# Zoe Kazan
**Zoe Kazan** (fuller name Zoe Swicord Kazan; born 1983 in Los Angeles) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter known for writing and starring in *Ruby Sparks* (2012), for screen roles in *The Big Sick*, *She Said*, and HBO's *Olive Kitteridge*, and for her [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) and Broadway work in plays she has both written and performed. She is the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord and the granddaughter of director [Elia Kazan](https://www.edgepedia.org/elia-kazan), and since 2023 she has added work as a writer and co-showrunner on Netflix's limited series *East of Eden*.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1983, Los Angeles, California[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2010017573.html) |
| Education | BA in Theater, Yale University, 2005[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) |
| Signature screenplay | *Ruby Sparks* (2012), written for herself to star in; Best Screenplay nomination, 2013 Independent Spirit Awards[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) |
| Acting honors | Tribeca Film Festival Best Actress (*The Exploding Girl*); Emmy nomination (2015, *Olive Kitteridge*); Clarence Derwent Award (2008)[3](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/) • [2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) |
| Broadway | *The Seagull* (2008, Masha), *A Behanding in Spokane* (2010), *Doubt* (2024, Sister James)[4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/zoe-kazan-473891) |
| Plays produced | *Absalom* (Humana Festival, 2009), *We Live Here* (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2011), *Trudy and Max in Love* (South Coast Repertory, 2014), *After the Blast* (Lincoln Center)[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) |
| Recent writing | Co-writer and co-executive producer of *Wildlife* (2018); writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer of Netflix's *East of Eden*[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) |
## Early life and education
Kazan was born in Los Angeles in 1983[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2010017573.html) • [4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/zoe-kazan-473891). Her parents, Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord, are both Oscar-nominated screenwriters, and her grandfather was director Elia Kazan[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html). Elia Kazan died just after her 20th birthday; in a 2017 Los Angeles Times profile, she said that being his granddaughter did not heavily influence her path[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html). She has a younger sister, Maya Kazan, an actor and director[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/08/zoe-kazan-actor). Aggregator sources describe her ancestry as Greek (through her paternal grandfather), English, and German[7](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443740/).
She graduated from Yale in 2005 with a BA in Theater[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443740/). Playwriting began there as coursework: in her junior year she started what became her first full-length play as a class exercise in a course with playwright Donald Margulies, initially titled *The Reckoning*[8](https://www.npr.org/2009/03/16/101811832/for-actress-zoe-kazan-writing-is-close-to-home).
## Acting career
Kazan landed her first movie role at 19 and spent her 20s in more than a dozen independent productions[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html). Her New York stage debut came in the fall of 2006, playing Sandy opposite [Cynthia Nixon](https://www.edgepedia.org/cynthia-nixon) in The New Group's revival of *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie*[7](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443740/). She then appeared on Broadway in *Come Back, Little Sheba* (Clarence Derwent Award), *The Seagull* (2008, Drama Desk nomination), and *A Behanding in Spokane* (2010)[3](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/). Lincoln Center Theater also credits her with Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for *100 Saints You Should Know* and an appearance as Harper Pitt in Signature Theatre's revival of [Tony Kushner](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-kushner)'s *Angels in America*[3](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/).
Her most recognized screen work includes the Tribeca Film Festival Best Actress Award for *The Exploding Girl*, a National Board of Review Best Ensemble Award for *It's Complicated*, and an Emmy-nominated supporting turn as Denise Thibodeau in HBO's *Olive Kitteridge* (2015)[3](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/) • [2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05). Later credits named by the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal include *The Big Sick*, which received a SAG cast nomination, *The Ballad of Buster Scruggs*, *Meek's Cutoff*, *Revolutionary Road*, and the television series *The Plot Against America*[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html) • [9](https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/zoe-kazan-east-of-eden-79310d8c). In 2022 she starred alongside [Carey Mulligan](https://www.edgepedia.org/carey-mulligan) in Universal's *She Said*, playing journalist [Jodi Kantor](https://www.edgepedia.org/jodi-kantor) opposite [Megan Twohey](https://www.edgepedia.org/megan-twohey)[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05).
