Jordana Spiro (born April 12, 1977) is an American actress, director, and writer. As an actress, she has starred in numerous films and television series including Netflix's Ozark and TBS comedy television programMy Boys.
Her debut feature Night Comes On, which she directed and co-wrote (with Angelica Nwandu) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. She developed the film at the Sundance Institute's Directors, Screenwriters, and Composers Labs, and through a Cinereach development grant. Her short Skin premiered at Sundance and won the Women In Film Productions award. Skin also won the Honorable Mention Award at SXSW, showed at Telluride, Palm Springs, and AFI among others. Spiro earned her MFA in Film from Columbia University in 2015 and received the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Fellowship. She studied drama at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and was selected to join the Berlinale Talent Campus in Berlin.
Early life and education
Spiro was born and raised in New York City. She is Jewish.[1] Spiro has a brother and three sisters.[2] She studied at the Circle in the Square Theatre[3][4] School and briefly attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art[5][6] in London. In fall 2009, she began the MFA Program in Filmmaking at Columbia University.[7] She finished the degree in 2015.[8] Spiro currently splits her time between Los Angeles and New York.
In 2000 Spiro starred in her first TV series, the USA crime drama The Huntress. Co-star Annette O'Toole and Spiro played mother and daughter bounty hunters, based on the lives of Dottie And Brandi Thorson. The series ran for 28 episodes, concluding in 2001.
Spiro starred in the TBS original comedy series My Boys.[9] She played the role of P.J., a twenty-something "guy's girl", and sports reporter who tries to find romance within her world that is dominated by male friends. The series wrapped its fourth and final season on TBS in 2010.
Spiro was scheduled to star in the planned 2010–11 television series Love Bites, but fell out of the role in June 2010 due to other contractual obligations.[14] Spiro was also cast alongside Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman in the thriller, Trespass.[15] She was a guest star on the Showtime 2011 season of Dexter.[16] For the 2012–13 season, she had the lead role in the Fox-TV medical/crime drama The Mob Doctor.
Recently, Spiro starred as Rachel Garrison in the Netflix crime drama Ozark.[17][18]
In February 2024, Spiro joined the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Shannah Sykes, an FBI agent on loan to the show's special victims unit squad.[19]
Personal life
She is married to Matthew Spitzer[20] with whom she has a daughter.[21]
^Kung, Michelle (July 23, 2010). "'My Boys' Star Jordana Spiro on Balancing Work and Film School"(Digital). Wall Street Journal. New York: Almar Latour. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020. I started going to grad school at Columbia University to get my MFA in directing and I spent a lot of time shadowing ['My Boys' showrunner] Betsy Thomas in pre-production and then the editing room.
^"Film Alums & Current Student Chosen for Prestigious Artist Academy at Lincoln Center". New York: Columbia University. September 26, 2018. Archived from the original(Digital) on December 24, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2020. Alumni Barbara Cigarroa '18, Ellie Foumbi '17, Jordana Spiro '15, and current student Johnson Cheng were selected as participants for The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Artist Academy, an immersive four-day program that nurtures up-and-coming filmmakers by providing workshops, talks, screenings, and mentorship with industry professionals.
^Triballeau, Charlie (September 4, 2018). "France-US-Film-Festival-Deauville". Seattle, WA: Getty Images. Retrieved September 5, 2018. US actress Jordana Spiro poses with her daughter and her husband Matthew Spitzer…
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