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Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as
Britta Perry ''Community (TV series), Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community colleges in the United States, Community College, ran for List of Community episodes, 110 episodes an ...
on the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
sitcom ''
Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
romantic comedy series ''
Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
'' (2016–2018). Other television roles include Mimi-Rose Howard on the fourth season of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
comedy-drama series ''
Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
'' (2015) and the voice of Atom Eve on the
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
animated series ''
Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...
'' (2021–). She has appeared in films such as '' Gardens of the Night'' (2008), '' Life Partners'' (2014), ''
Don't Think Twice ''Don't Think Twice'' is a 2016 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Birbiglia and stars Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard. The film had its world premiere at South by ...
'' (2016), ''
Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...
'' (2018), ''
I Used to Go Here ''I Used to Go Here'' is a 2020 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kris Rey. It stars Gillian Jacobs, Josh Wiggins, Hannah Marks, Forrest Goodluck, Jorma Taccone, Kate Micucci, Zoë Chao and Jemaine Clement. It stars Jacobs as ...
'' (2020), and ''
The Fear Street Trilogy ''The Fear Street Trilogy'' is an American horror film series, with varying subgenres of horror, particularly the slasher and supernatural subgenres. Directed by Leigh Janiak from scripts and stories she co-wrote with other contributors, the ...
'' (2021).


Early life

Jacobs was born on October 19, 1982, in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. Her mother, Martina Magenau Jacobs, works in alumni relations at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, while her father, William F. Jacobs Jr., was an
investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...
. (Scroll down to Jacobs entry.) Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she was raised by her mother in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Her father died in 2013. Her family owned the Erie Brewing Company (not to be confused with the later brewery of the same name), where her grandfather, John Martin Magenau Jr., was president and CEO until it closed in 1978. She began studying acting at the age of four and attended weekend acting classes at the
Pittsburgh Playhouse Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student co ...
while growing up. She performed with the
Pittsburgh Public Theater Pittsburgh Public Theater, or The Public for short, is a professional theater company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After the retirement of longtime Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas, The Public began the 2018–2019 season with a new ...
, where she was a perennial contender in the Public's
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Monologue Contest, leading her to be cast as Titania in its production of ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
''. After graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2000, she moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to attend the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
, where she graduated with a BFA in 2004.


