# Jessica Hecht

Jessica Hecht (born June 28, 1965) is an American actress known for her roles as Gretchen Schwartz on Breaking Bad, Susan Bunch on Friends, Carol on The Boys, and Karen on Special. She is also known for her expansive work on Broadway, earning Tony Award nominations for her roles in A View from the Bridge (2010) and Summer, 1976 (2023).

## Early life and education

Hecht was born in Princeton, New Jersey. When she was three, she moved with her parents and sister to Bloomfield, Connecticut. After her parents divorced, her mother married psychiatrist Howard Iger, and they raised Jessica and her sisters Elizabeth and Andrea, and her brother, Russell. Hecht attended Connecticut College for a year and a half before graduating from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama.
Hecht was raised in a culturally Jewish family, with a secular socialist father, but nonetheless expressed interest in religion and had a Bat Mitzvah. She has stated that she is Reconstructionist Jewish and "fairly spiritual".

## Career

Hecht has appeared in numerous television series, including Dickinson, Bored to Death, Red Oaks, Jessica Jones, The Loudest Voice, and Succession. In 2020 she played Sonya Barzel on The Sinner, and was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Series in 2019 for her role as Karen in the Netflix series Special. She is known for her roles as Gretchen Schwartz on Breaking Bad (5 episodes) and Susan Bunch, the wife of Ross Geller's ex-wife Carol Willick, on Friends (12 episodes). She was also a featured cast member in the Jonathan Silverman sitcom The Single Guy.
Hecht had the supporting role of Amy Burns in the comedy drama Dan in Real Life (2007), with Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche. She also appeared in Whatever Works, Sideways, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
At the 2010 Tony Awards, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her role in A View from the Bridge. In 2012, she performed on Broadway with Jim Parsons in Harvey. In 2016, she played Golde in the 2015 Bartlett Sher-directed revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Broadway Theatre, and was in The Price with Mark Ruffalo, in 2017. At the 2018 Obie Awards for Off-Broadway productions, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in Admissions at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. At the 2023 Tony Awards, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Summer, 1976.
In 2017, she and producer Jenny Gersten founded The Campfire Project, a theatre based wellness project that creates plays in refugee camps.

