Gillian Jacobs

Early life

Gillian MacLaren Jacobs was born in Pittsburgh on October 19, 1982, the only child of college administrator Martina Magenau and investment banker William Francis Jacobs III, son of William Francis Jacobs Jr. and wife Mary Margaret Haskins. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she was raised by her mother in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Her maternal family owned a brewery, Erie Brewing Company in Erie, Pennsylvania, where her grandfather John Martin Magenau Jr., married to her grandmother Carol Marie Spiller, was president and CEO until it closed in 1978.

Jacobs was enrolled in her first acting course at age eight and attended weekend acting classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse while growing up. She performed with the Pittsburgh Public Theater, where she was a perennial contender in the Public's Shakespeare Monologue Contest, leading her to be cast as Titania in its production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

After graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2000, she moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School, where she graduated with a BFA in 2004.

Career

Jacobs starred in the television series The Book of Daniel. Although she played Kim in the pilot of Traveler, the role was given to Pascale Hutton when ABC acquired the series; the series was canceled after eight episodes. Jacobs subsequently made guest appearances on Fringe and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2006, she starred in an Off-Off-Broadway production of Christopher Denham's cagelove. While overall critical reaction to the play was negative, Jacobs earned praise in several reviews. The New York Times advised readers to "remember the name of Gillian Jacobs, a stunning Juilliard graduate who has the glow of a star in the making".

Jacobs has appeared in theatrical productions, such as The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero (2007), A Feminine Ending (2007), and The Little Flower of East Orange (2008). In March 2009, she joined the cast of the NBC single-camera comedy series Community as Britta Perry, a high school dropout who aspires to become a psychologist. Her film work includes Blackbird (2007), Choke (2008), Gardens of the Night (2008), The Box (2009), Revenge for Jolly! (2012), Bad Milo! (2013), Walk of Shame (2014), The Lookalike (2014), Life Partners (2014), Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), Visions (2015), Don't Think Twice (2016), and Brother Nature (2016). She voiced Sta'abi in the Nickelodeon animated series Monsters vs. Aliens and Atom Eve in the Amazon Prime animated series Invincible.

Community was canceled by NBC on May 9, 2014, and later that month, it was reported that Jacobs had landed a recurring role as Mimi-Rose Howard in the fourth season of the HBO series Girls. In June 2014, Yahoo! Screen picked up Community for a sixth season. It was announced on September 16, 2014, that Jacobs was set to star as Mickey in the Netflix original comedy series Love.

Jacobs directed the 2015 documentary short The Queen of Code about computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral Grace Hopper. In 2017, Jacobs co-starred in Janicza Bravo's first full length feature, Lemon, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival. In 2018, she directed Curated, a narrative film short, as a part of a series produced by TNT and Refinery29.

In 2020, Jacobs starred in the comedy-drama film I Used to Go Here. She directed the episode "Higher, Further, Faster" for the documentary series Marvel's 616.

In February 2021, she and co-host Diona Reasonover premiered a STEM-focused podcast, Periodic Talks, on Stitcher Radio. In July 2021, she had a supporting role in the Fear Street horror film trilogy on Netflix as Christine "Ziggy" Berman.

Since 2023, she has guest starred in eight episodes of the television series The Bear, playing Tiffany Jerimovich.

Personal life

Jacobs does not drink alcohol or take any recreational drugs, a choice she made when she was younger after watching some family members struggle with addiction. She revealed that her father was an addict and that she was fearful of becoming the same, a feeling reinforced in her youth by reading the book Go Ask Alice, which follows a teenage girl suffering drug addiction.

Jacobs is in a relationship with Christopher Storer.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Stage