Career

Her first acting role was Adele Congreve on the television series '' The Book of Daniel''. Although she played Kim in the pilot of '' Traveler'', the role was given to
Pascale Hutton Pascale Hutton (born June 14, 1979) is a Canadian actress. She was born in Creston, British Columbia. Hutton attended the conservatory acting program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadia ...
when
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
acquired the series; the series was canceled after eight episodes. Jacobs subsequently made guest appearances on ''
Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...
'' and ''
Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...
''. In 2006, she starred in an
Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...
production of
Christopher Denham Christopher Denham is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He is perhaps best known for supporting roles in '' Argo'', '' Being the Ricardos'', ''Shutter Island'' and his role in the Sundance Film Festival cult phenomenon, ''Sound of My ...
's ''cagelove''. While overall critical reaction to the play was negative, Jacobs earned praise in several reviews. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' advised readers to "remember the name of Gillian Jacobs, a stunning Juilliard graduate who has the glow of a star in the making". Jacobs has appeared in theatrical productions such as ''The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero'' (2007), ''A Feminine Ending'' (2007), and ''The Little Flower of East Orange'' (2008). In March 2009, she joined the cast of the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
single-camera comedy series ''
Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
'' as
Britta Perry ''Community (TV series), Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community colleges in the United States, Community College, ran for List of Community episodes, 110 episodes an ...
, a high school dropout who aspires to become a psychologist. Her film work includes '' Blackbird'' (2007), '' Choke'' (2008), '' Gardens of the Night'' (2008), '' The Box'' (2009), ''
Revenge for Jolly! ''Revenge for Jolly!'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Chadd Harbold and written by Brian Petsos. It stars Petsos as a man who avenges the death of his beloved dog. Oscar Isaac, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody, Gillian Jacobs, Bobby Moyni ...
'' (2012), ''
Bad Milo! ''Bad Milo!'' is a 2013 American horror comedy film written by Jacob Vaughan and Benjamin Hayes and directed by Jacob Vaughan. The film stars Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Peter Stormare, Stephen Root, Mary Kay Place, and Patrick Warburton. The f ...
'' (2013), '' Walk of Shame'' (2014), '' The Lookalike'' (2014), '' Life Partners'' (2014), ''
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 ''Hot Tub Time Machine 2'' is a 2015 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Steve Pink and written by Josh Heald. The film stars Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Adam Scott, Chevy Chase, and Gillian Jacobs. It is the sequel to ...
'' (2015), ''
Visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
'' (2015), ''
Don't Think Twice ''Don't Think Twice'' is a 2016 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Birbiglia and stars Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard. The film had its world premiere at South by ...
'' (2016), and '' Brother Nature'' (2016). She voiced Sta'abi in the
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
series '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', and
Atom Eve ''Invincible'' is an American comic book series written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, and published by Image Comics. Set in the Image Universe, ''Invincible'' follows the coming of age of superhero Mark ...
in the
Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
animated series ''
Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...
''. ''Community'' was canceled by NBC on May 9, 2014, and later that month, it was reported that Jacobs had landed a recurring role as Mimi-Rose Howard in the fourth season of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series ''
Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
''. In June 2014,
Yahoo! Screen The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...
picked up ''Community'' for a sixth season. It was announced on September 16, 2014, that Jacobs was cast to star as Mickey in the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
original comedy series ''
Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
'', which ran from February 2016 to March 2018. Jacobs directed the 2015 documentary
short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...
''The Queen of Code'' about
computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
and
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
rear admiral
Grace Hopper Grace Brewster Hopper (; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of compu ...
. In 2017, Jacobs co-starred in
Janicza Bravo Janicza Michelle Bravo Ford (; born February 25, 1981) is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Her films include ''Gregory Go Boom'', a winner of the short-film jury award at the Sundance Film Festival; ''Lemon'', co-writte ...
's first full length feature, ''
Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
'', which debuted at
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. In 2018, she directed ''Curated'', a narrative film short, as a part of a series produced by
TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
and
Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...
. In 2020, Jacobs starred in the comedy-drama film ''
I Used to Go Here ''I Used to Go Here'' is a 2020 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kris Rey. It stars Gillian Jacobs, Josh Wiggins, Hannah Marks, Forrest Goodluck, Jorma Taccone, Kate Micucci, Zoë Chao and Jemaine Clement. It stars Jacobs as ...
'', directed by
Kris Rey Kris Swanberg (born Kristin Williams, November 11, 1980) is an American businesswoman, filmmaker, actress and former high school teacher living in Chicago, Illinois. She has been credited at various times as Kris Williams, Kris Swanberg and Kris ...
. In 2020, she directed "Higher, Further, Faster," an episode of ''
Marvel's 616 ''Marvel's 616'' is an Anthology series, anthology documentary television series by Marvel Entertainment#Marvel New Media, Marvel New Media and Supper Club for Disney+ that premiered on November 20, 2020. The name "616" refers to Earth-616, the fi ...
'', a documentary series about the impact of
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
on culture. In February 2021, she and co-host
Diona Reasonover Diona Reasonover (born January 6, 1992) is an American actress. She starred as Charmaine Eskowitz in the television show '' Clipped''. She portrays Kasie Hines in the crime drama series '' NCIS''. Early life Born and raised in Detroit, Michig ...
premiered a STEM-focused podcast, ''Periodic Talks'', on
Stitcher Radio Stitcher is a media company that specializes in the creation, distribution, and monetization of podcasts. Stitcher creates original shows through networks such as Earwolf and Witness Docs. Stitcher provides ad sales and distribution services to ...
. In July 2021, she had a supporting role in the Netflix horror films ''
The Fear Street Trilogy ''The Fear Street Trilogy'' is an American horror film series, with varying subgenres of horror, particularly the slasher and supernatural subgenres. Directed by Leigh Janiak from scripts and stories she co-wrote with other contributors, the ...
'' as Christine "Ziggy" Berman.


Personal life

Despite portraying a drinker on ''Community'' and ''Love'', Jacobs is a
teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...
in real life. She said that she made a choice when young to never drink alcohol or take drugs, after "watching people in my family grapple with addiction". She revealed that her father struggled with addiction and that she became fearful of ruining her life the same way—a feeling reinforced in her youth by reading ''
Go Ask Alice ''Go Ask Alice'' is a 1971 book about a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of self-destructive escapism. Attributed to "Anonymous", the book is in diary form, and was originally presented as ...
'', a cautionary tale about a 15-year-old addicted to drugs.


Filmography


Film


Television


Web


Stage


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Gillian 1982 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Pittsburgh American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Juilliard School alumni Living people People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania