~from Michaela Hayes

Greta Gerwig is a 34 year old actress, writer, and director, known most recently for writing and directing the critically acclaimed film Lady Bird. Lady Bird was her solo directorial debut, but she collaborated and acted in several other films prior, such as Frances Ha, Greenberg, and 20th Century Women.

Gerwig’s beginnings are charming. She is from Sacramento, the daughter of a nurse and credit union workers. She attended and all-girls Catholic school until moving to New York to attend Barnard College. She graduated with degrees in English and philosophy.

Sound familiar? If you’ve seen Lady Bird, you’ll notice that the plot sounds an awful lot like Gerwig’s life. She has described Lady Bird as being semi-autobiographical, which makes me personally adore it even more.

The movie has won countless awards, such as Best Picture– Musical or Comedy and Best Actress– Musical or Comedy at the 75th Golden Globe Awards. It was also nominated for five separate awards at the 90th Academy Awards, but won none, enraging fans all over the internet. Her nominations themselves have been huge for women in the movie industry. Only five women, including Gerwig, have ever been nominated for a best director Oscar. Tack onto that the fact that she is only 34, and Gerwig is certainly a woman to watch.

If you haven’t seen Lady Bird, you need to. Now. Dedicate a day over spring break to watching it. And then crying over it. And then watching it again and crying a little bit harder. Watch 20th Century Women while you’re at it, too. It’s crazy good.

Gerwig originally intended to be a playwright, an interesting niche for English majors which we don’t often talk about. However, she resorted to acting when she wasn’t admitted to any MFA programs. She has come a very long way since graduating college, and I expect her to go even further in the future. She is truly an inspiration to women killing it in male-dominated fields everywhere.