Heather Julia Juergensen (born January 2, 1970) is an American actress and writer.

Life and career

Juergensen was born and raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. She graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

in 1987. Soon after, she began writing and performing for the stage in both New York and Los Angeles. Early on she was cast to co-star opposite

Frank Vincent Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr. (April 15, 1937 – September 13, 2017) was an American actor. During a five-decade career, Vincent often portrayed mobsters. He was a frequent collaborator of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, appearing as Salvy in ''Raging B ...

in the independent film ''

The Afterlife of Grandpa ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', but turned it down to study

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. While at an acting and writing workshop sponsored by New York's Ensemble Studio Theater, she collaborated with

Jennifer Westfeldt Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film ''Kissing Jessica Stein'', for which she received an I ...

in writing a series of scenes produced

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

under the name "Lipschtick". The response to one of the scenes inspired them to write a film script about a bisexual woman and a straight woman who fall into a romantic relationship. The film was developed by a studio but not produced. They held script readings and sold shares to buy back the script rights and pay for the film's production. The result was the award-winning film ''

Kissing Jessica Stein ''Kissing Jessica Stein'' is a 2001 American independent romantic comedy film, written and co-produced by the film's stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. The film also stars Tovah Feldshuh and is directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. I ...

''. She has written screenplays/teleplays for

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

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 ...

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communic ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, among others. Her first foray into writing for herself as an actress was her 1996 one-woman show ''

Letters to Ben Stein Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

'', an imaginary tale of an

epistolary Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to: * Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel * Epistolary poem ...

romance with the actor/economist. She contributed to the Tarcher/Penguin book ''

The May Queen In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of springtime and also summer. The May Queen is a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Da ...

'', a collection of essays exploring issues and experiences relevant to women in their thirties. Juergensen's film work has been honored at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

, the

Miami International Film Festival The Miami Film Festival (formerly Miami International Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Miami, Florida, that showcases independent American and international films with a special focus on Ibero-American films. The competitive film fest ...

, and the Indie Spirit Awards. Her acting credits include roles in ''

Red Roses and Petrol ''Red Roses and Petrol'' is a 2003 drama film based on the stage play of the same name by Joseph O'Connor. The film was directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, and stars Malcolm McDowell and Max Beesley. It was released, on DVD, in 2008. Plot Amid a ha ...

'' and ''

Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is displaye ...

''. She has directed, written, and starred in a short film called ''

The Suzy Prophecy ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. In addition, she is currently working on the script for a

sports comedy A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the spor ...

set in the world of girls' track and shot. She appeared in '' The Hammer'', a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

comedy starring

Adam Carolla Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...

, which Carolla and her husband co-wrote.

Filmography

* ''The Suzy Prophecy'' (Short) - Suzy (2007) * ''The Hammer'' - Lindsay Pratt (2007) * ''Dr. Vegas'' (TV Series) - Heal thyself (2006) * ''Cell Call'' (Short) - Nadine (2005) * ''The Haunted Mansion'' - Mrs. Silverman (2003) * ''Red Roses and Petrol'' - Medbh Doyle (2003) * ''Kissing Jessica Stein'' - Helen Cooper (2001) * ''The Afterlife of Grandpa'' (Short) - Kelly White (1989)

Personal life

Juergensen lives in the

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which display ...

section of Los Angeles with her husband,

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

columnist and

comedy writer Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

Kevin Hench Kevin Hench is an American screenwriter, television producer, television writer and columnist for Foxsports.com. Hench is a frequent collaborator with comedian Adam Carolla, having co-written and co-produced the 2007 film '' The Hammer'' and two n ...

, and their two dogs.

References

External links

Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Juergensen, Heather 1970 births American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American television writers Living people Writers from Brooklyn Stuyvesant High School alumni American women television writers McGill University Faculty of Science alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) American women essayists American women screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists American women film producers