An independent film writer-director, Noah Baumbach was born in 1969 and raised in Brooklyn. He attended Vassar College. His fans are notoriously obsessive.

He made his writing and directing debut at the age of twenty-four with Kicking and Screaming (1995), about four young men who graduate from college and refuse to move on with their lives, each in his own peculiar way. The film premiered in 1995 at the prestigious New York Film Festival to tremendous critical acclaim. Baumbach was chosen as one of Newsweek's "Ten New Faces of 1996". The film appeared in several "Top Ten" lists. It later became traditional at Vassar that graduating seniors should watch Kicking and Screaming.

Next he wrote and directed Mr. Jealousy (1997), about a young writer so jealous over his girlfriend that he sneaks into the group therapy sessions of her ex-boyfriend to discover what kind of relationship they had.

He then co-wrote (under the name Jesse Carter) and directed (under the name Ernie Fusco) the New York-set comedy of manners Highball (1997). Although many of Baumbach's fans liked Highball, he disclaims it.

Baumbach is a contributor to The New Yorker magazine's Shouts & Murmurs department, and is one of the commentators on the Criterion Collection version of Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels. He co-wrote The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) with Wes Anderson, and his most recent film, The Squid and the Whale, about his childhood in Brooklyn, earned him awards at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Noah Baumbach Links

Unofficial fansite

IMDb entry