---
name: "Amy Seimetz"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/amy-seimetz"
fi1m_id: "amy-seimetz"
imdb_id: "nm1541272"
tmdb_id: 139150
wikidata_id: "Q4749378"
roles: ["Director","Actor"]
born: "25 November 1981"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 9
average_fi1m_score: 80
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-07T15:22:45.237496+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Amy Seimetz

## Identity

Amy Seimetz

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/amy-seimetz
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** amy-seimetz
- **IMDb ID:** nm1541272
- **TMDB ID:** 139150
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4749378
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Seimetz, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4749378, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1541272/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139150

Director and actor. Born 25 November 1981 in Tampa, Florida, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Actor
- **Born:** 25 November 1981, Tampa, Florida, USA
- **Active:** 2011–present
- **Also known as:** 艾米·西米茨
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 9: 5 acting, 2 directing, 2 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Adamma Ebo](https://film.one/person/adamma-ebo.md), [Donald Glover](https://film.one/person/donald-glover.md), [Francesca Sloane](https://film.one/person/francesca-sloane.md), [Hiro Murai](https://film.one/person/hiro-murai.md), [Stephen Glover](https://film.one/person/stephen-glover.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 74 (5), 2020s 75 (4)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Seimetz, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4749378, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1541272/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139150

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Atlanta*](https://film.one/tv/atlanta.md) (87), [*The Testaments*](https://film.one/tv/the-testaments.md) (70)
- **HBO Max:** [*No Sudden Move*](https://film.one/film/no-sudden-move.md) (76)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Mr. & Mrs. Smith*](https://film.one/tv/mr-and-mrs-smith.md) (73)
- **Peacock:** [*Alien: Covenant*](https://film.one/film/alien-covenant.md) (57)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Amy Seimetz

> Amy Seimetz is the person in the frame who has grasped the situation before anyone else, and she plays it small: a look through glass, a hand on a lock. Studio films keep giving her two lines. Independent ones, and her own, give her more.

In *Alien: Covenant* (2017) a man is dying on a table in a white room, and Carmen Ejogo is trying to hold him down. Amy Seimetz is on the other side of the glass, and she locks the door on both of them and reaches for a gun. We watched with our hands on the armrest, and it was her face rather than the thing on the table that told us how bad things were. Ridley Scott then gives her a line or two and moves on, which is the pattern in her studio work: she is the person who has grasped the situation first, and the script rarely stays with her long enough to find out what she does about it.

She came up in the late 2000s independent scene, acting, producing and working crew, three of them with Joe Swanberg. Critics first noticed her as Francine, a truck-stop waitress in *The Off Hours* (2011), and the next year she directed *Sun Don't Shine* (2012), a Florida thriller she also wrote, produced and cut. The lead in Shane Carruth's *Upstream Color* (2013) took her onto larger sets. Since then the two careers have run side by side: Faris in *Covenant*, Rachel Creed in *Pet Sematary* (2019), Mary Wertz in *No Sudden Move* (2021), and, behind the camera, episodes of *Atlanta*, *Outer Range* and *Mr & Mrs Smith*.

*No Sudden Move* is the performance we would point a stranger to. Three men with guns sit in her kitchen while toast is made, and Steven Soderbergh shoots it in flat morning light with no music. Seimetz plays Mary as a woman doing the sums, which child is where, what the men have and have not said, and never raises her voice. It frightened us more than a caper should. In *The Testaments* (2026) she is Paula MacKenzie, a Commander's wife who wants her stepdaughter married off quickly, and she gets the chill of it in a scene or two, but ten episodes is a long time to spend near a character the series is not interested in.

What she does not do is fill space. She does not play to the camera or signal what she is feeling, and in a crowded cast that can look like being underused when it is a choice. Directors who keep her on screen, Soderbergh above all, get more out of her than those who hand her a mark and a line. She was called an indie darling and did not care for it: "It's very cutesy and can be undermining. But the idea of 'independent,' I like that. It's pretty punk."

The studios will keep casting her, and they will keep giving her a line or two before the door shuts. *No Sudden Move* keeps her in the kitchen all morning, and that is the one to start with.

## Biography

Amy Seimetz is an American actress and filmmaker. She was born on 25 November 1981 in Florida and grew up in the Tampa–St Petersburg area. She briefly attended film school at Florida State University before moving to Los Angeles, where she began working in independent film as a producer, director, writer, editor and actor.

Seimetz gained notice for her performances in independent films including *Upstream Color* (2013) and *You're Next* (2013). Her television roles include Danette Leeds in *The Killing* (2011–2014), Becky Ives in *Stranger Things* (2016–2017) and Birdie in *Sweet Tooth* (2021–2024). Film credits include *Alien: Covenant* (2017), *Pet Sematary* (2019) and Mary Wertz in *No Sudden Move* (2021). She has also directed features such as *Sun Don't Shine* (2012) and *She Dies Tomorrow* (2020), and episodes of series including *The Girlfriend Experience* and *Atlanta*.

