Amy Seimetz

Amy Seimetz
Occupation Actress, writer, producer, director, editor
Years active 2003–present

Amy Lynne Seimetz is an American actress, writer, producer, director, and editor. She has appeared in series such as AMC's The Killing and HBO's Family Tree.

Early life and education

Seimetz grew up in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, and briefly attended film school before moving to Los Angeles. There she worked as a nanny, a waitress, and a seamstress while learning filmmaking.[1]

Career

Seimetz began her film career by producing and directing short and independent films, including Medicine for Melancholy, which was nominated for Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards after playing at South By Southwest and the Toronto International Film Festival. She acted in Joe Swanberg's Alexander The Last, which premiered at SXSW. She also worked with Swanberg on Silver Bullets and Autoerotic, continuing with acting roles in Gabi on the Roof in July, Tiny Furniture,[2] Open Five, and Myth of the American Sleepover.

Seimetz's performance in A Horrible Way to Die won her the Best Actress award at Fantastic Fest. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to good reviews.[3] She appeared in The Off Hours. About her, The Los Angeles Times wrote: "Every year, the Sundance Film Festival has a semi-official 'it girl' who encapsulates the festival's cocktail of discovery and buzz. But what about someone who embodies the independent film world's sense of community and the pitch-in spirit of collaboration, something like a most valuable player? That prize might well go to Amy Seimetz."[4]

The Hollywood Reporter singled Seimetz out as one of the breakouts of Sundance that year: "As a late-night truck-stop waitress and orphaned lost soul, Seimetz invests Off Hours' dead-end world of tiny tragedies with a hidden, hard-won strength."[5] She appeared in Revenge for Jolly!. In 2012, she made her feature directorial debut with the Florida-based thriller Sun Don't Shine, which she also wrote, produced, and co-edited.[6] The film premiered at South By Southwest to rave reviews.[7] Indiewire wrote: "Her terrific directorial debut was a brilliant noir exercise with less mumbling than raw brawls. She pinned me to my Alamo Drafthouse seat and the film kept me there for the next 82 minutes."[8]

Seimetz is the star of Upstream Color and Pit Stop, both of which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In February, she was added as a series regular to AMC's series The Killing. In season 3, she plays Danette Leeds, a "hard-living, financially strapped single mother whose 14-year-old daughter goes missing".[9]

In June 2014, Starz announced that they had ordered a 13-episode anthology series of the film The Girlfriend Experience , co-written, co-directed, and executive produced by Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan.[10] This came after the film's creator Steven Soderbergh stated: "I think if I were going to run a studio I'd just be gathering the best filmmakers I could find and sort of let them do their thing within certain economic parameters. So I would call Shane Carruth, or Barry Jenkins or Amy Seimetz and I'd bring them in and go, OK, what do you want to do?"[11]

Filmography

As director

As writer

As producer

As actress

Awards and nominations

Year Title Award Result
2010 Tiny Furniture Gotham Independent Film Awards Award for Best Ensemble Performance Nominated
The Myth of the American Sleepover SXSW Film Festival Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast WonI
2011 A Horrible Way To Die Fantastic Fest Award for Best Actress Won
2012 Sun Don't Shine SXSW Film Festival Special Jury Award - Emergent Narrative Woman Director Won
Gotham Independent Film Awards Award for Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You Nominated
RiverRun International Film Festival Special Jury Prize - Spark Award WonII
Indiewire Best of 2012 Best Undistributed Film Won
2013 Upstream Color Gotham Independent Film Awards Award for Best Actress Nominated
2013 Sun Don't Shine Gotham Independent Film Awards Award for Breakthrough Director Nominated[12]

Notes

^I Shared with Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen, Nikita Ramsey, and Jade Ramsey
^II Shared with Brady Corbet, and David Oyelowo.

References

  1. ↑ Amy Seimetz Breaks Through | Filmmaker Magazine
  2. ↑ Amy Seimetz Digitally Premieres Sun Don't Shine Film :: Movies :: News :: Paste
  3. ↑ A Horrible Way to Die review, The New York Times, August 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ L.A. Times blogsite, referencing Seimetz
  5. ↑ Review of The Off Hours, The Hollywood Reporter
  6. ↑ Sun Don't Shine review at artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com, March 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ Time Out Chicago review of Sun Don't Shine
  8. ↑ Indiewire review of Sun Don't Shine
  9. ↑ Amy Seimetz Joins The Cast of The Killing, "Indiewire"
  10. ↑ Starz Orders Girlfriend Experience Series From Steven Soderbergh, "Variety"
  11. ↑ Steven Soderbergh State of Cinema Address, "Deadline Hollywood"
  12. ↑ From the Archives: Amy Seimetz | Anthem Magazine

External links

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