Owen Joseph Kline (born October 14, 1991) is an American filmmaker, actor and cartoonist, best known for his directorial debut ''
Funny Pages
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
'' (2022) and his performance as Frank Berkman in ''
The Squid and the Whale
''The Squid and the Whale'' is a 2005 American independent comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach and produced by Wes Anderson. It tells the semi-autobiographical story of two boys in Brooklyn dealing with their parents' divorc ...
'' (2005).
Early life
Owen Joseph Kline was born and raised in New York City, to theater and film actor
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...
and actress
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Belle Cates Kline (born July 16, 1963) is an American former actress, known primarily for her roles in films such as ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982), ''Gremlins'' (1984) and ''Drop Dead Fred'' (1991).
Early life
Cates was born ...
. He has one younger sister,
Greta Kline
Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994), formerly known by the stage name Frankie Cosmos, is an American musician and singer-songwriter. She is known for her independent releases, inspired by Frank O'Hara's poetry, DIY ethics of K Records and ...
, a musician/singer-songwriter. At the age of 7, Kline fell ill, and during a two-week stay in the hospital, he was diagnosed with
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...
. Kline acted in his adolescence in the independent films ''
The Anniversary Party
''The Anniversary Party'' is a 2001 American comedy-drama film co-written, co-directed, co-produced by, and co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, both making their respective feature directorial debuts. It is Phoebe Cates's final film ...
'' (2001) and
Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach () (born September 3, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for making witty and intellectual comedies set in New York City and has often been compared to writer-directors such as Woody Allen and Whit Sti ...
’s ''The Squid and The Whale'' (2005), but did not pursue a subsequent career in acting, instead remaining in junior high school. Kline performed in provocative novelty bands in high school, released prank call CDs, and created xeroxed comics, joke books and zines.
Kline worked as an assistant to the archivist at New York film museum
Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.Billy Miller and
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955 in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and sing ...
at their
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
label and Kicks Books imprint. Kline crewed on early work of filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie, and acted in their film ''John's Gone'' (2010) as well as Michael M. Bilandic on his film ''Jobe'z World'' (2018). He attended
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...
in Brooklyn, New York, studying illustration and film.
Work
In 2013 Kline wrote and directed the short comedy ''Fowl Play'', about a group of low-rent criminals fooled into buying a hen for a cockfight in Flushing, Queens. Kline co-wrote and directed the short film ''Jazzy for Joe'' (2014), a narrative comedy about and starring New York broadcaster
Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin (March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015), born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first talk show and inventing the format. His te ...
raising an abandoned baby, which premiered at BAMcinemaFest 2015.
Kline spent six years continually writing, directing and editing his debut feature ''
Funny Pages
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
'', a black comedy about a young dropout cartoonist striking out on his own in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Safdie Brothers and distributed by
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
, the film premiered in the
Director's Fortnight
The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...
at the
75th Cannes Film Festival
The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival scheduled to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022. The festival will see a tribute to actor Tom Cruise, whose film '' Top Gun: Maverick'' is due to premiere at the festival. The off ...
in 2022.
Prior to ''Funny Pages'', Kline provided research for books, including
Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden (born August 1, 1959, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American underground cartoonist. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature ''Newgarden'', which appeared in alternative weekly newspapers like ...
and
Paul Karasik
Paul Karasik ( ; born 1956)Kartalopoulos, Bill''Indy'' magazine (Spring 2004). is an American cartoonist, editor, and teacher, notable for his contributions to such works as ''City of Glass: The Graphic Novel'', ''The Ride Together: A Memoir of A ...
's ''
How to Read Nancy
"How to Read ''Nancy''" is an essay by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik, originally published in ''The Best of Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy'' by Brian Walker (Henry Holt/Comicana, 1988). The piece examines the comic strip ''Nancy'', focusing on Bushm ...
''. In 2011, a one-shot comic book ''Whippers & Snappers'' by Kline featured early incarnations of ''Funny Pages'' characters in a story titled "Robert in the Boiler Room".
In 2021, Kline contributed a two-page comic about ''
Our Gang
''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...
'' star
Norman "Chubby" Chaney
Norman Myers Chaney (October 18, 1914 – May 29, 1936) was an American child actor, notable for appearing in 19 ''Our Gang'' comedies as "Chubby" from 1929 to 1931.
Early life and career
Chaney was born on October 18, 1914 (though Richard ...
to film critic Nick Pinkerton's premiere issue of ''Bombast: A Journal of Film & Funnies''.