Bess Wohl (born 7 September 1975, Brooklyn, New York City) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard (BA in English, 1996) and earned an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. She is best known for Liberation (2025–2026), which won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama League Award, and the Hull-Warriner Award, making her only the fourth female playwright to win the Tony for Best Play. Her other plays include Small Mouth Sounds (2015, Drama Desk Sam Norkin Award), Grand Horizons (2020, Tony-nominated), and Make Believe (2019). She directed and wrote her feature film debut Baby Ruby (2022). In acting she has appeared in Flightplan (2005) and The Shaggy Dog (2006), and has guest roles on Law & Order, CSI: NY, Bones, and Cold Case. Small Mouth Sounds is returning to Broadway in spring 2027 directed by Joe Mantello.
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Biography from TMDB.
- September 7, 1975 (51)
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
- Actor and writer, also director and producer
- 13 on MovieCove · 18 credits in all
What are Bess Wohl's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 1 · Serious 1 · Dark 1
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 1 · Intense 1
Steady 1 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 1
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 1
A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 2
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Bess Wohl's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 9 of their 13 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on The Roku Channel (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Bess Wohl's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
18 credits, 13 with a MovieCove page.
Extrapolations(2023)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all shows
Baby Ruby(2022)
Midcredits score: 11th percentile of all films
Irreplaceable You(2018)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Siren (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Coach (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Private Practice(2007)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all shows
Shark(2006)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
The Shaggy Dog(2006)
Midcredits score: 6th percentile of all films
Ghost Whisperer(2005)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all shows
Flightplan(2005)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Bones(2005)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all shows
Must Love Dogs(2005)
Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all films
Heights (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
Numb3rs(2005)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all shows
CSI: NY(2004)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
Cold Case (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Law & Order(1990)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all shows
Liberation (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
Star power in the 68th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 18 titles, 17 of them dated from 1990 to 2023.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Bess Wohl's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 36th percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 20th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th5
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 13 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the acting 63/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 77, detractors 48. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Bess Wohl work with?
People who share at least 2 of Bess Wohl's MovieCove titles; Brian Robbins shares the most, 2.
- Brian RobbinsShared titles: Irreplaceable You (2018), The Shaggy Dog (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Brian Robbins
