. While at Georgetown University, she met future collaborators Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij, with whom she would later create several projects. Her academic background in economics and interest in anthropology have often informed the thematic depth of her later creative work in film and television.

Career

Marling initially pursued a career in investment banking with Goldman Sachs but left the finance industry to focus on filmmaking. Her breakthrough came with the dual premieres of Another Earth and The Sound of My Voice at the Sundance Film Festival, where both films were acquired for distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures. She subsequently appeared in notable films such as The Company You Keep directed by Robert Redford, The East which reunited her with Zal Batmanglij, and I Origins with director Mike Cahill. Her television career was defined by co-creating, co-writing, and starring in the Netflix original series The OA, a metaphysical drama that developed a dedicated following.

Filmography

Her feature film acting credits include The Recordist (2007), Boxers and Ballerinas (2008), Another Earth (2011), The Sound of My Voice (2011), Arbitrage (2012), The Company You Keep (2012), The East (2013), I Origins (2014), and The Keeping Hours (2017). On television, she is best known for her role as Prairie Johnson in The OA (2016–2019) and has also made guest appearances on series such as Community and New Girl.

Writing and producing

Marling is distinctive for her collaborative approach to writing and producing, often working with Zal Batmanglij and Mike Cahill. She co-wrote and produced Another Earth and The Sound of My Voice, establishing a model of creative autonomy. This continued with the espionage thriller The East, which she co-wrote and produced. Her most extensive creative undertaking was The OA, a Netflix series she co-created, co-wrote, executive produced, and starred in, which blended elements of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.

Personal life

Marling maintains a private personal life and is known to reside in Los Angeles. She has spoken in interviews about the influence of her studies in economics and her brief time in investment banking on her artistic perspective. Her professional partnership with Zal Batmanglij and Mike Cahill remains a central aspect of her career, and she is an advocate for greater creative control for artists within the film industry and television industry.

Awards and nominations

Her work has been recognized by several institutions, including the Sundance Film Festival where she won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for Another Earth. She received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress for The Sound of My Voice and a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Breakthrough Actor. For The OA, she earned a Satellite Award nomination from the International Press Academy.

Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American screenwriters Category:American film producers Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Georgetown University alumni Category:Actresses from Chicago