Rebecca Miller
Encyclopedia
Rebecca Augusta Miller (born September 15, 1962) is an American
film director
, screenwriter
and actress
, most known for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
(winner of the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award
), The Ballad of Jack and Rose
, and Angela
,and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
all of which she wrote and directed.
, she is the daughter of playwright
Arthur Miller
and Austria
n photographer
Inge Morath
. She has a brother, Daniel, who was born in 1966 with Down Syndrome and was placed in an institution shortly after his birth. She was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall
and Yale University
, where she studied art. She initially pursued an acting career, landing parts in the television movie
The Murder of Mary Phagan
and the feature film
s Regarding Henry
(1991) and Consenting Adults (1992).
In 1995, she went behind the camera, writing and directing her first film, Angela. The film was critically well-received, but did not garner significant attention or audiences.
Miller had markedly more success with her 2002 film Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
, an adaptation of Personal Velocity, a collection of short stories she had published the previous year. The independent film
won her a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
, and established her name as a director. She is the author of the 2003 book Woman Who... and director of the 2005 film The Ballad of Jack and Rose
, starring her husband, actor Daniel Day-Lewis
, whom she first met when he and her father were preparing the film version of the elder Miller's play The Crucible
. Miller and Day-Lewis were married on November 13, 1996 and have two sons, Ronan (born 1998) and Cashel (born 2002).
Miller's latest film is 2009's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
, which she adapted from her novel of the same name.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
and actress
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
, most known for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...
(winner of the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award
Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award
The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers...
), The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The Ballad of Jack and Rose is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and starring her husband Daniel Day-Lewis; it also stars Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jason Lee, Jena Malone, Susanna Thompson and Beau Bridges...
, and Angela
Angela (film)
Angela is a 1995 film, Rebecca Miller's directorial debut. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film and the Gotham Awards.-Plot:...
,and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. The screenplay is based on her novel of the same title. The film premiered on February 9, 2009, at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Sydney Film Festival and the...
all of which she wrote and directed.
Life and career
Born in Roxbury, ConnecticutRoxbury, Connecticut
Roxbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,136 at the 2000 census.-History:Roxbury, whose Indian name was "Shepaug", a Mahican name signifiying "rocky water", was settled about the year 1713...
, she is the daughter of playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n photographer
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
Inge Morath
Inge Morath
Ingeborg Morath was an Austrian-born photographer. In 1953 she joined the Magnum Photos Agency, founded by top photographers in Paris, and became a full photographer with them in 1955...
. She has a brother, Daniel, who was born in 1966 with Down Syndrome and was placed in an institution shortly after his birth. She was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where she studied art. She initially pursued an acting career, landing parts in the television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
The Murder of Mary Phagan
The Murder of Mary Phagan
The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1987 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company , is a dramatization of the story of Leo Frank, a factory manager charged and convicted with murdering a 13-year-old girl, a factory worker named Mary Phagan,...
and the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s Regarding Henry
Regarding Henry
Regarding Henry is a 1991 American film drama starring Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, directed by Mike Nichols.The screenplay by J. J. Abrams focuses on a New York City lawyer who struggles to regain his memory and recover his speech and mobility after he survives a shooting.-Plot:Ambitious,...
(1991) and Consenting Adults (1992).
In 1995, she went behind the camera, writing and directing her first film, Angela. The film was critically well-received, but did not garner significant attention or audiences.
Miller had markedly more success with her 2002 film Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...
, an adaptation of Personal Velocity, a collection of short stories she had published the previous year. The independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
won her a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, and established her name as a director. She is the author of the 2003 book Woman Who... and director of the 2005 film The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The Ballad of Jack and Rose
The Ballad of Jack and Rose is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and starring her husband Daniel Day-Lewis; it also stars Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jason Lee, Jena Malone, Susanna Thompson and Beau Bridges...
, starring her husband, actor Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
, whom she first met when he and her father were preparing the film version of the elder Miller's play The Crucible
The Crucible
The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
. Miller and Day-Lewis were married on November 13, 1996 and have two sons, Ronan (born 1998) and Cashel (born 2002).
Miller's latest film is 2009's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. The screenplay is based on her novel of the same title. The film premiered on February 9, 2009, at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Sydney Film Festival and the...
, which she adapted from her novel of the same name.
Director
- AngelaAngela (film)Angela is a 1995 film, Rebecca Miller's directorial debut. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film and the Gotham Awards.-Plot:...
(1995) - Personal Velocity: Three PortraitsPersonal Velocity: Three PortraitsPersonal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...
(2002) - The Ballad of Jack and RoseThe Ballad of Jack and RoseThe Ballad of Jack and Rose is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and starring her husband Daniel Day-Lewis; it also stars Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jason Lee, Jena Malone, Susanna Thompson and Beau Bridges...
(2005) - The Private Lives of Pippa LeeThe Private Lives of Pippa LeeThe Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. The screenplay is based on her novel of the same title. The film premiered on February 9, 2009, at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Sydney Film Festival and the...
(2009)
Screenwriter
- AngelaAngela (film)Angela is a 1995 film, Rebecca Miller's directorial debut. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film and the Gotham Awards.-Plot:...
(1995) - Personal Velocity: Three PortraitsPersonal Velocity: Three PortraitsPersonal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American independent film written and directed by Rebecca Miller.- Plot :Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves...
(2002) - ProofProof (2005 film)Proof is a 2005 American drama film directed by John Madden and starring Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hope Davis; it was written by Rebecca Miller, based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same title.-Plot:...
(2005) - The Ballad of Jack and RoseThe Ballad of Jack and RoseThe Ballad of Jack and Rose is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, and starring her husband Daniel Day-Lewis; it also stars Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Ryan McDonald, Jason Lee, Jena Malone, Susanna Thompson and Beau Bridges...
(2005) - The Private Lives of Pippa LeeThe Private Lives of Pippa LeeThe Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. The screenplay is based on her novel of the same title. The film premiered on February 9, 2009, at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Sydney Film Festival and the...
(2009)
Actress
- The Murder of Mary PhaganThe Murder of Mary PhaganThe Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1987 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company , is a dramatization of the story of Leo Frank, a factory manager charged and convicted with murdering a 13-year-old girl, a factory worker named Mary Phagan,...
(1988, TV)... Lucille Frank - George Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (1989)... Anneliese
- Regarding HenryRegarding HenryRegarding Henry is a 1991 American film drama starring Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, directed by Mike Nichols.The screenplay by J. J. Abrams focuses on a New York City lawyer who struggles to regain his memory and recover his speech and mobility after he survives a shooting.-Plot:Ambitious,...
(1991)... Linda - WindWind (film)Wind is a film released in 1992. The movie was directed by Carroll Ballard and starred Matthew Modine, Jennifer Grey, and Cliff Robertson.- Plot summary :...
(1992)... Abigail Weld - Consenting Adults (1992)... Kay Otis
- The Pickle (1993)... Carrie
- The American ClockThe American ClockThe American Clock is a play by Arthur Miller. The play is about 1930s America during The Great Depression. It is based in part on Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. The play premiered on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on November 11, 1980; closing on November 30,...
(1993, TV)... Edie - Mrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 film scripted by writer/director Alan Rudolph and former Washington Star reporter Randy Sue Coburn...
(1994)... Neysa McMein - Love Affair (1994)... Receptionist