Zoe Cassavetes

Infobox actor


imagesize = 225px
name = Zoe Cassavetes
birthname = Zoe Rowlands Cassavetes
birthdate = birth date and age|1970|6|29
location = Los Angeles, California
yearsactive = 1991 – present
occupation = Actress, screenwriter, director|

Zoe Rowlands Cassavetes (born 29 June, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film director, screenwriter and actress best known for her 2007 film "Broken English" and as the daughter of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands.

Career

Cassavetes' first experience with the filmmaking business was at the age of one, when she had an uncredited role in her late father John Cassavetes' film "Minnie and Moskowitz" as a baby girl,cite web| url = http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/french_lessons/5572/| title = French Lessons| accessdate = 2008-03-09| author = David Ehrenstein| date = 24 May, 2007| publisher = "Los Angeles CityBeat"] but it was not until 1991 that she had her first acting role in a film, "Ted and Venus", which was followed with minor roles in the films "Noises Off" and "The Thing Called Love". In 1994, she and her filmmaking friend Sofia Coppola created and hosted the Comedy Central television series "Hi Octane",cite web| url = http://www.tokion.com/creativitynow/SPEAKER%20BIO/cassavetes.html| title = Zoe Cassavetes| accessdate = 2008-03-09| publisher = "Tokion"] a skit and variety show that featured guests including Keanu Reeves, The Beastie Boys and Martin Scorsese. "Hi Octane" only lasted for one season but is remembered as one of the first series to be entirely shot in digital video.

Her directorial debut was in 2000 on the Sundance Film Festival-featured short film "Men Make Women Crazy Theory", but she is best known as the director and writer of the 2007 comedy-romance film "Broken English", which featured Parker Posey and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes' mother. Her inspiration for "Broken English" came from her perception of other people's impression that happiness can only come from being in love with someone,cite web| url = http://nymag.com/movies/filmfestivals/sundance/26531/| title = Celluloid Heir: Zoe Cassavetes| accessdate = 2008-03-09| author = Emma Rosenblum| date = 11 January, 2007| publisher = "New York Magazine"] 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."cite web| url = http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12285.html| title = Zoe Cassavetes & Parker Posey Interview, Broken English| accessdate = 2008-03-09| author = Sheila Roberts| publisher = "MoviesOnline.com"] She was nominated for the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay but lost to Diablo Cody for "Juno".

Personal life

Cassavetes comes from a family of filmmakers: her father John Cassavetes an actor, screenwriter and director; her mother Gena Rowlands an actress; her brother Nick Cassavetes an actor and director; her sister Alexandra Cassavetes an actress; and her grandmother Katherine Cassavetes 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."

References

External links

*imdb name|0144023
* [http://www.myspace.com/zoe_cassavetes Zoe Cassavetes] at MySpace