Halley Wegryn Gross (born December 27, 1985) is an American screenwriter and former actress. She is best known for writing two 2016 episodes of the HBO series ''Westworld'' and co-writing the 2020 video game ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Set five years after ''The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable chara ...

''.

Early life

Halley Wegryn Gross was born in Fort Myers, Florida, on December 27, 1985. She grew up in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She was a child actress who made appearances on '' Law & Order'' and later wanted to become a comedian while in college, but found that comedy made her uncomfortable. She attended the

Gallatin School of Individualized Study The Gallatin School of Individualized Study (commonly referred to as Gallatin) is a small interdisciplinary college within New York University (NYU). Students at Gallatin design an interdisciplinary program that meets their specific interests a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

(NYU) as an undergraduate. She graduated with a degree in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

in 2008 and then gained a master's degree in dramaturgy from NYU in 2010.

Career

Before moving into screenwriting, Gross worked as an actress and appeared onstage in a 2005 production of ''

Hurlyburly ''Hurlyburly'' is a dark comedy play by David Rabe, first staged in 1984. The title refers to dialogue from Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''. Plot ''Hurlyburly'' depicts the intersecting lives of several low-to-mid-level Hollywood players in the 198 ...

'', a 2011 production of ''The Metal Children'', and a 2012 production of '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. She had her breakthrough as a writer and story editor for two 2016 episodes of the HBO television series ''Westworld''. She was also a writer for two episodes of the 2019

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 technolog ...

miniseries ''

Too Old to Die Young ''Too Old to Die Young'' is an American crime drama streaming miniseries directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, written by Refn and Ed Brubaker, and starring Miles Teller and Augusto Aguilera. It premiered on Amazon on June 14, 2019. The series ...

''. In 2020, she co-wrote the video game ''

'' with

Neil Druckmann Neil Druckmann ( he, ניל דרוקמן; born December 5, 1978) is an Israeli-American writer, creative director, designer, and programmer who has been co-president (alongside Evan Wells) of the video game developer Naughty Dog since 2020. He ...

. The game went on to win multiple awards, some of which were awarded to Gross and Druckmann for their writing. The game also broke the record for the most Game of the Year awards received by a single game.

Filmography

Screenwriter

* ''

Banshee A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name i ...

'' – TV series, episode 3x02 (2015) * ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

'' – TV series, episodes 1x06 and 1x07 (2016) * ''

Emerald City The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Fictional description Located in the center of the L ...

'' – TV series, episode 1x05 (2017) * ''

'' – TV series (2019) * ''

'' – video game – co-writer, narrative lead (2020)

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Halley 1985 births Living people American television writers Naughty Dog people New York University alumni Screenwriters from Florida People from Fort Myers, Florida Video game writers American women television writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American screenwriters