Amy Brenneman
Amy Brenneman divides her time evenly between acting, producing and political activism.
She earned a degree in Comparative Religion at Harvard, with a specialty in Indo-Tibetan Religion, studying sacred dance and indigenous ritual in Kathmandu. She was a founding member of the Cornerstone Theater Company, which specializes in site-specific community-based theater on themes of social justice. Amy performed alongside local performers as (among others): Juliet in ROMEO & JULIET (Port Gibson, Mississippi), Natasha in THREE SISTERS (Montgomery, West Virginia), Clytemnestra in THE OREISTEIA (Schurz, Nevada), and Solveig in PEER GYNT (Eastport, Maine).
Other theater: CSC Rep, Lincoln Center Theater, LA Theater Works, LATC, Williamstown Theater Festival, En Garde Arts, Spark, and The American Repertory Theater. She has played Saint Joan at Yale Rep and starred in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize nominated Rapture Blister Burn at Playwrights Horizons and the Geffen Theater. Most recently she starred in the world premiere of Rules of Seconds by John Pollono, directed by Jo Bonney.
Amy co-created, wrote and starred in Mouth Wide Open (The Yard, American Repertory Theater) and Overcome (The Yard). Overcome will have its premiere at South Coast Repertory as part of the 2020-2021 season.
Amy created, executive produced and starred in “Judging Amy” (two TV Guide Awards, three Golden Globe nominations, Producer’s Guild Nomination, three Emmy Award nominations, People’s Choice SAG nomination) based on the work of her mother, the Honorable Judge Frederica Brenneman. Other television: “NYPD Blue” (2 Emmy nominations, SAG award), “Frasier,” “Heartbeat” (exec producer), and Shonda Rhimes’ “Private Practice.” Amy also starred in “The Leftovers” on HBO (Peabody Award, Critic’s Choice nomination.) Upcoming television: “Tell Me Your Secrets” on Amazon and “The Old Man” with Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow on Hulu.
Film credits include: CASPER, FEAR, DAYLIGHT, HEAT, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, PEEL, THE LOOK OF LOVE and WORDS AND PICTURES opposite Clive Owen. Amy has a long collaboration with Rodrigo Garcia, with whom she worked on NINE LIVES, THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER, MOTHER AND CHILD and 60 SECOND DOC.
Amy produced and directed the documentary “The Way the World Should Be” about the trailblazing work of the CHIME Institute and its mission of inclusive education.
As a teacher, she has taught drama and creative process the CHIME Charter school, which specializes in educating children of all abilities. She has also taught at Harvard and UCLA, among others.
For her activist work, Amy has been honored by Women in Film, The Brady Center, the League of Women Voters, the California State Assembly, the National Children’s Alliance, the Chime Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Help Group, the Producer’s Guild of America, among others. She traveled to Peru as an ambassador for CARE and was elected to the Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors. In 2016, she was part of the amicus brief for the Supreme Court case Whole Women’s v. Hellerstedt, ensuring that abortion clinics remained open in Texas and elsewhere; she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from The Feminist Majority for her ongoing commitment to reproductive rights. In 2019 Amy received the Change Agent Award from En Garde Arts in New York. She has served as keynote speaker for NARAL, Cal-Tash, The Council for Exceptional Children and on the steps Supreme Court.
Amy splits her time between Los Angeles and West Tisbury, MA. She is married to writer/director Brad Silberling and has two children, Charlotte and Bodhi.