In 2026 she appeared as Paula MacKenzie in the series *The Testaments*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (9)

### Performed in (5)

- *The Testaments* (2026), Fi1m 70, as Paula MacKenzie — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-testaments.md)
- *No Sudden Move* (2021), Fi1m 76, as Mary Wertz — [page](https://film.one/film/no-sudden-move.md)
- *Alien: Covenant* (2017), Fi1m 57, as Faris — [page](https://film.one/film/alien-covenant.md)
- *Stranger Things* (2016), Fi1m 77, as Becky Ives — [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md)
- *The Killing* (2011), Fi1m 62, as Danette — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2011.md)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2024), Fi1m 73, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/mr-and-mrs-smith.md)
- *Atlanta* (2016), Fi1m 87, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/atlanta.md)

### Also credited (2) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Sorry, Baby* (2025), Fi1m 81, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/sorry-baby.md)
- *Moonlight* (2016), Fi1m 89, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/moonlight.md)

## Complete filmography (76)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Testaments* (2026), series, as Paula MacKenzie — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-testaments.md)
- *Adulthood* (2026), Actor
- *If I Had Legs I'd Kick You* (2025), Thanks — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you.md)
- *Sorry, Baby* (2025), Thanks — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/sorry-baby.md)
- *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2024), series, Director — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/mr-and-mrs-smith.md)
- *The Weeknd - Double Fantasy* (2023), Director
- *The Last Manhunt* (2022), as Clara True
- *No More Time* (2022), Actor
- *Outer Range* (2022), series, Director, Consulting Producer
- *No Sudden Move* (2021), as Mary Wertz — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/no-sudden-move.md)
- *Sweet Tooth* (2021), series, as Birdie
- *Archenemy* (2020), as Cleo Ventrik
- *The Comey Rule* (2020), series, as Trisha Anderson
- *The Secrets We Keep* (2020), as Rachel
- *She Dies Tomorrow* (2020), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *His & Herzog* (2020), Actor
- *Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia* (2020), Actor
- *Pet Sematary* (2019), as Rachel Creed
- *Lean on Pete* (2018), as Lynn
- *My Days of Mercy* (2018), as Martha
- *Wild Nights with Emily* (2018), as Mabel Todd
- *Get Shorty* (2017), series, as Jinny
- *Junior* (2017), series, as Ellen
- *Alien: Covenant* (2017), as Faris — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/alien-covenant.md)
- *Lovesong* (2017), as Chloe
- *Moonlight* (2016), Thanks — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/moonlight.md)
- *Atlanta* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/tv/atlanta.md)
- *Stranger Things* (2016), series, as Becky Ives — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md)
- *The Girlfriend Experience* (2016), series, as Annabel Reade, Annabel Reade (voice) (uncredited) · Editorial Manager, Writer, Director, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Entertainment* (2015), as Rene
- *Ma* (2015), as Misti
- *I Believe in Unicorns* (2015), as Clara
- *The Reconstruction of William Zero* (2015), as Jules
- *We'll Find Something* (2015), as Kendra
- *Halt and Catch Fire* (2014), series, as Michelle Lattimer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/halt-and-catch-fire.md)
- *The Sacrament* (2014), as Caroline
- *Lucky Them* (2013), as Sara
- *You're Next* (2013), as Aimee Davison
- *When We Lived in Miami* (2013), Director, Screenplay, Editor
- *Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse* (2013), as Rollerblading Death Dolphin
- *9 Full Moons* (2013), as Frankie
- *Family Tree* (2013), series, as Ally Keele
- *Sun Don't Shine* (2013), Director, Writer, Editor, Producer
- *Upstream Color* (2013), as Kris
- *Pit Stop* (2013), as Shannon
- *#PostModem* (2013), Actor
- *Revenge for Jolly!* (2012), as Vicki
- *Small Pond* (2012), as Katie
- *Stray Bullets* (2012), Actor
- *All That She Surveys* (2012), Actor
- *Be Good* (2012), as Mary Kutzman
- *The Jonestown Defense* (2011), Actor
- *Silver Bullets* (2011), as Charlie · Producer
- *Special Things to Do* (2011), as Sandy
- *Coffee & Pie* (2011), as October
- *Autoerotic* (2011), Actor
- *The Myth of the American Sleepover* (2011), as Julie Higgins
- *The Killing* (2011), series, as Danette — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-killing-2011.md)
- *No Matter What* (2011), as Laura · Associate Producer
- *The Dish & the Spoon* (2011), as Emma's Friend · Producer
- *The Off Hours* (2011), as Francine
- *Open Five* (2010), as Lynn
- *Tiny Furniture* (2010), as Ashlynn
- *A Horrible Way to Die* (2010), as Sarah
- *Bitter Feast* (2010), as Katherine Franks
- *Gabi on the Roof in July* (2010), as Chelsea
- *Incredibly Small* (2010), as Samantha
- *Are Women as Horny as Men?* (2009), Actor
- *One Night Only* (2009), as Anna
- *Round Town Girls* (2009), as Girl #1 · Director
- *Alexander the Last* (2009), as Hellen, Additional Writing
- *Medicine for Melancholy* (2009), Associate Producer
- *Wristcutters: A Love Story* (2007), as Nina
- *Black Dragon Canyon* (2005), as Elizabeth Sterling
- *Measure of Love* (2004), Actor
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Lena Olson

## Gallery

- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-686a182790d2.jpg) Amy Seimetz — larry-411, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Amy_Seimetz_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-0e72326feb9e.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-f8d299c96698.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-6efd22a1256e.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-f648e6a05d9a.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-ccc6c90697dd.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB
- ![Amy Seimetz](https://film.one/media/person/9224/gallery-a76d830f7482.jpg) Amy Seimetz — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/amy-seimetz