Jessica Rothe

Jessica Rothe (birthname: Jessica Ann Rothenberg) is an American actor who has gained status as a “scream queen” four years after her big-screen debut in the fantasy drama, The Last Keepers (2013), with Aidan Quinn, Virginia Madsen, Olympia Dukakis, and Zosia Mamet, under Maggie Greenwald’s direction, and which was released by Vertical Entertainment. Rothe (as Jessica Rothenberg) reunited with Madsen for her second movie role in director/producer Susan Seidelman’s sports comedy, The Hot Flashes (2013), starring Brooke Shields, Darryl Hannah, Wanda Sykes, Eric Roberts, Camryn Manheim, and grossing $5.6 million for Vertical Entertainment.

Rothe (as Jessica Rothenberg) co-starred in director/writer/producer Daniel Poliner’s coming-of-age comedy, Jack, Jules, Esther and Me (2013), which was released by distributor FilmBuff after a premiere at the Austin Film Festival. Rothe had her first starring role with her name (as her newly adopted screen name “Jessica Rothe”) above the title in co-writer/director Micael Preysler’s comedy-drama, Lily & Kat (2015), co-starring Hannah Murray and premiering at the Toronto film festival before having a theatrical release by Mande Media.

Jessica Rothe co-starred with Thomas Mann, Lucy Fry, Logan Huffman, and Bill Sage in director/co-writer/co-producer Joseph Castelo’s poorly received The Preppie Connection (2015), which Rothe followed with another starring role in writer-director Sandra L. Martin’s little-seen drama, Trust Fund (2016). Then a supporting role in director/writer Bart Freundlich’s sports drama, Wolves (2016), co-starring Michael Shannon, Carla Gugino, Taylor John Smith, and Chris Bauer, which was released by IFC Films after a Tribeca Film Festival premiere.

Rothe starred in director/co-producer Roxy Shih’s indie thriller, The Tribe (2016), with Anne Winters and Michael Nardelli. Then Rothe appeared in a supporting role in Italian filmmaker Gabriele Muccino’s comedy, Summertime/L’estate addosso (2016), with Brando Pacitto, Matilda Lutz, Taylor Frey, Joey Haro, and Scott Bakula, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Rothe appeared in another Venice premiere when she played one of Emma Stone’s roommates in the Oscar-winning musical (winning six including director and actress for Stone), La La Land (2016), directed and written by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling, John Legend, J.K. Simmons, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Finn Wittrock, and which grossed $447 million worldwide.

Jessica Rothe played a supporting role in the indie rom-com from director/writer/producer/editor Benjamin Cox, Better Off Single (2016), with Aaron Tviet, Abby Elliott, Lauren Miller Rogen, Kal Penn, and which was released by Gravitas Ventures. Rothe starred in another American indie movie, director/writer/co-editor Andrew Kightlinger’s drama, Tater Tot & Patton (2017), with Bates Wilder, and Forrest Weber, which received distribution by Giant Pictures.

 Rothe had her breakout moment and became a “scream queen” with her lead role in the comic slasher movie, Happy Death Day (2017), with Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, and Rachel Matthews under Christopher Landon’s direction, which became a big hit for Blumhouse/Universal Pictures with a $125.5 million global gross against a $5 million budget; this led to a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U (2019), also starring Rothe reuniting with writer-director Landon, and grossing a strong $64.6 million worldwide. Rothe then joined the cast of Dakota Fanning, Toni Collette, Alice Eve, River Alexander, and Patton Oswalt, and director Ben Lewin for the comedy-drama, Please Stand By (2017), premiering at the Austin Film Festival and released by Magnolia Pictures.

Jessica Rothe returned to starring roles as lead in director/writer Bethany Ashton Wolf’s romantic drama, Forever My Girl (2018), co-starring Alex Roe, John Benjamin Hickey, and Travis Tritt, and becoming a commercial success with a $16.4 million gross. Rothe then landed her first starring and singing role in a musical with the title character in the Rachel Lee Goldenberg-directed remake set in the 1980s, Valley Girl (2020), co-starring Josh Whitehouse, Logan Paul, and Judy Greer, and released by United Artists Releasing during the COVID-19 pandemic in drive-in theaters.

Rothe continued her run of starring roles in Universal Pictures’ true-life romantic drama, All My Love (2020), co-starring Harry Shum Jr., Kyle Allen, Chrissie Fit, and Jay Pharoah under Marc Meyers’s direction, and grossing a poor $2 million (against a $25 million budget). Rothe followed this project by landing the lead female role in director/writer/producer John Swab’s crime drama, Body Brokers (2021), with Jack Kilmer, Michael Kenneth Williams (in the last film he was in during his lifetime before his death in September 2021), Alice Englert, Peter Greene, Frank Grillo, and Melissa Leo, and which was released by Vertical Entertainment.

Jessica Rothe co-starred with Bill Skarsgård in writer-director Moritz Mohr’s action movie, Boy Kills World (2023), with Michelle Dockery, Famke Janssen, and Sharlto Copley, which was released wide by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions after the movie premiered in the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section. Rothe starred in the Amazon rainforest-set horror thriller, Titan (date to be announced), directed and co-written (with Tony Giglio and Alan McElroy) by Mike P. Nelson.