--- name: "Noah Baumbach" canonical: "https://film.one/person/noah-baumbach" fi1m_id: "noah-baumbach" imdb_id: "nm0000876" tmdb_id: 5656 wikidata_id: "Q459349" roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"] born: "3 September 1969" reviewed_on_fi1m: 7 average_fi1m_score: 77 average_as: "writer" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-10-05T12:30:56.938134+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." --- # Noah Baumbach ## Identity Noah Baumbach - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/noah-baumbach - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** noah-baumbach - **IMDb ID:** nm0000876 - **TMDB ID:** 5656 - **Wikidata ID:** Q459349 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Baumbach, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q459349, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000876/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5656 Writer and director. Born 3 September 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer - **Born:** 3 September 1969, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA - **Active:** 2005–present - **Also known as:** Ernie Fusco, Jesse Carter - **Titles on Fi1m:** 7: 4 directing, 3 writing - **Frequently works with:** [David Heyman](https://film.one/person/david-heyman.md), [Adam Driver](https://film.one/person/adam-driver.md), [George Clooney](https://film.one/person/george-clooney.md), [Greta Gerwig](https://film.one/person/greta-gerwig.md), [Laura Dern](https://film.one/person/laura-dern.md) - **Academy Awards:** 4 Oscar nominations - **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as writer, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 84 (2), 2010s 79 (3), 2020s 70 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 79 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Adventure 3, Comedy 3, Animation 2, Family 2, Fantasy 1 - **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $2,241m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Baumbach, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q459349, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000876/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5656 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Marriage Story*](https://film.one/film/marriage-story.md) (84), [*The Squid and the Whale*](https://film.one/film/the-squid-and-the-whale.md) (83), [*Jay Kelly*](https://film.one/film/jay-kelly.md) (64) - **HBO Max:** [*Barbie*](https://film.one/film/barbie.md) (76), [*Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted*](https://film.one/film/madagascar-3-europes-most-wanted.md) (71) - **Disney+:** [*Fantastic Mr. Fox*](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox.md) (84) - **AMC+:** [*Frances Ha*](https://film.one/film/frances-ha.md) (82) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Noah Baumbach > Noah Baumbach writes people who talk well and listen badly, and his best scripts let them stay in the wrong for a long time. The recent ones forgive too quickly, and they are weaker for it. Partway through *The Squid and the Whale* (2005) the Berkman family plays tennis, and Bernard, the father, treats the match as one more chance to be right. That is the Baumbach scene: an articulate adult making a reasonable case, and a child somewhere in the frame who has to hear it. We laughed at that tennis match and then felt uneasy about how readily the parents had made their sons part of the competition, which is what he is after. Baumbach writes talkers, and he is good at the gap between what they say and what they mean. The career divides fairly cleanly. He began writing and directing with *Kicking and Screaming* (1995), and *The Squid and the Whale*, drawn in part from his own family, was the film that made his name; *Margot at the Wedding* (2007) shares its caustic streak. Then came Greta Gerwig, co-writer and actor across four films. *Frances Ha* (2013), which they wrote together, is a comedy about a woman explaining herself badly, and it is funny because she never gets it right. *Marriage Story* (2019), with Adam Driver, is the divorce script done at full length: two people who both make a reasonable case and cannot dismiss each other as a mistake. Those two are where we would send a newcomer. He also writes for other directors, and it changes him less than you might expect. *Fantastic Mr. Fox* (2009), written with Wes Anderson from Roald Dahl, is warm and funny about animals with domestic responsibilities, and its knowing dialogue sometimes sounds too pleased with itself, which is a Baumbach fault as much as an Anderson one. *Barbie* (2023), written with Gerwig, is a proper comedy in Barbieland and a duller film in Los Angeles, where the characters begin explaining themselves well, at length and to general agreement. One of its speeches seemed to us written to be quoted rather than said. A writer this fond of a good line will sometimes stop a scene so that one can be delivered. The softening matters most in *Jay Kelly* (2025), which he wrote with Emily Mortimer and directed. It is warm and often funny about a film star and his entourage, and every time a scene threatens to leave Jay exposed, someone smiles at him and the script lets him off. Nobody stays in the wrong for longer than a scene. Bernard Berkman is allowed to be appalling for all of his film's 81 minutes and is still recognisably needy at the end. That is harder to write than it looks, and Baumbach used to do it as a matter of course. He has never been short of a good insult, and Tim Streeto's cutting on *The Squid and the Whale* showed how much better they land when a film declines to repeat one. What we miss in the recent work is the