Biography
Jessie Barr is a writer/director, actor, and multimedia artist with a background in independent film, theater, and comedy. Her work is intimate and emotionally raw, combining naturalistic performances with poetic visuals to examine desire, grief, and identity through characters who challenge social norms.
She is currently developing a Shakespeare adaptation with the Academy Award-winning production company Caviar (War Pony, Sound of Metal) and is in post-production on her latest short film Sylvia, starring Jena Malone. Jessie is a 2025 Djerassi Artist in Residence, a 2024 Half Initiative directing fellow (Ryan Murphy Program), and a 2021 Sundance Episodic Lab fellow. The series she co-created was developed with Warner Brothers Television and Tall Baby Productions. Jessie’s critically acclaimed, award-winning feature debut, Sophie Jones, premiered in competition at the 2020 Deauville Film Festival and was released by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2021. The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is streaming on Showtime. Variety praised it as a “fully realized portrait of grief that’s universal.” Her work has been showcased internationally at festivals including Deauville, Berlinale, Tribeca, and Mar Del Plata, and featured by The National Board of Review, The New York Times, Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Pick, and USA Today. Jessie recently performed with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova in PUSSY RIOT SIBERIA (2025) at MOCA. Her darkly humorous and deeply personal cancer chronicle, Serving Cunt, debuted at SADE Gallery in Los Angeles (2024), incorporating original films, installations, and photography.
Jessie is an alumna of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has collaborated with Lincoln Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, Naked Angels, Joe’s Pub (The Public Theater), and NY Stage & Film, among others. Her grants include the MOS Film Grant (2025), PEN America Writer's Grant (2020), and Oregon Made Film Grant (2019).