## Writing career
**Plays.** Her first full-length play, *Absalom*, premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2009 Humana Festival and is published by [Dramatists Play Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/dramatists-play-service); her second, *This Thing of Darkness*, was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club[10](https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/101865/zoe-kazan). She developed *Absalom* through the Yale Playwrights Festival, a 2007 submission to the Humana Festival, and Lincoln Center Theater's Directors Lab in 2008 before its 2009 premiere, when she was 25[8](https://www.npr.org/2009/03/16/101811832/for-actress-zoe-kazan-writing-is-close-to-home). The play centers on a domineering father and his children, all writers fixated on their father's new autobiography, and she described it as addressing love, manipulation, selfishness, and creative ownership[8](https://www.npr.org/2009/03/16/101811832/for-actress-zoe-kazan-writing-is-close-to-home). Her later produced plays are *We Live Here* (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2011), *Trudy and Max in Love* (South Coast Repertory, 2014), and *After the Blast*, staged at [Lincoln Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/lincoln-center)[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05). Reports on the Lincoln Center staging differ: The Guardian in July 2017 described *After the Blast*, set after an environmental disaster, as to be staged there "later this year", while Yale's Schwarzman Center bio dates it to 2023[6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/08/zoe-kazan-actor) • [2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05). Director Lila Neugebauer, her Yale classmate, directed *After the Blast*[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html).
**Screenplays.** She wrote and starred in *Ruby Sparks* (2012), earning a Best Screenplay nomination at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05). In 2018 she co-wrote and co-executive produced *Wildlife*, directed by [Paul Dano](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-dano) and based on [Richard Ford](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-ford)'s novel; it premiered at Sundance, screened at Cannes, Toronto, New York, and London film festivals, and was nominated for Best First Feature at the 2019 [Independent Spirit Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/independent-spirit-awards)[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05). On PBS's *Amanpour & Company*, she explained the division of labor: Dano had never written anything before, while she had already written plays and *Ruby Sparks*, so she knew more about the writing process, and Dano felt an autobiographical pull toward Ford's novel[11](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/actress-writer-zoe-kazan-on-her-career-on-stage-and-screen/).
**Television.** She is the co-showrunner, writer, and executive producer of Netflix's limited series *East of Eden*, an adaptation of [John Steinbeck](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-steinbeck)'s novel told through Cathy Ames's perspective, starring [Florence Pugh](https://www.edgepedia.org/florence-pugh), Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist, Ciarán Hinds, Tracy Letts, and [Hoon Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/hoon-lee), spanning more than five decades, which premiered on Netflix on October 1, 2026[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) • [12](https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/east-of-eden). In a Wall Street Journal interview she said she avoided watching the original 1955 film while writing the miniseries[9](https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/zoe-kazan-east-of-eden-79310d8c).
## Awards and recognition
Kazan's honors span stage and screen: the Clarence Derwent Award in 2008, of which Yale notes she is the only actor to receive the award for three roles in one year; a Drama Desk nomination for *The Seagull*; Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for *100 Saints You Should Know*; the Tribeca Best Actress Award for *The Exploding Girl*; the National Board of Review Best Ensemble Award for *It's Complicated*; an Emmy nomination for *Olive Kitteridge* in 2015; Independent Spirit Award nominations for the *Ruby Sparks* screenplay and for *Wildlife* (Best First Feature); and a SAG cast nomination for *The Big Sick*[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) • [3](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/).
## What has changed since 2023
Kazan returned to Broadway as Sister James in the revival of *Doubt*, running March 7 to April 21, 2024[4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/zoe-kazan-473891). Her writing project, the Netflix limited series *East of Eden*, with Florence Pugh in the Cathy Ames role, premiered October 1, 2026[2](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05) • [12](https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/east-of-eden).
## References
1. [Kazan, Zoe, 1983- (Library of Congress Name Authority Record)](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2010017573.html)
2. [Zoe Kazan '05 | Schwarzman Center, Yale University](https://schwarzman.yale.edu/artist/zoe-kazan-05)
3. [Zoe Kazan | Lincoln Center Theater](https://www.lct.org/shows/people/zoe-kazan/)
4. [Zoe Kazan – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/zoe-kazan-473891)
5. [Zoe Kazan, an intense intellectual in a Judd Apatow world – Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-zoe-kazan-big-sick-20170629-story.html)
6. [Zoe Kazan: 'There's so much sexual harassment on set' – The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/08/zoe-kazan-actor)
7. [Zoe Kazan – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443740/)
8. ['Absalom' Playwright Zoe Kazan, Writing Close to Home – NPR](https://www.npr.org/2009/03/16/101811832/for-actress-zoe-kazan-writing-is-close-to-home)
9. [Zoe Kazan Avoided Watching the Original 'East of Eden' While Writing the Miniseries – WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/zoe-kazan-east-of-eden-79310d8c)
10. [Zoe Kazan | Concord Theatricals](https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/101865/zoe-kazan)
11. [Actress & Writer Zoe Kazan on Her Career on Stage and Screen | Amanpour & Company | PBS](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/actress-writer-zoe-kazan-on-her-career-on-stage-and-screen/)
12. [East of Eden](https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/east-of-eden)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Jo to Kl*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license