Zoe Kazan - Actress & Playwright Touched By Family Magic

Zoe Kazan is in her mid 20s (born September 9, 1983), but already making a name for herself in the world of acting. Hailing from the Los Angeles area (Venice Beach, California) she graduated in the Yale class of 2005.

Grandaughter of the famous director Elia Kazan, she has inherited the family magic for theater and acting.

She is comfortable both on Broadway where she most recently appeared as the moody, love-struck Masha in the Chekhov play, The Seagull opposite Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard.

The vivacious brunette also made a splash as the love/sex interest of Leonardo DiCaprio in the famous film Revolutionary Road by director Sam Mendes and co-starring Kate Winslet.

If you saw the movie you had to pay attention to see Zoe who played the saucy brunette (Maureen Grube) the married Leo briefly dallied with from his office before deciding to go back to being faithful to his long suffering wife played by Kate Winslet.

Her Connection To Leo DiCaprio

Zoe, when asked by Elle Magazine (Rachel Ronseblit - December 2008) if she got close with Leo gave the following answer:

"We did this scene, where I am supposed to do the cha-cha for him naked,". She said "Well, almost naked: I'm wearing panties and mule slippers with feathers on them and nothing else. So, imagine: It's June, it's like 102 degrees, 100 percent humidity, in an apartment in Harlem with no air-conditioning, because you can't have air-conditioning on for sound reasons. He's sitting in a chair, and I'm behind these doors. They're like 'Action!' I throw off my roabe - there are 20 to 40 people around - and I step out, going, 'Cha-cha, cha-cha, cha,' under my breath, dancing to the music no one else can hear because you can't have the music playing, you have to have an earpiece."

She continued "I finally land on his lap and stick my tongue down his throat. I could feel my body, with the sweat, suctioning to his body. And I'm like, This is superromantic. This is what I dreamt of when I was a little girl."

More About Zoe Kazan

The young actress is also the daughter of screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and actress/producer/writer/director Robin Swicord. Zoe was educated at the private Windward School in Mar Vista before attending Yale University.

Her first professional stage credit was the 2006 off-Broadway revival of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie starring Cynthia Nixon. She followed this with the Playwrights Horizons production of 100 Saints You Should Know and Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want, directed by Ethan Hawke.

In January 2008, Kazan made her Broadway debut opposite S. Epatha Merkerson and Kevin Anderson in a revival of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times called her performance "first-rate," adding, "Ms. Kazan is terrific in conveying the character's self-consciousness."

Movie Career

Kazan was featured in three 2007 films: The Savages, Fracture, and In the Valley of Elah. The following year she appeared in August, Me and Orson Welles and Revolutionary Road.

Zoe is also a playwright. Her play "Absalom" premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, KY.

The play, about a father's tense relationships with his children, had been extensively read and workshopped since Kazan's junior year at Yale University.

What's Next For Zoe Kazan

Zoe Kazan will next be seen in Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” and the “Untitled Nancy Meyers Project”.

She will also appear in “HappyThankYouMorePlease.” Josh Radnor, the star of the Emmy-nominated CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother” wrote the screenplay and co-stars along with Malin Akerman (“Watchmen”), Kate Mara (“Iron Man 2”), Zoe Kazan (“Revolutionary Road”), Pablo Schreiber (“The Wire”) and Tony Hale (“Arrested Development”).

Academy Award Nominee Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor”) rounds out the cast of this New York City based project.

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To learn more about Zoe visit her profile on Wikipedia.com.

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