# Brit Marling

Brit Marling (born August 7, 1982) is an American actress and screenwriter. She rose to prominence after starring in several films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Sound of My Voice (2011), Another Earth (2011), and The East (2013), each of which she co-wrote in addition to playing the lead role. She co-created, wrote, and starred in the mystery series The OA (2016–2019), and the thriller miniseries A Murder at the End of the World (2023).

## Early life

Marling was born on August 7, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of property developer parents John and Heidi Marling. She was named "Brit" after her Norwegian maternal great-grandmother. She has a sister, Morgan. Marling grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and Orlando, Florida, where she attended the arts program at Dr. Phillips High School. Marling was interested in acting, but her parents encouraged her to focus on academics. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2005 with degrees in economics and studio art, graduating top of her class and being her class valedictorian.

## Career

At Georgetown, Marling met her long-time collaborators, future directors Mike Cahill and Zal Batmanglij. Marling spent the summer of her junior year interning for the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs as an investment analyst. She felt a life spent there would have a lack of meaning and eventually turned down a job offer from the firm, opting instead to move to Cuba with Cahill to film the documentary Boxers and Ballerinas. Co-writing the documentary with Cahill and Nick Shumaker, and co-directing with Cahill, the film helped Marling gain recognition in 2004.
In 2005, Marling moved with Cahill and Batmanglij to Los Angeles. She attended auditions and was offered roles in horror films but turned them down. She stated she "wanted to be able to cast herself in roles that wouldn't require her to play the typical parts offered to young actresses, the perfunctory girlfriend or a crime victim". She was discovered by talent agent Hylda Queally.
In mid-2009, she joined a group of freegans with friend and co-worker Zal Batmanglij, living in tents and retrieving food from dumpsters, to explore how other young people were constructing a meaningful life. Marling co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in the 2011 films Sound of My Voice and Another Earth, directed by Batmanglij and Cahill, respectively. Both of these films were featured at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, with Another Earth winning the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for outstanding film with science, technology or math as a major theme. In 2012, she played the daughter of Richard Gere's character in Arbitrage. In 2013, she collaborated with Searchlight on the film The East, in which she also played the lead role. Directed by Zal Batmanglij and co-written by Marling and Batmanglij, The East is based on the duo's experience as freegans and their concern with the side effects of prescription drugs.
Marling and Batmanglij collaborated to create the drama series The OA, which debuted in 2016 on Netflix. It was written by Marling and Batmanglij, who produced the series along with Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B, and Michael Sugar of Anonymous Content. The show's second season, entitled "Part II", started filming in January 2018 and was released in March 2019 to positive reviews.
In June 2024, Marling and Batmanglij entered an agreement to develop television and film projects with independent production house Sister, led by Cindy Holland, who had been the vice president of original content for Netflix when The OA was developed.
Despite having many roles in films she has co-written, Marling stated she "get[s] a lot more pleasure in acting in other people's stories" since "one of the great pleasures of acting is surrendering to someone else's point of view of the world".

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2004 | Boxers and Ballerinas | — | Documentary Co-director with Mike Cahill |
| 2007 | The Recordist | Charlie Hall | Zal Batmanglij's AFI thesis short film |
| 2009 | Political Disasters | Brit | |
| 2011 | Sound of My Voice | Maggie | Also co-writer and producer Nominated—Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |
| 2011 | Another Earth | Rhoda Williams | Also co-writer and producer San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Sitges Film Festival Award for Best Actress Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Writing |
| 2012 | Arbitrage | Brooke Miller | |
| 2012 | The Company You Keep | Rebecca Osborne | |
| 2013 | The East | Sarah Moss / Jane Owen | Also co-writer and producer |
| 2014 | The Better Angels | Nancy Lincoln | |
| 2014 | I Origins | Karen | |
| 2014 | The Keeping Room | Augusta | |
| 2014 | Posthumous | McKenzie Grain | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | Community | Page | Episode: "Early 21st Century Romanticism" |
| 2014 | Babylon | Liz Garvey | Main role |
| 2016–2019 | The OA | Prairie Johnson / OA / Nina Azarova | Co-creator, co-wrote 10 episodes |
| 2023 | A Murder at the End of the World | Lee Andersen | Co-creator, wrote 7 episodes, directed 3 episodes |