patience to leave a character unforgiven for a while. If the next script has somebody in it he cannot quite bring himself to like, we will be first in the queue. ## Biography Noah Baumbach is an American filmmaker. He was born on 3 September 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City. Baumbach wrote and directed *Jay Kelly* (2025). He wrote the screenplay for *Barbie* (2023). His other films include *The Squid and the Whale* (2005), *Frances Ha* (2013), *The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)* (2017), *Marriage Story* (2019), and *White Noise* (2022). He has collaborated with Greta Gerwig on several projects and co-wrote *The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou* (2004) and *Fantastic Mr. Fox* (2009) with Wes Anderson. He received Academy Award nominations for writing *The Squid and the Whale* and *Marriage Story*. *Sources: latimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, vanityfair.com.* ## On Fi1m (7) ### Directed (4) - *Jay Kelly* (2025), Fi1m 64, Writer, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/jay-kelly.md) - *Marriage Story* (2019), Fi1m 84, Producer, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/marriage-story.md) - *Frances Ha* (2013), Fi1m 82, Director, Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/frances-ha.md) - *The Squid and the Whale* (2005), Fi1m 83, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-squid-and-the-whale.md) ### Wrote (3) — the average rests on these - *Barbie* (2023), Fi1m 76, Executive Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/barbie.md) - *Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted* (2012), Fi1m 71, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/madagascar-3-europes-most-wanted.md) - *Fantastic Mr. Fox* (2009), Fi1m 84, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox.md) ## Complete filmography (26) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Jay Kelly* (2025), as Director (uncredited) · Producer, Writer, Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/jay-kelly.md) - *Pavements* (2025), Thanks - *Janet Planet* (2024), Thanks - *Barbie* (2023), Executive Producer, Writer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/barbie.md) - *White Noise* (2022), Writer, Director, Producer - *Marriage Story* (2019), Writer, Producer, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/marriage-story.md) - *The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)* (2017), Director, Writer, Producer - *De Palma* (2016), Sound Recordist, Director, Producer - *The Funeral* (2016), Thanks - *Mistress America* (2015), Director, Producer, Writer - *She's Funny That Way* (2015), Executive Producer - *While We're Young* (2015), Director, Writer, Producer - *Frances Ha* (2013), Writer, Director, Producer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/frances-ha.md) - *Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted* (2012), Screenplay — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/film/madagascar-3-europes-most-wanted.md) - *Tower Heist* (2011), as Additional Writing - *Greenberg* (2010), Director, Story, Screenplay - *Fantastic Mr. Fox* (2009), Screenplay — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox.md) - *Alexander the Last* (2009), Producer - *André Gregory and Wallace Shawn* (2009), Director - *Margot at the Wedding* (2007), Screenplay, Director - *The Squid and the Whale* (2005), Director, Writer — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/the-squid-and-the-whale.md) - *The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou* (2004), as Phillip · Writer - *Highball* (2002), as Philip · Writer, Director - *Conrad and Butler Take a Vacation* (2000), Director, Writer - *Mr. Jealousy* (1998), as Arliss · Director, Writer, Set Dresser - *Kicking and Screaming* (1995), as Danny · Director, Writer, Story ## Gallery - ![Noah Baumbach](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-b535f64818ab.jpg) Noah Baumbach — Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Noah_Baumbach_Jay_Kelly-49.jpg/1280px-Noah_Baumbach_Jay_Kelly-49.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![JayKellyBFILFF101025-54 (2025)](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-dc7326c2a5a5.jpg) JayKellyBFILFF101025-54 (2025) — Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/JayKellyBFILFF101025-54_%2854848836092%29.jpg/1280px-JayKellyBFILFF101025-54_%2854848836092%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Film director Noah Baumbach attends a screening of his film "Marriage Story" in West Hollywood, CA in 2020.](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-0ec4e14d8e1b.jpg) Film director Noah Baumbach attends a screening of his film "Marriage Story" in West Hollywood, CA in 2020. — Chris Long from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Noah_Baumbach_%2852663824126%29.jpg/1280px-Noah_Baumbach_%2852663824126%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Noah Baumbach](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-e02b52632f6e.jpg) Noah Baumbach — Image via TMDB - ![Noah Baumbach](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-c0cebc373068.jpg) Noah Baumbach — Image via TMDB - ![Noah Baumbach](https://film.one/media/person/464/gallery-8d658e5f316b.jpg) Noah Baumbach — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 4 nominated - 2024: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Barbie* - 2020: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Marriage Story* - 2020: Best Picture (nominated), for *Marriage Story* - 2006: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *The Squid and the Whale* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/noah-baumbach