Audio

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Gillian Jacobs Biography". [[TV Guide.
2. Lucy Silberman. (November 29, 2008). "Gillian Jacobs". Interview Magazine.
3. (Spring–Summer 2009). "A New Generation". [[Purple (magazine).
4. (July 22, 2012). "John Martin Magenau Jr.". Erie Times-News.
5. (December 18, 2006). "Carol Marie Spiller Magenau Obituary". [[Erie Times-News]].
6. "OnStage". ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]''. May 1, 2006.
7. Randall, Reese. (April 2010). "Gillian Jacobs". [[Pittsburgh Magazine]].
8. Les Gutman. (May 14, 2006). "''cagelove'', A CurtainUp Review".
9. (May 16, 2006). "''cagelove'', Review on TheaterMania".
10. Murray, Matthew. "''cagelove'' Theater Review". Talkin' Broadway.
11. Zinoman, Jason. (May 17, 2006). "In 'Cagelove,' a Triangle (Sort of), Including a Man Offstage (Sort Of)". [[The New York Times]].
12. Isherwood, Charles. (October 18, 2007). "Torn Between Two Loves: The Oboe and the 'Hot Mess'". The New York Times.
13. Silberman, Lucy. (August 1, 2008). "Gillian Jacobs". [[Interview (magazine).
14. (September 16, 2014). "Visions". ´Dread Central.
15. Snierson, Dan. (May 9, 2014). "'Community' canceled". [[Time Inc..
16. Swift, Andy. (May 21, 2014). "''Girls'' Exclusive: ''Community''{{'}}s Gillian Jacobs Nabs Recurring Role In Season 4". [[TVLine]]. [[Penske Media Corporation]].
17. Hibberd, James. (June 30, 2014). "'Community' saved! Yahoo orders sixth season". Time.
18. Andreeva, Nellie. (September 16, 2014). "Netflix Nabs Judd Apatow Comedy Series With 2-Season Order; Paul Rust & Gillian Jacobs To Star, Legendary TV To Produce".
19. (January 21, 2015). "''Signals: The Queen of Code'' – ESPN News". ESPN Video.
20. (January 23, 2017). "'Lemon': Review". [[Screen Daily]].
21. Evans, Greg. (September 6, 2018). "TNT, Refinery29 Set Shatterbox Season 2 Launch: Female-Driven Short Film Series Gets Toronto Screening".
22. (November 22, 2020). "'Marvel's 616' Directors Alison Brie and Gillian Jacobs on Their Unwavering Love of Ms. Marvel".
23. "Gillian Jacobs And Diona Reasonover Explore STEM Fields On Stitcher Podcast 'Periodic Talks'".
24. Rankin, Seija. (2024-07-01). "‘The Bear’ Star Gillian Jacobs on Tiffany’s ‘Past Lives’ Moment, Taylor Swift Easter Eggs and That Fiancé Reveal".
25. Lee, Ann. (September 17, 2020). "'I'm a loner': Gillian Jacobs on the snarky art of playing misfits". The Guardian.
26. {{cite episode. Audience]]
27. (2024-07-02). "Exclusive: The Bear's Gillian Jacobs Has a Theory About Tiff & Richie's Breakup".
28. Couch, Aaron. (July 21, 2021). "DC's 'Injustice' Sets Cast for Animated Movie (Exclusive)".
29. "Gillian Jacobs (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
30. Staff, Bullet News. (October 27, 2021). ""Aquaman: King Of Atlantis" Review: The crazy animated sequel to the DCEU Aquaman saga".
31. (April 22, 2023). "So thrilled to have a tiny part on this season of "Ad...".
32. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/mr-polaroid/ "Mr. Polaroid" – ''American Experience'' (PBS).] Retrieved 19 May 2025.
33. "Batman: The Audio Adventures (Podcast Series 2022) - IMDb".
34. "Gillian Jacobs, Author at 99% Invisible".
35. (2025-01-07). "Mini-Stories: Volume 20".
36. Jacobs, Gillian. (2025-08-12). "Sister Aimee and the Birth of the Megachurch".
37. [http://www.methodfest.com/10pages/news.htm "The 2010 Method Fest Award Winners (Highlighted) and the Lists of Nominees"] {{Webarchive. link. (July 3, 2019 (2010). Method Fest Independent Film Festival (MethodFest.com). Retrieved July 7, 2019.)
38. Block, Alex Ben (June 5, 2012). [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/community-critics-choice-television-nbc-333077 "'Community' Leads Critics' Choice Television Awards Nominees."] {{Webarchive. link. (February 17, 2018 ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''. Retrieved July 7, 2019.)
39. [https://www.tvguide.com/news/tv-guide-magazine-1045829/ "''TV Guide Magazine'' Fan Favorites Awards Winners Revealed!"] {{Webarchive. link. (April 2, 2019 (April 10, 2012). ''TVGuide.com''. Retrieved July 17, 2019.)