American director, actress and screenwriter Greta Gerwig was born in Sacramento, California, in 1983. Before graduating from an all-girls Roman Catholic high school, she participated in several theatre productions, took dance classes in a variety of genres and was a competitive fencer. In 2006, holding a BA degree in English from Barnard College at Columbia University, Gerwig decided to focus on acting following rejection from Master’s programmes in playwriting. After a handful of roles in mumblecore movies and co-writing a couple of films, she made a big breakthrough with her starring performance in Frances Ha (2013), which she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. Without completely leaving acting, Gerwig remained mostly behind the camera for a few years. In 2017, she made her debut as a solo writer and director with Lady Bird, a highly acclaimed film followed by Little Women (2019), and Barbie (2023) – the latter scoring eight Oscar nominations and making the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman. Breaking yet another record, Greta Gerwig was appointed President of the Jury of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first American female director to take on the prestigious role.
