Zoe Rowlands Cassavetes (born June 29, 1970) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

, screenwriter, and actress. She is the daughter of filmmaker

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...

and actress Gena Rowlands. She is best known for her 2007 film ''

Broken English Broken English is a name for a non-standard, non-traditionally spoken or alternatively-written version of the English language. These forms of English are sometimes considered as a pidgin if they have derived in a context where more than one ...

''.

Career

Cassavetes' first experience with the filmmaking business was at the age of one, when she had an uncredited role as a baby girl in her late father

' film '' Minnie and Moskowitz'', but it was not until 1991 that she had her first acting role in the film ''

Ted & Venus ''Ted & Venus'' is a 1991 American comedy-drama film directed by Bud Cort, written by Cort and Paul Ciotti and featuring an all-star cast including Brian Thompson. The original music is composed by David Robbins. The film was initially released ...

''. This was followed with minor roles in the films ''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 play by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of '' The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier ...

'' and '' The Thing Called Love''. In 1994, she and her filmmaking friend

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...

created and hosted the Comedy Central television series '' Hi Octane'', a skit and variety show that featured guests including

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming) ...

and

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

. ''Hi Octane'' lasted for only one season but is remembered as one of the first series to be entirely shot in

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data Digital data, in information theory and information systems, is information represented as a string of discrete symbols eac ...

. Her directorial debut was in 2000 on the

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 46,6 ...

-featured short film ''Men Make Women Crazy Theory.'' She is best known as the director and writer of the 2007 romance-comedy film ''

'', which featured

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes' mother. Her inspiration for ''Broken English'' came from her perception of other people's impression that happiness only comes from being in love with someone, saying: "I got caught up and swept up in the whole idea that I didn't have any worth until I found that person ... So I just wanted to make a nice, little portrait about what happens to someone when they get caught up in all of that." She was nominated for the 2008

Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It was first presented in 1994 with David O. Russ ...

but lost to

Diablo Cody Brook Maurio (''née'' Busey; born June 14, 1978), known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, '' Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unl ...

for '' Juno''. In 2012 she was invited to participate in

Miu Miu Miu Miu is an Italian high fashion women's clothing and accessory brand and a fully owned subsidiary of Prada. It is headed by Miuccia Prada and headquartered in Paris, France. History Miu Miu was established in 1992 by Miuccia Prada. The name ...

's ad campaign The Women's Tales. The short she created for the project, ''The Powder Room'', premiered at the

69th Venice International Film Festival The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, organized by Venice Biennale, took place at Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2012. The festival opened with the Indian director Mira Nair's '' The Reluctant Fundamentalist'', and close ...

. Her second feature film, ''Day Out of Days'', stars

Alexia Landeau Alexia Landeau (born February 12, 1975) is a French actress. She has appeared in films such as '' Moonlight Mile'', ''Marie Antoinette'', '' 2 Days in Paris'', and ''2 Days in New York''. She starred in Zoe Cassavetes' '' Day Out of Days'', which ...

as a 40-year-old actress struggling to stay afloat in Hollywood. The supporting cast includes

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

Eddie Izzard Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand- ...

, Cheyenne Jackson,

Vincent Kartheiser Vincent Paul Kartheiser (born May 5, 1979) is an American actor. He played Pete Campbell on the AMC television series ''Mad Men'', for which he received six Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a ...

Alessandro Nivola Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...

, Brooke Smith and Bellamy Young. She is on production company Little Minx's roster for commercial representation.

Personal life

Cassavetes comes from a family of filmmakers: her father

an actor, screenwriter and director; her mother Gena Rowlands an actress; her brother

Nick Cassavetes Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes (born May 21, 1959) is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as '' She's So Lovely'' (1997), '' John Q.'' (2002), '' The Notebook'' (2004), '' Alpha Dog'' (2006), and '' My Sister's ...

an actor and director; her sister

Alexandra Cassavetes Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes is an American actress and director. She is the daughter of Greek-American actor-director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. She is the granddaughter of actress Katherine Cassavetes. She is the sister of actor- ...

an actress and director; and her grandmother

Katherine Cassavetes Katherine Cassavetes ( el, Κάθριν Κασσαβέτης; née Demetre; June 24, 1906 – March 29, 1983) was an American actress. She was the mother of actor-director John Cassavetes and mother-in-law of actress Gena Rowlands. Her grand ...

an actress. She says that the relationship problems the main character encounters in ''Broken English'' are mostly autobiographical, saying: "I'm obsessed with the idea of love on many different levels – love through family, love your friends, love yourself and who you give that love to, who you can take it from." She has been called a muse to fashion designer

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was ...

along with actress and director

. She is married to Sebastien Chenut.

Filmography

Feature films

* ''

'' (2007) * '' Day Out of Days'' (2015)

Short films

* ''Men Make Women Crazy Theory'' (2000) * ''The Powder Room'' (2012)

References

External links

*
Zoe Cassavetes
at MySpace {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassavetes, Zoe 1970 births Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses Television personalities from Los Angeles American women television personalities Zoe American people of Aromanian descent American people of Greek descent American people of Irish descent American people of Welsh descent American women film directors Film directors from California Living people American women screenwriters Screenwriters from California 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers