Screenwriter and director Jeff Baena, known for his darkly humorous independent films like The Good Sisters and who was married to actress Aubrey Plaza, died at the age of 47.
Jeff Baena was found dead Friday morning in a Los Angeles home, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office. The circumstances of his death remained unclear on Saturday. The office said it was investigating and a full report would not be available until the case was closed.
The director co-wrote the David O. Russell film J’adore Huckabees released in 2004 and has written and directed five of his own films, four of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
He dated Aubrey Plaza for three years before she starred in her directorial debut in 2014, the zombie comedy Life After Beth. His next film, Joshyin 2016, starred Thomas Middleditch in the role of a man who reunites with his friends a few months after the suicide of his fiancée.
Jeff Baena grew up in Miami and attended film school at New York University. He told podcast host Marc Maron in a 2017 interview that his interest in film was sparked after watching A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick and 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini when he was a child.
“I’ve always been attracted to left-wing things,” he told Jim Alexander two years ago in an interview for the Reel Talker YouTube channel.
Baena said in the same interview that it was “amazing” to work with Aubrey Plaza, who appeared in four of his five films. The 40-year-old actress and producer rose to fame playing April Ludgate on the TV series Parks and Recreation. Aubrey Plaza was nominated for an Emmy for her role in The White Lotus. The couple married in 2021.
“The opportunities to create together, to do something creative where we are both fulfilled, how rare is that? She’s up for it and she’s so talented, so I’m really lucky,” said Jeff Baena.
A representative for Aubrey Plaza said that in addition to the actress, he is survived by his mother, Barbara Stern, his stepfather Roger Stern, his father Scott Baena, his stepmother Michele Baena, his brother Brad Baena and her half-siblings Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.
