Jessica Hecht is an American actress and singer who played Gretchen Schwartz on ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited h ...

'', Susan Bunch on ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Li ...

'', and Carol on '' The Boys''. She has also made numerous

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

appearances.

Early life and education

Hecht was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

. When she was three, she moved with her parents and sister to

Bloomfield, Connecticut Bloomfield is a suburb of Hartford in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town's population was 21,535 at the 2020 census. Bloomfield is best known as the headquarters of healthcare services company Cigna. History Originally lan ...

. After her parents divorced, her mother married psychiatrist Howard Iger, and they raised Jessica and her sister Elizabeth. Hecht attended

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

for a year and a half before graduating from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 1987 with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

in drama. Hecht was raised in a culturally Jewish family, with a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

socialist father, but nonetheless expressed interest in religion and had a Bat Mitzvah. She has stated that she is Reconstructionist Jewish and "fairly spiritual".

Career

Hecht has appeared in numerous television series, including '' Dickinson'', ''

Bored to Death ''Bored to Death'' is an American comedy series that ran on HBO from September 20, 2009, to November 28, 2011. The show was created by author Jonathan Ames, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a fictional Jonathan Ames—a writer based in Brooklyn, N ...

'', ''

Red Oaks The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

'', ''

Jessica Jones Jessica Campbell Jones Cage is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos and first appeared in ''Alias'' #1 (November 2001), a ...

'', ''

The Loudest Voice ''The Loudest Voice'' is a 2019 American drama television miniseries depicting Roger Ailes as he creates and guides the rise of Fox News. It is based on the 2014 book ''The Loudest Voice in the Room'', by Gabriel Sherman, and premiered June 30, ...

'', and ''

Succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

''. In 2020 she played Sonya Barzel on '' The Sinner,'' and was nominated for an Emmy in 2019 for her role as Karen in the Netflix series '' Special''. She is known for her roles as Gretchen Schwartz on ''

'' (5 episodes) and Susan Bunch, the wife of

Ross Geller Ross Geller, portrayed by David Schwimmer, is one of the six main characters of the NBC sitcom ''Friends''. Ross is considered by many to be the most intelligent member of the group and is noted for his goofy but lovable demeanor. His relatio ...

's ex-wife Carol Willick, on ''

'' (12 episodes).(May 21, 2010)
Jessica Hecht Buys Flat in Landmark Building
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' She was also a featured cast member in the

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel ''Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverman was ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

The Single Guy ''The Single Guy'' is an American sitcom television series that ran for two seasons on NBC, from September 21, 1995, to April 14, 1997. It starred Jonathan Silverman as struggling New York City writer Jonathan Eliot and followed several of his ...

''.Kolson, Ann (September 28, 1997)
Up & Coming: Jessica Hecht; Working All the Time Is Her Idea of Fun
''

''Keveney, Bill (February 1, 1996)
Jessica Hecht's Got Double Vision
''Star-News'' Hecht had the supporting role of Amy Burns in the

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

'' Dan in Real Life'' (2007), with

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in ''The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where Ca ...

and

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer. She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...

. She also appeared in ''

Whatever Works ''Whatever Works'' is a 2009 American comedy film directed and written by Woody Allen and starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean, and Henry Cavill. It was released on June 19, 2009, received mi ...

'', ''

Sideways ''Sideways'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama road film directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, ''Sideways'' follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymo ...

'', and ''

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ''A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'' is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed by Marielle Heller and written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, inspired by the 1998 article "Can You Say... Hero?" by Tom Junod, published in ...

''. She was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Featured Actress for her role in ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with ''A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, and M ...

'' on

with

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

and

Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood ...

, which closed on April 4, 2010. In 2012, she performed on

with Jim Parsons in '' Harvey''. In 2016, she played Golde in the 2015 Bartlett Sher-directed revival of ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' at the

Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

, and was in '' The Price'' with Mark Ruffalo, in 2017. In 2018 she won an Obie for her performance in ''Admissions'' at Lincoln Center. With producer Jenny Gersten, she runs The Campfire Project, a theatre based wellness project that creates plays in refugee camps.

Personal life

Hecht has been married to director

Adam Bernstein Adam Bernstein (born May 7, 1960) is an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award-winning American film director, music video director and television director. For his work on the television show ''Fargo (TV series), Fargo'' in 2014, he received a nomination for ...

since 1995. The couple has two children together, Stella and Carlo Bernstein.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre roles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hecht, Jessica Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey American film actresses American television actresses Jewish American actresses People from Princeton, New Jersey Tisch School of the Arts alumni American stage actresses Connecticut College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American Reconstructionist Jews