Osgood Robert "Oz" Perkins II (born February 2, 1974) is an American filmmaker and actor. He began his career as a child actor, portraying the young version of his father

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. Born in Manhattan, Perkins began his career as a teenager in summer stock theater, summer stock programs, although he acted in films before his time on Broadway the ...

' character

Norman Bates Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main protagonist in his 1959 horror novel '' Psycho''. He has an alter, Mother, who takes the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, who in hi ...

in '' Psycho II'' (1983), and later appeared in films such as ''

Six Degrees of Separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is al ...

'' (1993), ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on Amanda Brown's novel. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victo ...

'' (2001), '' Not Another Teen Movie'' (2001), ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' (2009), and '' Nope'' (2022). He made his directorial debut with the horror film '' The Blackcoat's Daughter'' (2015) and has since became known for directing horror films such as '' I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House'' (2016), '' Gretel & Hansel'' (2020), '' Longlegs'' (2024), and '' The Monkey'' (2025).

Early life

Osgood Robert Perkins II was born in the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

borough of New York City on February 2, 1974, the son of actress Berry Berenson (1948–2001) and actor

(1932–1992). He is the older brother of musician Elvis Perkins, the grandson of actor

Osgood Perkins James Ridley Osgood Perkins (May 16, 1892 – September 21, 1937) was an American actor. Life and career Perkins was born in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony). His maternal ...

, and the nephew of actress

Marisa Berenson Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson (born February 15, 1947) is an American actress and former model. She appeared on the front covers of '' Vogue'' and ''Time'', and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her ...

. Although his father later admitted to being gay, his parents remained married until his father died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

in September 1992. Perkins' mother had French, Italian, and Swiss ancestry, and was a descendant of astronomer

Giovanni Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Biography He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory, unde ...

and fashion designer

Elsa Schiaparelli Elsa Schiaparelli ( , , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian fashion designer from an Italian nobility, aristocratic background. She created the Schiaparelli (fashion house), house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, which she ...

. She was a passenger on

American Airlines Flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic Airline, passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into ...

and subsequently died in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, with her name now inscribed on Panel N-76 at the North Pool of the

National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks in 2001 which k ...

. His father was of English descent and counted wood engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony and colonist Roger Conant among his ancestors, as well as ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

'' passengers William Brewster, John Howland, and

Myles Standish Myles Standish ( – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer and colonist. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrims. Standish accompan ...

Career

Perkins' first acting role was in '' Psycho II'' (1983), in which he briefly appeared as the 12-year-old version of his father's character

. He has since appeared in the films ''

'' (1993), ''

'' (2001), '' Not Another Teen Movie'' (2001), ''

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

'' (2002), '' La Cucina'' (2007), ''

'' (2009), and '' Nope'' (2022), as well as episodes of ''Alias'' and other television shows. Perkins made his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

with the horror film '' The Blackcoat's Daughter'' (2015) and has since become known for writing and/or directing horror films such as '' The Girl in the Photographs'' (2015), '' I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House'' (2016), '' Gretel & Hansel'' (2020), '' Longlegs'' (2024), '' The Monkey'' (2025), and '' Keeper'' (2025). He was featured in the second episode of the Shudder documentary miniseries ''Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror'' (2022), in which he discussed the legacy of his father's role as Norman Bates in '' Psycho'' (1960) and its sequels.

Personal life

Perkins married Sidney in 1999, and they had a son and daughter together before divorcing in 2016. He also has a son from a subsequent relationship.

Filmography

Filmmaking

Acting

Film

Television

Recurring collaborators

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Oz 1974 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American male film actors American male screenwriters American male television actors American people of Egyptian descent American people of English descent American people of French descent American people of Italian descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Swiss descent Film directors from New York City Male actors from Manhattan Screenwriters from New York City Writers from Manhattan Jewish American film people American horror film directors