Biography
Who is Carrie Brownstein?
Early life and education
Carrie Brownstein was born in Seattle, Washington, and raised in Redmond in a secular Jewish family. Her mother worked as a housewife and a teacher, while her father was employed as a corporate lawyer. After her parents divorced when she was fourteen years old, she was raised by her father alongside her younger sister, Stacey.
She attended Lake Washington High School before transferring to The Overlake School for her final year. She began playing the guitar at age fifteen and received lessons from Jeremy Enigk. After finishing high school, she attended Western Washington University before transferring to The Evergreen State College, where she graduated in 1997 with a focus on sociolinguistics.
Music career and bands
Carrie Brownstein first gained prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17, which formed part of the riot grrrl movement in the Olympia music scene. Alongside Corin Tucker, she formed the rock trio Sleater-Kinney, which became her main musical focus after Excuse 17 disbanded. The group recorded several studio albums and went on an indefinite hiatus in 2006 before reuniting to release new music and tour.
During a hiatus from Sleater-Kinney, she formed the group Wild Flag alongside Janet Weiss, Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole. The band released a self-titled album in 2011 before becoming inactive by 2014. Also, she collaborated on various musical projects including The Spells with Mary Timony and The Tentacles with Lois Maffeo and Peter Momtchiloff.
Television and acting work
Alongside Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein created and starred in a series of comedy sketches under the name ThunderAnt. These sketches were developed into the satirical comedy television series Portlandia, which ran on the Independent Film Channel from 2011 to 2018 and won Emmy and Peabody Awards.
She also acted in other projects, including the Amazon Studios original series Transparent, where she played the role of Syd from 2014 to 2019. Her film appearances include independent features such as Some Days Are Better Than Others and Carol. Also, she starred in and wrote the screenplay for the tour mockumentary thriller The Nowhere Inn.
Writing and memoir
Carrie Brownstein built a writing career that included interviewing musicians such as Eddie Vedder, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Karen O, and Cheryl Hines for The Believer magazine. From November 2007 to May 2010, she wrote a weblog for NPR Music titled Monitor Mix, returning briefly in October to conclude the blog.
She later published her memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, through Riverhead Books in October 2015. In addition to her memoir and magazine articles, she has written music-related video game reviews for Slate and worked on scripts for biographical film projects.
Birthday and age
Carrie Brownstein was born on September 27, 1974, which makes Carrie 52 years old today. That birthday falls under the Libra sign. Carrie shares the date with 68 other famous people.
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