Betsey Brown (filmmaker)
{{Short description|American actress and director}}
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| birth_place = Manhattan, New York City
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| relatives = Peter Vack (brother)
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Betsey Brown is an American actress and director best known for starring in The Scary of Sixty-First and for directing and performing in the 2021 satire Actors.{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Michelle Lyn |title=On fearing success |url=https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/filmmaker-and-actor-betsey-brown-on-fearing-success/ |website=The Creative Independent}}{{cite web |last1=Hammond |first1=Caleb |title=How Actors Writer-Director Betsey Brown Turned a Rare Moment of Sibling Jealousy into Her Feature Debut |url=https://www.moviemaker.com/actors-betsey-brown-peter-vack/ |website=MovieMaker Magazine |date=8 June 2022 |access-date=15 April 2024}}
Early life
Brown was born and raised in Manhattan. Her father, Ron Brown, is a filmmaker, and her mother, Jane Brown, is a psychoanalyst. Her brother is actor and filmmaker Peter Vack.
Career
After appearing in a number of short films and bit roles, Brown wrote, directed, and starred in the 2015 short film Shegetsey Betsey, which won the Audience Award for Best Experimental Short at the New Orleans Film Festival. Brown starred in the 2021 film The Scary of Sixty-First, directed by Dasha Nekrasova.{{cite news |last1=Lodge |first1=Guy |title='The Scary of Sixty-First' Review: Nothing Is out of Bounds in This Rude, Riotous, Post-Epstein Horror |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/the-scary-of-sixty-first-review-1234919297/ |access-date=15 April 2024 |agency=Variety}}
Brown's feature debut, Actors, was released in 2021. Actors has attracted controversy, as the plot centers a cisgender man (played by Peter Vack) who, in an attempt to further his career as a filmmaker, poses as a trans woman, despite not truly identifying as such.{{Cite web |last=Zickgraf |first=Ryan |date=January 19, 2023 |title=Music Box cancels screening of film called 'transphobic' |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2023/1/19/23562852/music-box-theater-actors-cancel-betsey-brown |access-date=December 12, 2024 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}} Brown and Vack initially stated on their Kickstarter page for Actors that the film is not a reflection of "the trans experience", but rather a depiction of "white cis male fragility" and "the lengths some will go to keep their seat at the table". However, a 2023 screening of Actors at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago was cancelled in the wake of public backlash towards the film, which included transgender director Jane Schoenbrun labeling the film as transphobic in a tweet directed at the theater.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Debbie-Marie |title=The Music Box cancels Actors, but the discourse continues |url=https://chicagoreader.com/film/the-music-box-cancels-actors-but-the-discourse-continues/ |access-date=15 April 2024 |agency=Chicago Reader}}
Brown frequently collaborates with her brother, Peter Vack. She appeared in his 2017 film Assholes, while he starred in Actors. She starred as Rachel Ormont alongside Nekrasova and Chloe Cherry in Vack's film www.RachelOrmont.com, which premiered at the 2024 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.{{cite news |last1=Chapman |first1=Wilson |title=Dasha Nekrasova, Chloe Cherry, Betsey Brown Cast in 'www.RachelOrmont.com' From Director Peter Vack (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/news/chloe-cherry-dasha-nekrasova-movie-1235327588/ |access-date=15 April 2024 |agency=Variety}}{{cite web |title=SF Jewish Film Festival: www.RachelOrmont.com |url=https://roxie.com/film/sf-jewish-film-festival-www-rachelormont-com/ |website=Roxie |access-date=15 August 2024}} That year, Brown served a juror for the 2024 Florida Film Festival.{{cite web | url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Evnewx1DA/ | title=Instagram }}
Filmography
=Film=
{{pending films key}}
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" | Notes |
| scope="row" | 2005
| Girl at Ballet Barre | {{N/a}} |
|---|
| scope="row" | 2010
| Consent | Samantha | {{N/a}} |
| scope="row" | 2012
| Forelsket | Betsey | {{N/a}} |
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2015
| Maybe Susan | {{N/a}} |
| Shegetsey Betsey
| Betsey | Short film, also wrote and directed |
| scope="row" | 2017
| Assholes | Adah Shapiro | {{N/a}} |
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2021
| Addy | {{N/a}} |
| Actors
| Betsey | Also wrote and directed |
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2022
| Hannah Ha Ha | Caitie | {{N/a}} |
| All Jacked Up and Full of Worms
| Samantha | {{N/a}} |
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2023
| Caviar | Antigone Corday | {{N/a}} |
| The Sweet East
| Betsy Ross Girl | {{N/a}} |
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2024
| www.RachelOrmont.com | Rachel Ormont | {{N/a}} |
| {{Pending film|Carnage for Christmas}}
| Radio Operator (voice) | Post-production |
| scope="row" | TBA
| {{Pending film|Naked in the Park}} | | Post-production |
=Television=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Row ! scope="col" | Notes |
| scope="row" | 2013–2014
| Jen #3 | 2 episodes |
|---|
| scope="row" | 2014
| Gretchen Fritz | 1 episode |
| scope="row" | 2015
| Forever | Lucy Templeton | 1 episode |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Award ! scope="col" | Category ! scope="col" | Nominated work ! scope="col" | Result |
| scope="row" | 2015
| Audience Award for Best Experimental Short | Shegetsey Betsey |
|---|
| scope="row" | 2021
| Molins Film Festival | Audience Award Being Different - Best Actress |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|nm0113105}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Betsey}}
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Manhattan
Category:American women film directors