Morgan Saylor

Morgan Frances Saylor (born October 26, 1994)[1][2][3] is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Dana Brody in the Showtime series Homeland, 2019's Blow the Man Down and for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Leah in the 2016 Sundance film White Girl.[4][5] Along with the rest of the cast of Homeland, Saylor was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2013 and 2014.

Morgan Saylor
Saylor at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival
Born (1994-10-26) October 26, 1994
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Chicago
Columbia University
OccupationActress
Years active2006–present

Early life

Saylor was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother is an employee at REI and her father does renovations for Starbucks; they are divorced. Saylor moved to Villa Rica, Georgia, at age two, and Decatur, Georgia, at age ten.[2] Saylor graduated from Decatur High School in May 2013 and subsequently moved to New York to continue acting.[6][7] She attended the University of Chicago for a few years between roles, and since 2021 has been attending the Columbia University School of General Studies.[8][9]

Career

Saylor began acting through summer camps and community theater as a child. In fourth grade, she visited Los Angeles for the summer where she booked her first professional job: a voice-over as young Meadow in HBO's hit television series The Sopranos. Saylor played Annie in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant in 2009 and young Claire in Father of Invention in 2010.[2][10]

From 2011 to 2013, Saylor played Dana Brody in Homeland. The Showtime political thriller television series garnered nearly universal praise, especially for its first two seasons.[11]

In June 2014, Saylor made her stage debut at the Manhattan Theatre Club as Penny opposite Cherry Jones and Zoe Kazan in When We Were Young and Unafraid, written by Sarah Treem and directed by Pam MacKinnon.[12] Also in 2014, she played Gracie Highsmith in Jamie Marks Is Dead, an adaptation of Christopher Barzak's 2007 novel One for Sorrow, directed by Carter Smith.[13][14]

Saylor played Kevin Costner's character's daughter Julie in the sports drama McFarland, USA, which was released on February 20, 2015.[15][16] She played the role of Leah in White Girl, for which she received great critical praise. The film was written and directed by Elizabeth Wood and premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.[17] Saylor acted alongside Nick Robinson and Common in director Rob Reiner's film Being Charlie.[18] The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September of that year.[19]

In 2017, Morgan was back at Sundance Film Festival to premiere the film Novitiate in which she plays a young nun opposite Melissa Leo, Margaret Qualley and Diana Agron.[20] Later that year she starred in "Anywhere With You," formerly titled "We The Coyotes", directed by Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via. The film premiered the following year in the ACID section of 2018 Cannes Film Festival.[21]

Saylor's next starring role came in Blow the Man Down, which premiered in 2019 at Tribeca Film Festival and was released by Amazon Studios on March 20, 2020. This film was shot on location in Harpswell, Maine.[22]

The following year, Morgan starred in the independent film You Mean Everything to Me.[23]

Personal life

Saylor has a small anchor tattooed behind her left ear; her older brother has a similar, larger anchor tattooed on his forearm. As a teenager, Saylor was part of a competitive rock climbing team and was nationally ranked.[2] Saylor lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant with her partner Ben Rosenfield.[24][25][10][26]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Annie
2010 Father of Invention Young Claire
2011 The Greening of Whitney Brown Annie
2014 Jamie Marks Is Dead Gracie Highsmith
2015 McFarland, USA Julie White
2015 Being Charlie Eva
2016 White Girl Leah
2017 Novitiate Sister Evelyn
2018 We the Coyotes Amanda
2019 Blow the Man Down Mary Beth Connolly
2021 You Mean Everything to Me Cassandra
2022 Spoonful of Sugar Millicent

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2006 The Sopranos Young Meadow 2 episodes ("Join the Club" and "Mayham"), uncredited
2007 K-Ville Lana Roberts 1 episode ("AKA")
2011–2013 Homeland Dana Brody 36 episodes

Theatre
Year Title Role Notes
2014 When We Were Young and Unafraid Penny Manhattan Theatre Club

Awards and nominations
Year Ceremony Category Work Result Ref.
2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (shared with cast) Homeland Nominated [27]
2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (shared with cast) Homeland Nominated [28]

References
  1. Amodio, Joseph V. (July 15, 2014). "'Homeland' actress Morgan Saylor corners the moody teen market, next with 'When We Were Young and Unafraid'". Newsday. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  2. Van Dusen, Christine (March 2013). "This Story May Contain Spoilers". Atlanta. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  3. "Teenagers on telly". New Statesman. November 23, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  4. "The best nonfiction TV of 2011". Salon.com. December 22, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  5. "'White Girl': Sundance Review". The Hollywood Reporter. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  6. Mathews, Dana (January 2013). "'Homeland' Star Morgan Saylor Talks About Her Winning Night at the Golden Globes". Teen Vogue. Condé Nast. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  7. Martin, Denise (October 7, 2013). "Homeland's Morgan Saylor on Dana's Selfies, Sex, and Life Without Brody". Vulture. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  8. Pandey, Nichi. "Why do we tell stories anyway? Morgan Saylor and the importance of the make-believe - Columbia Spectator". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  9. "U. of C. student Morgan Saylor goes to dark place in 'White Girl'". Chicago Sun-Times. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  10. "Morgan Saylor biography". December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  11. "Homeland Season One". Rotten Tomatoes. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  12. Miller, Stuart (June 18, 2014). "Morgan Saylor on Her Theater Debut and Leaving Homeland Behind". Vulture. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  13. Sandberg, Patrik (2014). "Morgan Saylor". V. Visionaire. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  14. O'Falt, Chris (September 3, 2014). "Stream 'Starred Up' and Meet Angelina Jolie's New Leading Man". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  15. Yamato, Jen (October 14, 2013). "'Homeland's Morgan Saylor Joins Disney Sports Drama 'McFarland'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  16. McNary, Dave (August 22, 2014). "Kevin Costner's Sports Drama 'McFarland USA' Pushed to 2015". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  17. Lacava, Stephanie (February 4, 2015). "Could The Film 'White Girl' Be This Generation's 'Kids'?". Opening Ceremony. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  18. Ford, Rebecca (April 22, 2015). "Nick Robinson, Common Join Rob Reiner's 'Being Charlie' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  19. Barker, Andrew (September 17, 2015). "Toronto Film Review: 'Being Charlie'". Variety. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  20. "Dianna Agron and Morgan Saylor on Playing Young Nuns in 'Novitiate' Sundance 2017". Hollywood Reporter. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  21. "'Anywhere With You': Film Review". Hollywood Reporter. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  22. "Amazon Nabs Rights to Noir 'Blow the Man Down' (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  23. ""You Mean Everything to Me" star Morgan Saylor on this seductive cautionary tale: "I love bleakness"". January 18, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  24. Grimmer, Katie (January 7, 2014). "The Double Life of Morgan Saylor". The Wild Magazine. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  25. Denicolo, David (August 21, 2014). "Homeland's Morgan Saylor Talks Movies, Music—and Pies". Allure. Condé Nast. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  26. "Morgan Saylor Instagram". December 1, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  27. Rosen, Christopher (January 27, 2013). "SAG Awards Winners 2013: Screen Actors Guild Honors Best In Film & Television". The Huffington Post. AOL. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  28. "SAG Awards 2014: The complete list of winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. December 11, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
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