Gillian Jacobs

Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016–2018). Other television roles include Mimi-Rose Howard on the fourth season of the HBO comedy-drama series '' Girls'' (2015) and the voice of Atom Eve on the Amazon animated series '' Invincible'' (2021–). She has appeared in films such as ''Gardens of the Night'' (2008), ''Life Partners'' (2014), '' Don't Think Twice'' (2016), ''Ibiza'' (2018), '' I Used to Go Here'' (2020), and ''The Fear Street Trilogy'' (2021).

Early life

Jacobs was born on October 19, 1982, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Martina Magenau Jacobs, works in alumni relations at Carnegie Mellon University, while her father, William F. Jacobs Jr., was an investment banker. (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 while growing up. She performed with the Pittsburgh Public Theater, where she was a perennial contender in the Public's Shakespeare Monologue Contest, leading her to be cast as Titania in its production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. After graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2000, she moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School, 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 when ABC acquired the series; the series was canceled after eight episodes. Jacobs subsequently made guest appearances on ''Fringe'' and '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent''. In 2006, she starred in an Off-Off-Broadway production of Christopher Denham's ''cagelove''. While overall critical reaction to the play was negative, Jacobs earned praise in several reviews. ''The New York Times'' 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 single-camera comedy series ''Community'' as Britta Perry, 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!'' (2012), ''Bad Milo!'' (2013), '' Walk of Shame'' (2014), '' The Lookalike'' (2014), ''Life Partners'' (2014), '' Hot Tub Time Machine 2'' (2015), '' Visions'' (2015), '' Don't Think Twice'' (2016), and ''Brother Nature'' (2016). She voiced Sta'abi in the Nickelodeon series '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', and Atom Eve in the Amazon Prime animated series '' Invincible''. ''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 series '' Girls''.

In June 2014, Yahoo! Screen 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 original comedy series ''Love'', which ran from February 2016 to March 2018.

Jacobs directed the 2015 documentary short ''The Queen of Code'' about computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral Grace Hopper. In 2017, Jacobs co-starred in Janicza Bravo's first full length feature, ''Lemon'', which debuted at Sundance Film Festival. In 2018, she directed ''Curated'', a narrative film short, as a part of a series produced by TNT and Refinery29.

In 2020, Jacobs starred in the comedy-drama film '' I Used to Go Here'', directed by Kris Rey. In 2020, she directed "Higher, Further, Faster," an episode of ''Marvel's 616'', a documentary series about the impact of Marvel Comics on culture.

In February 2021, she and co-host Diona Reasonover premiered a STEM-focused podcast, ''Periodic Talks'', on Stitcher Radio. In July 2021, she had a supporting role in the Netflix horror films ''The Fear Street Trilogy'' as Christine "Ziggy" Berman.

Personal life

Despite portraying a drinker on ''Community'' and ''Love'', Jacobs is a teetotaler 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'', a cautionary tale about a 15-year-old addicted to drugs.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{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