SPRUCING UP O’Sullivan (left) has a breakout performance in Saint Frances.
B
orn and raised in Arkansas, Kelly O’Sullivan attended Northwestern University and stayed in Chicago thereafter, acting in theatre, TV and a handful of movies you won’t have heard of. Then she wrote her first screenplay,
Saint Frances.
Her boyfriend Alex Thompson directed, O’Sullivan nabbed the lead for herself, and suddenly she found herself proclaimed “the voice of her generation.”
“I of course take it as a huge compliment, and I’m also constantly sending reviews to my parents, like, ‘See, I’m not a total failure!’” she laughs. “But it does make me nervous about writing the next thing. I’m trying to not let it immobilise me - to take the compliment and keep moving towards the next thing without the pressure of getting this kind of praise ever again!”