Jenny Lumet (born February 2, 1967) is an American actress and screenwriter. She is the daughter of director

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), '' Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976 ...

and granddaughter of

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

. Lumet is perhaps most known for writing the original screenplay of the 2008

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film '' Caged Heat'', befo ...

film ''

Rachel Getting Married ''Rachel Getting Married'' is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, and Debra Winger. The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 200 ...

''.

Early life and education

Lumet was born on February 2, 1967 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She is the second daughter born to director

and journalist/writer Gail Buckley (Gail Buckley Jones). On her paternal side, she is of

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

ancestry. Her paternal grandfather was

Baruch Lumet Baruch Lumet (''Burech Lumet''; 16 September 1898 – 8 February 1992) was an American actor best known for his work in the Yiddish theatre. Early life Lumet was born in Warsaw, then part of Congress Poland, to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family. ...

, who was a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

theatre actor. On her maternal side, she is

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

, European and Native American with extensive roots in post-colonial America. Her maternal grandmother was singer

. In 1984, Lumet graduated from

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located i ...

Career

Lumet began working in the entertainment industry as an actress. She appeared in small roles in two films directed by her father, '' Deathtrap'' and '' Running on Empty'', before playing the role of Nancy Bosch in his 1990 film '' Q&A''. Lumet wrote the screenplay for the 2008

film, ''

''. In 2016, Lumet had a CBS drama with a pilot commitment. Lumet was a

script doctor A script doctor is a writer or playwright hired by a film, television, or theatre production company to rewrite an existing script or improve specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, themes, and other eleme ...

for the 2017 version of ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places * Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in P ...

'', and was a drama teacher at the

Manhattan Country School Manhattan Country School is an independent coeducational PreK-8 school with its main location in Manhattan and a farm in Roxbury, New York. Founded in 1966, it is distinctive because of its multicultural and progressive educational philosophy, th ...

. In 2018, Lumet joined the staff of '' Star Trek: Discovery'' as a consulting producer, and was subsequently promoted to co-executive producer. She co-wrote "Runaway", the first of the '' Short Treks'' mini-episodes. More recently, she signed an overall deal with CBS Studios.

Personal life

Lumet was married to actor

Bobby Cannavale Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in '' Third Watch'', '' Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in '' Will & Grace'', which ...

from 1994 until their divorce in 2003. Their son is the actor Jake Cannavale. Lumet has a daughter with second husband Alexander Weinstein, whom she married in 2008. On November 30, 2017, Lumet alleged music producer

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

sexually assaulted her in 1991. In response, Simmons said his recollection of the sexual incident differed from Lumet's and he was removing himself from leadership positions at his businesses.

Awards

* 2008:

Film Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...

, Best First Screenplay (nomination) for ''

'' * 2008:

New York Film Critics Circle Awards The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magazi ...

, Best Screenplay for ''

'' * 2008:

Toronto Film Critics Association Awards The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toro ...

, Best Screenplay for ''

'' * 2009:

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) for ''

Filmography

* 1975: ''

Everybody Rides the Carousel ''Everybody Rides the Carousel'' is a 1975 independent animated film about the stages of life. It was directed by John Hubley and written and produced by Hubley and his wife Faith. Among the cast are Meryl Streep, Dinah Manoff, and Lane Smith and ...

'' – Stage 4 (voice) * 1982: '' Deathtrap'' – Stage Newsboy * 1988: '' Running on Empty'' – Music Girl * 1988: ''

Tougher Than Leather ''Tougher Than Leather'' is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released on May 17, 1988, by Profile Records. The album was produced by the group members themselves, Davy D. and Rick Rubin. While the new record did ...

'' – Pam * 1990: '' Q&A'' – Nancy Bosch * 1994: ''Assassination'' – Stephanie Merrin (Short) * 1995: ''DodgeBall'' – Claudette Mitty * 2008: ''

'' – Writer * 2017: ''

'' – Writer (screen story) * 2021: ''

Clarice Clarice is a female given name, an anglicization of the French Clarisse, derived from the Latin and Italian name Clarissa, originally used in reference to the nuns of the Roman Catholic Order of St. Clare, whose own name ultimately derives f ...

'' – Co-creator, executive producer * 2022: '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' – Co-creator, executive producer, writer * 2022: '' Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'' – Co-creator, executive producer, writer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lumet, Jenny 1967 births Actresses from New York City African-American actresses African-American Jews African-American screenwriters Screenwriters from New York (state) American people of African descent American people of English descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American women screenwriters Living people Writers from New York City 21st-century American women writers Dalton School alumni Lumet family 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American women writers