Zoe Kazan
Zoe Kazan
Zoe Swicord Kazan is an American actress and playwright. Kazan made her acting debut in Swordswallowers and Thin Menand later appeared in films such as The Savages, Revolutionary Roadand It's Complicated. She starred in happythankyoumoreplease, Meek's Cutoffand Ruby Sparks, for which she wrote the screenplay. In 2014, she starred in the film What If and the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Kazan has also acted in several Broadway productions...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth9 September 1983
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I grew up in L.A., and I don't think I've seen L.A. onscreen in a way that felt real to me. There are definitely movies, but they are few and far between.
I never wanted to be a playwright.
Nothing's going to come to you by sitting around and waiting for it.
And then the really awful thing is that at the end of the day after crying and experiencing things, then you look at what you've written and you're like, 'Hmm, there's half a page that's good here.' Then you throw out everything else.
Well, I have a sister that I'm very close with, and that relationship is probably the most intense relationship of my life to date, probably of my life, period.
I love to act and that's sort of my first love. That's what I started out doing.
I read a lot of plays as a kid, but I didn't see that many plays, so I feel better-versed in film history and film structure. I just think it's easier to think in pictures.
If I ever feel that acting is just soul-sucking and I don't want to do it anymore, I could stop.
And when I get bored, it's like the worst parts of me come out. I really veer to self-destructive tendencies quickly.
I find playwriting really painful. I love it, or I wouldn't do it, but I don't love the theater as much as I love movies.
When you're in the editing room, as a director, you get the opportunity to look at your work. As a writer, you can rewrite. But as an actor, unless you're watching playback, you really rely on the director to help you.
I took a writing class in college, liked it, and my first year out of school I couldn't get a job, so I wrote a play.
I've always really been interested in the Pygmalion myth and both what it has to say about creativity and what it has to say about relationships between men and women.
I think from my earliest childhood, I liked to tell stories, put on plays and write things. It's funny to think of it as an "artistic bug" because I didn't necessarily want to be an artist. It's just who I was and how I communicate.