Heather Juergensen

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Heather Juergensen

Heather Julia Juergensen (born January 2, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress and writer.

[edit] Background

Juergensen was raised in Brooklyn, New York City to European parents. She graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1987. Soon after, she began writing and performing for the stage in both New York and Los Angeles. Early on she was cast to co-star opposite Frank Vincent in the independent film The Afterlife of Grandpa, but turned down it down to study Psychology at McGill University.

While at an acting and writing workshop sponsored by New York's Ensemble Studio Theater, she collaborated with Jennifer Westfeldt in writing a series of scenes produced off-Broadway under the name "Lipschtick". The response to one of the scenes inspired them to write a film script about two straight women who fall into a romantic relationship. The film was developed by a studio but not produced. They held script readings and sold shares to buy back the script rights and pay for the film's production. The result was the award-winning film Kissing Jessica Stein. Since the success of that project, Juergensen has either written or rewritten several stage, film and television properties, including a play about Brooklyn.

Juergensen has written screenplays or teleplays for Miramax, Warner Brothers, ABC, VH-1 and CBS, among others. Her first foray into writing for herself as an actress was her 1996 one-woman show Letters to Ben Stein, an imaginary tale of an epistolary romance with the actor/economist. Most recently she contributed to the Tarcher/Penguin book The May Queen, a collection of essays exploring issues and experiences relevant to women in their thirties. Juergensen's film work has been honored at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Miami International Film Festival, and the Indie Spirit Awards. Her acting credits include roles in Red Roses and Petrol and Haunted Mansion.

She has directed, written, and starred in a short film called The Suzy Prophecy. In addition, she is currently working on the script for a sports comedy set in the world of girls' track and is shooting The Hammer, a boxing comedy starring Adam Carolla.