Katie Aselton
Born and raised in Maine, Katie Aselton knew how to put on a show. Miss Maine Teen USA in 1995 and first runner up in the national competition, Aselton spent two years as a Communications major at Boston University before deciding to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career as an actor. In Hollywood, she quickly fell in with a group of young directors and actors (including her future husband, Mark Duplass) making microbudget "mumblecore" films largely about everyday characters and their everyday dramas. In 2004, Aselton appeared in "Scrapple," a short film by Mark and Jay Duplass, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The next year, she was the lead in another Duplass Brothers' film, "The Puffy Chair" (2004). The TV show "The League" (FX 2009-15) brought unprecedented exposure for Aselton (and, again, Mark Duplass, who also starred) when it premiered in 2009. The show, following the ultra-competitive participants in a fantasy football league, was a hit. She had a small role in the Duplass Brothers' film "Cyrus" in 2010, the same year she premiered her feature directorial debut, "The Freebie." That film, which Aselton also wrote and starred in, featured her and Dax Shepherd as a husband and wife who decide to spice up their relationship by giving each other a 'free pass' for a night of debauchery. Her next film was "Black Rock" (2012), again directed, starring and co-written by Aselton. This one was a departure, a thriller, about three friends coming together for a reunion, who are forced into a fight for their lives.