## Personal life

Hecht has been married to director Adam Bernstein since August 1995. The couple have two children together, Stella and Carlo, who were both teenagers as of 2013.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Joe's Rotten World | Annie | |
| 1995 | Kicking and Screaming | Airline ticket saleswoman | |
| 1998 | Anarchy TV | Natalie | |
| 1999 | Jump | Carol | |
| 2004 | Saving Face | Randi | |
| 2004 | Sideways | Victoria Cortland | |
| 2004 | The Forgotten | Eliot | |
| 2005 | At Last | Laura | |
| 2006 | Rabbits | Wife | Short film |
| 2007 | Starting Out in the Evening | Sandra Bennett | |
| 2007 | Dan in Real Life | Amy Burns | |
| 2008 | Quid Pro Quo | Edie | |
| 2008 | Calling It Quits | Cynthia | |
| 2009 | The Winning Season | Stacey | |
| 2009 | Reunion | Beth | |
| 2009 | Whatever Works | Helena | |
| 2010 | Helena from the Wedding | Lynn | |
| 2010 | Fair Game | Sue | |
| 2010 | My Soul to Take | May Hellerman | |
| 2011 | J. Edgar | Emma Goldman | |
| 2011 | The Sitter | Sandy Griffith | |
| 2012 | The Arm | Mrs. Bearmush | Short film |
| 2012 | The Magic of Belle Isle | Karen Loop | |
| 2012 | The Composer | Piccolo Player | Short film |
| 2012 | Good Sister | Helene Shuster | Short film |
| 2013 | Northern Borders | Liz Kittredge | |
| 2013 | Space Cadet | Linda Agnello | |
| 2013 | The English Teacher | Principal Trudie Slocum | |
| 2014 | Le Refuge | Gemma | Short film |
| 2014 | The Sisterhood of Night | Sue Parris | |
| 2015 | Anesthesia | Jill | |
| 2018 | Write When You Get Work | Ellen Hazard | |
| 2018 | Banana Split | Susan | |
| 2019 | The Sunlit Night | Mirela | |
| 2019 | A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | Lila Vogel | |
| 2020 | The Atlantic City Story | Jane | |
| TBA | Eleanor the Great | | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Lois & Clark | Female Staffer | Episode: "Madame Ex" |
| 1994 | Seinfeld | Lindsay | Episodes: "The Couch", "The Gymnast" |
| 1994 | Party of Five | Amanda | Episode: "Something Out of Nothing" |
| 1994–2000 | Friends | Susan Bunch | 12 episodes |
| 1995 | The Wayans Bros. | Agent Johnson | Episode: "First Class" |
| 1995 | The Heidi Chronicles | Chloe | Television film |
| 1995 | Aphrodisia | Rachel's Friend | Episode: "Dominatrix" |
| 1995–1996 | The Single Guy | Janeane Percy-Parker | Main role; 22 episodes |
| 1996 | Harvey | Miss Ruth Kelly | Television film |
| 1996 | The Christmas Tree | Sister Mary | Television film |
| 1996 | Intimate Betrayal | Katie | Television film |
| 1997 | Promised Land | Marie | Episode: "Independence Day" |
| 1997 | Early Edition | Abby | Episode: "A Bris Is Just a Bris" |
| 1999 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Miss Kreutzer | Episode: "Uncivilized" |
| 1999 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Sister Mary Catherine | Episode: "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" |
| 2001 | What About Joan? | Betsy Morgan | Main role; 13 episodes |
| 2003 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Meredith Breen | Episode: "Undaunted Mettle" |
| 2004 | Century City | Rose Krell | Episode: "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Lose" |
| 2004 | The Jury | Mrs. Sheridan | Episode: "Three Boys and a Gun" |
| 2005 | ER | Stephanie Lowenstein | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | 3 lbs | Rebecca Ellis | Episode: "Heart Stopping" |
| 2008 | Eleventh Hour | Mrs. Beatrice Brown | Episode: "Cardiac" |
| 2008–2013 | Breaking Bad | Gretchen Schwartz | 5 episodes |
| 2009 | Law & Order | Miriam Johnson | Episode: "Chattel" |
| 2009 | Jesse Stone: Thin Ice | Stephanie Morton | Television film |
| 2009 | U.S. Attorney | Dr. Amy Webber | Unaired pilot |
| 2010 | The Good Wife | Carla Browning | Episode: "Infamy" |
| 2010 | Medium | Judy Bennette | Episode: "The Match Game" |
| 2010 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Carly Beck | Episode: "Cold Blooded" |
| 2010 | Bored to Death | Dr. Donna Kenwood | 3 episodes |
| 2011 | Nurse Jackie | Mimi | Episode: "Enough Rope" |
| 2011 | Spring/Fall | Unknown | Unaired pilot |
| 2012 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Jillian Webster | Episode: "Vanity's Bonfire" |
| 2013 | Elementary | Patricia Ennis | Episode: "The Deductionist" |
| 2013–2015 | Person of Interest | Beth Bridges / Psychiatrist | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Manhattan | Miriam Rubins | Episode: "The Second Coming" |
| 2015 | Limitless | Ubient Worker | Episode: "Side Effects May Include..." |
| 2015 | Jessica Jones | Audrey Eastman | Episode: "AKA 99 Friends" |
| 2016 | The Interestings | Lois Jacobson | Television film |
| 2016 | Falling Water | Miranda | 2 episodes |
| 2016–2017 | Red Oaks | Rebecca Horowitz | 10 episodes |
| 2017 | Madam Secretary | Julia MacDonald | Episode: "Persona Non Grata" |
| 2017 | Blindspot | Dr. Margaret Palmer | Episode: "Fix My Present Havoc" |
| 2017 | The Tap | Sophie Butler | Unaired pilot |
| 2018 | High Maintenance | Laurie | Episode: "Ghost" |
| 2018 | Quantico | Elizabeth Nutting | Episode: "The Blood of Romeo" |
| 2019 | The Loudest Voice | Nancy Erika Smith | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Succession | Michelle Pantsil | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | The Affair | Carolina | Episode: "505" |
| 2019–2021 | Dickinson | Aunt Lavinia | 4 episodes |
| 2019–2021 | Special | Karen Hayes | Main role; 16 episodes |
| 2020 | Little America | Professor | Episode: "The Cowboy" |
| 2020 | High Fidelity | Rob's Mom | Episode: "Fun Rob" |
| 2020 | The Boys | Carol Mannheim | 5 episodes |
| 2020–2021 | The Sinner | Sonya Barzel | Main role; 12 episodes |
| 2021 | Younger | Susan Abbott | Episode: "Fallout" |
| 2021 | Hudson Falls | Laura Walsh | Episode #1.1 |
| 2021 | 10 Days | Cheryl Miles | Main role |
| 2022 | Super Pumped | Amy Gurley | 3 episodes |
| 2022–2024 | Tokyo Vice | Willa Adelstein | 6 episodes |

### Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1990 | Othello | Bianca | Classic Stage Company |
| 1997 | Plunge | Val Nyquist | Playwrights Horizons |
| 1997 | The Last Night of Ballyhoo | Lala Levy | Helen Hayes Theatre |
| 1998 | Stop Kiss | Callie | The Public Theater |
| 1998 | The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told | Mabel | Williamstown Theatre Festival |
| 1999 | Lobster Alice | Alice Horowitz | Playwrights Horizons |
| 2002 | The Fourth Sister | Wiera | Vineyard Theater |
| 2003 | Flesh and Blood | Susan | New York Theatre Workshop |
| 2004 | After the Fall | Louise | American Airlines Theater |
| 2006 | The House in Town | Amy Hammer | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater |
| 2005 | Julius Caesar | Portia / Ensemble | Belasco Theater |
| 2007 | Howard Katz | Jess | Laura Pels Theater |
| 2009 | Brighton Beach Memoirs | Blanche Morton | Nederlander Theater |
| 2009 | The Torch-Bearers | Mrs. Ritter | Williamstown Theatre Festival |
| 2010 | A View from the Bridge | Beatrice | Cort Theater |
| 2011 | Three Sisters | Olga Prozorov | Classic Stage Company |
| 2012 | Harvey | Veta Louise Simmons | Studio 54 |
| 2013 | The Assembled Parties | Julie Bascov | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre |
| 2014 | Stage Kiss | She | Playwrights Horizons |
| 2014 | King Lear | Regan | Delacorte Theater |
| 2015 | Fiddler on the Roof | Golde | Broadway Theater |
| 2017 | The Price | Esther Franz | American Airlines Theater |
| 2018 | Admissions | Sherri Rosen-Mason | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater |
| 2022 | The Orchard | Lyubov Ranevskaya | Baryshnikov Arts Center |
| 2023 | Letters From Max | Sarah Ruhl | Signature Theatre Company |
| 2023 | Summer, 1976 | Alice | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre |
| 2024 | Eureka Day | Suzanne | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Terror T.R.A.X.: Track of the Vampire | Wendolyn | |
| 1995 | The Dark Eye | Unknown | |