Marielle Heller

Marielle Heller is a director, writer, actor, and producer. Her directorial debut, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, premiered at Sundance in 2015 and earned the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Most recently, Heller wrote and directed Nightbitch (2024), starring Amy Adams and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder.

Previously, Heller directed Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), both of which earned Academy Award nominations for their respective stars—Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, and Tom Hanks. Most recently as an actor, Heller co-starred as Alma Wheatley in the Emmy-winning series The Queen’s Gambit (2020). Heller’s film and television production company, Defiant By Nature, was established in 2019. Its first project was her filmed version of Heidi Schreck’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play What the Constitution Means to Me (2020). As a producer, Heller most recently executive produced Sundance Labs alum Hasan Hadi’s directorial debut The President’s Cake (2025). 

Heller was a 2012 Sundance Fellow at the Screenwriters and Directors Labs.