Katie Aselton

One of the original actors in the “mumblecore” movement of American indie cinema in the early 2000s, Katie Aselton (birthname: Kathryn Aselton) has expanded her artistic activities over time to include writing, directing, and producing. She made her debut in future husband Mark Duplass’ (with co-filmmaker brother Jay) The Puffy Chair (2004), which made a smash premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Her next significant indie appearance was in Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier with Practice (2009), followed by Matthew Matzdorff’s Feed the Fish (2009), with Tony Shalhoub. Katie Aselton stepped up to star-director-writer status with her filmmaking debut, The Freebie (2010), with Dax Shepard, marking another notable premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Aselton joined the ensemble of Jesse Peretz’s indie comedy, Our Idiot Brother (2011), with Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer.

Asleton co-starred with Jason Segel and Ed Helms in the Duplass Brothers’ Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011). Aselton made her second feature as star-writer-director with Black Rock (2012), this time a major change of pace in the horror-thriller genre, co-starring with Lake Bell and Kate Bosworth. Aselton joined the cast of Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts in Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees (2015), followed by actor Joel Edgerton’s directing debut, The Gift (2015), with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall.

Aselton made another Sundance premiere appearance as co-star with Toni Collette and Molly Shannon in Alethea Jones’ comedy, Fun Mom Dinner (2017), and then made a rare studio film with Glenn Close, Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, J.K. Simmons, Ving Rhames, and Christopher Walken in Warner Bros’ Father Figures (2017). Aselton had another supporting role in a studio comedy, Book Club (2018), co-starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Dreyfuss, Don Johnson, and Andy Garcia. 

In a change of pace, Katie Aselton led the indie cast of the horror-comedy, Deep Murder (2018), followed by Noble Jones’ writing and directing debut (and yet another Sundance premiere), the cosmic drama The Tomorrow Man (2019), with John Lithgow, Blythe Danner. Aselton was cast in another distinguished ensemble with director-producer-star Edward James Olmos, The Devil Has a Name, including David Strathairn, Kate Bosworth, Pablo Schreiber, Alfred Molina, Haley Joel Osment, and Martin Sheen.

Aselton has concentrated her acting in the horror genre in recent years, including Syncronic (2019), with Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan; Amy Seimetz’s psychological horror film, She Dies Tomorrow (2020), with Kate Lyn Shiel and Jane Adams; and Evan Spiliotopoulos’ Catholic-tinged horror movie, The Unholy (2021), with Aselton co-starring with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, William Sadler, and Cary Elwes.

Aselton played support in Jay Roach’s Oscar-nominated drama, Bombshell (2019), with Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, and Lithgow, followed by Tiller Russell’s true-crime thriller for Lionsgate, Silk Road (2021), with Jason Clarke and Nick Robinson. Katie Aselton returned to the filmmaking role with her third feature as a director on the comedy, Mack and Rita (2022), with Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail, and Taylour Paige.