Jessie Barr
Directing
Biography
Jessie Barr is a writer/director, actor, and multimedia artist with roots in independent film, theater, and comedy. Her work is intimate and emotionally raw, blending naturalistic performances with poetic visuals to explore desire, grief, and identity in characters who defy social norms. She is currently developing a Shakespeare adaptation with Academy award-winning prod co. Caviar (War Pony, Sound of Metal) and is in post on her latest short film Sylvia, starring Jena Malone. Jessie is a 2025 Djerassi Artist in Residence, 2024 Half Initiative directing fellow (Ryan Murphy Program), and 2021 Sundance Episodic Lab fellow. The series she co-created went on to be developed with Warner Brothers Television and Tall Baby Productions. Jessie’s critically acclaimed, award-winning feature debut, Sophie Jones premiered in competition at the 2020 Deauville Film Festival and was released by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2021. The film holds a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes and is streaming on Showtime. Variety hailed the film as a “fully realized portrait of grief that’s universal.” Jessie’s work has screened globally at festivals including Deauville, Berlinale, Tribeca, Mar Del Plata and has been featured by The National Board of Review, The New York Times, Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Pick, and USA Today. She recently performed with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova in PUSSY RIOT SIBERIA (2025) at MOCA. Jessie’s darkly funny, deeply personal cancer chronicle, Serving Cunt debuted at SADE Gallery in Los, Angeles (2024) combining original films, installations, and photography. Jessie is an alum of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She’s worked with Lincoln Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, Naked Angels, Joe’s Pub (The Public Theater), and NY Stage & Film, among others. Grant recognitions include: MOS Film Grant Recipient (2025), PEN America Writer's Grant Recipient (2020), and Oregon Made Film Grant Recipient (2019).
Known For
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
OM CITY is the critically acclaimed, award-winning original series that follows the harried life of Grace (Jessie Barr), a yoga teacher in NYC, and her attempts to bring the humans of New York OM.
OM CITY
Dates Like This follows twenty-something lesbian, Meg and her straight best friend Alicia as they look for a life and love in NYC.
Dates Like This
An engaged Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, infidelity, and digital data.
The Beta Test
Sylvia is waiting for her life to begin, withering under the weight of her hypochondriac mother until a stranger comes into her world and changes everything.
Sylvia
Danny, a commercial editor and documentary filmmaker attempts to finish his film, a study on relationship while navigating the relationships in his own life. Will he continue to chase the unattainable Theresa a hippy new age dancer(Caitlin Fitzgerald) or will he finally admit he's in love with his best friend Carla (Katherine Waterston) who is in an unfulfilling relationship with a political strategist(Gaby Hoffman). Manhattan Romance is a funny insightful look at contemporary life in Manhattan. It explores new age ideas and open relationship as well as true friendship and connection.
Manhattan Romance
Inspired by true experiences of grief, girlhood, and growing up, Jessie Barr’s SOPHIE JONES provides a stirring portrait of a sixteen-year-old. Stunned by the untimely death of her mother and struggling with the myriad challenges of teendom, Sophie (played with striking immediacy by the director’s cousin Jessica Barr) tries everything she can to feel something again, while holding herself together, in this sensitive, acutely realized, and utterly relatable coming-of-age story.
Sophie Jones
An idealistic young woman's life begins to unravel when her job in social media exposes her to the darkest corners of humanity.
Come as You Are
A young woman takes work on a Martha's Vineyard farm and befriends the ten year old farmer's daughter only to discover present day horrors that stem from a dark past.
Off Season
Charlie and Val are best friends and owners of a fledgeling Princess party business in Los Angeles. After a mishap at a client’s party, the two find themselves in the hole and desperate for funds. They meet a charming divorcee, and what begins as a provocative yet seemingly harmless adventure take a downward turn.
Too Long at the Fair
Four grieving friends gather to release the past year and their night takes a wildly unexpected turn.
Circle Circle Circle Circle
When wealthy Queen Bee Kenzie makes a deal with high school bad boy Clay to be her fake boyfriend and bodyguard, she unknowingly steps into his dangerous world of illegal underground fighting.